St. Francis Walks On Ahead....

In the last article we left off visiting the little chapel, the Porziuncula, near the town of Assisi. The two other primary sacred places we visited where the hillside caves of Eremo delle Carceri, sometimes pronounced L'Eremo, and, the church of Santa Chiara.

I went twice to L'Eremo. It's up the steep hillside of Mt. Subasio, accessed quite near the north gate of the town of Assisi (the gate whose road leads uphill towards the Ananda Center and Community). It's so high up that you look down on La Rocca, the stronghold and fort that towers over Assisi.

L'Eremo was one of the places for prayer and retreat that St. Francis and his brothers used. There are rock formations and mini-caves that the brothers used. The still existing dens are marked with signs showing which of the famous brothers used which cave. Now there's a complex of stone buildings, of course, but the whole area is saturated with vibrations of peace and light. It's heavily wooded but over time there are paths, but once off the mostly level main boulevard walking path, the paths down into the canyon and to the stone huts and caves are very real hiking paths.

It is incredibly peaceful there and much easier to meditate for long periods, uninterruptedly, than anywhere else. There are surprisingly many people who stroll the grounds as the place is famous but if you don't mind a few people walking past you while you are meditating (and you stay off the main, wide walking path), it's really worth it. Here, for this article, words fail to convey the intensity in meditation and the joy I felt there. I have some pictures, but they, too, fall rather short of the mark.

Let's simply say that for those who are serious about prayer and meditation, L'Eremo is a MUST.

This blog system is not picture friendly, so I'll just plop some down right here:

   

The other spiritual hotspot is the church, Santa Chiara. It has two distinct features: St. Clare's body lies "in state" there, and, the cross (originally from San Damiano) that "spoke" to Francis is displayed there. This church is normally crowded but if you're lucky you can hit a quiet moment. The line down to the tomb can long, hot, and slow and you get a few seconds to look at the body on display. If you step back out of the line you can stand there a few minutes to pray if you like, but you're likely to get bumped.

Upstairs in a side chapel hangs the special cross and it's easier to sit in a pew there and pray and meditate, though there's plenty of movement all around you. I enjoyed going there twice but I didn't stay very long though I certainly felt uplifted. I lucked out on my second visit and the place was virtually empty. I rushed downstairs and prayer before the body without being hassled. I prayed for the strength and purity of intention and resolution that Clare so obviously radiated and felt very uplifted.

Across the main plaza tourists frequently visit the ancient Minerva Temple from Roman times. It was long since converted into a church. I can't say there's any super-special vibration there but it certainly is beautiful, artistically-wise. I did sit and meditate for a few minutes and it is very peaceful in there. It was, of course, there during Francis' life and so I assume he prayed there, too.

Wandering the streets of Assisi is a trip in time and space itself. Enjoying a meal, a coffee, or a gelato along the ancient narrow cobblestone streets is well worth it. A few photos to share which include the Minerva Temple/Church inside and out.

    

I want now to share with you the inspiration felt at Ananda itself: high above the town of Assisi. When members of Ananda visit another Ananda community outside America (say, Italy or India) one discovers that even if we don't speak the same language, you feel instantly at home. The Temple of Light is where most meditations take place and we participated in various ones, plus a Sunday Service, plus Padma and I "officiated" at a marriage vow renewal ceremony for two of our pilgrim friends. Here one can meditate without the cross-currents of tourists and the vibrations of others, even in prayer, for the vibration of Catholicism is very strong in Italy. So here, at Ananda, we were truly at home and uplifted in the vibration of kriya yoga, Self-realization and our guru, Paramhansa Yogananda.

The absolute highlight, meditation-wise, however is the former home of Swami Kriyananda. It's about a kilometer from the main Ananda Il Refugio complex and just off the road along a tiny tree-lined lane. This is where he lived, sometimes many months at a time, and, where he died, April 21, 2013. In his bedroom and on his bed is the robe he was wearing the morning he left his body. His tiny meditation room is just off the bedroom, as is, of course the adjacent living room and dining room. It is all lovingly preserved the way it was on that day in April. He named his home, "Seva Kutir." This is Sanskrit and means roughly "A Home Dedicated to Divine Service."

I believe we had four meditations there. We'd take turns being in the bedroom or in the living room. It is here that the unique and heartfelt vibrations of our chosen spiritual path and line of preceptors can be felt most strongly and purely, especially in the form of calm, clear joy. Some pictures below:

   Next stop: the hilltop retreat of St. Francis: La Verna!

St. Francis - Ahead of His Time, and Still Here!

Wednesday, October 8, we arrived by train from Florence to Bastia, one train stop short of the town of Assisi, Italy. Rented vans took us "up the hill:" around the outer periphery of the charming and beautiful town of Assisi, and out the "north gate" at the top of the town. The road, SS 444, winds its way up the hills that coalesce into a mountain, around and behind Mt. Subasio upon whose western flank the town of Assisi clings.

The terrain is eerily reminiscent of the Sierra Nevada foothills around Nevada City/Grass Valley, CA where the first Ananda community was established. Night was falling as we climbed higher and higher up the mountain. At the top, the road levels off, though still curving around, before descending the other side into another valley. Along the ridge, then, sits Ananda Assisi: a retreat center and intentional community, with affiliated businesses (both community and personal) and private homes strung along SS444 in both directions.

The central feature and gathering place for Ananda Assisi is the former hotel building, Il Refugio. Here guest registration takes place; a book and gift store exists, guest rooms on several floors, an outdoor cafe and gazebo, ancillary administration bungalows, and the main feature, though hidden from the road, is the Temple of Light where meditations and classes are held.

We arrived for a late dinner which is taken in silence until about half way through. Announcements are made in Italian, with some concessions made for groups our size for English speakers, and other languages (Russian and German, esp.) as required. Peruse, if you like, www.Ananda.it.

After dinner, our vans took us further along the road (what, less than one mile?), to our accommodations: a rented facility called Il Ritero ("the retreat"). On both sides of the main two story rock building, are strip-like hotel bungalows (four or five simple units in one "strip"). These housed most of us. They are clean and simple. Bathrooms there are curious: when you shower it wets the entire bathroom, toilet, bidet, sink, your stuff.....everything! Not sure why this cultural nuance, but it seems pervasive and tenacious, all reason and convenience aside.

Padma and I were housed in a lovely little duplex a few hundred yards from the main center and across the street. Two or three others were even closer in a large 3-story building named "Brindaban" (the name of the town in India where Krishna lived).

The next morning, Thursday, a weekly 3-hour meditation took place (and every week) beginning at 6 a.m. It's followed by breakfast in silence. Bread, toast, fruit, oatmeal, butter, peanut butter, and jam, with tea and coffee and milk, comprise the typical fare. We got pancakes that morning, as I recall, in addition!

The rolling hills of Umbria alternate forested areas with areas of cultivation and pasture. In the Fall, hunters emerge from towns in the region to hunt. Thing is, they bring their own birds in cages; let them loose, and then, in manly fashion, shoot them. Retrieved by their ever faithful hounds, they, no doubt, return home proudly displaying their courage and skills.

With or without seasonal hunters, the hills are alive with beauty and serenity. There can be no doubt that St. Francis and his band of brothers walked these hills chanting God's name. There is no doubt that this land is blessed by the descent of grace into human form. It lingers in the soft breezes, in the warm sunshine, in the flashes of lightening and the crashing of  thunder, in the powder blue and happy yellow flowers that spring up on their own all around, and in the deep silence of the still night air.

In May, red poppies appear and populate fields throughout the region. Quaint farmhouses dot the hills, with pretty little gardens and stately trees in attendance. Broad panoramas of hills and distant mountains leap out at you as you round a turn in the country road that hugs the hillsides lovingly.

Our first outing was to the giant Basilica of St. Francis which dominates the western end of the small town. A sharp contrast to Francis' simplicity and lifestyle, it nonetheless is a focal point of devotion for millions.

