Davis, Roy Eugene

(1931– )

   founder of Christian Spiritual Alliance

   Roy Eugene Davis is an American teacher of KRIYA YOGA. He is associated with the Christian New Thought movement and teaches metaphysi-cal Christianity along with Indian thought and practice through lectures and a large publishing program.

   Born on March 9, 1931, in Leavittsburg, Ohio, Roy Eugene Davis was raised on a farm. He attended the Church of the United Brethren as a child and early on became interested in yoga through reading. In 1948, at age 18, while still in school, he read the influential book Autobiog-raphy of a Yogi by Paramahansa YOGANANDA and inwardly accepted Yogananda as his GURU. He began to take the mail-order yoga lessons offered Davis, Roy Eugene by Yogananda’s SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP (SRF). After graduation from high school in 1949, Davis went to the fellowship’s headquarters in Los Angeles and became a student of Yogananda. He relates that KUNDALINI was gradually awakened in him after meeting Yogananda. He was ordained by his guru in 1951 and appointed leader of the SRF center in Phoenix, Arizona. He initiated students into Yogananda’s practice of kriya yoga.

   In 1953, after a stint in the U.S. Army Medi-cal Corps at Fort Riley, Kansas, Davis became an independent spiritual teacher and withdrew from SRF. He founded New Life Worldwide in St. Petersburg, Florida. In the early 1960s Davis worked with Edwin O’Neal and the Christian Spiritual Alliance (CSA) in Lakemont, Georgia. He was associated with several New Thought churches, including Unity School of Christianity and Divine Science; joined the New Thought Alli-ance (INTA); and developed relationships with other teachers in the Hindu tradition, including SWAMI RAMA, SWAMI MUKTANANDA, and SAT YA SAI BABA. When O’Neal left CSA, Davis became both chairman of the board and head of the publishing house, which was renamed the Center for Spiri-tual Awareness.

   Davis’s teaching combines metaphysical Chris-tianity and kriya yoga, and he continues to give kriya yoga initiation. He has published over a dozen books, primarily with CSA publishers, on spiritual development, MEDITATION, kriya yoga, and AYURVEDA. He is the publisher of Truth Journal and writes monthly lessons for CSA members. He maintains a heavy schedule of lecturing to New Thought churches around the world.

   Further reading: Roy Eugene Davis, The Book of Life (Lakemont, Ga.: CSA Press, 2000); ———, An Easy Guide to Ayurveda: The Natural Way to Wholeness (Lake-mont, Ga.: CSA Press, 1999); ———, God Has Given Us Every Good Thing (Lakemont, Ga.: CSA Press, 1986); ———, Miracle Man of Japan (Lakemont, Ga.: CSA Press, 1970); ———, This Is Reality (Lakemont, Ga.: CSA Press, 1962).