This weekend is the annual Ananda retreat in honor of Paramhansa Yogananda’s Mahasamadhi, here in Gurgaon, India. It’s such a joy to practice meditation and Kriya Yoga with people from all over the world: India, America, South Africa, and nearly every European country. Seeing the harmony and love between the people here shows how easy it would be to achieve … Read More
We arrived in Delhi four days ago after fourteen hours of flying and four hours of driving – Zack, one of the monks at Ananda India, picked us up. Once we were on our way to the Ananda center in Gurgaon, he said, “Well, I don’t know if you guys are up for it, seeing as how you just got in, but in five minutes we’re starting a six hour meditation…”
We awoke this morning to a wonderful quiet blanket of snow covering the landscape. After meditation I went out to clear and area in the back garden so I could feed our wild bird population and heard the distant rumble of Prakash’s tractor. “Ah,” I said to myself, “Divine Mother is once again clearing the roads for us.” Despite 7 … Read More
This past weekend I was in the Seattle area on personal business and arranged to attend Sunday Service in the new Seattle Mandir. Prior to moving to Ananda Village near Nevada City, I had attended the Ananda Seattle church for many years and lived for 2 years in the Ananda community. I remember the first time I visited Ananda Assisi … Read More
My wife Suzanne recently had a surgery, which she is still recovering from. She had to stay at the hospital for three days and now she continues to recover at home for a few more weeks. The outpouring of love and prayers from our friends at our community before, during and after the surgery continues to amaze and inspire me. … Read More
This website is called “A Place Called Ananda,” but what and where is that place? A dream I once had offers some explanation, as does my first Christmas meditation.
In the dream, a friend was telling me that Ananda is like a lake of consciousness, filled with joy and reflecting all the colors of the rainbow. I only very rarely share spiritual dreams, but this one illustrates so well […]
As director of Ananda’s Kriya Sangha, I’ve had the great good fortune of hearing from countless Kriya Yogis from around the world. These wonderful souls have shared with me their stories about the extraordinary growth that comes from following the Path of Kriya. In the coming months I’ll share some of those conversations with you. It is my hope that … Read More
Swami Shankarananda Giri, who directs a large Kriya Yoga work in Northern India (Rishikesh and Bubaneshwar ashrams) visited Ananda Village last week. His guru was a disciple of Sri Yukteswar Giri, so you could roughly say he is a spiritual cousin of Swami Kriyananda. In fact he stated, during our community satsang at Hansa Mandir, that he and Swami Kriyananda … Read More
We had our traditional Christmas Eve service at Ananda Village. Our dear friend Lila Devi, who was the mastermind of the evening, weaved the story of the birth of Jesus with stories, music and theatre. It was magical and very moving. The community center was filled with residents and many guests. The evening ended with offering of candles to the … Read More
Today we had a sweet (sweet in Spirit! though there was also pumpkin pie) dinner at the Meditation Retreat. This was my second year here for it, and both years what I have enjoyed most is serving together with spiritual family.
