Publisher's Synopsis
I. The depression years were devastating on the consistent publication of the East-West Magazine. The issues constituting Volume IV of that magazine cover 1929 - 1932 totaling 12 issues altogether, with no issue during 1931. The first three issues were published previously by me as one set for cost-containment reasons, and this set of three issues constitutes the second (Issue 4 March-April of 1930, Issue 5 July-August of the same year; Issue 6 April 1932). Each of these Issues is preceded with statements by Yogananda about the difficulties with consistent publication and enunciation of those Issues which could not be printed. This Volume IV with its attendant 12 Issues is affected by lack of money and not by Yogananda's previous unscheduled visit to Mexico in 1929. II. Two different Federal appeals courts (with three judge panels) ruled that Self-Realization Fellowship's copyright control of Yogananda's magazines came under the provisions of the 1909 US Copyright Act. The first ruling was 1995 (https: //openjurist.org/206/ f3d/1322/self-realization-v-ananda) and the second was 2000 (https: //openjurist.org/206/f3d/1322/self-realization-v-ananda). In fact both SRF, Inc. and the defendant Ananda Church of Self-Realization argued their cases on the common agreement that all Yogananda's works were subject to the 1909 US Copyright Law. In 2002 the jury upheld the Federal Judges' previous decisions, only acknowledging that SRF, Inc. had copyright control and ownership over the series of 9 magazine articles in which Yogananda's commentaries on scriptures were serially published. This Volume IV second set is offered in the hope that many people will enjoy once again the insight provided in the essays contained herein. It is presented under the SRF, Inc. assumption in their lawsuit that these articles are governed by the 1909 US Copyright Law provisions. Their assumption having been so argued in court, then this series of new looks at old issues may be done both ethically and legally. Enjoy! ----Donald Castellano-Hoyt
