“Let’s clean up these beds,” our enthusiastic team leader said as we surveyed the badly neglected herb garden at The Expanding Light Retreat. The lavender, rosemary, and oregano were choked with weeds and dead leaves. Many of the plants looked lifeless or had gone to seed—a sorry sight for people who love gardens.
It was Saturday, May 7, 2016 at Ananda Village. We were celebrating our annual Rajarshi Day: cleaning, repairing, building, painting, planting, weeding, mowing, and tackling many other projects to beautify and uplift our community. Though a steady rain was falling, a group of over one hundred residents had gathered together that morning for our opening circle and prayer.
Started nearly thirty years ago, this annual high-energy event is named for Rajarshi Janakananda, or James Lynn, whose birthday is May 5. He was Paramhansa Yogananda’s most advanced disciple and his spiritual successor, and a self-made millionaire by the time he met his guru. Due to his deep concentration and attunement with Yoganandaji, Rajarshi quickly achieved full Self-realization.
“[Rajarshi] was a millionaire who became a saint due to the depth of his meditation and devotion.”
“There are many of us on the spiritual path who need to be reminded that seeking God is no excuse for not doing a good job at whatever it is we set our minds to do in this world.”
So here we were, those of us who were working on the herb bed, bringing our best energy forward as we weeded and pruned the herbs. Weeding is such a perfect spiritual analogy: Weeds are like bad habits. If we pull them out when they’re just getting started, they’re easy to remove. But once we allow them to remain for a while, their roots get deeply established, and it takes a lot more energy to get rid of them.
Pruning, the trimming back of dead or unwanted growth, also has a message for us. Even though we may be growing spiritually, still it’s necessary to look objectively at our patterns of behavior and thought and prune away anything that is diverting our energy from our search for God.
As we served in the herb bed that morning, the rain gradually stopped, and the sun poked out from behind the clouds. In the spirit of Rajarshi, by the time we were finished the garden looked beautiful. We may even have been able to weed and prune some aspects of our own consciousness that were keeping us from God. Certainly, as the sun shone on our backs, we felt His pleasure in seeing His plant children cared for and loved.
With joy,
Nayaswami Devi
10 Comments
Dear Nayaswami Devi Ji,
Thank you very much for the article
Joy,
Prem
I want going to Ananda samadi in usa so please give me all details.
Wonderful …. spiritual and yet so down to earth practical … both go hand in hand
“Let me clean up the portfolio”, I thought as I looked my wife’s investments in the stock market (her money, but my karma). Some losses have been sitting on the books for a long time, and I could never get rid of them. I suppose selling them at a fraction of the cost also meant taking responsibility, more so as I had – only a minute ago – totalled up the losses that would have to be acknowledged. Just as my doubts resurfaced, your article arrived. I think now I’ll weed some and prune some. Thank you!
Thanks for this wonderful newsletter.
Pranam Dear Ji
Thanks for Sharing, Very Nice of you advising to Prune and Trim oneself and discharge our Duties
at the Same time Practicing The Path of Ananda.
with Gratitude
R sundararajan
I need to do pruning and weeding.Very useful article.Thank you.
I love to garden and this is a beautiful analogy! Our souls need tending just like the gardens.
Blessings,
Very well written article that lets one introspect and delve further into the subtler aspects of the spiritual journey and in accordance with which i would love to reiterate the statement that i thought summed it up very well and which also to a large extent in the phenomena we see happenning in the World around us as more and more we seem to be progressing toward a higher conscious spiritually conscious society….“There are many of us on the spiritual path who need to be reminded that seeking God is no excuse for not doing a good job at whatever it is we set our minds to do in this world.”
Thank you for sharing the post Jyotiah and Devi ji
The path of Yogananda is so varied you can almost never get bored. There is more distraction,in the positive sense. There are many aspects. I love the fraise: Saints of all religians,we humbly bow to thee. You never fall into stereotype religian.,what I did have in my previous path,wich I followed for 34 years(White Eagle Lodge). It did kind of give me a backbone,wich is only strengthend by being aware of the Astral Spine,the Astral light,the Astral World and The Masters of the Kriya,especialy Sri Yukteswar,who works in that World now,but still helps us on earth,as we pray to him. I love my Master,Yoganandaji. I adore Him,and often pray to Him for hours,since I don’t have any work to do,I can permit myself that,wich is a great advantige. It helps to put my mental disease in perspective.
Love,Dominic Lagae