Three stories beneath its frescoed ceiling is Francis' tomb, and that of several of his closest brothers. It's been called into question whether his body is there, but I find that kind of doubting unhelpful. If for no other reason than the devotion of millions, I found meditating there in the pews very peaceful and uplifting.

We had an official tour given by a Franciscan priest from New Jersey. We used the headsets that tourists and their guides use. His humor was extremely irreverent but even he could not obfuscate the spiritual vibration of the relics, art, and sanctity of the place. It was interesting that he wove his theology into his patter but used phrases like "making good decisions" in life (ergo, going to heaven) and "finding happiness!"

By pre-arrangement, he took us outside the public areas and into the rooms of St. Joseph of Cupertino. Joseph was a simple, humble and, I believe, all but illiterate priest who lived about a century after Francis. His story is quite remarkable and his claim to fame is the fact that he often was seen, publicly and by crowds, to levitate in ecstasy while attempting to "say" Mass. But with our intellectual tour guide, our stay there was rather limited. We sang a song together and had a few moments of silence. [Many years ago, Padma and I were able to go into those rooms with Shivani Lucki and meditate there on our own for a much longer period of time. A few days later, our pilgrims traveled by van to Joseph's home town where his incorrupt body remains on display.]

On our way up the hill back to our vans, we stopped at a very sweet, pleasant, shaded and wholly genuine outdoor cafe for capucchino. Then back to the Ananda Center for lunch and a tour of Ananda. The tour took us to the Inner Life offices and warehouse a few kilometers past the center and down the mountain in a tiny village; to the offices of the publishing house for our books in Italian, to the art gallery and workshop for several resident artists, to a member-owned organic farm (just like ours on Camano Island), and more. As much as I am tempted to speak of the Ananda community and center there and their years of dedication and the growth of it against all odds, I think I'll stick to my subject (yes, for a change!).

That evening after dinner, we were treated to a concert of music by their choir and some musicians. Many key resident members were away at the time of our visit, being just after the intensely busy summer retreat season, but they rousted enough voices to charm and inspire us. Music, like Italian cuisine, art, and countryside, has a mellifluous, light and harmonious quality that is its very own. I liken it to what happens when you buy the excellent Italian coffee and bring it home to America. It's good, but can never quite taste as good as it does in Italy. So, too, the songs they sang were familiar to us all (composed by Ananda's founder, Swami Kriyananda) and our choral groups do a wonderful job here, too, but somehow........it's not the same.....

The next day we went back to the town of Assisi to the convent of St. (Sister) Clare, called San Damiano. In St. Francis' time, it was a run down church where he prayed and where the crucifix came alive and Jesus spoke to Francis saying, "Rebuild my church!" (Now that same crucifix is to be seen in the town of Assisi at the church there dedicated to St. Claire, called, surprisingly, Santa Chiara!)

I may be speculating here but to me, and I'm sure to others, Claire was to Francis as Teresa (of Avila) was to John of the Cross: each a reflector to the other in a relationship as pure and as inspired as any such could ever be. The poignant and touching story of Clare, a beautiful teenage girl born of a prominent and wealthy family in Assisi (like Francis himself), being inspired by Francis' conversion and total dedication to Lady Poverty and his guru, Jesus Christ, secretly leaves her life of luxury and pleasure to follow Francis. They were obviously, in a sense, "spoiled rich kids" of the town and of course knew each other. Francis, formerly, the party guy in the town, was naturally well liked and well known. But, as is true in the life of many saints, both east and west, these two souls, born by past spiritual karma into position and opportunity, were but disguised saints whose "coming out" had to wait for the right moment.

The famous scene where Francis, surrounded by the very few brothers who had at that early stage come to follow him (also, upper class "boys" like himself), cuts Clare's beautiful hair in a symbolic but very real act of renunciation that is like no other. Artists down through the centuries have been inspired to depict this life-changing and archetypal event which touches us on a deep level. Her sanctity and her spiritualized love for St. Francis is one of the all time greatest stories ever told. Francis rarely permitted himself to express his feelings to her outwardly but there is no doubt of their mutual feeling, depth and purity. (I'm not here to tell their story, so I must move on).

But I say this because the spiritual power of the old convent and its utterly stark and intense simplicity, expressive of the seemingly harsh life the sisters lived there, is like pure light and crystal clear water, untainted by anything merely mortal or mundane, even if all that is tangibly left speaks of their life of material lack. The vibration of God, unseen but powerfully felt, pulses from the very stones.

Another spiritual power spot is the Porciuncula, the second little chapel that Francis and friends helped restore. As is well known, a large Basilica was built over the top of it and while not commenting on the incongruity of it all, it does protect the chapel from the weather. It's hard to get a seat in the "toy" chapel but it is well worth whatever wait is required. Swami Kriyananda, Ananda's founder, praying there many years ago, felt intense sweetness. In prayer he asked St. Francis, "How is such sweetness possible?" The answer he received was "by never judging." Whew! It is also the place where Francis died and a place where many events of his life took place. It, too, is not to be missed. And after an hour or two of prayer and upliftment, you can reward your efforts and share a gelato across the street with St. Francis looking over your shoulder -- sweetly.



Well, let's take a break, shall we? We'll return to Ananda and to Assisi in our next installment.

The blessings continue and the main reason I write these is so I can "go back!"

Swami Hrimananda

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - A Tourist in Rome (& Florence)!

I grew up in Monterey, CA, a well known (and well deserved) tourist destination. As a teenager I could spot the tourists a mile away: in the summer, they were the ones wearing shorts and T-shirts. They didn't realize that Monterey in the summer (used to be) like Mark Twain's famous lament about San Francisco: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

I have traveled around Europe and Asia in my life but always on my own and rarely with any distinct agenda, nor yet a tour book, relying instead on whim and fancy and the fates. Until this trip to Italy in October I had never played the official role of tourist. And, you know something, it was fun and very helpful. Our little group (just under twenty) were guided around Rome and Florence by official tour guides who wore a little microphone and hung a sending unit around their neck while each of us wore a receiver with an ear "bud." Thus we could walk the noisy, crowded streets of Rome, or enter a hushed church or museum and the guide could talk softly or normally and each of us could hear the guide just fine--even if we were standing some 20 or 40 feet away, separated by another tourist group using the same technology!

Our guide in Rome is both a professional tour guide AND a member of Ananda Assisi. She was energetic, thoughtful, articulate with just the perfect charming Roman accent, and very knowledgeable, replete with lots of fascinating historical anecdotes. She was also a Roman by birth and clearly viewed her heritage with a quiet air of dignified national pride. Our guide in Florence was a born entertainer and also very informative and personable.

Though I have been to both places before, I found this experience very enjoyable and, at my age, being herded about town as a marked tourist, was no longer a threat to my fragile self-sufficient image! In fact, I recommend it. Given that I would never bother to read tour guide books anyway, even if I did, I can't imagine walking around these places with my book in hand trying to correlate the object I am looking at with its description in a book!

We stayed at a convent quite near the Vatican. It was large, clean, beautiful, quiet and there was even Wi-Fi! It was perfect for our needs. Our group would meditate together in the morning in a special room provided for us before having breakfast and getting in our vans to go "touring." Weather was warm (sometimes hot) but essentially perfectly enjoyable. Our first stop was Santa Maria della Vittoria, an eye-popping baroque and beautiful church near the Termini Train station that houses a marble statue by Bernini of the angel piercing the heart of St. Teresa of Avila. It is exquisite. It was a last minute suggestion from one of our members here in Seattle and well worth it. We had a scheduled stop, also, at Santa Maria Sopra Minerva where the body (but not the head) of St. Catherine of Siena lies in state. We couldn't really meditate at either but we could pray and be still for a short time. It was worth it.

