THE JOURNEY You may have had days or moments where you felt God was speaking to you with special insights. I would like to share one of the days when the Lord spoke to me through nature regarding meditation. I took a day trip with the monks of Ananda Village to Table Mountain in Northern California in the late spring … Read More
There is a big tree in front of the balcony of my second-floor apartment that shelters many birds. I get the opportunity to observe them at different times of the day and throughout the seasons. The very particular behavior patterns of these birds and other animals, including a stray cat or two in my yard, raise insightful questions for me … Read More
I remember feeling a little desperate in the fall of 1992. We had volunteered our home in Santa Rosa to hold Sunday services, kirtans, classes, and other gatherings for our Ananda meditation group. That house had been a real blessing. It not only had rooms for everyone in our family but it also had a large sunroom in the back … Read More
Divine Mother shared a message with me this morning through Her play of sunlight and mist. It is captured here in the following video. The Divine Romance The gardening team at Crystal Hermitage had just finished setting up sprayers for a long bed of irises that adorned a welcoming walkway. The sun was at high noon making my newfound friend, … Read More
The famous novelist Herman Melville, who authored Moby Dick 170 years ago, made this interesting statement: Life is a voyage that’s homeward bound. From a yogic perspective, was he correct? What do you think enlightened yogis would say? If they agree, then what kind of a journey is this life? And what exactly does home mean? Further, and perhaps most … Read More
Our Inner ‘Contrast Land’ Do you remember when you first started to meditate? Do you remember the moment when you set out on your path to enlightenment, to God and Self-realization? Wasn’t that a most wonderful time?! Didn’t you receive a special blessing at the beginning of your spiritual journey? Weren’t you blessed by some precious, special glimpses of the … Read More
The Disciples of Christ A disciple of Christ is anyone who is seeking to emulate Christ in any measure. A disciple of Christ, by gradations, can be one of the 12 apostles or Mary, the Mother of Christ, or Joseph, or Mary Magdalene, or St. Paul, who was headed to Damascus to kill Christians. When Jesus knocked him off his … Read More
What is the reason for the season? Nayaswami Ananta: We celebrate Christmas really based on two factors. Of course, the Old Testament leads us toward Christmas with the promise of the Messiah, and all throughout the Old Testament this comes to Christmas. The winter solstice is right around Christmas. I have heard that the date of Christmas was moved or … Read More
The Christmas song by Swami Kriyananda called “The Christ Child’s Asleep” holds a special inspirational feeling about the celebration of Christ’s birth. It also addresses the broader issue of how ‘all people here on earth’ can uplift their consciousness into the highest Christ Consciousness. Paramhansa Yogananda and Swami Kriyananda often mentioned that Christ did not come to show us how … Read More
HOW CAN I HAVE A SPIRITUAL CHRISTMAS? Nayaswami Ananta: I think a spiritual Christmas is a really important goal. It would be an absolute shame to have [only] material Christmas and miss the real gem that we are offered every December 25, also at Easter, and the celebrations of avatars of any religion. Christmas is a cultural event. The world … Read More
