Swami Kriyananda - The Deposition Book The Deposition Book: a long journey through truth. This book is extremely interesting, even though at a first approach it does not seem very easy. The reader is forced into an unusual format, which is typical of the legal documents, and which was maintained to certify the origin of the document itself. Once you are on familiar terms with line numbers and cross-references to the filed documents, it all becomes easy to read, and the shortness of the dialogues helps in that, since the latters are for the most made of questions and answers. The whole document refers to the witness of Mr. James Donald Walters, founder and director of the Ananda community, made of seven parts and bore in the period between 6th September and 30th November 1995 contextually with the investigations and the trial brought in action by Mrs. A. M. Bertolucci against the Ananda Church or God Realization. In the severances of the deposition, amongst moments of extreme composure and others of great bewilderment, there is the story of a man and a community of individuals, seen and interpreted through their expectations and ambitions, and nourished by their innermost convictions. For this reason we believe The Deposition Book to be the most credible and truthful testimony of the Ananda experience. It is not only told directly from the mouth of his founder, and therefore full of his personal story and of his own point of view on things, but it also contains accusations and testimonies of others actors inside and outside the community, who were somehow involved and took part in the great project of Mr. Walters called “the world colonies of brotherhood”. This document, now in fact public property, is here reported in a complete electronic format, which is only intended to collect all the severances of the deposition by Mr. Walters in the most continuous and fluent way to read them possible, and also to make easier the search for names or phrases that are contained in it. One thing is sure: we must hold what Mr. Walters says is true, at least until one has proof to the contrary. In conferring with the Judges he swore to tell all the truth, so the readers can make their own opinion beyond the claims and the publicity that usually equip and accompany this kind of statements. In this case you approach a series of accounts gathered without any frame of presentation or of contextualization, under the guarantee of the witness bore to a Judge, a figure bound to be impartial and protective for everyone. Besides the American law is extremely strict and careful in extenuating every passage, in this type of trials, because it is beyond measure interested in the protection of the personal liberty of the individual, considered a supreme good. The aim of this work is to allow people to go into the knowledge of the nature of this community thoroughly, a nature told directly by his first adherent, and at the same time to allow them examine facts under a “layer” light, thanks to the participation and the interventions of the lawyers, of the Judge and of the civil party. The authors This file is supplied in a protected format, in order not to allow its modification. Anyone can freely hand it out both in the electronic format and printed, provided they don’t add or change any of its parts. The authors decline every responsibility about the contents, published and verifiable at the court of the San Mateo County – California, U.S. -1- Swami Kriyananda - The Deposition Book Use of the search instruments To perform searches with Adobe Acrobat Reader you have to set on the Index page and push buttons Ctrl + F. A window will be displayed where you can insert the word, the name, or the number you are looking for. Once inserted push the button “search” and you will get the first string containing the word you are interested in identified and highlighted. To proceed with the search push button F3 on the keyboard. You will have all the words contained in the document identified and highlighted in sequence and progressively from the beginning to the end. The pages will be advanced automatically by the program each and every time new strings are found. The program lets you insert a bookmark on the pages required for the succeeding searches. For further functions you need to refer to the Acrobat guide on line. Navigation through the chapters The document opens quoting on the left an index preset with bookmarks. Clicking on them it is possible to go to the relating pages. Through the Index page it is also possible to be carried to the chapters by clicking on the number of the relating page. Acrobat Reader is an Adobe registered trademark. The