Happy New Year! Do you find this wish pleasing, if somewhat shallow? Indeed, it’s a common seasonal wish, but one that is often empty of content, a social custom, habitually repeated millions of times over the festive season. Together as Daily Meditators, however, let’s charge these words “Happy New Year” with power and meaning, with intention and truth. 2018 has … Read More
Are the teachings of our major religions really different—Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam? In focusing too narrowly on the details are we missing the point? Many paths lead to one truth is central to the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, an Indian Saint who came to American in 1920. Today, saying “We’re all one; it’s all the same,”’ could be a … Read More
The week after Thanksgiving I had my annual week of seclusion. Seclusion is a personal retreat: a retreat where one is alone with God in prayer and meditation. This time I didn’t even go out for a walk or a run, though I did more chores around the Hermitage house than I have in past years: cleaning, mostly.
We occasionally are asked, “Why is the picture of Jesus Christ on the altar and why are the teachings of the bible emphasized at Ananda?” We celebrate the birth, life and teachings of Jesus Christ because we are inspired by the explanation and insight given to us by our preceptor, Paramhansa Yogananda.
Just twenty-six years ago this month I wrote a very special song, one that has remained for many people a favorite among my compositions. I still recall repeatedly wiping away the tears that I might see to write. It was a carol, and I gave it the name, “The Christmas Mystery.”
Anything that prevents us from seeing life with dispassion, and therefore objectively, obscures the inner light and limits our receptivity.
We cannot overcome today’s challenges by meeting them at the level that they exist, we must rise above them to find superconscious solutions. I spent the last fifteen years working for humanitarian organizations, striving to provide education, dignity, and opportunity to disenfranchised populations around the world. Progress in the realm of the human condition has been incredible since the Millennium … Read More
High in the mountains of Northern California stood a tiny cabin on the crest of a ridge with a hawk-eye view of the Middle Fork of the great Yuba River. The cabin was filled with all sorts of relics and instruments. The kitchen had a deep sink and a curvy steel pipe that transported water from a spring-fed tank on … Read More
I grew up in the Los Angeles region, Pacific Palisades specifically. I wanted to learn to meditate while in college at Lewis & Clark in Portland, Oregon in 1976. I was directed to Ananda as a legitimate place to learn how to meditate. People at Ananda, I was told, meditated as a way of life, fully integrating it into daily … Read More
“The Gauntlet” was a stretch of sidewalk at my college campus lined with booths preaching the world’s religions. Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Jews advertised. Interspersed between them, if eternal salvation wasn’t enough, one could get good deals on gym memberships and credit cards too! I spent most of my time at the Mormon booth because they had free brownies. … Read More
