Ananda is based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi. Yogananda was the first great Indian master of yoga to live in the West. His teachings emphasize direct inner experience of God through meditation, prayer and selfless service. Ananda, which means "joy" in Sanskrit, was founded in 1968 by Swami Kriyananda, a close, direct disciple of Yogananda. From his youth, Kriyananda dreamed of creating small communities based on cooperation and high ideals. When he became Yogananda's disciple in 1948, he discovered that Yogananda, too, was committed to the concept of World Brotherhood Colonies. Kriyananda vowed to do his utmost to make this dream a reality, a dream he achieved by the creation of Ananda Village, in 1968, located near Nevada City, California.