By Brahmachari Hezequiel

One of the beautiful things about India was nicely put by Nayaswami Dharmadas in one of his last satsangs; he said: “India is more about people than about things”. As a foreigner, having lived in India for the last year and a half, I came slowly to realize that this is true, and that the best weapon you can bring with you when setting out to do anything is a smile and, of course, faith. Together, they work like mathematics!

A couple of weeks ago I had an outstanding demonstration of this principle at work while dealing with the police in Pune…

I learned how to drive after coming to India, starting with the motorbike. After I was comfortable flowing with the traffic, my two only rules became: “If it won’t endanger anybody, I can do it,” and, “avoid the police at all costs”. Due to this, during my year-and-some of driving a motorbike in India, I must have accumulated quite a bit of “traffic karma”, considering I got caught by the police only once. Finally, that karma seemed to have exploded and hit me back all at once in one day but, thanks to Master’s grace, the “bomb” was a bomb of joy and not one of anxiety as it could have been.

And here’s what happened…

While driving the bike through a crowded area of Pune city, I (unintentionally) skipped a red light… right next to a police station! They signaled me to stop and, seeing that I had no escape route (the traffic was very heavy), I had to comply.

Thinking of all the times in the past when I successfully got away from their clutches, I chuckled inside and thought “Well, Master, they got me! I’ve no license and no money… I’m sure this will make a good story.”

“Hello!” I said to the policeman, smiling.

“License? “ he asked.

“No license.” He then proceeded to lock my bike, take the key and bring it to the station, telling me to go there.

Normally, the policemen would ask for a bribe, and they might have settled for the little I had in my pocket; however, now they were in “official” mode, because they were at the station, and they were many in numbers. They gave me an official ticket for seven hundred rupees… an amount which I didn’t have.

Treating the policemen as my friends (because I genuinely felt they were my friends and this was all a game), I told them the truth: I don’t have money to pay the ticket.

“What can I do?” I asked them. Because I felt they were my friends, I thought they might want to help me. On their side, because I was treating them as friends, they also wanted to help me! One of the policemen called what I think must have been the chief inspector. He pulled me to the side and told me that they would give me a ticket for some minor infraction, which would cost half the price. That meant all the money in my pocket! Of course, I accepted and they gave me the bike’s key back.

“What will happen, however, if they pull me over at some other station?” I asked the chief, “I need to get back home and I still won’t have a license, and now I have no money!”

He told me to use the name of the station to let any other policeman know that I had already paid the fee. He even made sure I got the name of the station right, by making me repeat it several times! Saying farewell to my new friends, I went on my way.

Twenty minutes later, I had to enter a shop and there was no parking space available. Looking around and seeing no police, I decided to park in a no-parking zone. “Anyway,” I thought, “I’ll be inside for only five minutes”. Well, five minutes later, I came out of the shop and the bike was no longer there! That could only mean the police had taken it.

At this point, I could have started laughing! Here I was in the middle of the city, fifty kilometers away from my home, with only five rupees in my pocket and my phone minutes away from going out of battery! I mentally told Master “this is your game! Let’s see how you get me out of it!” I wasn’t anxious, because in my mind there was no doubt that I would somehow get the bike back.

Asking around, I found that a police tempo had come and, seeing my bike parked wrongly, had taken it. They gave me directions to go to the police station in which they thought my bike would be found. As luck would have it, it was the same station which gave me the first ticket!

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the bike there. Upon talking to my friend the chief inspector (I don’t know if that was his real title, but that’s what I call him in my mind), I got directions to the big deposit where my bike would have been taken, and I was given a warning that the ticket would be of at least 750 rupees, if not more.

This was, however, a thoroughly friendly chat. He was sincerely trying to think out ways to help me out, and in the process we talked, we laughed together, introduced each other and shook hands. At the end, he gave me one hundred rupees from his own pocket and told me: “Give them this and tell them you already paid a ticket in this station. Maybe they’ll let you have the bike.”

After thanking him, I started to walk away. A funny feeling remained, however: something was wrong. I needed to give him something in return for his generosity! Checking the contents of my bag (they weren’t many), I found a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. I gave that to him, and his face lighted up into a huge smile! He probably has to deal with unfriendly people all day. The experience of making a friend “on the job” must not come very often!

On that high note, I set out to the bike deposit, which was twenty minutes away, walking. During the walk, I was still talking to Master, telling him: “That was very sweet, but I don’t see how these hundred rupees are going to get the bike back! I am not in a position to do anything right now; you’ll have to do everything through me!”

At this point another thing happened, also: in the back of my mind, Swamiji’s presence and guidance started to make themselves be felt. It was guiding my thoughts, and telling me to remember and reflect on two episodes of his life: the first, when he got through the airport check-in with overweight bags; the second, when he was allowed into a concert hall when they had no seats, because he said to the guard, “It’s my birthday!”.

