"It is more blessed to give" - Stories of Faith & Finances

In June 1976, a forest fire swept through the rustic Ananda World Brotherhood Village near Nevada City, CA and destroyed virtually all the modest homes of its residents. The fire was caused by a faulty spark arrestor on a County operated vehicle. After the fire, Swami Kriyananda (founder of the community) wrote to the County Supervisors informing them that Ananda would not sue the County (even though neighbours did and they received reimbursed damages).

Prior to the fire, the community was in a process of working with the County to upgrade its buildings and infrastructure to be in conformance with county building and other codes. But after the fire, with all the homes now gone, it meant that there were no longer any existing homes that could be “grandfathered” in even though they were non-conforming. All new construction would have to be up to code. This was a second one-two punch but one that couldn’t be avoided.

These circumstances forced the young community to put out even more energy and while the result in future years was to be a more beautiful and functional community, at the time it wasn’t easy.

When I arrived a year or so after that fire, in 1977, there were “no homes and fewer jobs!” About 40 of Ananda’s members moved to town temporarily. Padma and I rented a small cabin (in a rundown former motel) on the edge of nearby Nevada City. For employment, Padma and I started an accounting practice which we also saw as a benefit to the community and the businesses it would need to create to generate income for rebuilding.

In that wake of the fire, Ananda Community established several new businesses in Nevada City and Grass Valley (“twin” cities): a health food store and café; a commercial print shop; and, a clothing and gift store.

It took a few years for homes to be built at the Village community thirty minutes from town. There were so many of us in town that the Village Council at Ananda Community felt to establish a seat on the council to represent the contingency of members living “in town.”

One day we were notified that a few of our members had organized a meeting at the Ananda Meditation Retreat to discuss new directions around our relationship to money. It was a 45-minute drive from Nevada City to the Retreat. The last three miles are on deeply rutted dirt and gravel road. We traversed this each Sunday to attend the weekly Service.

I don’t recall the month or year of this meeting, but my best guess is somewhere between 1979 and 1981. One of the organizers, Shivani Lucki, had evidently read a book or two on the practice and principles behind tithing. This was a new concept to most of us and as community residents (those who worked for community departments or businesses) earned perhaps $150 per month, the thought of donating from these earnings was, shall we say, a novel idea.

Nonetheless, the spirit and enthusiasm carried the evening and with faith and enthusiasm, the community’s residents pledged to experiment with tithing as a form of spiritual practice (sadhana).

Looking back some years later, it is clear that it was from this day forward that slowly, steadily and increasingly, financial resources began to flow. And that was not all; attunement began to flow more abundantly as well. Mind you, Divine Mother never gave us more than we (as individuals or the community) needed at any given moment (and often at the very last possible moment!) but, nonetheless, houses were built; jobs were created and sustained; the school for children was expanded; and, eventually, the retreat  center moved from its rustic roots six miles away to a parcel of land adjacent to the community, occupying a newly built facility.

The tithing experiment was so inspiring for individuals that we decided that to ask the various branch departments of the community to tithe from their revenues back to the “General Fund” which provided overhead services and support for ministerial outreach. Even though these departmental tithes were more akin to a kind of administration fee, the spirit was one of tithing.

There was another challenge to the spirit of community residents that took place after the fire. Some residents wanted to re-direct funds from resident member dues away from subsidizing the costs of operating a year-round retreat and use them instead for rebuilding. The idea was to close the retreat during the slower winter months.

On the surface, this proposal appeared to be practical but in reality, Swami Kriyananda, our founder and spiritual guide, countered our material pragmatism with energetic and spiritual pragmatism. The solution to challenges, he explained, was to put out more energy, not less. We should serve the public more, not less and in all cases at all times keep our doors open to serve the public!

His solution, then, was to initiate a nationwide lecture tour which he themed “`The Joy Tour.” In this, he intended to share the principles and practices of “Saying ‘Yes’ to life” with energy and joy as the only way to find true and lasting happiness! And, to top it off, he wanted to bring upwards a dozen community residents on the tour with him to assist and sing the music.

For this, we would need money—lots of it (by our standards) for travel, lodging, meals, hall rentals and advertising! A national tour with a dozen people is no small financial commitment.

