Dear Friend, “I am ever with those who practice Kriya. I will guide you to the Cosmic Home through your enlarging perceptions.” Lahiri Mahasaya’s immortal promise is engraved on a plaque in the entryway to a meditation mandir dedicated to the great master. Lahiri’s words remind all who enter to open themselves in loving self-offering to receive the blessings endlessly … Read More
The recent anniversary of Swami Kriyananda meeting Paramhansa Yogananda caused me to pause and reflect on my own, vastly insignificant by comparison, spiritual anniversary. In August, 1981, I found myself walking swiftly down a steep dirt path, rudely bypassing others in order to be the first in line to arrive at Swamiji’s residence. During that period, he hosted weekend teas … Read More
I am lost, Father, in the wastelands of wrong beliefs. Where is my home? I have kept the doors of my soul always open, expecting Thee. Ah! I have not yet found Thee. Rise high in the sky to illuminate my darkness: Be the Polestar to my searching mind, directing me to Thyself. For therein, I know, lies my home! … Read More
I came to Ananda Village in May this year. Having been here for almost five months now, I can add my testimony to many others in stating, “There is no place like Ananda!” No wonder Swami Kriyananda used to say, ”Ananda is perhaps the best kept secret in the world.” Paramhansa Yogananda’s book, Autobiography of a Yogi, has been able … Read More
Birthdays have always been a relatively big deal in my family. There was always a party, cake, presents, a fun activity. But this was my first year in college in living away from my parents (although not that far away), and the first year where I spent almost my entire birthday with people who didn’t know me and didn’t know … Read More
Dear Friend, What are we who seek God to do when darkness comes into our own lives, or into the lives of those we love—when we feel helpless in the face of human suffering: our own, or another’s? In A Renunciate Order for the New Age, Swamiji points the way with clarity and compassion: “The old renunciate order tended easily … Read More
I don’t take Divine Mother’s assistance for granted, but Her record with me on the highway is pretty impressive. I was with a female friend in San Francisco, on the way to the flower mart to get bouquets for a big event, when—BAM!—a tire blew. Very dramatic. I pulled into a gas station at the same time a man I … Read More
to discover that I love myself more than God does not help for love of beauty for love of wealth to live for action to live for self the joy of emotion the joy of another of devotion to creed of devotion to mother all veiled joy for me to see the source of Love, eternally I speak as a … Read More
Seeking a way forward from the destructive selfishness of ego-centered human nature and its resultant clan warfare, Kristar, the true disciple in Swamiji’s play “The Peace Treaty”, goes to his guru, the wise old hermit. The hermit’s advice: go to a quiet place, meditate, find the solution within. In the secret grotto, Kristar comes upon Gazella, who also frequents the … Read More
Dear Friend, At a recent gathering in Hansa Temple at Ananda Village, we listened to Somnath and Sarita Ghosh, Yogananda’s grand-nephew and his wife, as they spoke of Master’s (Yogananda’s) boyhood in the Ghosh ancestral home at 4 Gurpar Road (watch a video of the gathering). Sarita, as a young bride, would seek out her father-in-law, Hare Krishna Ghosh, to … Read More