Reaching the deposit, I first had to find out what to do! I talked to the watchman at the gate to ask for instructions, but his English was very limited, and my Hindi was nil… nothing much came out of that, except that, in our mutual failure to understand each other, we shared a lot of merriment, and he became very friendly toward me.

I finally found out that I had to find my bike and wait for an official to come my way. I did as instructed. When the official came, he announced to me that my infraction was very serious: wrong parking, no driving license, and no documents for the vehicle. The ticket would come up to 4.000 rupees.

What a joke! And here I was with only one hundred! I tried to explain my situation to him, but he wouldn’t budge. He said I’d have to go home and leave the bike there, and went on to deal with other “cases”. I observed him for a while: one woman was desperately trying to convince him to give her bike back, making him talk on the phone with somebody else several times… nothing doing. One man was trying his best to bribe him, but the official would only return the bribe. After a while, he noticed I was still standing next to my bike, and told me: “Go home!” That’s all I could get out of him since then.

I had hit a wall! I was very tempted to just take the bike and race away… however, I felt that Master had, so far, guided me here through harmony and friendliness… and that if I could keep on that flow, somehow some door would open.

Then I thought: “This man cannot relate to realities that are not his own. I’ll look for somebody else.” I say ”I thought”, but the truth is, I don’t think like that! I was feeling Swamiji’s presence in my mind, and he was the one bringing those thoughts to me!

I found another official, and this one was much more flexible. He started on a high price, as the other official did, but after I told him my situation, he said he would let me have the bike only by paying a basic “no license” ticket… Until he found out I had not enough money even for that! Exasperated, he sent me off saying “Go home!”, and that’s all he’d say to me afterwards.

And then, a Swamiji-inspired thought came again: “They cannot make big decisions on their own. I have to go to whoever is in charge.”

With this, I went to my friend, the watchman, and asked where I could find the officer in charge. He pointed me to the right man, and off I went for my last chance!

“Excuse me, sir. Do you have a minute?”

“Yes, tell me.”

In four or five short sentences, I explained my whole ordeal to him. I didn’t talk to him in a spirit of fighting, nor pleading. I simply spoke to him as a friend would to a friend… and the result was astonishing! After listening to me, he said:

“No problem!” He then signaled the officials who were closest to my bike and said “Let him go!”<

I grabbed the bike and took off, waving goodbye to the watchman, and feeling greatly blissful! I drove away thanking Master and Swami for their grace and guidance, for turning what could have been a very bad day into a day full of joy and harmony… and a good story!

The story has another sweet ending, also: after a couple of minutes from taking off with the recently-rescued bike, it started to malfunction, until it finally died down in one of the inner streets of Pune. I mentally asked Master: “What do I do now?” and then I looked at the side. “Oh!” I said aloud. The bike had fainted right next to a mechanic!! The problem was something very silly (but that I couldn’t figure out on my own), so it took only one minute to fix, and then I was free to go back.

It was a big lesson to see how everything could flow joyfully and for the good if only I kept a cheerful attitude and had faith that Master knew what he was doing. Encounters with traffic policemen almost always imply having to argue with them and being incredibly stubborn to get the lowest possible rate in your ticket (or, in 99% of the cases, in your bribe). Yet, by just being friendly with them and not giving up to the temptation of going through the above mentioned route, things turned out much better than they could have possibly done otherwise! Talking about the second ticket (the no-parking issue), not only I ended up with more money than I had at the beginning, but also I gained a lot in terms of joy, faith in Master’s guidance, and conviction that when you work with harmony, everything around will arrange itself to match that harmony!

Joy to you!

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By David Eby

We’ve just finished a wonderful Inner Renewal Week here at Ananda Village, with classes by Jyotish and Devi, Kriya Yoga initiations, renunciate vows, and long meditations, all designed to help us go deeper into God. We have this week every year, and one of the points from last year’s classes was untangling our karma, from one of Jyotish’s talks. I had an excellent opportunity to work on that just this past week.

Our karma, often invisible to us, is truly a mystery. How can we begin to understand why things happen to us? Often the things that seem like the worst possible situations are actually unseen blessings, like the story of when Babaji took a a flaming branch and scorched one of his disciples on the arm – horrible thought! Babji explained that it was the disciple’s karma to have been burned to death, and that the karma was now satisfied. Babaji then went on to heal the man’s arm.

And how many lifetimes do we cycle through karma that simply feels familiar – like when you have an unusually strong reaction to someone or something that doesn’t seem to be affecting anyone else. We carry countless karmic ties from lifetime to lifetime, and with wisdom, luck, and the grace of God, we have a great opportunity: to realize that perhaps we’d rather not add to the karma by choosing to react in such a way as to continue that karma, for who knows how many more lifetimes.

