a celibate religious leader or swami although he had sex with several of his devotees during 30 years at the helm of Ananda." Several women came forward during the civil trial to testify that Walters had sexually exploited them. Biography Early life J. Donald Walters was born on May 19, 1926, in Teleajen, Romania to American parents, Ray P. and Gertrude G. Walters. His father was an oil geologist with the Esso Corporation (since renamed Exxon in the United States) who was then assigned to the Romanian oilfields. He received an international education in Romania, Switzerland, England, and the United States. He attended Haverford College and Brown University, leaving the latter with only a semester left before graduation to dedicate his life to searching for God. Time with Yogananda In September 1948, in New York, Walters read Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, a book he says transformed his life. By September 12, Walters had decided to leave his old life behind, became a vegetarian, and soon afterwards traveled cross-country by bus to southern California to become one of Yogananda's disciples. In Hollywood, California, Walters first met Yogananda at the Self-Realization Fellowship temple there and was accepted as a disciple. As recounted in his autobiography, The New Path, Walters, twenty-two years old at this point, took up residence with other monks at SRF's mother center headquarters located on top of Mount Washington, Los Angeles. A year later, Yogananda had put Walters in charge of the monks there, asked him to write articles for the SRF magazine, had him lecture at various SRF centers, ordained him a minister, and appointed him to initiate students into Kriya Yoga. In their three and one half years (9/1948–3/1952) together, Walters took notes of his conversations with his master, publishing them in his 2003 The Essence of Self-Realization and his 2004 Conversations with Yogananda. After Yogananda On March 7, 1952, Paramahansa Yogananda was a speaker at a banquet for the visiting Indian Ambassador to the U.S., Binay Ranjan Sen, and his wife at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. While giving his speech, Yogananda suddenly dropped to the floor and died. Walters was present in the hall, and this was a pivotal moment for the young monk. In 1953, the SRF published Walter's book, Stories of Mukunda, and in 1960 an LP album with him singing Yogananda's Cosmic Chants, entitled Music for Meditation. In 1955,