We also did the requisite tour of the ruins of the emperors' palaces and a sidelong glance at the imposing Colosseum, though the latter was overshadowed by the attraction of a delicious pizza lunch across the street. We also had a driving tour of various (ancient) hot spots along and around the Tiber River. A walking tour past the ruins of the forum(s), the Arch of Constantine and a stop at the incredible Pantheon/church.

The next half-day was St. Peter's, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum. All were sardine packed and trying to look straight up at the ceiling of the Sistine has its downside (on your neck, principally). But to say it isn't impressive you'd have to be a zombie. St. Peter's starts off with the side niche containing the heart opening, soul-inspiring Pieta by Michaelangelo. Words simply cannot convey the visceral impact of this inspired work of art. Michaelangelo was only 22 years old when he sculpted it from Carrara marble he personally selected from the mountains. I feel inadequate to offer anything more than inserting the photo image below. Much has been written--historical, artistic and religious--about this almost unbelievable creation which is so alive, so fraught with multiple levels of feeling, both sublime and heart wrenching.

There's little point saying much about St. Peter's itself. Yes, it's impressive, and I mean that sincerely. The power, the wealth, the inspiration, the world-view that could have enabled the creation of such architecture and such works of art that are housed in the Vatican--it simply staggers the mind and dwarfs the pedestrian and merely functional creation of the latest smart phone.

That afternoon we boarded a modern, sleek fast train to Florence and a few hours later found ourselves ensconced in the heart of Florence in yet another convent: not quite as nice but very serviceable and where we also had our own meditation room!

I asked myself: what will become of these great buildings and art works in a few hundred years? A thousand years? All of the architectural treasures here bring in millions of tourist dollars and create a world-wide magnet. But can the objects themselves last "forever?" Do not the millennials find such things a bore? If not now, what about the next generation, or, five generations from now? Will these be abandoned in the future like the great cities of ancient times? Perhaps. One thing you can be certain of is this: they will be digitized. Long after they have crumbled due to indifference, shrinking national budgets, earthquakes or floods, plagues or wars, they will exist in the virtual reality of Digital City. Someday you will virtually walk the narrow cobblestone streets of Florence, or peruse the Uffici museum, gaze at the marble David and gawk at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.....from your home.

I suppose I could list out the many places we visited in Florence, but . . . . . . google "Florence"......

I enjoyed the monastery of San Marco: the monk cells with the frescoes by Fra Angelico. The history of the Florentine ruling families (e.g. the famous Medici family) and their endless intriques in medieval and very unstable Italy. The Uffici is simply an overwhelming collection of art: no one should have to view that much art in less than 2 hours. All in all, well worth the visit.

I had excellent meditations in the monasteries we stayed at both in Rome and in Florence. Our group coalesced quickly and harmoniously. The food we had at the hand (mouth?)-selected restaurants made us feel like royalty....about to pop!

Now, on to our real destination.......the footsteps of St. Francis.....stay tuned...

Hriman

In the Footsteps of St. Francis - A Perspective

A group of Ananda members from Seattle, WA have just returned from a two-week visit to Italy. We saw the sights of Rome and the treasures of Florence, but these were but introductions to the deep spirituality which is their true source and the greatest treasure of Italy and of humankind: "the Word made flesh and dwelt amongst us."

So much has been said about the impact of St. Francis on religion and culture that I feel in awe of even attempting to share any insights. As a fact of history, St. Francis mobilized and inspired thousands of people in the direction of a profound and deep spirituality (many becoming saints like himself). His use of the vernacular, the language of the Italy of his time, and his love and embrace of nature, is said (by those more knowledgeable than me) to have sown the seeds for the Italian renaissance. Over a thousand years after the life of Jesus, he was the first to recreate and reenact, for devotional purposes, the birth of Jesus. In one simple event in a small village, he single-handedly birthed one of the most profound and inspired traditions of Christendom: the Nativity!

While ancient Rome was, itself, a colossus of genius, brute force, and sheer energy, it is not really the cultural treasure of Italy today. After all, most of it is in ruins. Nonetheless, I came to feel that for Italians, and Romans especially, they are understandably proud of their ancestral tradition and history of the glory of ancient Rome. Surely this memory has inspired some of Rome's offspring to heights of glory and genius. (Yes, Mussolini attempted to imitate it, too, for sure!). I can't say that the "glory of Rome" resonates deeply with me but any objective measure of it at its height is impressive by any standard.

Thus it is that I believes the echoes of that former greatness continued to emanate from its center in Rome far into the medieval and renaissance periods. What happened, historically, was that the fading glory and strength of the Roman empire was given over by Emperor Constantine to the fledgling Christian religion. The Church thus inherited the erstwhile power and glory of Rome, even if much reduced, indeed, on the brink of collapse, but Christianity re-enabled that power into a new form and for a new era of history.

The brilliance of the classical periods of Greece and Rome is found in its foundations in logic, reason, and appreciation and devotion to the human experience and psyche, both body and mind. While far from religiously spiritual, the classical times had a strength and beauty of its own. Indeed, so much so, that by the height of the Italian renaissance and against the pressures of the Protestant revolt, the Catholic Church itself was accused of paganism because it supported great works of art that depicted characters and gods and goddesses from the classical period and, shockingly, featured the human body in all its (unclothed) glory.

(An aside: To those of us who view human history in the light of the theory of the "Yugas" as revealed and re-interpreted by Swami Sri Yukteswar in his abstruse tome, "The Holy Science," we see that during the classical periods of Greece and Rome the power of the pantheon of the gods had become mostly an empty ritual. Belief in gods was on the decline as human consciousness was steadily losing its power of subtle perceptions beyond physical form. The old time religions devolved into superstitions and myths, the power now faded into empty, even debased, rituals and time-worn customs.

To replace the gods, humanity, or those few with integrity and insight, only had human life as a measure of our potential. What arose is what we might call today "secular humanism." This included the Stoics and the emphasis on ethics and morals based on human reason. The decline of human awareness, according to the yuga theory, reached its nadir around 500 A.D. -- about the time of the last Roman emperor. The libraries of learning and knowledge from past ages were purposely destroyed out of fear, ignorance and disdain for their seeming uselessness. Then began the slow ascent, first through the Dark Ages, then medieval times onto the Renaissance, the Protestant revolt, the age of exploration and so on. The cycle reached its parallel, though ascending rather than descending, with the Greek and Roman secular humanism during the so-called "Enlightenment," the Age of Reason which occurred roughly around the time of the American and French revolutions. In the ascending cycle, such a stage in the growing awareness of human consciousness would be a natural result of the Renaissance and the age of exploration during which human thought and the natural world became legitimate and inspired objects of man's growing self-interest. Medieval mysticism and heaven and hell began to lose their lustre in part as deep thinkers, and later, whole generations, lost faith in the practicality of their reality, such a loss being catalyzed in part due to the excesses of church institutionalism. For a marvelous and eye-opening explanation of the yugas, visit: http://www.crystalclarity.com/product.php?code=BTY)

Returning now to our subject, it occurs to me that the Roman genius and energy was reborn by divine decree (blessings, in other words) in the flowering of Christianity which replaced the Roman empire. Unfortunately, it would long be tainted, as if even by physical association, by the Roman legacy of seeking power by conquest, beauty in grandiose architecture, ego affirmation and sensuality.

The transformation of the Roman legacy into essentially a religious and spiritual one was something I felt as I walked the streets of Rome. My sense was for a new-found appreciation of the spiritual influence of so many saints (and martyrs) through whose sacrifice and consciousness the failed Roman empire was transformed into the spiritual heart of Christendom and which effectively moved its center of gravity from Jerusalem to Rome. The presence of saints Peter and Paul, alone, would have endowed the ancient city with the blessing of being an "eternal city."

