Vance Milligan

Vance Milligan

Vance Milligan was SRF Monk for a short time while Yogananda was alive.

(The following excerpt is from, The Path, by Swami Kriyananda on the Chapter entitled, The Monks)

Vance Milligan, a young black boy, first came to Mt. Washington at the age of seventeen. Being not yet of legal age, his mother forced him to leave. As soon as he turned eighteen, however, he returned.

"How does your mother feel now about your being here?" Master asked him.
"This time she says it's all right," Vance replied.
"That's good that you have her consent. Without it you should still have come, but with it is even better.

Vance Milligan meditates with a group of Monks on the Mount Washington grounds.

Kriyananda later, writes in his book, A Place Called Ananda, advice Yogananda had said to Vance Milligan about connecting more with the head monk, Donald Walters (aka. Swami Kriyananda):

Master himself had supported me in my efforts to work with the monks. To Vance Milligan, a newcomer, he had said, “You should mix more with Walter. You don't know what you have in him.”

It is unclear how long Vance Milligan stayed at Mount Washington. He did eventually leave after a period of time. Some say he went on to become a baptist minister in Ohio, where he was raised.