Rajarsi Janakananda

Rajarsi Janakananda, born James Jesse Lynn, was a wealthy American businessman who became the closest disciple of the yogi Paramahansa Yogananda after they met in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1932. Janakananda was the main financial contributor to Yogananda's religious organization, Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), and he helped ensure its long-term success. Within SRF, he is considered a saint who attained union with God through meditation. SRF presented him as an object lesson in the benefits of its teachings, and it represented his relationship with Yogananda as an example of the cultural exchange they advocated between "spiritual" India and "industrial" America. Janakananda succeeded Yogananda as its president from 1952 until 1955, when Janakananda died at the age of 62. He left an endowment of approximately three million dollars to SRF, along with donations to the University of Missouri–Kansas City and Swope Park.