As Buddha was a Hindu, Jesus was a Jew. As Buddhism left India and went east, Christianity left Palestine and went west. Such was the divine will. Rome became the center of Christian energy and remains so today. As we are witnessing a mini-renaissance in the Catholic Church under Pope Francis, purposely taking the name of St. Francis ("rebuild my Church"), so we can see at work the continuation of the promise of Jesus that to Peter he gave the keys to the kingdom on which to build his church which will stand to the end of time. (How well it has carried out its commission is, of course, debatable, but the Catholic Church is still here and is in fact experiencing yet another renaissance of sorts. That Paramhansa Yogananda gave a more metaphysical and more personal interpretation of Jesus' words doesn't necessarily negate a more outward interpretation if not taken too literally.)

Padma (my wife) pointed out that Yogananda taught that Jesus appeared to the prophet Babaji and asked Babaji to send someone from India to the west to resurrect the personal practice of inner communion using the art and science of eastern meditation. To St. Francis, then, Jesus appeared with a similar message, "Rebuild my church" by the personal "Imitation of Christ." In one conversation, one of the pilgrims wondered if, in fact, St. Francis was himself a reincarnation of Jesus. Francis had twelve disciples; he was the first to receive the stigmata (wounds of Christ); he imitated the life of Jesus literally; raised the dead. Well, anyone, idle speculation, to be sure.

Thus it was that on this journey, I found it "easy," perhaps obvious, to ascribe the genius of the Italian Renaissance (in art, sculpture and architecture) to the spiritual power and transformation of consciousness that St. Francis initialized. Further, it seems to me that Francis' appearance on the scene was a continuation of an essential vibration of greatness that stretches back, albeit taking a very different form, to Roman times. Francis' greatness was entirely spiritual but its ramifications created echoes, like waves, emanating outward from the initial shock of omnipresence, resulted in, literally, a renaissance of human consciousness. Each aspect of this being understood in the larger context of the devolution and subsequent evolution (upward) in human consciousness.

It was appropriate, therefore, that our little pilgrimage begin with a tour of the cultural treasures of Rome and Florence. On those treasures, I have little to say or to add, as art, for art's sake, is not an area of great personal interest. That I was as floored, awed, and inspired as just about anyone (ought to be) by these great works, I attest and confess, but beyond the general shock into speechlessness that many experience, I have nothing to add!

So, now we will go onto Assisi in the next article..............in the footsteps of St. Francis.......taking a far more personal and spiritually oriented tone..............and away from the more grandiloquent tone of this first "perspective."

Blessings,

Swami Hrimananda

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor

Hi! I've been away nearly three weeks in Europe: two weeks in Italy, visiting Rome and Florence, and then on pilgrimage to the shrines of St. Francis and to the Ananda Center in the Umbrian hills above Assisi (home of St. Francis).

While I would like to share about my trip, I wanted to share briefly about book I read (a birthday present from my daughter and son-in-law): "My Stroke of Insight: a scientist's personal journey" by Jill Bolte Taylor. See http://drjilltaylor.com/

I don't want to take the time for a book review but it contains several aspects of interest for meditators and, indeed, everyone and anyone. Yes, for starters, it's a handbook on the medical aspects of a stroke. One of its great contributions is to help both patients and caregivers to understand how to deal effectively with a stroke. In this contribution you'll find insights on dealing with emotions as well as practical techniques.

Metaphysically, however, Jill uses medical and scientific language to gently approach the sphere of spirituality, prayer, God, and oneness. As the book nears its conclusion, she advances more boldly into these realms, but always keeping some distance. I suppose she doesn't want to offend anyone and I suppose she wants to make it accessible and helpful to (almost) anyone. She does a good job at this, too!

She follows the accepted scientific protocol of assuming the brain produces consciousness, or at least avoiding challenging that assumption! She never really addresses who this "I" is that perceives and records the dramatic effects of her stroke and her recovery. So from the soap box that I stand on, it is less than satisfying but I accept that she has another soap box and it invites to the same platform: we are One!

So, I highly recommend the book for just about anyone. I'm one who finds, unpredictably, a certain flutter of nausea from some medical facts, so for parts of this, I had to pause and return to the book at certain points. I marvel at how anyone could undergo a stroke with such recollectedness and I can't help but wonder how much of the experience was reconstructed, but, no matter, it is a good read from a number of angles, so I highly recommend it.

Blessings to you, and on to our pilgrims' journey: "In the footsteps of St. Francis."

Swami Hrimananda

How to Pray for Yourself and Others - Part 2

Part 2 – How to Pray for Yourself and Others

What do YOU pray for? A friend recently bemoaned a circumstance where she felt stuck and trapped. I said, "Well, why didn't you ask (for help)?" Her reply was, "Well, I'm not supposed to ask (spiritually speaking, that is)." I said, "Listen, you've proved yourself by a lifetime of dedicated service and self-sacrifice. The help you need is not for you only personally, but for the work you are doing as part of Ananda and part of a team. So, of course, you should ask."

So, what to do? When should we pray for help for ourselves and when, not? This is clearly very personal. There is no one or right answer. Yogananda counseled that the highest prayer is to pray for God to come to us and for us to share God's presence with others (I'm paraphrasing a bit.) This includes the prayer of Jesus, "Thy will be done." (Sometimes stated as "Thy will, not my will.")

We should begin each day and each project with a prayer that we be divinely guided in all that we do and say. Swami Kriyananda's formula could be stated another way: pray for those things, material or spiritual, that will help us serve and grow spiritually. Take, for example, a case of ill health......if by becoming healthy again, you can better meditate and serve a divine work, then pray for that (while prefacing your prayer with "Thy will be done.").

This formula works also in respect to purifying and transcending material desires. To use another example: if you have a habit of buying things that you don't really need and if you find it difficult to curtail this habit, then try shopping for others who are in need, or for a spiritual work that you otherwise support. Giving money to an inspired spiritual work is an excellent and karma-transforming way of dissolving karmic blocks around money. And you know something? The best time to be generous is when you have the least to give! Same with illness: that's the best time to think of others (using common sense, of course). When the body and ego is most inclined to withdraw into fear or suffering THAT'S the best time to affirm a larger reality. By that affirmation (which is, itself, a kind of prayer), your expanding sympathies and awareness can magnetically draw to you what you need. Remember Jesus' words: "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, ....., and all these things shall be added unto you."

Let's say you are out of job. That's the best time to volunteer, to help your family, neighbors, friends, church, school or community. If you are inclined to pray for a job, why not see the fact of having a job in terms of allowing you funds for an annual retreat, or to support a spiritual work, to go on a pilgrimage. Try to expand the horizon of your self-interest to include Self-interest, in other words. Visualize your employment as a means of serving God in others and as an act of devotion. (I believe that the tragedy of homelessness and street beggars is not so much their lack of food and shelter (not difficult to obtain in America, anyway), but the inability (or lack of interest and awareness) in being creatively engaged in serving others.)

How about, then, praying for others? You've perhaps heard it said that "A cure is not a healing." (Or, is it the other way around?) You might pray that your friend be cured of cancer but if the cancer has its roots in some negative behavior pattern, there may be no healing and the cancer may reoccur if the lesson hasn't be learned on a deeper level. (Or, whether the disease reappears or not, the negative pattern may continue.) Put in an opposite form, one sometimes hear of cancer or AIDS "victims" coming to an understanding that, despite their illness being labelled terminal, they feel healed by the opportunity to pay attention to more important things (usually relationships, personal or divine) in their lives. There's nothing like a life-threatening circumstance to put into proper perspective the details of our lives and our self-involved habits of thinking and acting!

When we pray, then, for others we should send the prayer-energy with the thought that the energy itself contains the intelligence to bring about the best results. Don't, in other words, try to "wish for" or visualize specific physical results but send, instead, the intention/energy of your prayer to the higher knowing faculty of that person (their soul, in other words) so that the best and spiritually optimum outcome be the result. Do you see the difference?

