Last weekend I wrote an email to my family, sharing with them about the lifetime monastic vow that I took on Christmas Eve at Ananda Village.
In the email, I wrote, …
A Place Called Ananda, Spiritual Growth
A Place Called Ananda, Spiritual Growth
Why Be Grateful? — Thoughts from Thanksgiving
There was a time in my life, which ended relatively recently, when I simply couldn’t appreciate why people thought gratitude was so important. At least, I didn’t resonate with the way most people expressed it. When I came onto the spiritual path, however, I found that there are actually different kinds of gratitude. The normal kind is gratitude for things … Read More
A Place Called Ananda, Spiritual Community, Spiritual Growth
Writing Swami Kriyananda’s Website
In 2005 I was asked to create the Swami Kriyananda website as part of my work with Ananda’s outreach ministry. It will probably remain one of the best writing projects I’ll ever work on, though I continue to write for 60 years or more. Particularly amusing — and also indicative of Ananda’s good character in the way it serves its … Read More
A Place Called Ananda, Spiritual Growth
No Regrets
When I was in high school, a friend of mine said to our class, “My goal for this year is that I want to have no regrets.” “That isn’t something you can achieve through your actions,” I thought, in an unusually insightful moment. “Who can act perfectly? Having no regrets has to be a consequence of a decision you make!” … Read More
A Place Called Ananda, Spiritual Community
What Makes Something a Success? (The Story of an Ananda-Style Photo Shoot)
What do you think makes for success? Is it an end result? Or is it the way we do something?
This blog post is simple: it’s the story of a photo shoot done by a group of young adults living at Ananda Village. There’s a burgeoning youth movement within Ananda now…
A Place Called Ananda, Spiritual Growth
Daily Inspiration
Have you ever clicked on “Daily Inspiration,” near the top of any page on www.ananda.org? If you have, you’ll have seen a saying taken from the book Do It Now!, probably with a related talk by Swami Kriyananda. The sayings are short, inspiring, and extremely practical.
I suppose there’s some cosmic law at work here, …
A Place Called Ananda, Divine Love
The Job of the Guru
Tuesday night was for me the last night of a several-day seclusion—one that is ending more or less as I write this blog post. (The time-honored practice of seclusion is one of silence and of being alone with God.) During this seclusion, I spent some time outdoors, some time meditating (of course!), some time sleeping (too much?), and some other … Read More
A Place Called Ananda, Spiritual Community
Ananda’s Future
On August 31st I was honored to be a part of something wonderful and new at Ananda: the start of a dynamic youth movement. Over 20 young people from Ananda centers around the world hosted a lunch-and-concert fundraiser at Ananda’s Institute of Alternative Living and Meditation Retreat. It marked the first time that a large group of Ananda’s youth had … Read More
A Place Called Ananda, Music and the Arts
Dramatic Improvisation for Fun and Spiritual Upliftment
I played the part of a Self-realized master last Thursday.
A small group of us at Ananda Village had gathered to do theater improv “for fun and spiritual upliftment.” One improvisation game we played went like this: 4 people got on stage, each inventing a character with a specific level of consciousness. …
A Place Called Ananda, Spiritual Growth
Smoke, Clouds; Moods, Depression; and Freedom
I was sitting outside, feeling sorry for myself. “Nabha, you’ve got to drive away the smoke.” Huh? I looked up. “Nabha, you’ve got to drive away the smoke!” A friend at Ananda Village was saying this to me. With fires all over Northern California, even though none had come close to us, there had been smoke in the air for … Read More
