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Lorna with the fellow trainees

Once we are sincerely seeking God, and the longing for truth becomes stronger than the call of the material world, God sends a guru. When we feel that we can give our life to the spiritual path and the guidance of the guru, we become a disciple. When we become a disciple, life may change in profound ways, but it doesn’t go away. Life is still there, in all its glorious complexities, and we still have to engage in it. The challenge of discipleship is not doing what the guru asks of us, it is doing what the guru asks, EVERY DAY. The challenge is living our discipleship.

Ananda Village
offers a month-long course called Living Discipleship, and I had the extreme privilege of participating with eight remarkable souls from Portland and other Ananda communities. The program is required for those who plan to be residents and encouraged for all kriyaban disciples. We took the good – natured teasing about being live disciples and the inevitable comments about the alternative: dead disciples. But we all knew it was the verb we were there to focus on – living and applying discipleship to every part of life.

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Meditation Retreat Temple

The course takes place (for now – things are always changing at Ananda) at the Ananda Meditation Retreat, away from the busier scene of Ananda Village. The setting is remote, quiet, beautiful, inspiring, and nurturing to the sensitive inner searching that the program is designed to encourage. (If you have an opportunity to visit the area, make the extra effort to see the Meditation Retreat, located about 6 miles from Ananda Village.)

The program is full – it is not a slow paced, quiet retreat from the world. You commit to being away from your “normal” outer life patterns, to enable a deep focus on the inner life patterns that are needed for discipleship. Much like turning off the car radio helps you focus on finding an unfamiliar address on a dark road; turning down the input from outer demands frees energy that is not usually available – so a larger commitment can be made to the work at hand.

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Praying at the altar

The work we engaged in was to joyfully use the tools and techniques the guru has given us for Self-Realization. We had classes on the four techniques taught by Paramhansa Yogananda: Energization, Hong-Sau, Aum and Kriya, all taught by long-time devotees whose lives are examples of discipleship in the deepest form. Kriya is required for the course – we were all familiar with the techniques. But this was detailed review and group practice; a rare opportunity for busy disciples who are constantly engaged in the demands of life.

We also went deeply into various aspects of yoga we can use to awaken devotion, expand awareness, focus energy, and purify consciousness. All those things we know, as disciples, that we should be doing regularly but often barter away in the market of worldly demands. So we had long sessions of hatha yoga postures and discussions about attunement and renunciation. We studied the Festival of Light (a ceremony performed every week at Ananda Sunday Services), and we explored the attitudes that can get us into trouble or bring us closer to freedom on the spiritual path.

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Retreat gardens

We chanted and did healing prayers with the great enthusiasm and joy that comes when you really commit time and energy to doing it. And we served; giving our energy into the infinite flow of divine energy that makes Ananda possible.

We had the opportunity to hear about the work Ananda does worldwide, the karmic lessons learned from 12 years of legal battle, and the financial workings of an ever expanding spiritual work. These classes were joyful and inspiring as well – far beyond what you might expect of “nuts and bolts” topics. But the question, “How does all this really work?” is a normal and expected one. Living discipleship means having a daily, practical understanding, not just an airy fairy hope that all will work out in the end.

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Garden shrine… one of many!

And then (yes, there is more!) we had 4 ½ days of group seclusion. Due to the festivities of the Fourth of July weekend, our seclusion was shortened a bit. You may conclude that the seclusion was a reward, after a demanding, and somewhat exhausting, 2 weeks. I have to say it felt a bit like that to me, too. But seclusion is how we make the outward lessons become inner reality.

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Majestic view from Retreat grounds

The true work of discipleship is inward – the outward struggles are really not all that important in the larger picture. The purpose of studying and learning the teachings of Self-Realization is to take that understanding within. As disciples, we have asked our guru to help us – not to understand and be able talk about everything in great detail, but to actually become Self-Realized and completely free from delusion.