As suggested in my recent article on karma (good or bad?), the burden of disease or suffering isn't necessarily "bad" or "good." Our response to it determines whether we respond with faith, hope, and even-mindedness or something less.

It is not my purpose in this article to teach a specific healing prayer technique, but I will share a simplified version of a powerful technique taught by Paramhansa Yogananda. Sit up and calm yourself of any anxious or fearful emotions. Meditate at least a few minutes. Concentrate behind closed eyes by focusing on the "point-between-the-eyebrows" in the forehead: this is the psychic "broadcasting" station of will power and the mind. Visualize the person*** in need (by form, by name, by feeling) at that point. Surround him (her) with radiant light (blue, white, or gold). Rub your palms together briskly creating a sensation of warmth in your hands. Raise your hands facing outward and chanting AUM (aloud, preferably) three times, send the healing vibrations to your friend or loved one. Try to feel that the healing energy is not yours, but enters your body at the base of the brain (medulla oblongata) as a result of your action and intention. Imagine that this healing life force energy (prana) enters there and descends the spine through the arms to the hands and thence outward into the subtle realm of light and thought (astral and causal spheres) directly to your friend's subtle body of light and intelligence.

*** If praying for yourself, visualize the injured or diseased parts as whole and well, or the trait or delusion you wish to transcend in its positive manifestation.....

Returning to prayers for oneself, the highest prayer could also be in the simple form of "Reveal Thyself, reveal Thyself." "Come to me." "I seek Thee that I might share Thee with all."

Do you know the story of the man who presumed upon divine protection when he ignored the shouts of the mahoot (elephant driver) to get out of his way because the elephant was rampaging? He found himself trampled nearly to death! Bruised and bleeding, he prayed and asked God, "What happened? Why didn't you protect me?" The Lord answered saying, "I tried to warn you through the shouts of the mahoot! Why didn't you listen?"

Like my friend, therefore, see God in your life's circumstances, friends, enemies, and loved ones. God can speak and guide you in many ways but until we learn to "listen" to His voice through others, we shouldn't presume that He will speak to us directly. It is OK to ask for help, but do so with a childlike expectation that He listens and will come to your aid. Also, however, ask with the willingness to accept what God sends to you, understanding that perhaps that help will come to you in some unexpected form. Do what you can to improve your health, life, and circumstances in ways that are reasonable and appropriate, but accept, in any case, your troubles, trials and difficulties with equanimity and faith in the ultimate goodness of God coming to you through life's adventures.

Blessings,

Swami Hrimananda

What may I pray for? Myself? Others? - Part 1

Part 1 - Stories

Admittedly, most "praying" people wouldn't think twice about praying for their own needs. After all, "there are no atheists in foxholes" as the saying goes. When in crises, even non-prayers find themselves praying--sometimes making promises if they can get rescued from their crises.

Reminds me of a joke about an Irishman who is desperately looking for a parking place because he's late for an important meeting. He prays, "Lord, if you can find me a parking place, I'll stop drinking." Suddenly, he sees a space opening up, and he prays, "Never mind, Lord, I found one!" (I think that as a child I probably reneged on a few prayers, too!)

My teacher, Swami Kriyananda (1926-2013) describes a kidney stone attack one Sunday morning. He was doubled over with pain but refused to pray for himself, but he was scheduled to give the Sunday morning homily. As the time for the Service approached, though shaking with pain and unable to move, he had the inspiration to pray, "Divine Mother, if you want me to give the Service and not disappoint those who have come today, you'll have to do something about this."

Suddenly and in a flash, the pain vanished. While formerly he was too much pain to even speak, he found that when he went to do the Service he was in too much bliss to speak! And, as he pointed out, it was not because the pain had gone but because of the joy of Divine Mother's caring response. Later he reflected that perhaps She approved of his prayer which was directed on behalf of others!

In his book, "Awaken to Superconsciousness," he tells this story but then adds that he wouldn't expect to hold most people to such a high standard in respect to their personal needs, fears, and desires. Once, when he was a young monk, he had the thought of "wouldn't it be nice" to taste one of those Swiss chocolates he remembered from his childhood growing up in Europe. (This was in the early 1950's when Swiss chocolate wasn't common in American stores.)

What was "sweet" was that on or around his birthday that year, a box of Swiss chocolates showed up from someone who could not have known it was both his birthday and his wish for them. With joy, he shared them with his fellow monks. When God rescues us from fatal harm, well, you can "kinda" expect that, but when a small desire is fulfilled in a way that only God could have known about and fulfilled, well, that's especially touching.

I have tried to live my life in this spirit, though I freely pray for liberation and freedom from delusion. This desire, too, must be fulfilled, Paramhansa Yogananda said! I also pray that if I must reincarnate again, that I find my guru and spiritual path quickly before delusion swallows me up again (or at least delays unnecessarily my journey to Self-realization).

There was a time in the early years of my life at Ananda Village in California, when I felt it was time to move on from the administrative work I was doing at the fledgling community. I wasn't sure what form the next step would take but I had reached the point where no opportunity for change was presenting itself. Given that, at the time, there wasn't anyone else obviously capable of taking my place, it seemed (to me) that I was stuck for a long time to come.

My dilemma was that I didn't want to "ask for myself" or to cause any hardship to the Community. In his famous Yoga Sutras, Patanjali says "what is ours will surely come to us." Thus I was hesitant to speak up for myself to anyone, feeling that if Divine Mother wants me to serve in administrative functions for the rest of my life, well, I guess I'd better embrace it and be happy about it!

Then one day in the 1980's when Padma and I had traveled to our center in Italy (we were with Swami Kriyananda, Ananda's founder, on Ananda business), I felt to share with him my feelings on the matter. We were having a quiet lunch together in Rome at a friend's house and were soon to part ways: we back to California and he on to another leg of a lecture tour. He nodded sympathetically and seemed to agree that a change was needed but nothing was decided or even put into motion as a result. But, interestingly, after that conversation, there soon appeared on the scene a new member who had the precise credentials needed! I had simply stated my case, as it were.

A year ago I had a sudden paralysis of my right hand. It was disconcerting at first. I didn't know what it was or whether it was short-term or permanent. After my initial shock, an inspiration came to me: "This must be my guru's grace!" An improbable thought, perhaps, but it was more than an affirmation: the thought rang with truth.

From that point forward and though I did all the exercises and therapies suggested to me, I let go of any expectation of recovery. It was no "mere" inconvenience. I do constant typing (emails, compositions, planning, etc.) but was limited to one finger typing which for me, as a lifelong very fast typist, was excruciating. Many ordinary tasks were impossible. With my limp hand I'd constantly send objects flying across the room. In my frequent classes I couldn't play the harmonium and had to ask for help. Yet help was there, without any need for me to seek it.

For weeks while struggling to carry on my ordinary activities and conceal, as best I could, my disability, I kept affirming "Guru's grace." Then after six weeks long weeks and only one day before my annual seclusion I found I could move my fingers sufficiently to play the harmonium once again. Within a week or two the paralysis disappeared!

Part 2 - Continued in the blog article: How to Pray for Your Self & Others

Swami Hrimananda....praying that you'll read the next one......:-)

Reflections on our Pilgrimage to Italy!

Padma and I sent this note to our friends and fellow pilgrims going in early October for two weeks to visit the shrines of St. Francis and other saints, visit Rome & Florence, and stay at the Ananda Center near Assisi.

Dear Fellow Pilgrims to Italy,

The time for our departure is soon. We encourage you to pace yourself this next ten or so days. You don't want to get on the airplane exhausted from getting everything in your life caught up or having packed merely the night before!

Make lists, pull out your luggage, start making piles of stuff! When you pack, leave behind a third of it!​​

Hopefully some of you have been reading up on the life of St. Francis and other things related to our travels.

