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How
Different Ananda Members Are
Responding to the War in Iraq
Ananda Village
is a living experiment in Paramhansa Yogananda's 'How-to-Live' principles.
Yogananda often said that 'true teaching is individual'. True principals
are universal, of course, but the manner in which different people
respond to crisis can, and should, be individual. Below, we share
what different Ananda Sangha staff members have found helpful in
dealing with the war in Iraq and the disharmonious energies in the
world.
We invite you
to e-mail your own positive solution to us at sangha@ananda.org.
Keep your note short (a few sentences), and let us know if we can
post your comment, with your name, on this page. Time and space
won't allow us to post all comments, but we will share some here.
Ananda Sangha
Staff Members Share Their
Responses to the War in Iraq
"I've tried
praying a number of ways for the war situation. The prayer that
brings me the most joy and an expanding sense of peace is simply
to pray that the light of our Masters flood the situation and drive
away all darkness. Almost of its own accord, the prayer also becomes
a visualization."
—Sheila Rush
"Three times
a day I do a visualization of the world surrounded by a layer of glimmering
white light, so that it looks like a ball both receiving and emanating
light, like a ball with glowing with white light all around it. Then
I visualize the region around Iraq particularly, and see the soldiers,
civilians, children, parents, all open to that light, receiving that
light, and receiving peace, in their hearts. Then I chant silently,
"Rest in God, live in God, in His light, in His light."
"I chose Overcoming
Stress and Fear for April Treasures
Along the Path with the hopes that this talk would help people
use the tools Swami Kriyananda talks about to get centered about the
fear and stress they were feeling as a result of the war. I am looking
to choose May with that same idea in mind. I will be telling members
in my April Treasures letter to remember to pray for peace, continue
to act as instruments of light, and to go to Ananda's website and
do the prayer visualizations on the home page."
—Diana Down for Treasures Along the Path
"Before
the Iraqi war, I was praying for a peaceful solution or at least
a non-war alternative. Now that war has begun, I am praying for
the soldiers over there; the Iraqi people, who suffer because of
all the death and destruction around them; and I pray for the leaders
on both sides to act wisely. I've been involved in the Thursday
prayer vigil, and individual healing prayers. My constant prayer
is for the war to end quickly with as little bloodshed as possible."
—John
Lenti
"During our
Thursday Prayers for Peace I look into the eyes of a big photo of
Yogananda, draw his vibration and then think of the soldiers on the
battlefield being blessed by this vibration. Also, looking at the
photo of Yogananda with his hands upraised in blessing (the garden
party photo), I visualize him sending his blessings and light to Iraq
and the whole world for peace."
—Dianna
Smith
Ananda Kriya Ministry
"The media
coverage brings the war to us every moment, filling us with all the
pain and suffering involved. To keep a balance, prayer and a strong
positive action was obviously needed. One action I took was to plant
strawberries for all my clustermates. Doing something for others is
always uplifting to oneself and, obviously, to others. Prayer is a
great answer."
Bless you all,
—Seva Wiberg
"I have signed
up through The Presidential Prayer Team to pray for one of our troops.
They sent me his name and the branch of the service and I pray for
him daily. I visualize him being filled with light, courage and strength,
knowing that he is not alone, that he is cared for and being prayed
for. I see this light coming from the Masters to him. You can pray
for one of our troops by going to: http://www.presidentialprayerteam.org/PPT_Troops.html"
—Kathleen Rainbow
"You asked
us this morning to send you a brief note on how each of us is
actively spreading the light.
"This has
made me even more conscious of the energy I put out. My job is mostly
behind the scenes here to leverage technology in assisting all of
you to do your jobs.
"When I
work on a web page or send an email, or print out some brochure,
I ask the Masters to bless it as a small ray of light out to all
with whom it comes in contact. I envision people feeling love from
the web pages and signing up for something they feel Ananda can
offer them. I also look for new ways we can use technology to economically
expand our offerings."
—Kent
Williams
"Clipping
photos from the New York Times e-mail headline news and putting them
on my altar has been helpful as a focus for prayer. Sending light
there is the most important thing we can do."
—Kristy Dewey
"At the Ananda
Meditation Retreat, we are dedicating the month of April, 2003 as
the "Season of Peace", with prayer vigils for world peace
being held in our temple all month, special discounts for those who
take retreats during this time, and an opportunity to join together
with spiritual seekers to pray, meditate and become a beacon of light
during this time of world crisis. Visit us online at www.meditationretreat.org
or call (530) 292-3024 for more information."
