I’d always had a deep longing for unconditional, divine love – it's not easy to find it in this world. Yet during my first visit here I caught a glimpse of it. I came, as so many do, during a transitional time in my life. I was looking for guidance; I needed answers. Perhaps my personal turmoil made me more open and receptive. In any case, I felt within hours as if I were “coming home” to myself.
Like many baby boomers, I was a romantic idealist, always looking for “something more.” I had spent two years serving in the Peace Corps, and I wasn’t quite ready to settle down to a more conventional life. (Since I’m still here, I guess I won’t ever be “ready!”) Needless to say, the spiritual ideals and pioneer spirit of Ananda were extremely magnetic to me. That was over 35 years ago.
Even now, those ideals are sustaining me. Despite many trials in the community and in my personal life, the spirit of Ananda has not disappointed me. My life here is very blessed -- continually filled with meaning and joy.
–N.G., Ananda Village
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In the late 1970’s I had the great blessing to take a hatha yoga class from a woman who had learned from Swami Kriyananda. She gave me the Autobiography of a Yogi to read. I had found Master, and in time I connected with Ananda House (the 1st Ananda Center in the Bay Area) in San Francisco. I was spending every free moment there, preparing for Kriya Initiation, taking classes, helping with activities, and loving it all.
It was wonderful, but there was a part of me wanting more. One morning during my sadhana (spiritual practice) a soul-prayer came from within me to Master, “ I just want to serve the work”. That prayer was granted, and within a few weeks I was living and serving at Ananda Village. A blessing that has been the deepest and most precious possible in this life.
–LH, Ananda India
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I hadn't even taken my first step on the spiritual path when I realized that I really didn't know how to do this. Even after taking a guru and delving into his teachings and techniques, I knew I needed the real-life example of someone "more like me" living this life on a daily basis. In fact, I needed a lot of such "someones," so I could average out the personal idiosyncracies and try to understand how I, personally, could best go about it.
When I saw the people at Ananda Village, I knew that they could be my role models, and I knew I had to live here. I moved in 1984 -- and I'm still here, watching, learning and striving.
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GM, California
I came to Ananda because I wanted to be around people who wanted God more than anything else.
The focus on spiritual life became the most important thing for me after I read the Autobiography of a Yogi. This book spoke the truth, and I wanted to learn Yoganada’s teachings and be with his disciples and devotees.
It changed my entire life’s view. Before this, I was so focused on “getting what I wanted and experiencing it all.” Thirty years have gone by, and I still love being around joyful people who are seeking God through meditation and selfless service as their main goals in life.
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MJ, California
I love God. Lovers of God seek out others who share that feeling. I felt God wanted me to be at Ananda to increase my spiritual sensitivity and to help others to increase theirs.
The genuineness of purpose as demonstrated by Swami Kriyananda and others was most complelling.
It was time for me to turn my life around and fulfill my destiny - to know myself. I came to Ananda because I could not do otherwise.
–BA, Oregon
I had done everything I thought of, and knew of, to find happiness, truth and meaning in my life. It must have dawned on me that I needed outside help, as I joked to a friend that I might get a personalized license plate saying “ICKTCHR” (I seek a teacher).
It wasn’t long after that that God answered this inner longing, and I found myself attending a lecture at Ananda Palo Alto. The clarity I experienced from Asha (the speaker), the peace of the place—after after an hour of yoga postures, I was content to remain there FOREVER—and the true answers I subsequently found in Yogananda’s Autobiography, Kriyananda’s book “The Path”, and the meditation classes I took, were the answers I was looking for.
-DB, California
I was already a member of SRF and considered myself a disciple of Yogananda, when I first heard about Ananda in 1974. My yoga teacher in Berkeley mentioned that there was a whole community of Yogananda devotees living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. I had been contemplating resigning from my teaching job and returning to India to start some kind of school for children of devotees of Master.
Upon hearing about Ananda, I didn't immediately rush up to visit the community. However, Master's hand gave me another little push when I was walking the streets of S.F. one day and saw a poster advertising that "Swami Kriyananda, a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda" was going to give a talk the next Sunday. It was meeting Swamiji, hearing him speak, feeling Master's love flow through him, and then a few days later meeting the Gandharvas and other members of Ananda that inspired me to want to visit Ananda.
Shortly thereafter, I visited Ananda for the first time, and was deeply inspired by the place, the people and the power of Master's vibrations that permeated the whole experience. I decided to come back for that summer's apprentice program, which gave me the opportunity to be at classes and Sunday services given by Swamiji, to chant and meditate with Ananda members, to work with Shivani, Savitri, Hridaya and others in the garden, to hear Swamiji's music. That experience convinced me to stay at Ananda Village.
–K.S., Assisi, Italy
More to come!
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