With St. Valentine’s Day approaching, my wife planned on making special treats for ourselves and friends, and ordered some specialty items. A few days ago we found that the costly goods we had ordered had been apparently stolen from our community mailroom, normally locked and monitored. Of course our immediate reaction was to find out who was to blame. We called the company – nope, they had confirmation that the package had been received. We tried our office – nope, the mailroom has been locked and monitored as best as possible. I called the credit card company through which we had placed the order, and they offered to take the money back from the company, but that just didn’t seem right.

I sat down to meditate, and realized that there was a freedom that could come from letting go of my attachment, like the bliss that came to Swami Kriyananda through calm acceptance when one of his first domes was destroyed. But could I let it go that easily? Was my detachment stronger than my desire to find who was to blame?

I could hear voices of certain people in my head (particularly the ones who are challenging to me!) saying “Master must not have wanted you to have those things,” which, as you can imagine, can bring on a certain amount of guilt. I shouldn’t have ordered them! Oh how foolish of me! Personally, I don’t choose to buy into that way of thinking (but I am certainly willing to accept that this situation has arisen from my past karma).

Suddenly Jyotish’s words from last year resonated within me. Was I interested in prolonging this karma, either by getting angry without any hope of resolution, or seeking to assign blame or wish retribution on the thief? And if so, was I willing to keep engaging in this dance, playing out this karma for who knows how many lifetimes? I could feel the pull of attraction towards anger and frustration, and realized that I needed help to get through this. I could see two paths through the rest of the day – one demanded a great deal of will to choose to stay in higher consciousness; the other was to succumb to the darkness of anger and frustration (ooh, so tempting!). My heart longed to choose the light and let it go, and so the moment by moment battle began.

How am I doing today? Much better, thankfully, or else I wouldn’t feel inspired to share this with you. And for me, at least, these challenges seem to come when I am feeling more and more secure on the path, for our meditations have been much more frequent and deep. How else is our newfound resolve to live more in God to be tested? Just sorry we can’t share any yummy treats with you this week…

I’ll leave you with a very appropriate quote from the affirmation prayer given at today’s Sunday Service:

I accept whatever comes, Lord,
as coming from Thy hands.
I know that it comes in blessing,
for I am Thine,
as Thou art ever mine.

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By David Eby

On the spiritual path, there is an interesting balance to be struck. For if one renounces the world in his search for God, it is easy to get into a mindset that emphasizes noninvolvement in outward activity. And if one is too involved in outward activity, how can one make inward spiritual progress? When am I truly content (a supreme virtue, mind you!), and when am I being complacent, not really eager to think bigger and rise up to is being asked of me? The answer seems not so simple. Here’s my journey of the past 6 weeks:

If you read my past blog on the Spiritual Benefits of Juice Fasting, you’ll know that right after Christmas we began juicing. I did 11 days, and my wife did 21, and now we are juicing in the mornings, having salads for lunch, and yummy raw food entrees for dinner.

What a difference it has made – not just the weight loss for my wife, but the energy and mental clarity it has given me. We are now waking up a full 2 hours earlier than we did last year, and meditating together deeply before Caitlin wakes up. Right there is my reason for rejoicing!

Our consciousness has also been changing dramatically – one example is that we are more able to avoid watching too many videos, and can easily turn off videos that are lower in consciousness than what we’d like, rather than suffering through with the thought that “it might get better.”

Along with the mental clarity has come new levels of inspiration as well. I’ve been working on future classes such as The Sacred Art of Listening, Superconscious Performance, and The Spiritual Path of Music, which has nudged me into thinking about all that can be shared concerning listening, music, and consciousness – online courses, blogs, ebooks, videos, everything!

What is so funny to me is that just 2 months ago, I was content with what I was doing. Now I feel that God is calling me to do a broader work. In the past I’ve had the inspiration to do these things, but have thought “Yes, that would be nice, but…sigh…I’ve got too much on my plate at the moment to even consider it.” Now it seems like if I don’t start following the inspiration, I won’t be honoring my dharma.

My concern is that I might get caught up in the doings of everything, and loose track of what I really want to accomplish in this life — to find God. Will these next changes take me more into ego-involvement? At what point is it better to say “No, I’d better not, because that path is fraught with peril,” and just continue to live in what could feel like a narrower scope of life that doesn’t ask as much of me outwardly? I think I’d better say yes to this one, all the while keeping God at the center. I’m being asked to raise my energy once again.