One thought we'd like to share with you has to do with integrating what we experience with our own path. Almost every town in Italy has its patron saint whose body may be deemed incorruptible or whose relics have witnessed miraculous healings. Stories of these saints tell us of lives of great penances, martyrdom, or suffering.

Most of humanity (though not the true saints) during Kali Yuga considered the body as their only reality. Thus it was that the dogma/teaching of the resurrection of the physical body at the end of time made perfect, simple sense and was very appealing to them. The concept of future lives beyond the current one had little appeal to those without imagination, unless perhaps to grant more time to fulfill desires. It is no coincidence that Jesus' last great act was to resurrect his physical body. The deeper message of his resurrection (power of spirit over nature and the promise of our soul’s immortality in God) was simply lost on the Christians of medieval consciousness.

Not surprisingly, one of the most popular and ubiquitous divine graces given to saints of that era was the incorruptibility (after death) of their physical body. Another measure of sanctity (consistent with the consciousness of the times) was the degree of physical suffering. Again, it was no coincidence that Jesus, a great avatar with a dispensation for Kali Yuga, "suffered" on the cross "for our sins."

(Both suffering and incorruptibility found favor in India, too, during Kali Yuga, but India is not our cultural destination.)

How are we, on this upcoming pilgrimage, going to find inspiration from the saints of the medieval era? How can we relate to such lives, so distant not only in time, not only in culture, but in the very manifestation of divine consciousness? 

It is in the Festival of Light, which we read every Sunday, that we find our bridge: "For whereas in the past the coin of man's redemption was pain and suffering, for us, now, the payment has been exchanged for calm acceptance and joy."

Master teaches us and St. Francis showed this in his life, too, that joy in the midst of suffering is the measure of sanctity, not the suffering itself. This joy is not a denial of suffering, nor does it blot it out. But soul joy co-exists in our souls no matter what our body or ego may be experiencing in the realm of maya. Sister Gyanamata, at her death, sinking into the watchful state even as her body was wracked with pain, could only mutter, “Joy, joy, too much joy.”

In Swami Kriyananda’s life, too, we saw dynamically illustrated the co-existence of bliss with physical hardship and the victory of bliss over bodily limitations.

We can find that joy-space-presence as we live more and more in the eternal NOW. It’s like a football player who takes in stride the brutal effects of his sport while, if you or I were to go out in the field, we would be carried out of the game on a stretcher in the first play! The soul sees suffering first as maya and then as but the divine hand (perhaps well disguised).

Master said that evil, Satan, and suffering all play a role in helping us move, as we choose, toward God and toward the truth (that shall make us free). Even Jesus cautioned us not to seek suffering for its own sake: “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

All the true Christian saints illustrated this in their lives. Those whose lives demonstrated states of ecstatic inner communion (superconsciousness) are generally the ones we honor particularly as "in our line."

Even if Kali Yuga consciousness could relate only to the body and its comforts, we, on the threshold of Dwapara and disciples of a great guru, are not so limited.

Thus it is the shrines we will visit will tend to emphasize the miracles and/or the penances performed. As Master's own, we would do well to intuit and unearth the treasure of true joy of which St. Francis and other great saints of his time experienced. St. Francis, even as he was dying and seemingly in great pain, could not contain his joy. For this he was reprimanded by Brother Elias (as being an unseemly posture for a dying saint), the pompous administrator of the now large Franciscan Order. But Francis ignored him.

It is this divine presence that lingers at the shrines and relics of St. Francis, Sister Clare and so many others. Even the great works of art and architecture testify to the victory of Joy over suffering. Kali Yuga was truly a dark time for the average person, yet these saints and the marvels they inspired yet ring with transcendence: the soul of man reaching up to his Creator.

Blessings, Hriman and Padma

Fall 2014 Equinox : A Message of Faith

This evening, Saturday, September 20, 2014, I will share some words on the theme of the Fall Equinox. I write these notes as part of my preparation. My theme is faith.

I have long been struck by the subtle but tangible feeling of upliftment and general energy that surrounds the four points of the solar year which are the two equinoxes and two solstices. I had never noticed them before until 2001 when my wife Padma, inspired by the description in "Autobiography of a Yogi" (by Paramhansa Yogananda) of how his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, celebrated the equinox and solstices, proposed we start the tradition of holding these celebrations here as well (at Ananda in the greater Seattle, WA area).

At that first celebration, September 22, 2001, which took place at the Ananda Community in Lynnwood (a place very much off the beaten path and towards which many first-time visitors seem to get lost enroute), we were standing outside the meditation hall minutes before the celebration service was to begin and no one had arrived! So, a little deflated, we went inside to wait. By 6:10 p.m., the room was full! Ever since then we have found that these celebrations attract many people, often for the first time, or whom we never see throughout the year, otherwise.

In case you are unaware of it, these four points of the solar year represent the passing hours when the sun and earth hover in very specific relationships. Speaking of the northern hemisphere, the two solstices are the points when the sun is "highest" (June 21, summer) in the sky and the hours of daylight are at their height and the point (December 21, winter) when the sun is at its lowest point and daylight hours are the fewest. The Spring (March 21) and Fall (September 21) equinoxes are when the hours of day and night are equal.

On an energetic level and in respect to human consciousness, the summer solstice represents the height of our vitality and creative energies. We are filled with both energy and en-joy-ment as we work in hopeful expectation of "profitable" and "productive" results (come Fall). The Fall equinox, we are filled with gratitude for the harvest as we also introspect upon the fruits of our labor as to how to improve our efforts in the period to come. In the Fall, we know that the winter is coming and we must gather, store, and protect our harvest to sustain us through the dark months ahead. We draw upon our faith that by our efforts and by divine grace, we will be sustained as we endure challenges and difficulties.

The Winter solstice celebrates the fact that soon the sun will now begin its journey of return. In the darkness is born new life, in the darkness of the womb where the seed fertilizes the embryo, in the ground where seeds lie, seemingly infertile but awaiting the Spring, and in our hearts where, at the center of our trials and difficulties, there resides the light of truth and of love. It is in our hearts and in the midst of the darkness, that the Christ child of love and wisdom is reborn. In this universal love which is the essence of life, unseen and in the apparent darkness of non-material realities (consciousness, itself), we celebrate our fellowship, our families, and our kinship in God.

The Spring equinox is a celebration of hope in the most obvious way. The new buds of growth, the beautiful and fresh flowers, and the birth of new life offers to us the promise of redemption, rebirth, and hope for lasting happiness. Life is reborn for those who have planted seeds of hope, faith and goodness and who have nourished those seeds with the sunlight of wisdom and the water of love.

Each of these four celebrations affirms our kinship as children of God. Whether recumbent or active, whether hopeful or retiring, sensitive souls rejoice in the fellowship of all life which has sprung from the unseen but intuited divine presence which resides in all.

I intend to share a little of a remarkable life, that of Louis Zamperini. The book and soon-to-be released movie of the same name, "Unbroken," chronicles a life of great struggle which, endured with faith, hope and vitality, proved victorious. Louis, born in 1917, and against great odds, became an Olympic runner and met Adolph Hitler in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics. In World War II, his bomber crashed in the Pacific and he endured 47 days at sea, harassed constantly by sharks and strafed by Japanese warplanes, floating without food or water. Picked up near the Marshall Islands by the Japanese, he endured torture, beatings, starvation and indignities beyond imagination until the conclusion of that war. Hailed a hero upon his return to California, the toll of indignity and torture held him captive until, hearing Billy Graham one day in Los Angeles, the dark night of his prayers in captivity blossomed into flowers of forgiveness.

In October, 1950, he went to Japan to meet, once again, his (now imprisoned) tormentors and to offer forgiveness. He spent the rest of his life in service to others. In 1981, he carried the Olympic torch in Japan (quite near his former POW camp). He died last July 2, 2014. A movie, directed by Angelina Jolie, will be released this December.