Not having any such funds, we borrowed it. Never mind that we didn’t have a clue how we would ever repay it. The lesson was all about energy, joy, and service in the effort to share the teachings we were trying to live. And, the rest, as we say, is history. The tour touched people’s hearts and one-by-one, individuals travelled west to join the community. True, it wasn’t a stampede and yes, it took a few years but the community grew and the loan was eventually repaid.

What did we learn through these experiences? Well, here are just a few suggestions that you might find helpful in your life too.

• ·        If you need money, understand that “money is energy.” Put out the energy to find a job. Paramhansa Yogananda gave this counsel to the public during the 1930’s Great Depression: “If I needed a job,” he thundered, “I would turn the world upside down to find one.”
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• ·         So long as you’re still job hunting, don’t be idle: put out the energy to help and serve others: even if as a volunteer.
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• ·         If your income is less than you feel you need, be generous! Don’t wait until you “win the lottery!” Share a percentage of whatever you earn with others. While any worthwhile charity, cause or individual counts, those of us who are seeking Self-realization should consider giving back to the source of our inspiration in order to share the spiritual blessings we have received.
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• ·         In the life and teachings of Yogananda, and in the history Ananda, we have never simply been given in advance the resources required. We had to serve first in order to attract what was needed into our lives both personally and as in our service to God and gurus. Yogananda started numerous small businesses to set the example of “how-to-live.” Ananda, too, has been blessed with the necessity to make our ideals practical in daily life by starting numerous businesses and service organizations as an integral part of practicing and sharing our ideals. The reasons for this may be many but one of them is that for Dwapara Yuga the inspiration is to bring “Spirit to work” (into daily life).
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• ·         A life of faith and devotion necessarily invites us to go beyond our material comfort zone. We must avoid presumption but we cannot avoid living with faith if we are a true devotee. Faith requires we stretch ourselves.
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• ·         We recommend the practice of tithing a percentage of your gross income (before expenses). You can start with a small percentage but not too small! (10% is customary but only a suggestion.) Experiment. Give yourself (and Divine Mother) a window of opportunity such as a few months, for example, to test your faith and resolve. Don’t look for financial gain as a consequence of your giving; nor yet, recognition. Your “gain” will be a hundredfold but not necessarily in-kind but in-spirit: calmness, inspiration, creativity, joy, and devotion. At the same time, and use as a prescription as needed if your faith ever falters: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things (your material needs, included) will be added unto you.” Divine Mother will never let you down, though She will remember from time to time to test you.
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• ·         Swami Kriyananda lived entirely by faith. He never saved for rainy days. He lived entirely on what Divine Mother offered. When, so long ago, he heard about the community’s experiment in tithing, he chuckled (hearing of the 10% idea): “It’s ALL God’s!” he was reported to have said (though he very much approved of our experiment).

These tests were precious lessons which have changed our lives and opened our hearts to being guided by faith and guidance. We pray that sharing these stories will inspire you, too, to live ever more by faith and joy.

Joy to you!

How Do We Know We Know?

Dear Friends, this excerpt is from the book by Swami Kriyananda, Intuition for Starters, from the first chapter, “What is Intuition & Where Does it Come from?

“When we look at the world around us, we find a celebration of life in the universe – shining through the stars, singing through the birds, laughing through children, and dancing with the wind in the trees. With all this beauty and diversity surrounding us, we sometimes yearn to feel more a part of it all. We want to sing in harmony with the “music of the spheres.” What happens all too often, alas, is merely that we add discord by adhering adamantly to our own ego-generated notes.

We’ve all seen groups of little children singing. There’s usually one child who has no idea of the melody being sung, but he or she wants so desperately to be a part of the activity, that he sings enthusiastically whatever notes he likes, adding charm, if not harmony, to the music. Perhaps less innocently than that child, we intrude our private wishes saying, “I want the world to be this way,” or, “Come on, everybody, let’s do it my way.” In consequence, the world is full of disharmony, and we hear the cacophony on all sides.

How may we tune into the greater symphony of life? A friend of mine, when confronted with any new situation, approaches the problem this way: He asks, “What is trying to happen here?” How often do we insist, instead, on changing reality to meet our own desires? In the process, we lose sight of the overall purpose. We struggle to make sense of life segment by segment instead of as an overall flow. Viewing everything fragmentarily, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, no coherent picture emerges, no path, and no direction to guide our understanding.

There is a way for us to find that path, however – to feel a part of that greater reality, and therefore to know what is right for us as individuals. That way involves opening ourselves and becoming receptive to higher potentials of consciousness within ourselves and thereby of living in harmony with the world around us. It involves developing our own inner sense of intuitive guidance.

