What an incredible day!! It began with sitting down this morning at the amphitheatre near the Expanding Light guest retreat to listen to a talk by Swami Kriyananda and ended with a wonderful party at the Crystal Hermitage. Over 400 guests and residents celebrated his birthday this weekend and we all eagerly anticipated Swami’s arrival. Despite his aging body not being as vital as it has been in past years, his spirit and energy is very strong. I am amazed at his high energy level and determination. He arrived last weekend in the Bay area and had a couple of rocky days, however is doing well most of the week up at Ananda Village. Nevertheless we all were a little uncertain that his health would enable his appearance today and were all very appreciative when he arrived. The talk was inspiring and will soon be up on the Ananda.org website. Later in the afternoon, we all went over to the Crystal Hermitage back yard area to actually celebrate his birthday with cake, singing, satsang and an unplanned talk by Swami.

Wellwisher’s at Crystal Hermitage during afternoon Birthday Party

Wellwisher’s at Crystal Hermitage during afternoon Birthday Party

When I sat down in my seat, a woman next to me whom I have never met before, said, “I know you from somewhere.” It turns out she reads this blog and recognized my photo. It was inspiring to meet someone new living elsewhere, who reads this “blog” (the generic term used in modern day web world for this online “web-log”). Living here every day in at Ananda Village in spiritual community, we forget how the rest of the world sees us, so it is wonderful to get feedback. She told me how these postings of everyday life is inspiring to her. We didn’t get to talk long as Swami arrived but I wanted to tell you all that If any of you have questions about what life is like here, please email anyone of us. You can find a link on the “about the author” pages. I am quite sure you will also get varied answers from each of us. Why? Well, Swami Kriyananda spoke about this today during his talks and I wrote down a few inspiring sentences of what he said ( I think they are correct but have not yet listened to the actual recording but here goes anyway)

Swami Greeting people at his birthday party

Swami Greeting people at his birthday party

“Everybody is specializing, on behalf of the human race, on being himself.”

“God is playing a different song through every person.”

“You always manifest your own being in a unique way.”

As you can see, different ways of saying essentially the same thing and Swami worked very hard over the years to instill in all of us that we are all so different yet one thing that unites us all is the deep commitment to knowing and loving God. So if you ask anyone of us the same question, chances are you will get variations according to our unique “songs”. Go ahead…ask us..

What a birthday cake we prepared for him.

Birthday Cake prepared by the Best Ananda Chefs

Birthday Cake prepared by the Best Ananda Chefs

What a wonderful birthday present he gave us!

Especially moving, in addition to Swami’s impromptu talk was the “

Ananda youth singing with choir

Ananda youth singing with choir

Youth of Ananda” singing with the World Brotherhood choir (comprised of great souls from all over the world who convened for this occasion).

Thank you Patricia for sitting next to me today!!