In the department of nutrition (by the way, my wife Madhavi (Michele) will be starting her training as a Certified Nutritional Coach in March!), I have been of course very enthusiastic, and it has been difficult to watch my friends and family continue to suffer from low energy and health and weight issues. However, along with that enthusiasm came the climb onto the high horse of self-righteousness. I found myself thinking “My way’s best! Everybody should juice!” It was making me more and more rigid and uncomfortable.

So I told my wife “Honey, I need to go figure out my life – I may be a while.” I sat down on the back deck to journal, to reset my attitudes, when the words “Live in harmony” came to me. I could tangibly feel that harmony in my heart, and that is above all what I wish to express.

It was that simple! Madhavi looked shocked when I came back in 5-minutes later. With that reconciliation, I woke up this morning filled with even more enthusiasm to share Yogananda’s teachings through my direct experiences of music and consciousness. I truly hope that I can serve God through this expanded calling, and not get caught in the net of delusion. Wish me luck!

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Devotion is the foundation of our spiritual path. All the teachings, writings, and talks emphasize its primary importance. Yet it took me over 16 years at Ananda before I realized it and started to actively practice it. My own nature is more “mind” than “heart” focused. I grew up in a Christian religion that never talked about devotion and instead focused on controlling your beliefs, thoughts and perceiving perfection. I filtered these messages as “mind” practices. Also working in high technology for over 20 years and attending MIT for college, kept me in the company of intellectually oriented people for most of my life.

So for the first 16 years at Ananda, I focused mainly on the meditation techniques and, during the day, holding my attention at the Christ center while practicing the japa “God, Christ, Guru.” While these practices helped keep me spiritually afloat, I always felt like being battered around in a stormy sea. It was very frustrating! I would see these wonderful people at Ananda that had, as Swamiji puts it, “the smile of God in their heart.” Yet despite all my will power driven efforts, I didn’t have it or it only came in fleeting moments from time to time.

A few years ago Master finally took pity on me and helped me out of this “mind-only” delusion. When feeling especially despondent, I had started to take a walk, when I heard Master, with a wonderful golden light, say very forcibly; “Love God!, God Needs Your Love!, God Wants Your Love!, Love God!.” Instantly I realized I needed to practice loving God with energy of my heart.

Since I was taking a walk at the time, I firmly and joyfully resolved to figure out how to love God most effectively during a ½ hour walk. Having an engineering mindset, I wanted to optimize a walking, loving God technique. So every morning during a walk I experimented with various combinations of all the different wonderful spiritual techniques Ananda teaches; chakra energization, japa, prayer, breathing, chanting, hong sau, kriya… Quickly I realized I needed a very remedial technique that would help me focus on the energy of the heart. Whenever I tried something even remotely complicated, like singing a multi-word chant, energizing several chakras, feeling God everywhere… my mind would become so focused on the technique that I would forget to feel love for God in my heart.

After awhile, a very basic practice emerged. Simply breathe deeply, energize the heart on the in breath, on the out breath, silently chant “God”, and feel you and God loving each other most intently right at the end of the exhalation. Many more refining details came, which I have written about in a book called “Love Breathing.” If interested, it can be downloaded for free at www.howtoLoveGod.org.

The order of Christ’s greatest commandment is most interesting. Love God with all your:
1. Heart
2. Mind
3. Soul
4. Strength.
The first part of the greatest commandment is Love God with all your heart, not your mind. Yet in retrospect I realized I had been trying to love God with all my mind first. It wasn’t until I put loving God with all your heart first that I finally started to feel “God’s smile” in my heart.

The order of Christ’s commandment seems to correspond to the meditative experience. First we practice devotion to awaken the heart’s energy, then the heart’s energy flows up like helium to the mind, energizing and focusing on the Christ center. Then when practicing hong sau or kriya, we go deep into the stillness of the inner spine. This is speculation, but the inner stillness feels like loving God with all your soul. Then all your strength seems to correspond to using your will power to keep the meditation going.

Swamiji’s comments from Conversations with Yogananda #216 have been most helpful to me. He advises that only focusing on the spiritual eye can lead to ruthlessness if not combined with the heart’s love. For myself now, as I practice focusing on the heart throughout the day, the spiritual eye becomes activated automatically, even more so than when I only focused on the spiritual eye.

It’s been quite a revelation to me to realize that loving God seems to come easily for many people with a well-developed heart nature. Nayaswami Tushti gave a Sunday talk recently in Palo Alto. As many know, Tushti radiates a beautiful heart nature. She talked about practicing the presence of God and loving God. She stated: “how do you love God? Well you love God simply by talking with Him.” My own thoughts at hearing this was: “Wow! If only it were that simple for me! This really highlights the differences of someone with natural heart nature. Just talking with God engenders a feeling of love for God in their heart!” I’d practiced japa and talking with God for decades, yet the conversations and energy generated never filtered down into my heart, they just stayed up in my mind.