Intuition is the innate ability in everyone to perceive truth directly – not by reason, logic, or analysis, but by a simple knowing from within. That is the very meaning of the word “intuition”: to know, or understand from within – from one’s own self, and from the heart of whatever one is trying to understand. Intuition is the inner ability to see behind the outer forms of things to their inner essence…….”

Note: Meditation is the single most effective means through which to develop our intuitive faculty, our 6^th Sense! This is especially true in the last part of meditation when we end techniques and sit still in the silence in order to attune our consciousness to superconsciousness.

You can obtain your copy of Intuition for Starters at the East West Bookshop nearest you or any Ananda Center or directly from the publisher at https://www.crystalclarity.com/shop/books/intuition-for-starters/

"Good Morning Great Souls!" -- Happy Birthday, Swami Kriyananda (May 19 1926)

​With these words, Swami Kriyananda would greet the young devotees who traveled with him on his lecture and music tours. As Devi Novak (and others) would remark, "What ME? Great Soul?" "Yes," he was saying: "YOU!"

Swamiji also is quoted saying "If you want to know me, listen to my music." And while he insisted the music of Ananda wasn't 'his' but was given to him by our guru's grace, he was nonetheless the channel: a channel prepared by the self-effort of many incarnations attuned to the "music channel" but also willing to BE a CHANNEL for divine attunement.

Today, May 19, 2018, Swami Kriyananda would have been 92 years old and his spiritual child, Ananda worldwide, is reaching towards its 50 year mark. Today, then, let us reflect with gratitude that we would not be here together devotees were it not for the life and attunement of Swami Kriyananda. 

I am not alone in speculating that had Ananda not existed I would probably not have found a means of service, attunement and discipleship through any other outward means. I do not want to imagine where I would be: not where on the planet but where in my heart and mind. And what about my countless friends here in Seattle and far, far abroad? Would we have found one another? Not likely.

If you say to yourself, "Gee, others knew Swamiji so well, but I never did." To you, I (and others like me) say to you: "As you have experienced Ananda and have gotten to know us, you have met Swami Kriyananda." A poor substitute, I agree, but a reality nonetheless for the simple reason that on Sundays many of you hear his music, listen to his readings and affirmation, and are blessed by the inspiration of the Festival of Light. 

Others see him on internet TV or are blessed by the acharyas throughout India. In Europe, at the Ananda Center near Assisi, Italy we have a dynamic community and center of leaders, residents and members whose lives are infused by Swamiji's vibration.

In America, the members of Ananda are legion yet while the heart and birth of this work is centered at Ananda Village. There a temple is being built for generations to come to honor and share Yogananda's teachings and living presence, and the legacy of Swami Kriyananda's discipleship. 

Swamiji insisted that his personality was not him just as it is not you nor I. And for those many of you who have been blessed to know, see and hear Swamiji's successors, Nayaswami Jyotish and Nayaswami Devi, you know that attunement and vibration far exceed the attributes of personality for in them one feels Swamiji's blessings and presence.

A few days ago some thirty to forty leaders (and future leaders in training) from Ananda centers and communities around the world gathered at Ananda Village to have satsang, meditation, and share current events and future plans. This work of Ananda--part of the work of Paramhansa Yogananda and the line of masters who sent him--WILL go on through those of you who now and in the future are inspired to serve, study, and support the work and one another in meditation and devotion. 

I doubt we can fully appreciate the impact of Paramhansa Yogananda on world history. It's far too early. Yogananda left this world only 66 years ago. What was the work of Jesus Christ like a mere 66 years after his resurrection?

Am I making one of those messianic claims one hears too often in religion or politics? I don't think so because our guru enjoys a reputation throughout the world unparalleled by any modern spiritual teacher. From India, yes. But Hindu? No. Not only did be make friends all over the world long before that was the norm it is today, but his teachings apply to all aspects of daily life and not just to monastics.

Many years ago, in 1960-61, Swami Kriyananda enthusiastically and energetically elicited the support of Jawalahar Nehru and his daughter Indira (Gandhi) to build a temple and ashram in Delhi based on the inclusivity principles for which India is well known. At the moment of the project's final acceptance, Swamiji's dreams were dashed by his expulsion from Yogananda's organization.