program is freely downloadable at this link: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html -2- Swami Kriyananda - The Deposition Book Index Presentation……………………………………………………….pag. 1 Use of search tools………………………………………………...pag. 2 Chapter 1)…………………………………………………………pag. 4 Chapter 2)…………………………………………………………pag. 108 Chapter 3)…………………………………………………………pag. 174 Chapter 4)…………………………………………………………pag. 275 Chapter 5)…………………………………………………………pag. 345 Chapter 6)…………………………………………………………pag. 441 Chapter 7)…………………………………………………………pag. 519 -3- Swami Kriyananda - The Deposition Book Chapter 1) Part 1 of 7 September 6, 1995 1 I N D E X 2 EXAMINATION BY: PAGE 3 MR. FLYNN: 4 --o0o-- 5 EXHIBITS 6 PLAINTIFF'S FOR IDENTIFICATION PAGE 1 Letter dated August 31 from 8 Kriyananda to "Dear Ones" 9 Declaration of James Donald Walters in Support of Motion for Summary 10 Adjudication 11 Rules of Conduct for Members, Ananda World Brotherhood Village 1 --o0o-- 2 BE IT REMEMBERED that on Wednesday, September 6, 3 1995 commencing at 10:09 a.m., thereof, at Tooker & Antz, 4 Certified Shorthand Reporters, 131 Steuart Street, Suite 5 201, San Francisco, California, before me, HOLLY THUMAN, 6 duly authorized to administer oaths pursuant to Section 7 2093(b) of the California Code of Civil Procedure, 8 personally appeared 9 DONALD WALTERS, 10 called as a witness, who, having been first duly sworn, was 11 examined and testified as hereinafter set forth. 12 --o0o-- 13 APPEARANCES 14 FLYNN, SHERIDAN & TABB, P.O. Box 690, 6125 El 15 Tordo, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067, represented by MICHAEL J. 16 FLYNN and PHILIP H. STILLMAN, Attorneys at Law, appeared as 17 counsel on behalf of the Plaintiff. 18 HUB LAW OFFICES, 711 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, 19 San Anselmo, California 94960, represented by FORD GREENE, 20 Attorney at Law, appeared as counsel on behalf of the 21 Plaintiff. 22 JON R. PARSONS, Attorney at Law, 2501 Park 23 Boulevard, Suite 207, Palo Alto, California 94306-1925, 24 represented by JON R. PARSONS, Attorney at Law, appeared as 25 counsel on behalf of the Defendants. 1 (Appearances, cont'd) 2 Also present when indicated were YVONNE HANCHETT; 3 PAUL FRIEDMAN; DR. PETER VAN HOUTEN; ASHA PRAVER; JOHN 4 NOVAK; and SHEILA RUSH. 5 Videographer: ROBERT BARBAGELATA, Dan Mottaz 6 Video Productions, One Lansdale Avenue, San Francisco, 7 California 94127, (415) 731-1300. -4- Swami Kriyananda - The Deposition Book 8 --o0o-- 1 September 6, 1995 10:09 a.m. 2 --o0o-- 3 EXAMINATION BY MR. FLYNN 4 THE VIDEO OPERATOR: Good morning. This marks 5 the beginning of videotape number 1 in the deposition of 6 Donald Waters -- 7 THE WITNESS: Walters. 8 THE VIDEO OPERATOR: Excuse me, Walters, thank you 9 sir -- in the matter of (the plaintiff) versus Ananda 10 Church of God Realization, et al., in the Superior Court of 11 the State of California in and for the County of 12 San Mateo. The case number is 390230. 13 Today's date is September 6, 1995, and the time is 14 10:11 a.m. 15 The location of this deposition is 131 Steuart 16 Street on the second floor in San Francisco, California. 17 The deposition was noticed by attorney for the 18 Plaintiff, and the videotape is being produced on behalf of 19 same. 20 The video operator is Robert Barbagelata, a 21 California Notary Public for the County of San Mateo, 22 employed by Dan Mottaz Video Productions at One Lansdale 23 Avenue in San Francisco, California 94127, Area Code 415, 24 731-1300. 25 Would counsel present today please identify 1 themselves and state whom you represent? 2 MR. FLYNN: Okay. I'll start. Good morning. My 3 name is Michael Flynn, and I represent the Plaintiff, 4 (the plaintiff). 5 MR. STILLMAN: Good morning. Philip Stillman, 6 Flynn, Sheridan & Tabb, for the Plaintiff, (the plaintiff) 7 . 8 MR. GREENE: Ford Greene, G-r-e-e-n-e, sole 9 practitioner on behalf of Plaintiff, (the plaintiff). 10 MR. PARSONS: Do you want to include the other 11 legal staff here? 12 MR. FLYNN: No. I don't think we need to. 13 THE WITNESS: I'm Donald Walters for Church of -- 14 Ananda Church of Self-Realization now. It was God 15 Realization. 16 MR. PARSONS: And Jon Parsons appearing on behalf 17 of the defendants. 18 MR. FLYNN: Are there any stipulations for the 19 record? 20 MR. PARSONS: I'm not certain we need any at this 21 point. 22 MR. FLYNN: No. We're going to proceed according 23 to the rules. 24 THE VIDEO OPERATOR: Okay. Swear in the witness -5- Swami Kriyananda - The Deposition Book 25 and proceed. 1 MR. FLYNN: Holly, would you swear in Mr. Walters, 2 please? 3 (The oath was administered.) 4 MR. FLYNN: Q. Would you state your name for the 5 record please, sir? 6 A.