Life before heart devotion, felt like this to me:

Now with heart devotion, life feels more like this:

Joy, Joy, Joy!

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By Steven Kaufman

Since the first supermarkets in the 1930’s,  a general disregard for nature has been increasing. The need for growing one’s own food has become an inconvenience our “modern age” has conquered. With the rise of factory farms and greenhouses the size of small cities, the need to follow the “whims” of Mother Nature is behind us. The question for us now is: “For better or worse?”

The alarm clock on my iPhone starts with a quite beat, increasing in volume and luminosity until I reach over to put an end to its escalating rajas. It’s five a.m. and the call of the fresh, cool air reawakens my memory to the duties of the early morning. I stagger out of bed and grab my dirt-stained jeans with a lingering sweet and earthy smell. I head upstairs, grab my jacket and headlamp, and make my way to my car. In the wintertime, on a clear early morning, the stars are as bright as I’ve ever seen them. It’s one of those simple wonders of life that never cease to amaze. Once to my truck a short 3 min. drive gets me to my destination.

As I pull down the drive to the barn my headlights catch three noses poking through the metal gate. Already “Awake and Ready,” my three cows, Jessie, Daisy and Buttercup, are waiting patiently. Walking into the barn I wrap my arms around Daisy and put my head on her neck to solicit some of her warmth. After a few minutes of commingling with my friends I prepare for the morning’s milking. They stand there quietly chewing their cud in a sort of tranquil repetition. I prepare their food, grab the buckets, and let Daisy into the milking room as the first customer of the morning. Each cow takes about a half-hour to milk. It’s probably the quietest part of my day, besides mediation and sleep. Cows don’t ask questions nor do they insist on filling the air with chatter; they are silent observers, ever present and content.

The cows are just one of my farming responsibilities. I also care for some 300,000 insects. Not just any insects, honeybees to be exact. By day they fill the air fulfilling their noble duties of nectar, pollen, propolis and water collection. And by night they exude a barely audible hum, generating warmth to keep the hive the constant 98 degrees that they need to survive. The creatures are magical! The more I delve into their mysterious ways the more I am enraptured by their intricate simplicity. They have systems and means for accomplishing anything, and together, as a community of thousands, they accomplish wonders.

I believe that there is a major shift going on in the world. A shift driven by the need for change. Young adults are abandoning jobs in the city to pursue interests in farming. People are beginning to recognize the value of communities. And most importantly, we are beginning to ask ourselves, “What truly matters?”

For years the media and popular culture have guided the world toward the need for instant, momentary, gratification. But what years of suffering and unhappiness have taught us is that momentary gratification only leaves us with momentary satisfaction. So, in contrast, what does working hard and working with purpose leave one with?

In Living Wisely, Living Well Swami Kriyananda writes, “Your reactions to events are more important in your life than the events themselves. Make sure that you react always in such a way as to increase your inner peace and happiness.” The only sure thing in farming is that things rarely go the way you want them to. In itself that is not a bad thing. It gives one ample opportunities to practice faith and patience without sacrificing determination and joy. Nature has its own design and timing. It is up to us to work with and adjust to that evolution.

Life is not about arriving at destinations. Life’s value lies in the lessons we learned, from the journeys that guide us toward our destinations. In today’s world we spend most of our effort trying to eliminate the time spent in getting us from where we are to where we want to be. All of our industrialized models are built around the idea of producing, “more, bigger, and faster.” But to what end? What kind of world do we create when “Who we are” and “What we have” is never enough? Paramhansa Yogananda said, “The whole world was created for our education and entertainment. But ah, how few are either educated or entertained!”

I would like to extend a personal invitation to any young people out there looking for a more fulfilling day-to-day experience. There is so much misguidance out there and at times it can seem almost impossible to do anything other then to accept the status quo. However, from my own experience, I know that we have the ability to create any reality we could ever dream of. It is time we gave up the dreams of others and embraced the dreams of our own calling.

Ananda’s mission is to offer individuals the tools necessary to living a fulfilling life based on universal teachings emphasizing simple living and high thinking. If you are able, we would love for you to come and join us; for an afternoon, a weekend or forever, the door is open.

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By David Eby

A few months ago my wife and I watched an inspiring documentary called “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead” which prompted us to take on the challenge of an extended juice fast. I had no idea what to expect, except from what I had experienced doing Yogananda’s Nine Day Cleanse (also highly recommended!) many years ago. We opened our new juicer on Christmas, tried it out that evening, and on Dec 26th, began our journey.

In the past 11 days, we have juiced pounds and pounds of fresh vegetables and fruits, including chard, kale, spinach, beets and beet greens, cabbage, carrots, fennel, apples, pears, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, celery, parsley, cilantro, lemons, oranges, cranberries, ginger, and grapefruit, in many different and delicious combinations.

