Toward the end of his life, Swami Kriyananda would often remark, “I feel so blissful, I can hardly contain it.” We had seen him maintain a joyful spirit during many difficult times: temples collapsing or burning down, car accidents, health crises. No matter what was happening around him, Swamiji demonstrated that it didn’t have the power to touch his inner … Read More
The big news here is Ananda’s Spiritual Fair being held this weekend, 9/24-25, 10am-6pm, Delhi time. They’ve rented a big facility with three large halls to hold non-stop classes and workshops. There will also be about a dozen booths. This has been in the planning stage for months with 250 volunteers involved in different aspects of it. Large billboards and … Read More
Paramhansa Yogananda began his Autobiography of a Yogi with these words: “The characteristic features of Indian culture have long been a search for eternal verities and the concomitant disciple-guru relationship.” For the Master to introduce his spiritual classic in this way shows the vital importance, in fact the inescapability, of discipleship in the search for God. Sept. 12, 1948 was … Read More
“Kriya Yoga in action is the name Swami Kriyananda chose for himself: joy through Kriya, joy through action. We are that crowd of souls that were drawn to Master through Swami Kriyananda’s discipleship. What are the qualities of Swami’s discipleship? Humility and lack of any sense of importance—the constant thought that this life is not meant to be lived solely … Read More
A few days ago we participated in a very inspiring event. At our Ananda community near Assisi, Italy, we held a world peace conference with a Japanese organization, The World Peace Prayer Society, that promotes the Fuji Declaration, “calling for the rebirth of humanity’s sacred spirit and a new civilization in which all life is connected as one.” Devi and … Read More
Dear Friends, We’d like to share with you some highlights of our visit to Ananda Assisi before we leave Italy for India on Sept. 7. Right now we’re relaxing in Ostia for a few days with friends: Kirtani, Anand, Shivani, Arjuna, and Uma, and soon will be joined by Narya and Laura Tosetto. Ostia, a beautiful seaside town (now a … Read More
In the early years of Ananda Village, Kirtani was part of the team of devotees who helped to establish the organic vegetable gardens there. Now a nayaswami and director of the Ananda Community near Assisi, Italy, Kirtani shared a beautiful story with us recently during our visit there. One of the tasks for all the gardeners in those early days … Read More
According to the ancient teachings of India, there is a great repeating historical cycle of four ages, called the yugas, which lasts 24,000 years. For 12,000 years the consciousness of man rises to its height, and then begins a 12,000-year descent into darkness. Our current age, Dwapara, is in the ascending half of this cycle. It started in 1700 and … Read More
We’ve been having a very inspiring time in Assisi. We arrived last Thursday, had a quiet day, then jumped into activities on Saturday with a Kriya Initiation for about 150 people which was translated in at least three languages. Sunday Service had a crowd overflowing the temple on all sides. Afterwards we went to the new Temple of Joy site … Read More
We are all doing fine after the earthquake. As far as I know there was no damage to anything or anyone at Ananda, although there was some loss of life (6 people) and significant damage in areas quite close to here. Apparently it was a 6.2 or 6.4 earthquake and rather shallow. We definitely felt it at about 3:30 this … Read More
In Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda describes the scene in which he had his first experience in this lifetime of cosmic consciousness. It occurred when Swami Sri Yukteswar, his guru, tapped him lightly on the chest over the heart, and the breath was drawn out of him. Yogananda writes: “An oceanic joy broke upon calm endless shores of my … Read More
The first of three great waves of blessing for mankind began in 1861 in the Himalayas. It was then that the great avatar Babaji initiated his disciple, Lahiri Mahasaya, into the yogic science of Kriya Yoga. As he was about to return to his job and family, Lahiri pleaded to Babaji, “I pray that you permit me to communicate Kriya … Read More
It was a bitterly cold winter, and the men were starving and ragged. Many of them were barefoot, and all of them without hope. The year was 1776, the low point for the Americans in the Revolutionary War against England, and General George Washington was struggling against overwhelming odds.
In 1974 I went on a trip around the world with Swami Kriyananda. Our small group started the journey by flying from San Francisco to Hawaii. While there, we had dinner at the ashram of Subramuniyaswami on the island of Kauai. The meeting between Swami Kriyananda and Subramuniyaswami was a delight to behold. They were like twin souls, both having … Read More
People frequently ask us, “Why have you followed the spiritual path for your whole life?” There are many answers to that question, but a big one is: “It brings me inner freedom.” By this I mean, freedom to change negative patterns that have kept me in their clutches; freedom to respond with calmness and kindness even when others are angry … Read More
There were only a few occasions when Swami Kriyananda corrected me strongly. At the time, I thought he was “upset” with me, but later I realized that wasn’t really true. It was rather that I needed something strong enough to break through any resistance I might have had. Here is a story about one of those times. It was in … Read More
“This is all I was able to rescue from our house before the fire forced me out,” Jyotish said as he handed me a small cardboard container slightly larger than a shoebox. It was the end of a long day on June 28, 1976. The forest fire that had started that morning, and that burnt Ananda Village to the ground, … Read More
We visited Ananda’s Seattle community last week, where a friend, knowing of my love of mountains, gave me this poem of Hafiz: The beauty of the mountain is talked about most from a distance, Not while one is scaling the summit with life at risk. That is the time for silence, one-pointedness, reflection, and drawing upon all your skills So … Read More
Some years ago we were completing the work on Swami Kriyananda’s dome at Ananda Village, the initial building of what has evolved over time into Crystal Hermitage. Although the interior of the dome still needed work to transform it from a building site into a home, Swamiji was eager to move in. To speed up the process, he rounded up … Read More
As I travel around the world, one of the questions asked most often is, “How can I bring my life into balance?” People feel pressured and pushed, unable to get centered. Rebalancing requires effort since we may have to change some long-standing patterns. This is inner work—it is no use looking for help in the world around us. People have … Read More