Now, like a phoenix rising, Ananda has been asked to play a key role in establishing an Institute in how-to-live principles based on the universal ideals and practical yoga techniques which are India's gift to the world.  

As if a dream, the proposed location of this institute lies upon a hill overlooking Delhi upon which will reside an iconic temple and the grounds of the future institute. 

Another, smaller but sweeter dream has also materialized: this one at Swamij's home at Ananda Village in California. Long ago, when Ananda Village was still scraping and scrapping to even exist in the forests and meadows of rural Nevada County (CA), Swamiji visioned his home at the Crystal Hermitage at Ananda Village as one alive with beauty. Last month, some 12,000 visitors came to see the tulips, flowers, scenery, and gardens of the Crystal Hermitage. Who among us could have ever foreseen this simple, sweet dream come true?

Thank you, Swamiji: we are your spiritual children and our hearts open in blessing and gratitude for the gift to us and to all of your service and attunement to our guru.

Happy Birthday, Swamiji!

     Hriman & Padma

"Self-Respect" - A New Age Is Emerging!

In 1894, a relatively unknown Swami wrote a book that even today remains a mystery. It is a time capsule for a future age or a higher consciousness. 

The book's English name is the "Holy Science." The swami was none other than the guru of the world teacher, Paramhansa Yogananda. His name? Swami Sri Yukteswar! 

In the introduction to his small and abstruse tome, Sri Yukteswar re-calibrated an ancient Hindu calendar and arrived at the controversial and revolutionary conclusion that within a few years, around 1901, human consciousness on planet earth was about to enter a new era of material and spiritual awakening.

He listed a series of predictions in regard to what was to soon to unfold in the 20th century. 

Sri Yukteswar predicted 1: that the average height of humans would increase; 2: that the life span of humans would increase; and, 3: that, among other things, scientists would discover and confirm that matter is but a manifestation of electromagnetic energy based on quantum forces. Less than twenty years later, Albert Einstein's remarkable and history changing revelations confirmed Sri Yukteswar's predictions and set off and explosion of changes in lifestyle, technology, warfare, business and culture.

But most importantly, Swami Sri Yukteswar stated that humanity would begin to acquire what he termed "self-respect." This trend had already begun, albeit slowly, characterized by events such as the Protestant reform and the American revolution. We also see the beginnings of self-confidence and bold questioning in the scientific inquiry of such greats as Sir Isaac Newton and Galileo.

But it has been in the 20th century and into our newly arrived 21st century that the trend has literally exploded in the quest for racial, religious and gender equality. 

Yet it has not been easy. Great sacrifices have been made and much violence inflicted. As Mahatma Gandhi duly noted: those who have power do not give it up or share it willingly. Established attitudes and the powers of privilege and rule, energized, ironically, by the newly unfolding knowledge and consciousness, have largely resisted the rising tide of self-respect. Worse, the "powers that be" have too often exploited the rapidly unfolding knowledge and liberties for themselves. 

The road has been and will remain a bumpy one: two steps forward; one step back. In recent years we see examples of those throwing off the yoke of oppression in movements such as Black Lives Matter or MeToo. 

The eight intentional communities of Ananda (America, Europe and India), inspired by Paramhansa Yogananda, are examples of this age's emerging spirit of "self-respect."

When I first arrived at Ananda Village in 1977 I was struck by the naturalness, kindness, calmness and centeredness of its residents, both male and female. Absent was the usual role playing between men and women. In its place was a calm yet natural dignity, both respectful and playful, like that between siblings. 

Ananda's founder, Swami Kriyananda, was older than most of the original community's first residents but yet he too remained natural in his demeanor though he was both the community's founder and spiritual leader. He was our friend and guide. The early years of Ananda's first community were truly an adventure.

The polarization we see in society today would more readily fade away if calm confidence and self-respect infused the hearts and minds of our citizens. Self-respect is the only legitimate human attitude out of which respect flourishes naturally and confidently. It must, however, have taken sufficient root in a person to withstand the tests of misunderstandings and differences of opinion. 

For those seeking spiritual freedom in in transcendent consciousness, self-respect is neither an affirmation nor does it require a conscious choice for it flows readily from the true Self. 

The view and prediction of Swami Sri Yukteswar of an emerging higher consciousness is the basis upon which we, at Ananda and those on the path of Self-realization (as taught by Paramhansa Yogananda), feel optimistic about the future even as we are realistic about the strength and courage needed to help birth it.