Our lives are lives of privilege, compared to what Louie endured and that of many millions throughout world today. Our privilege grants us the opportunity to transcend comfort and to seek the "truth that shall make you free." I've often wondered how and why some people, "....one," Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, "out of a thousand," turn within, look up and seek God in truth and in right action. I think it is because the seed of faith has been planted in our hearts, nourished in our bosom, often silently, most likely in past lives, and then begins to sprout when conditions are right.

Jesus told the story that "in a field two are working, one is taken and the other left behind." By this he means, that among people, otherwise identical outwardly in appearance or activity, perhaps one will find his faith awakened and will "leave" the field (meaning leave his mundane existence, if not in actuality, then in spirit). We never know the time or the place when God, "like a thief in the night," will call us from within.

Fall is an excellent time to go on retreat; to take personal and private seclusion: even, if, just for day when no one else is around. Take the time to reflect upon the harvest of your life, the seeds you have planted in this life: what blossoms and fruits will they bear? Is this fruit what you seek? Pray for the inspiration to be guided and the strength to be lead by faith from within.

Perhaps I see you this evening!

Blessings,

Hriman

Why Celebrate the Fall Equinox?

Every year on or around the Fall Equinox (September 21, more or less) are celebrations or activities related to the "fall of the leaves" and the moment when the waning hours of summer sunlight equal the increasing hours of darkness. This time of year (ok, for the northern hemisphere) the daytime summer high temperatures have subsided; the nights are cooling down, the leaves (of deciduous trees) begin to turn browns, yellows, reds and golds; crops come into their final stages of harvest (grapes, apples, and the like) and even the sunlight has a sparkle, a twinkle, a reflective glow as the sun lowers in the sky on its journey to the south.

In former times the need to harvest and store in preparation for the cold winds, snows and earth's coming sterility would certainly weigh upon the minds of the citizenry. But in all times, sensitive souls are reminded that "life is short and uncertain." You never know when the winter time of lack, of ill health, of death or Fate's disfavor will be-fall you.

It is time not only to harvest but to assess, account for, weigh, sell, trade, or share the harvest. As Krishna says in the first stanza or so of the Bhagavad Gita, "How did we this day upon the field....of battle..." Reflective souls are invited to assess the fruits of our labors, our actions, our good, or not so good, karma and ask how we might improve. A farmer, too, takes note of how his decisions of what to plant, where to plant, to irrigate, fertilize and when to harvest did on the field of his labor. If our "harvest" (whether material fruits or spiritual fruits) is bountiful, we give thanks to the great Provider of Life, to "Providence."

We gather, therefore, on this occasion to celebrate the harvest of the "summer" of our self-efforts to live by truth, by compassion, creativity, service, and devotion. We give thanks for the gift of life, health, vitality, love and friendship.

For thousands of years humanity has been drawn to the pairs of equinoctial and solstice points of each solar year: where light and dark are equal (March and September), and, where light reigns (summer) and dark prevails (winter). Objectively one can only say these are simply astronomical facts. Subjectively (in terms of human response), some would say that our notice of these events are related to humanity's dependence upon agriculture. But spiritually, we say that these four points, while natural moments of pause in the astronomical relationships of earth to sun, give our souls' pause for reflection. Autumn being literally a reflective time, while Winter solstice we celebrate the sun's intention to return (north) (and the light that shines within us eternally), Spring, the joy and promise of rebirth, and Summer, the vitality and abundance of life itself.

Many feel, though fewer express, in outer, communal celebration the change of seasons and their significance. When we gather, this Saturday, September 20, at the Ananda Meditation Temple in Bothell, we do so with millions around the globe. This momentary still-point in nature brings to us an expanded sympathy and greater, sensitive awareness of our life and our connections with all life.

Pause, then, at this time to reflect upon the summer of your life's energies, activities, and commitments. Are they yielding to you the fruits of inner peace, wisdom, calmness, vitality and true happiness? Prepare yourself for the winter of self-discipline. Renew your commitment to self-improvement (going back to "school"). Withdrawing from the exuberance of summer's intensity and play, settle into even-mindedness and calm cheerfulness for whatever life may bring you in contrast to summer's fun and creative engagement. Attempt to transcend your bundle of self-definitions: you are not a man or woman, young or old, vital or unwell, successful or sluggish. Time to ask, "Who am I?" If my "luck" turns south, will I be the same?

Be, then, grateful, too: whether sun has shined upon you or rain has drenched your hopes with sorrows. Life is a great Teacher and it is time to ask: "What have I learned?" "How can I find true happiness (which lives within you)?"

Life is short and happiness comes by the victorious affirmation of the truth that you are not merely an ego bottled up in a human form. Life is God. Life is Joy. Life simply IS. Be the Light of Joy that shines within your Life! Revel in the light of the Fall colors as rainbows of the many facets and stages of life through which we travel but from which we live untouched by the fleeting play of shadow and light. Don't "Fall" for the illusion of their permanence.

Take a retreat, a day of silence, of prayer and meditation. Before the snow comes, hike to the top of any mountain and see the panorama of many lives from the One Life above.

Reflecting your Self,

Swami Hrimananda

"Bad Karma" - Another Word for "Sin"? What is "Karma?"

In the Book of Job (in the Old Testament of Jewish and Christian faiths), Satan comes to God and wants to make a bet! (Yes, really!) Satan says, "God, I see your faithful servant Job down there on earth. But I bet you that if you let me take away his wealth, his health, his reputation, and his loved ones, Job will lose faith in You. You wanna bet? Hmm, hmmm, hmmmm?"

So, as you can imagine, God couldn't turn down this one from the old buster, the devil his-self! So He, the Almighty, says, "Satan, you're ON!" So, sure enough, poor old Job, innocent as a lamb, loses his health, his wealth, and his loved ones. Then his so-called friends come to him and say: "Job, old boy, what great sins did YOU commit to deserve this obvious displeasure of Jehovah?"

Poor old Job protests his innocence. Despite all his suffering he holds on to his faith in God's wisdom and goodness. God, in the end, therefore wins the bet with Satan. Whew!

All of Chapter 9 of the gospel of St. John describes a curious incident in which Jesus comes upon a man "blind since birth." Jesus is asked by his usual taunters, "Who sinned, this man, or his parents?" Now, mind you, the poor fellow was blind SINCE BIRTH. So if it was he, he must have sinner in a past life! While Jesus here has a perfect opportunity to endorse reincarnation, Jesus ducks the issue and says, "Neither has sinned!" Jesus explains that this man was born blind for the glory of God! What!!!! You kidding? Lucky guy, eh? Jesus then heals the man of his blindness. The story that follows is very touching and poignant but not needed for this article.

So what do we have here? Let's pause for "station identification."

Old Age'ers (fundamentalists) might tend to think that misfortune heaped upon a good Christian is a sign of God's disfavor. Some Christians, to turn this around, think that material success, health, wealth, position, and a loving family are a sign of one's virtue and one's finding favor in the good Lord's eyes. New Age'ers might tend to view a fellow meta-physician's troubles as a sure sign of some past bad karma. Neither view is necessarily correct.

The law of karma, it is said, is exacting. Paramhansa Yogananda (author of the famous "Autobiography of a Yogi") said the metaphysical law of karma finds expression in Newton's third law of motion: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In Vedanta and metaphysics, this is the law of duality as well as part of the law of karma. St. Paul wrote, famously, of the law of karma saying "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap." (Galatians 6:7).

So look at what we have: by the law of karma one would naturally think that Job and the man born blind since birth must have done something to have earned their suffering. But by Jesus' explanation and by the story of Job, there appears to be a third option: a divine source. I call this the "Third Rail."

Think of karma as a pendulum: good and bad karma. (Never mind, for now, which is which. For the moment just think that "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Or, to quote from Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, "What is day to the yogi is night to the worldly man; what is night to the yogi, is day to the worldly man.") In the centerpoint of the pendulum lies, however momentarily, a rest point: a point from which the pendulum begins, and ends, its motion. This point we call God.