—Sara Cryer for The Meditation Retreat
"At first
I was very pulled to watch the news about the war, and I did reach
a certain level of overload. At that point I realized I shouldn't
watch the news at the end of the day before bed, but instead I should
catch up with it in the morning. Now when I listen to the news, I
am primarily concerned with what prayers are needed next. For instance,
I was very concerned for the POW's, and I spend time praying for them
as their identities are made known. They need our prayers very much.
I also pray that the troops be protected by Light, and I visualize
Babaji and Christ right there in the desert, guiding the choices in
each moment.
"I also
find it very helpful to visualize a vast presence of Babaji sitting
in lotus posture over the city of Baghdad. I feel that this prayer
helps to invoke His presence there, protecting innocent citizens
of that city. (And I feel a sense of blessing in doing the prayer.)
And just as a bright light casts out darkness, it can help drive
out the powerful influence of dark or brutal souls from that area.
This, again, ultimately protects the innocent people, and hopefully
the battles will continue to occur outside the city, and not within
it. Ultimately I visualize Light and Peace, and the details of the
prayers can change with events as they come.
"The Masters
are all powerful, but our prayers invite and invoke their participation.
I truly feel our prayers are needed in this process—we need
to choose Light for this world. The Masters have already chosen
Light—they are one with the Light, but we need to make that
choice day by day, moment by moment and say, "Please Come."
And Master's prayer says it all, "Lord, give us Thyself that
we may give Thee to all." We need to serve as instruments of
Light and healing...we need to care enough to pray for that Light
to come more fully."
—Mary
Kretzmann
"I've been
praying much more: For political leaders. For U.S. troops. For all
the people of Iraq. I
also remember what Master said in his Autobiography of a Yogi—that
Babaji and Christ are working out the salvation of our planet in this
age. I find it very helpful to pray to Babaji and Christ regularly.
More and more I have complete trust that this situation is in their
hands, no matter how bad it may look at times."
—Dave Warner
"Often at
the close of meditation, I sit with my hands out in front of me, at
about eye level, with the palms of my hands turned up and cupped together,
as though I were holding a ball or waiting for water to pour into
my cupped hands. Then I visualize a miniature Earth being held up
in my hands, held up to Divine Light pouring down all over it, bathing
it with peace. Sometimes, while doing this, I
sing "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" with several
"made-up" verses like "He's got all of Iraq in His
hands..." or "He's got all the armed forces in His hands...."
I don't listen to much news, but when I do, I pray constantly and
send healing light and peace to every situation I hear about. Most
of all, I affirm: "Peace within brings peace without, so let
inner peace begin with me through meditation... and let me share that
inner peace as much as possible with everyone whom I meet or with
whom I have any form of contact today!"
—Savitri Simpson
"Since I don't
have a radio, television, computer or get a newspaper, it is quite
easy for me to remain relatively untouched by world events. It is
much easier this way to stay focused on those things which count in
life."
—Peggy Grady
"It is impossible
to know all the forces that are at play and what truly is
happening with the war in Iraq. The karma of a situation of this proportion
is very intricate and vast in it’s complexity—from a cosmic
level of Light and Dark all the way to the individuals involved. My
prayer is this: 1) That those involved making decisions at every level
of this conflict be consciously guided by God’s will, or even
if unknowingly, directed by His will. 2) For Divine Mother to “protect
the innocent”. May She protect those whose good karma is not
enough to save them from the mass karma they may find themselves a
part of."
—Krishna Das LoCicero
Friends of
Ananda Share Their Responses to the War in Iraq
"I have
always found that singing Swami Kriyananda's music and chanting
Master's chants has helped me stay centered during troubled times.
I feel the music takes me back into OM. Master said that "nothing
can touch you if you stay in OM"."
—Jayanti Manning
"At the end
of all my yoga classes, during savasana, I have my students focus
on filling their bodies with peace, light, energy, etc. Then we sit
for a few moments afterwards feeling that quality deep inside each
of us. Then focusing on the entire planet, visualizing it very clearly,
surrounding it completely, we send that quality out to all, chanting
aum three times. I remind us all (including me) that peace truly does
start with each of us—that we must feel that peace within ourselves
before any change can take place in the world."
—Brenda Andrews
"When the
talk of war began in the fall, I began chanting Babaji's name in my
meditations. I once spent a whole hour chanting His name in my head
during a group meditation—a tremendous sense of peace came over
me. Whenever I become upset about the war, I think of Babaji's role
in the future of the world. When I get upset at the administration,
I mentally chant Babaji's name or ask Divine Mother to send the president
peace and harmony. I am working very hard on replacing negative thoughts
about the war and our presidential administration with thoughts of
Master and/or Babaji.
"During
our local peace march, I focused on peace and harmony for all. Thank
you for providing this positive forum for dealing with this very
difficult issue."
— Love and Peace
Kathleen Pelley
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