Sunday Service at Ananda Village

“If you knew how much God loves you,” said the Cure d’Ars, “You would die of joy.” It took Devarshi 35 years, he tells us, to realize that this was not only a sweet sentiment, but a spiritual teaching. During the service he also tells the story of the brakes failing on his van and being saved by taking the … Read More

God can be close to us, without us seeing Him — but it doesn’t mean that He doesn’t inspire, or support, or reveal Himself to us in other ways. Nayaswami Maria shares stories of the devotee missing God, from her own life, from spiritual allegory, and from the lives of great saints.

Atman talks about the importance of only giving people divine truth when they are ready. He tells stories to illustrate times in the lives of Paramhansa Yogananda, Swami Kriyananda, and himself when that was successfully and unsuccessfully applied — including giving books and yoga classes to his family members.

After a weekend celebrating the completion of the movie Finding Happiness, Jyotish shares about the guru — and what he really is, which is not at all something that everyone understands. He says that a guru is totally unnecessary — until you want to find God. The song after the talk is an original composition of David Shannon.

To be healed by God, what is needed? By way of many illustrations and stories, Anandi talks about God’s grace, and the story of the woman who was healed in a crowd by Jesus. She talks about healing — mentioning a story about a lake of sulfuric acid, broadcast online here — and tells stories of overcoming trials from the lives … Read More

The essence of the path of yoga, Ananta says, is the union of the little self with the cosmic Self. We can’t do this on our own; we have to rely on God. Ananta tells how Ananda Sacramento got a temple, a letter from Swami Kriyananda, and other stories.

Pranaba talks about the task that devotees face to “abide in God,” and to remember him. Even if we are sometimes distracted, even if we can’t do it constantly, he says, our love of God is more important than all the mundane details of our lives. He closes by telling a story from The Life of Pi, and of the … Read More

Time and space must be the greatest inventions of maya, Maria conjectures during this talk. “They seem so real to us,” she says. “Can you imagine a world without them?” And yet, God, our true reality, is beyond both of these.

Through many “washings and regenerations” we realize that we are a child of God, and rise. We are not our mistakes, Parvati reminds us, but should remember always our highest potential. She tells the story of an engineer’s dream on the night of Swami Kriyananda’s passing, and other delightful anecdotes from years on the path.

The story of Christ’s resurrection has meaning for us on multiple levels. On the outer level, the story is one of the most dramatic in history. It teaches us that death is only a transition. On the inner level, each character in the story represents an aspect of our consciousness.

Yogananda said that through reason, scientists have only discovered one-millionth of the reality of the universe. Anandi wonders out loud of that number isn’t over-estimating things in favor of the scientists. With anecdotes and insights, Anandi investigates the differences between reason and intuition, the principles that help intuition operate, and how intuition is necessary to relate to a master — … Read More

A simple talk on how opening to God’s grace, with energy and self-effort, will allow us to realize Him. Bharat uses the example of an exponential curve to describe the spiritual path, which Yogananda said could be challenging at first but became in time effortlessly liberating. Stories in this talk include that of the young gorillas who learned how to … Read More

Attunement with the grace of God through the Guru is an essential aspect of spiritual progress and is necessary for our final union with Him. In this talk Devarshi explains how to make that possibility a living reality, in part drawing on the life story of St. Simeon, the New Theologian.

Gyandev talks about the avatars: who they are, why they come to earth, and how it is our duty to become like them. Worth watching of course, but especially for the story about Buddha, Krishna, Moses, and Jesus playing poker in heaven.

As Yogananda said, Christ Conscious is when we have our awareness in complete one-ness with every particle and atom of creation.

Beginning with the unusual life-after-death story of Howard Storm, Anandi talks about how it is the light of God that is behind all creation, and how it is our most important duty and blessing to live in that light. “Whatever comes, good or bad, all will be turned to good if you see God and refuse to acknowledge the power … Read More

How can you see God? He (or She), like a tuning fork, manifested creation through vibration, and this vibration can be seen as light or heard as the sound of Aum. It is always with us, even if we are not always able to perceive it. Jyotish also shares entertaining stories of Himalayan yogis and a few very practical techniques … Read More

Jesus’ last commandment was to “Love one another as I have loved you.” Sharing and growing in divine love  and friendship is, as Maria explains, our purpose for being here on earth.  

What do we need to do to experience God’s presence? As Devi explains, we only have to accept that He is with us already. In this very sweet talk she shares the story of a visit of Ananda pilgrims to the spot where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount.

The journey of the wise men, who saw the star of Bethlehem, have relevance for our spiritual lives even today. With interesting historical and sociological asides, Dharmadas takes us with them to visit the baby Jesus.

The goal of the spiritual path could be said to be to overcome the ego, and Mantradevi offer tips, tricks, and strategies for expanding our awareness.    She also tells a story from her and Krishnadas’s recent visit to Thailand, and from a movie called “Lost Horizons” that provided Swami Kriyananda with much inspiration for Ananda. 

On the spiritual path, we can experience many ups and downs. Yogananda said to be like a tractor — moving uphill, moving downhill, always keeping a constant pace, heading towards God. Bharat’s talk gives hope to any who feel that they may be failing in some way. 

What is the law of karma? It is the spiritual equivalent to the well known law of physics, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” But more importantly, what can we do about it? As Jyotish explains, the first step is gratitude. 

One of the classic explanations for why God created the universe is “Because he wanted to play hide and seek with mankind.” Jyotish ranges in the discussion of the long-sought Higgs-Boson sub-atomic particle to the touching story of a man whose mental illness was healed by the great Indian saint, Anandamoyi Ma, after throwing at her an orange.

With whom can we share spiritual teachings? How can we know when friends and family members are ready? How can we make ourselves ready to hear spiritual truths? Drawing on the teachings of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, Nayaswami Anandi explains four ways that we can see if we and others are ready for spiritual truth. Finally, she shares the … Read More