So seclusion is a break from outward activity, but it isn’t a break from the work our guru has charged us to do. Our seclusion in the program included group meditations and group meals, but we had several hours during the day to use as we felt inspired. And we were in silence – blessed, sweet, grace-filled silence. Paramhansa Yogananda said, “The Lord comes not in outward noise, nor when the mind is agitated, but in inner silence. His very being is silence. In silence He speaks to the soul.”

When I’m asked if the Living Discipleship program was “fun”, I’m caught. I can’t say it was fun, like swimming in a cool river on a hot day is fun. The inner realities I struggle with, after almost 30 years of discipleship, are not minor battles – they are intense and messy. My spiritual muscles got a workout! But the memories of the time in the Living Discipleship program are also filled with laughter, friendship, joyful, intimate communion with my guru, and deep gratitude for the gifts we have been given on this path.

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Entrance to the Meditation Retreat

I encourage you to look at the Living Discipleship program if you are a kriyaban and serious about moving forward in your spiritual growth. You can contact us at conctact@ananda.org for more information.

My apologies for the long post. Next time it will be short and sweet.
In divine friendship,
Lorna

18 Comments

  1. No apology necessary – in your case, longer articles are just fine. Your grounded, sincere, and clear-eyed portrayal carried me into the program and served to renew the principles of discipleship in my mind. Thank you, Lorna.

  2. Lorna, your article was wonderful, and reinforced what Saranya, also in your class, said: she felt taking this program should be required/strongly encouraged for ALL kriyabans (“every 5 years!”), not just folks moving to the Village. Jai! Thanks for the inspiring reminders.

  3. As one of the 9 “Living Disciples” taking the training this summer, I found that your beautifully written description took me right back there — to the peace as well as to the discomfort that goes along with growth. As I have said many times now, this Living Discipleship Training program is well worth retaking every 5 years! Thanks for a job well done, Lorna.

  4. always a delight to read your posts. I love getting a picture of what it is like there.
    blessings from warren wagner yakima wa.

  5. Lorna, thanks for sharing your deep experience of this special opportunity to go deeper into “living discipleship.” About 15 years ago I also had the blessing of participating in this program at the Meditation Retreat, led by Haridas and Roma. It was one of the deepest and most blessed experiences of my entire life as a disciple–more than 20 years now. In the quiet simplicity of the Meditation Retreat, in the daily encouragement to practice the presence of God and Guru in all activities, in the sweet fellowship of other truth seekers, and with the intuitive wisdom and spiritual guidance of our program leaders, living the path of discipleship on a minute-to-minute basis became a stronger reality. We certainly all learned that the “minutes are more important than the years” on the spiritual path.

    I, too, encourage all kriyabans to make space in their busy lives to experience the great spiritual blessings of this program. A month immersed in living our spiritual teachings in the beautiful vibrations of the Meditation Retreat is one of the greatest spiritual gifts you can give to yourself on our path. I hope many of you will be inspired to be part of this deep and life-changing experience.

    Bless you, Lorna, for reminding all of us of this opportunity to go deeper and deeper into living our spiritual practices.

  6. Thanks, Lorna for your exquisite review! As a relatively new kriyaban (less than 1 year) I am just finding out more about the Living Discipleship program, and it sounds like a life-changing experience. Thank you! Elizabeth, Seattle Colony

  7. Dear Lorna,
    I greatly enjoy your blogs, and REALLY appreciate this one. I heard about “Living Discipleship” a year ago, and have planned to take it at some point (I’ve only just became a Kriyaban 2 months ago). I’m very glad you took the time to share your experience in depth here. It really helps those of us who don’t know much about the program (as well as others who’ve participated) to understand more about the experience.

    Your article truly inspires us to “live our discipleship” just from reading this…very helpful to me as I’ve been struggling this past week with attunement! Thank you again for the insightful write-up and beautiful pictures.

    May God and Guru continue to bless you deeply each day…joycee

  8. Wonderful and inspiring post! Thank you, Lorna.
    Joy, Bhagavati

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    Thank you Lorna! This was a beautiful post of your experience. It was so nice to meet you a few weeks ago. I will be taking Living Discipleship this July and am looking very forward to it!

    Bless you dear sister,

    OM, Om, om,

    Brindey

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