What Is
Ananda?
Ananda is dedicated to the belief, born of experience, that you can live in joy. We teach effective techniques for expanding your sense of self, such as meditation, Kriya Yoga, spiritual Hatha Yoga, and divine friendship.
More About Ananda
Stay in Touch
Be a Warrior for the Light
“God’s light is within me and around me. With the sword of faith in my hand, with the love of God in my heart, I am a warrior of light. I join my brothers and sisters everywhere to overcome fear with faith, hatred with love, and disease with health. We all are warriors of light. We fill the world with God’s light.”
A Call for Prayers
Live sessions every day (listed in India Standard Time). Join your energies with others to bring more light, more solace to our loved ones, to our larger family, and to the entire world.
Campaign for World Healing
Every Thursday at 8:00 am PDT / 5:00 pm CEST / 8:30 pm IST, Ananda centers in the U.S., India, and Italy host a gathering to meditate, affirm, and visualize light and harmony in the world.
Join our annual Spiritual Renewal Week and deepen the joy within. Click the button below to enroll. You can use an existing account or create a new one if you don’t have one already.
Once you’re registered, you can access the Spiritual Renewal Week event page, retrieve links for the morning talks, and watch the recordings by clicking the button below:
Our Inspiration
Paramhansa Yogananda has been called the father of yoga and meditation in the West. His Autobiography helped spark and inspire a spiritual revolution across the world. Among the over three-hundred (influential spiritual voices) I interviewed about their key spiritual influences, a high percentage named a book, and by far the book most often mentioned was Yogananda’s unique memoir.Phil Goldberg, American Veda
At the request of Yogananda, Swami Kriyananda dedicated his life to lecturing and writing, and has also produced hundreds of pieces of music, to help others to find joy within. More
With the passing of Swami Kriyananda in 2013, Nayaswami Jyotish was named by Kriyananda as his spiritual successor. Jyotishji met Swami Kriyananda in 1966, working closely with him and his wife, Devi (who came to Ananda in 1969), to build Ananda’s work around the world. Both Nayaswamis Jyotish and Devi were named kriyacharyas by Swami Kriyananda, and disseminate the liberating and ancient Kriya Yoga technique of Paramhansa Yogananda’s lineage. More
Meditation & Kriya Yoga
Learn to Meditate
Meditation is a technique for personal growth that has been practiced for thousands of years around the world with repeatable results. There is no aspect of your life that cannot be improved by meditation, whether it be in business, relationships, or health. The highest purpose of meditation, however, is to discover your Highest Self.
We offer a free, five-day email series for a basic overview of how to meditate, specifying posture options, where and when to meditate, and a simple, effective technique. Signup includes a subscription to our weekly newsletter of inspiration and events.
Online Course: Ananda Course in Meditation
Whether or not you are new to meditation, this course will help you develop a deep and consistent practice. With ample feedback from meditators with decades of experience and your own persistence, you will awaken your true nature: a pure reflection of divine peace, joy, and love.
Ananda is known for its expertise in meditation, and for almost 50 years has trained teachers in techniques grounded in the highest yogic practices of India, as brought to the West by Paramhansa Yogananda.
Kriya Yoga
Kriya Yoga is an ancient meditation technique of energy and breath control, or pranayama. It is also a comprehensive spiritual path of additional meditation practices and guidance for living.
The Kriya technique is given through personal initiation by one of our Kriya Yogacharyas. Initiation requires preparation through practice of other meditation techniques and study of Paramhansa Yogananda’s teachings.
Learn More
Community
Let us join together in this wave of social transformation, and through our practice of meditation create a spirit of global unity that can lead to lasting peace.Nayaswami Devi
Connect Online
Ananda is very active online: Live events, satsangs, group guided meditations, and personal support through email and chat. Learn More
Find a Local Center
Ananda has over 150 centers and meditation groups in over 45 countries which offer group meditations and classes. Learn More
Experience Community
Ananda has developed eight communities in the US, Europe, and India. Many offer internships where you can stay and experience community firsthand. Learn More
What’s New
Recent Posts and Videos
Ahimsa: Cruelty-Free Living
Dear Friend, I am curious to ask whether traditional Indian instruments, for example, sitar or vina and even drums, were made with any animal by-products. I would have thought NOT! Your question is one that your conscience alone can answer. ... Read More
What Will the -Autobiography of a Yogi- Do for Me?
Dear Friend, You are indeed a student and you are asking practical questions related to your goal of education. Well done! Many years ago when I first met Swami Kriyananda (a direct disciple of Yogananda and the founder of Ananda worldwide), ... Read More
How to Learn the AUM Technique
Dear Cecile, At Ananda the AUM technique is the third technique given in The Path of Kriya Yoga. Techniques are taught in sequence because one builds upon the others. First one learns the Energization and Hong Sau techniques and the ... Read More
I Am Initiated Elsewhere but Want to Learn Kriya Yoga
Dear Jayanti, Age is no barrier to taking kriya initiation. Initiation into kriya yoga is diksha, initiation by the guru. It is more than just a meditation technique. If you are happy with what you are doing and feel loyal ... Read More
Do I Need to Open the Lower Chakras Before Concentrating on the Spiritual Eye?