Joy to you!

Swami Hrimananda

Reference: I think you will enjoy and find interesting and inspiring a new book: Physics of God by Joseph Selbie. The remarkable discoveries of the 20th century that point suspiciously to a cosmos of energy are explained in terms that even I got the drift of.

Easter Thoughts 2018 - Resurrect Hope, Joy, and the Promise of Immortality

Boy, oh boy, can humanity use a resurrection of high ideals, integrity, compassion and, yes, even reason! Better than reason is the intuitive knowing that "We are One!"

We are told that this isn't going to happen, at least not permanently. Why? Because this world can only perpetuate itself based on the ebb and flow of opposites: war and peace, love and hate, hot and cold, friend and foe, health and sickness, life and death.

We're stuck with it but does that mean we sink into abject passivity? Absolutely not. We must fight the good fight. Why? Well, do you think you'd be happier "sinking into passivity?" If so, why not just get it over with and you-know-what (end your misery).

Obviously this solution is not desirable for in its direction there is no happiness to be found. Besides, not only does "hope Spring eternal" but "love makes the world go 'round."

Gandhi was not the first to notice that even in the midst of hate, disease, and war, love and peace persist. If not, as he pointed out, humanity would have perished long ago. 

Besides, how do we feel when "Spring flowers give way to May showers!" Not only are we in the Pacific northwest inured to rain (as a near constant) but everywhere rain has its gentle (and admittedly also destructive) and refreshing aspects.

Easter and its costume of Spring flowers (ok, in the northern hemisphere) sends a powerful message to our heart's natural love that "night is followed by day." It cannot be otherwise. 

But the message of unending rounds of hope and despair, light and darkness is not especially a reassuring one. Were it not for a deeper truth of which the outer is but a reminder, it would be as much cause for despair as for hope. There is a deeper message because our deeper nature yearns for stability, for eternity, for an end to the "wheel of samsara."

The resurrection of the body of Jesus Christ, however remote the event seems to our daily lives, is a dramatic statement that there is an end game to life. It is NOT however the end game of more duality, as in the perverse teaching of eternal damnation vs eternal salvation. [Note: reports also exist of the physical resurrection of the bodies of other great saints. Yogananda's own guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, e.g., appeared to him in physical form months after his body was buried in the sands of Puri, India.]

As there is only One God, there is only ONE ending. "Hear O Israel, the Lord, the Lord our God is ONE! In Sanskrit, "Tat twam asi!" (Thou art That: the eternal Brahma.)

But given time, which to our experience seems to made of eternity itself, it is we who choose to leave the stream of mortality, life and death to enter the eternal Oneness of God's bliss. This Bliss is our home from which we were created and to which we are destined to return. 

It is no fanciful decision or act, like swiping one's credit card to make a purchase. The hypnosis of the "entrenched vitality of our mortal delusion" (Swami Kriyananda's description of the Kundalini, see his landmark text, "Art & Science of Raja Yoga, Chapter 12) is deeply embedded in the duality of countless lives, long before even achieving the human level. 

Enter the guru! Those who have gone before us, Christ-like masters of life and death (Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Yogananda and others), reincarnate to be way-showers. Not just appealing to our intellect but to our hearts. And not just offering flowery appeals to our higher nature, but transmitting spiritual power: the same power that can demonstrate resurrection of the dead. As the beloved disciple of Jesus wrote, "As many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God."

Because time has no absolute reality, the fact of this being a process requiring many lifetimes is not the bar or hurdle that it might appear to be to our human experience. Infinity or Oneness exists side by side, indeed at the heart of duality: at the heart of perpetual motion is perpetual peace (without motion). This is the value and purpose of daily meditation: to enter the portals of the temple of peace which is our own nature, cohabiting the body temple.

Easter, then, is a celebration. It is not only a Christian holiday. It is a universal celebration and affirmation, a promise of immortality, without which life grinds us unto death.

At any moment of every day, you can stop, look up, quiet your mind and your heart, and peer through the veil of duality into the priceless peace of Eternity. Meditate on the lives and the eyes of the great masters: harbingers of God's promise of immortal bliss.

Conquer by self-effort and discipline your weakness and attachments; your sensuality and egoism. Throw off the rags of spiritual poverty and put on the robes of your royal Soul. Imagine you are as old as God. You are the immortal Atman, the Soul-Self.

Happy Easter to all!

Swami Hrimananda