The first few days were of course the most difficult, as all of my energy was being directed towards healing and cleansing. Already, however, I felt a deep sense of calmness descending upon me. In my meditations, I found my breath becoming naturally slower, due to the slower metabolism during the fast. My digestive system, usually running on high demand, was getting a very well deserved break.

I’ll admit that there were times where I felt a little spacey and had a hard time trying to remember what day it was. I was having a hard time staying warm, and the thoughts of eating were sometimes quite strong. However, my restless mental habits were beginning to slow as well, with very positive benefits. My habits of worry and anxiety slowed to a stop, and I was able to go very deep into the stillness of meditation. I was quite astonished to see how little negativity clung to my thought patterns, and began to feel the barriers between myself and the world of nature beginning to dissolve.

After 11 days, I’m returning slowly to the world of eating, and truly hoping to incorporate this ancient practice of fasting more routinely into my life. I’ve lost a few pounds (other people have lost more), but my consciousness needs all the help I can get, so I’m going to try to keep as clear as possible in what I eat in this next year without becoming too over-zealous.

Here is a quote from Yogananda that came at just the right time for me:

Make new determinations as to what you are going to do and what you are going to be in this next year. Set a program for yourself; carry it through, and you will find how much happier you will be. Failure to keep to your schedule of improvement means you have paralyzed your will. You have no greater friend and no greater enemy than yourself. If you befriend yourself, you will find accomplishment. There is no law of God preventing you from being what you want to be and accomplishing what you want to accomplish. Nothing detrimental that happens can affect you unless you sanction it.

May God bless you all in this new year!

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An affirmation is a statement of truth which one aspires to absorb into his life. It has been said that we are what we eat. It would be truer to say, “We are what we think.”

–Swami Kriyananda

September 15, 2011. Where was I?… Glued to my computer screen, of course! A new gem had been added overnight to Ananda’s frontpage: “Economic Collapse, A Solution. By Swami Kriyananda.” My heart danced a jig… and it kept on dancing…

…For at least a month, wherever I was, there was that idea Swami suggested swimming around in my mind. About charity… that governments should launch propoganda campaigns to “[encourage] people to help their neighbors, not only themselves. Posters could urge people to consider all the ways that, in helping others, they are also helping themselves…”

Driving in Atlanta traffic I imagined a billboard over the highway with the words: “No dreaming is ever too high!” Or, the Family Services office with messages on the wall such as: “I am moving forward to a consciousness of Abundance and Compassion.” I thought about messages in the financial district that might read: “I seek happiness in giving of myself.”

As I watched the Occupy movements across the country — I was inspired by the beautiful awakening of aspects of unity consciousness — of recognition of our Divine origin, of what I perceived as a response to the Age of Energy. It echoed, in some ways, my own inner cry for spiritual truth. But I also noticed all the variety of levels of consciousness and how one negative or angry voice could so easily drown out the many positive. So I posted the signs idea on the Occupy Atlanta Facebook page. Immediately two enthusiastic people responded and before I knew it I was inviting people to an event called “Dare to be Free: Signs to Uplift Consciousness.”

I photocopied lists of short quotations from Swamiji and Master, and took a book called Fire In The Soul: A New Psychology of Spiritual Optimism (that literally fell into my lap that morning at a coffee shop as I was asking Divine Mother for confirmation) and I headed down to the park. I watched people’s faces as they read the quotations — as they brought them to life with paint — as they owned the sign they created — as they shared with each other.

We repeated this event the following weekend at another more “neighborhoody” park. It was a great exercise in facilitating neighbors meeting neighbors and identifying with each other from the inside out. We were so excited by the support that we decided to hang up a few of the signs so the neighbors could enjoy their work. Two minutes later some angry young men whizzed by in their pickup truck and yanked the sign down…yelling “Stuuupid!” out their window. I felt their energy blow past me. I stood their for a minute in the street with my twine… and a great big laugh just flew out of my stomach and I thought of something I had just read in Swami’s The Art and Science of Raja Yoga:

Spiritual progress comes not so much by learning to cope with the world as by learning not to depend on the world.

In retrospect, this activity was an outward expression of joy at the recognition of God in me, in everyone, in everything that had been building over time. A week or so later it left me scratching my head, “How could it have been that I passed so many years and even lifetimes in such ignorance?” So… I opened up my Raja Yoga book, read the next chapter — about the importance of directing one’s energy inward rather than outward, then happily sat down to meditate, so that I may never, ever lose my beloved again.