Dear Tannah, You might be new, but who knows, maybe some ancient knowledge is just surfacing in you. I say this because your “constant pull” towards meditation and the third eye is an inner voice of deep wisdom. Yogis are ... Read More
How Many Spiritual Laws Are There?
Dear Friend, You ask an interesting question. When we refer to the law of gravity, for example, we are simply referring to a cause and effect relationship that is so unfailing consistent that we bestow the title of law to ... Read More
Very Sensitive to Thoughts and Energy Around Me
Dear Sailesh, I encourage you to strengthen your aura, your energy field around you, and to learn to live from your center. As you describe it, your aura has become quite permeable to others’ thoughts and feelings and you have ... Read More
Contacting One Who Has Left This World
Dear Friend, Paramhansa Yogananda wrote a lesson on the process of death and life in the astral world. I offer to you some excerpts specifically related to contacting a loved one. You mustn’t “play with” such techniques except in relation ... Read More
What Does the Symbol of a Line and a Dot Mean?
Dear Anna, I too believe that the universe speaks through symbols, signs, and unusual events, to those who are open to such messages. For your symbol: I am not an expert, but I will try to interpret it. The dot ... Read More
Is It Okay to Have Physical Relationships with Many People?
Dear Open and Honest Friend! The promise of sex and romance “makes the world go round!” With the human body’s refined senses of touch and sight, the garden of sexual delights invites many people, especially in the youthful glow of ... Read More
Online Events
“Whispers from Eternity” — a Daily Broadcast of Inspiration
Jun 21 12:00 pm PDT • Jun 21 19:00 GMT • Jun 22 00:30 IST
Treasures Virtual Satsang
Jun 21 5:00 pm PDT • Jun 22 00:00 GMT • Jun 22 05:30 IST
“Whispers from Eternity” — a Daily Broadcast of Inspiration
Jun 22 12:00 pm PDT • Jun 22 19:00 GMT • Jun 23 00:30 IST
Conversations with Yogananda
Jun 22 7:30 pm PDT • Jun 23 02:30 GMT • Jun 23 08:00 IST
Weekly Guided Kriya Meditation
Jun 23 5:30 am PDT • Jun 23 12:30 GMT • Jun 23 18:00 IST
Whispers From Eternity: An Exploration of Prayer and Poetry
Jun 23 8:15 am PDT • Jun 23 15:15 GMT • Jun 23 20:45 IST
“Whispers from Eternity” — a Daily Broadcast of Inspiration
Jun 23 12:00 pm PDT • Jun 23 19:00 GMT • Jun 24 00:30 IST
“Whispers from Eternity” — a Daily Broadcast of Inspiration
Jun 24 12:00 pm PDT • Jun 24 19:00 GMT • Jun 25 00:30 IST
“Whispers from Eternity” — a Daily Broadcast of Inspiration
Jun 25 12:00 pm PDT • Jun 25 19:00 GMT • Jun 26 00:30 IST
Sunday Service
Jun 27 10:00 am PDT • Jun 27 17:00 GMT • Jun 27 22:30 IST
Sunday Worship Service
Jun 27 10:00 am PDT • Jun 27 17:00 GMT • Jun 27 22:30 IST
“Whispers from Eternity” — a Daily Broadcast of Inspiration
Jun 28 12:00 pm PDT • Jun 28 19:00 GMT • Jun 29 00:30 IST
Treasures Virtual Satsang
Jun 28 5:00 pm PDT • Jun 29 00:00 GMT • Jun 29 05:30 IST
Featured
International Day of Yoga
Behind every desire lays hidden a universal need to lift and expand our consciousness
– to live in a spirit of joy and inner freedom.
Who am I, really and what’s the purpose of my life?
How can I truly be happy?
These questions have echoed throughout the ages in every heart. Whether consciously or not, our motivation to seek wealth, love, and any measure of outward success stems from an inner longing to experience life’s deeper essence.
Alas, our outward experiences never fully satisfy us – leaving us hungry for ‘that something else.’ Where does one turn to discover true, ever-lasting joy?
The great yoga masters remind us to look within to discover our true, Divine potential. And the ancient science of Raja Yoga leads us not only to greater peace and harmony – but to our own Self-Realization!
En Español: Formación de Profesor de Meditación
Fórmate como profesor de meditación.
Profundiza en tu propia práctica de meditación y aprende cómo ayudar a otros a establecer la suya y a aprovechar los muchos beneficios que la meditación ofrece.
Thank You, God – Tithing as a Spiritual Practice
Tithing is a spiritual practice, a conscious expression of gratitude given without condition to the source of your inspiration– God. We invite you to try it. Hear the stories of others but test this teaching in your own life and see what transpires.
Your support is a blessing for all
Ananda is a beacon of light, breaking through the darkness of this world with the universal teachings of Self-realization.
Thank you for being a part of this community of souls who support each other on our path to God.
