Are you aware of the subtle influence that music has on your consciousness? Music has the power to lift us up or to pull us down; it can bring out the best in us or it can bring out the worst. That’s why the masters tell us that music is a divine art, not just entertainment. “Sound or vibration is … Read More
It is said that, of all the males of bovine breeds, the dairy bulls are the meanest, as a result of their prolonged separation from their mates. And, of all the dairy bulls, the Guernseys are considered the worst — horns and shoulders, one might say, above the others. At Ananda Village in the late 1970s, we kept a Guernsey bull for … Read More
I recently heard of an artist who experimented during a workshop by encouraging spontaneous responses to the music playing in the background. He discovered that “Music which irritates the artist-listener often has a detrimental impact on the painting. Unpleasant music may produce dark, strong marks or, at its extreme, a blank stare at a blank canvas.” This fall we offered … Read More
If you’ve ever worked in sales, this account won’t sound foreign to you: you’re sitting at your computer, a headset on your ear, connected to a multi-button phone rig that you don’t understand. The manager opens the lines and…
Swamiji used to have regular satsangs with the monks in his home, and I was able to attend one. I remember that, without wasting much time, he asked us to settle down and ask any questions that we might have. I was new then and quite eager to find a way to deepen my connection to the Masters. I had … Read More
What Is Ananda Music? Is it simply beautiful music written by Swami Kriyananda that is pleasant to listen to, or does it have underlying power that can change our consciousness? Upon first hearing, Ananda Music seems slightly different from mainstream music. The melodies are gentle, yet deeply moving. The harmonies are richly satisfying, yet always uplifting. The rhythms are unagitated, … Read More
Behind Every Great Success Is Great Motivation What’s your motivator: an external reward or the pure JOY of doing? The final moments of the BRAVO Youth Orchestra winter term had finally come. All week the kids were wound up and excited. I would have imagined that the final moments would be a fight to keep attention and good behavior. What I experienced … Read More
Swami Kriyananda speaks on the spirit of Thanksgiving in this short holiday audio clip.
“Sometimes when I’m playing the flute and the music’s really nice, or when I’m at home playing by myself and I have parts where I can’t play, I feel so good and happy it seems as if I could burst…. I seem to get full of something.” It was quite a surprise, in the early ‘90s, to find the above … Read More
The earliest memory of music for a musician is probably going to be the one which inspired them to embark on the journey into music. Some experience that was strong enough to be tagged in the vast array of our brain’s amygdala, the storehouse of emotional memory in our brain. My earliest was when I was 5 or 6 years … Read More