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By David Eby

Dear all – I wanted to share with you some of the new recordings we’ve been working on these past few months, combined with others to make up a full Ananda Christmas music experience! We’ll be releasing the CD later in 2012, so please forgive imperfections in these, like the volume being too loud or soft. Happy listening!

The Christ Child’s Asleep

That Night When Christ Was Born

Looking for a Friend

Christmas Mystery 12-19

God Is Truth, God Is Love

Mother of Wisdom

To Mary there Came

The Annunciation

The Light that Was Christ

Fear Not Zacharias

Mary and Elizabeth Meet

Hail Mary

Shepherds Awake!

Shepherds’ Grotto

Christ Has Come

Three Wise Men

Sing Out With Joy

When Human Hopes Toward Thee Aspire

Thy Light Within Us Shining

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By Nayaswami Maitreyi

Greetings, dear ones,

Life here in India is never dull. I want to tell you a little of the hardships (tapasya) and the blessings that inevitably run hand in hand with progress.

When Michael and I arrived in India there were 11 or 12 great souls striving earnestly in preparation for Swami Kriyananda’s long awaited arrival at the Kriya Yogashram, outside Pune. They needed help, and that is what we came here to do. House cleaning, painting, road work, landscaping, temporary temple building, house building, you name it, that project was happening. The place looked as it was, a huge building site!

Whilst all was going on, Nayaswami’s Nirmala and Dharmadas were called away to Gurgaon, Delhi to meet Swamiji there. I think they were gone for close to 3 weeks before Swamiji arrived here on the land. We devotees all had our allotted tasks. Michael and I were given to ensure Swamiji’s house was made ready, to be infused with sattwic energy and to gleam like a new pin. We were happy to do it. What a blessing to prepare for a saint such as he. I was blessed, too, by the help of our wonderful Indian devotees, who supported me to the hilt in my rawness. I had only been in India for 2 weeks! I had never seen Swamiji’s house as it should be when he is in residence…Help!

Everything that could go wrong went wrong! We experienced regular loss of power for hours most days, the worst in the history of the Kriya Yogashram. I will digress here just a little.

Each morning I rise at 4 am for sadhana. One morning, we had no power. The house was pitch black. I fumbled around doing the energization exercises in the dark. When I had finished, I made my way to were I knew my mediation mat was, in front of my make-shift alter. I was walking blindly in that direction when Guru put the thought in my head to put on the solar lamp. I did not need to; I had managed so far very well, but the thought was very strong. I did not need to move to reach for the lamp. I switched it on. Inches away from my foot, and right next to my mat, was a scorpion. It was only small, but when we showed it to Dr Aditya in the morning, he said that although it would not be fatal to be bitten by it, this particular one would have laid me flat on my back in agonizing pain with prolific vomiting. At the time I just covered it with a glass bowl and watched it moving around inside, happy to share my meditation with it until it could be taken outside when it was light. Thank you, Guruji!

As well as living with no power, we also had no water on 3 occasions, as lorries repeatedly burst the water pipe by our home. Many became ill with coughs and colds, and my main, dear helper who came twice a week from the far side of Pune City lost her driver and, therefore, her car. Dependent now on a rickshaw, she braved the journey laden with bundles of washing and parcels until she met with more suitable transport for the hour and a half journey to the land. She, too, succumbed to the virus that was worming into peoples consciousness’s.

Monsoon , that sneakily appeared to have gone, began its retreat from the coast and came back to us with a vengeance. Locals said that it stayed weeks later than in previous years. The roads once more became mud, and my poor husband was trying to dry out wet walls in Swamiji’s house to paint, and not making much headway. Whilst he could not progress, neither could I in preparing the rooms. I battled with the film of grey builders dust that was waiting to greet me anew each morning, over every surface and floor. There was nothing for it but to soldier on as best we could, and to pray.

Whilst this was going on we were still in the process of registering with the Indian authorities and many hours of many precious days were wasted waiting…and waiting…in government buildings. Our furniture and comforts, sent by ship from UK, was sitting in Mumbai port due to a paperwork error. It still is to date!

Whenever Swamiji travels he seems to become very sick. A very real tamasic (dark, heavy) force made every attempt to disrupt the sattwic (uplifting) energy he channels into Master’s work. It was doing its utmost to disrupt our efforts too. All over the world Ananda devotees were praying for his recovery. He is much improved now, I am pleased to tell you.

I will not deny that at times we felt we were banging our heads against a brick wall. Our leaders empathized, and sent their blessing and encouragement from where they were, in Gurgaon, frustrated that they were not able to help, They, too, had their difficulties in Gurgaon, and so no one rested.

But those who are sincere on this path to God must learn to eat disruption for breakfast! We would never make in-roads on our individual spiritual paths, let alone the community path of our extended Ananda family, if we fell at the first hurdle, or even the hundredth come to think of it. Swamiji, weak as he was, insisted on making his trip to join us.