According to the dogma of man's free will, we understand that God has given us the power to choose good or evil. ("To eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.") This is like pushing the pendulum for the first time. It begins with the appearance of material and ego-active desires, likes, and dislikes. In this we abandon the God's eye view of Oneness: seeing God in all and, as a result, seeing "through" the illusion that the senses, matter, and ego have any intrinsic reality and attraction (or repulsion). 

Once the pendulum swings into motion, the interplay of good and bad karma, action and reaction, will keep the pendulum moving essentially forever until, suspicious and wary, worn and torn, we decide not "to play" the "Great Game" of ego.

When the prodigal son of Jesus' story in the new testament decided to return to his father's home, he had a long way to go on his journey. But his decision to return is the starting point. It says (and not just once) in Revelations (3:12), "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out." This "pillar" is like the shaft and center point of our pendulum.

It is then by our choice that we begin to slow the pendulum and with sustained effort and divine grace that pendulum will come to rest in God, in our own center. God will not step into our lives as He has in Job's or that of the man born blind since birth until we invite Him into our lives.

This "third rail" of divine neutrality is God's invisible hand giving to the devotee what seems like troubles and suffering but which, if the soul will "overcome" the test with faith in God, with wisdom and equanimity, it will be the means by which the soul will not have to "go no more out" in repeated reincarnations to continue to work out its karma (whether good or bad). 

The threads of past action (karma) are subtle. The question of karma vs. grace may be somewhat a false dichotomy. Think about Job, or that blind man. Nothing in their respective stories suggests that they are souls already freed from karma ("saints," you might say). That means that they certainly have karma to overcome. Thus the fact that they each encounter troubles can logically, at least, be attributed to such karma. 

Where God's grace (the "Third Rail") enters is the timing and nature of those troubles: testing their faith and equanimity at time and in a proportion they can digest. By passing their tests with the flying colors of faith and equanimity, they have become free of some of their past karma. You see: BOTH-AND. Both-And is the nature of Infinity (while EITHER-OR is the product of the play of duality and the limited view of the intellect using logic and reason). Nonetheless, there is an element of divine intervention. It is the "good" karma of reaching upward to God: we make one step in His direction and He takes two in ours. "Faith is the most practical thing of all." I once heard my teacher, Swami Kriyananda say that when I was still quite new and it puzzled me to no end. I think, now, I understand it much better.

The worldly person will usually attribute blame to God, or to life, or to others for his troubles. He is miserable or angry when trials come and seeks however he can to get away from trouble and find pleasure and happiness. So, for this soul, the pendulum continues on and on and on until it seems like an eternity of hell.

When troubles come to you, as in every life they must, "what comes of itself, let it come" and stand tall "amidst the crash of breaking worlds" with faith, hope, and charity (even-mindedness). When success, pleasure and human happiness arrive on our doorstep, accept them gratefully but also with equanimity, for all "things must pass." This is the way we must face our tests and our successes if we are to neutralize our karma. In this way we convert what might seem to be our "bad" karma into the "good" karma of soul wisdom and eventually freedom in God. 

Krysta Gibson, editor and publisher of the New Spirit Journal, wrote an article (that inspired this one) and I thought you might enjoy reading it too: http://bit.ly/ZieeAa

Meditate on a great pillar, a shaft of light, as the symbol of the inner spine. This is, in part, the meaning of the Hindu "lingam" (a stone pillar....too often, but incorrectly, likened to a phallic symbol). This "pillar" is our own center, our subtle spine, to which if we withdraw mentally and with good posture gives us psychic protection, spiritual fortitude and insights.

Om namoh Shivaya!

Swami Hrimananda

Marriage: Is it Necessary?

Did I get your attention? Truthfully now: cohabitation is as acceptable as blue skies and sun (or, in my case, here in Seattle, grey clouds and rain). So why do couples go through all the fuss and bother and expense (and stress) of a marriage ceremony? Is it a tax savings device? Hardly!

Is it guilt or some social hangover from centuries of sentimentality and hopelessly repetitive traditions? I hope not, or at least I don't think so. Modern, educated and conscious-lifestyle couples step up to the marriage altar for many reasons, of course, but also, I believe, owing to impulses that run deep in the human psyche.

When I say "deep," I am NOT referring to some lizard brained, Darwinian ape-like impulse to, ah, what: survive? I am not aware of any other species who uses a ceremony to establish a committed relationship. Or as I sometimes put it when sometime trots out a survival-related reason for various profound, ennobling or genius-like human activities: "Speak for yourself!."

The impulse to memorialize and consecrate a couple's relationship comes from a higher plane of consciousness. It affirms the sacredness of commitment, of trust, of responsibility to and for one another. On a metaphysical level the two become One, thus re-affirming the highest (or deepest) truth precept humankind has ever, often, and repeatedly averred: as God is one, we are one, and, as children of God, we, too, in our souls, at least, are One with the Father-Mother, Infinite Power. Oneness, in other words, is the supreme teaching of the universe.

Marriage affirms a corollary precept: that love is the essence of truth and of reality. Love is the elemental divine impulse that put into motion the creation of the universe and it is to love that consciousness aspires in its long journey through time and space and endless seeming incarnations from lower life forms to the human form.

Love is the answer, the solution. Love it is that procreates: whether human children, acts of kindness, of enthusiastic creativity in arts, science, and all worthwhile human endeavors.

Some couples are, of course, of a lower consciousness and the most they can make of this impulse is to hold a bacchanalian orgy of loud music, guffaws, hard drinking, and all the innuendo around what follows. This false and fantasized lower form of bliss is inevitably paid for with the coin of the realm of our health, vitality, and happiness and returns to them in time with boredom, bitterness, disillusionment and, all too often, divorce.

Other couples, perhaps more sober and mature, see sacredness in their lives as limited to ceremonies of marriage, funerals and perhaps baptisms, but otherwise live their lives unaware or unaffected by their few minutes of religious traditional rites. Their marital affirmation is a pale affirmation and a fleeting vision of spiritual beauty just like a wedding dress which, though ethereal and shimmering with beauty and promise, is worn but once and then put into the closet for decades.

At Ananda, we have a beautiful wedding ceremony that is truly sacred and affirms the highest ideals of soul union with God and divine friendship with each other. Visitors and guests consistently remark on the universality, the poetic and visual beauty of the vows, rituals and music, and the sacredness they feel during the ceremony. We use the symbols of nature (earth, water, fire and air) to affirm our connection with all life and with the qualities these elements invite us to express: loyalty, adaptability, non-attachment and wisdom. The couple consecrates their partnership by affirming their love for God and that the love they feel for each other should be corollary expression of God's love, retaining the unselfish purity of God's unconditional love.

Just because we are as yet imperfect in realization of our spiritual ideals doesn't mean we can't or shouldn't affirm them, indeed, declare them with friends, family and congregation as witnesses and in those who wish to add their sincere blessings as a free gift. A spiritual marriage (I have earlier written on this subject: August 2014: Human Love: Delusion or Doorway to Heaven?) is one that strives to see the highest in one another and to serve and share in divine friendship. True friendship is practical and serviceful, one to the other; it is self-giving and self-sacrificing, even while remaining centered within and free from expectations of reciprocity. (A high bar of attainment, I grant you.) A spiritual marriage is founded in respect and a love born of the unconditional love which is innate to our soul's nature.

Tomorrow Padma and I are officiants at a wedding of dear friends who strive to live by these ideals and who seek the blessing of friends and family and the blessings of God through Christ and the Masters of Self-realization.

Marriage will survive for a long time to come! It will do so for reasons not generally clearly understood but deeply felt because true.

Blessings and joy to our friends and to all,

Nayaswami Hriman