50th Anniversary Celebration of Ananda – 1969 to 2019
The celebration we had at Ananda Village in late June and early July of 2019 was probably the most amazing event in the history of Ananda. Over 700 to 900 of our spiritual family visited Ananda Village during the weeklong celebrations of Ananda’s 50 year anniversary. One of the best parts of the celebration was – for the first time in Ananda’s history – being able to have everyone seated together inside the newly completed Temple Of Light! And comfortably so!
Sharing the blessing of being with so many of our spiritual family from all over the world was an amazing experience. The vibration of all of us being together was felt deeply – during the meditations, the classes and meals, as well as the evening events. Everything flowed smoothly from moving in and out of the Temple, to serving the meals, to parking and walking to events, as well as to having time to simply talk with many friends we don’t often see.
With so many people in one place at one time, we weren’t sure during the planning of the event if everything would work well – but it did, and beautifully so!
Temple of Light, Ananda Village
In 2017, the Ananda Janaka Foundation had the great blessing of being able to offer a $200,000 Grant for building the new Temple of Light at Ananda Village. The Grant was fulfilled over a 2 year period with $100,000 given in 2018, and the additional $100,000 given in 2019. This final Grant amount helped in the final stages of both construction and of completing the Temple in time for the 50th Anniversary event.
The Temple of Light has been an incredible way for Ananda to be able to “express our ideals in architecture”, as Paramhansa Yogananda once suggested to do. It has been a great joy for the Ananda Janaka Foundation to be able to make this Grant in support of the Temple, and also in support of the ideals of Ananda. This Temple is also dedicated to the great religions of the world. There are niches around the edge of the sanctuary containing symbols for each religion, and symbolizing the underlying unity of all true religions.
Ananda Rhode Island Center
The Ananda Rhode Island center leaders and members bought a small church building several years ago to use as a center location. Since then they have been developing it into a beautiful center for devotees in their area and beyond. At this point, the Rhode Island Center is the only location that owned by an Ananda group on the East coast.
The Ananda Janaka Foundation was able to give a grant to the center this year that enabled them to finish up some final projects on the building, both outside and the interior. These projects have made it a comfortable place for devotees to gather for classes, events, and services, as well as some social time together.