The blessings that came through lessons learned were many, as far as I was concerned. I learned that no matter how I plan my day, Divine Mother will have it Her way. I am no longer attached to eating meals at a set time. If I miss a meal, I miss a meal. No big deal. I thought I was already a patient person. This has been sorely tested. I know I have much to learn. I already know the value of no-strings friendship, and that of being part of a whole; that each facet of the whole is unique and to be respected for being so, even if it may not be wholly understood from where I stand.

Both Michael and I learned the joy of service; the giving of ourselves for no reward other than knowing that all was given for the love of God, in this case through Swamiji.

It has been 6 weeks now since we arrived in India. If we both continue to learn as quickly as we are now, despite all the hardships and tests that are probably as difficult as any we have already faced in this life, then we can honestly say that we would not have missed it for the world!

To see our beloved Swamiji walking up the drive to his house for the first time in over 18 months, sick and weak as he was, it was all worth it; to feel and know Master through him, for the blessings and change for the higher good that cannot help but emanate from this saintly man to all those around him.

A dear friend described to me some time ago what it was like living in Swamiji’s presence. He likened it to a huge whirlwind. We devotees are whipped round and round in the fray, whilst Swamiji calmly observes from the eye, the spiritual eye! Karma is quickened, the lessons are tough, but the rewards are great. The greatest lesson I have learned in this so very short time? That Love can move mountains!

Typasya? Bring it on!

Jai Guru

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By Nayaswami Savitri

11-11-11 — an obviously auspicious day for writing a blog. May all sentient and non-sentient creatures be blessed with inner and outer peace today and always. 

I was/am amazed at the number of favorable responses to my last blog, wherein I told the story of my husband’s broken leg and how we are working our way through that challenge together. 

Sudarshan is much better now, though still not well enough to be able to get back to work. It’s a slow process, but there is, with God and Gurus’ grace, forward progress and healing happening, with every passing day. Thanks to all for your concern and your prayers. 

Today, I want to write about BLAME. Whom should I (or you) blame when things go wrong in our lives? I picked this subject because, aside from the great challenge of a badly injured husband, I have also been experiencing numerous other incidents of what I would have to call “difficult karma,” during the past month or two. 

I am noticing how much I seem to want to blame some person or persons, some situation, or SOMETHING outside myself for the “bad things” that are happening to me. 

I know better! But the impulse is so strong — have you ever noticed it in yourself? “Why did this have to happen to me? Why is this happening to me? Whose fault is this? I’m sure I’ve done nothing at all to deserve this difficult test!” 

Swami Kriyananda gave us the answer in his wonderful “Vow of Superconscious Living,” which he wrote as a part of the original Superconscious Living Seminars, back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. 

It goes like this:

I vow from this day forth,
To be true to my higher, Superconscious Self.
To be a channel of light,
Of blessing and love to all
To live in joy, not sorrow;
In truth, not error;
In victory, not failure
To blame no one in adversity but myself,
And then, instead of blame,
To accept responsibility,
With God’s help,
For changing myself.

See that important line? “… To blame no one in adversity but myself…”  Yikes, do I have to? 

Well, yes, we know, or should know, that the law of karma is exact. Whatever is happening to us is a direct result of our own past actions. If someone is “persecuting me” then this is the natural effect of something I did to him or her, probably in a recent lifetime — maybe even in this one! Things are simply trying to balance themselves out. Perfect peace and harmony are trying to be re-established. 

And we must NEVER forget the rest of the words in this Vow: “… and then instead of blame, to accept responsibility, with God’s help, for changing myself.” 

That’s the ticket! Karma is going to come, until we are free of it (“O Happy Day!”). But in the meantime, difficult karma is a super tool for getting us to look at ourselves and change ourselves! In this way we speed up our spiritual progress. 

Granted, difficult karma can feel pretty icky! Probably the ickier it feels, the more we need to look at it carefully and learn from it. Still, sometimes it feels impossible to deal with effectively! What to do then? 

Go on to these words in the Vow: “… with God’s help…” You don’t have to do it alone! You probably can’t anyway, if the karma is bad enough. But help is available at all times. Ask for it! 

This is what I am doing right now and it’s working pretty well. It isn’t over yet, and I’m still learning many valuable lessons from this time in my life, for which I am grateful! After all, life is a school. Yogananda tells us that the purpose of everything in our lives is “to instruct and to entertain.” 

So Savitri, “Who ‘ya gonna blame???” You know, I think I’ll just let go of this blame-thing altogether for the next few hours, give it all back to God, and live in the LIGHT of my own inevitable perfection. Wow, it feels really great just typing those words. Jai Guru! 

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