It has been several years since I made that first trip from Los Angeles to Ananda Village, but the experience stands out in my memory for several reasons.

I still remember clearly the morning I stepped into the reception area of the Expanding Light Retreat. I don’t remember being ever greeted by strangers anywhere so lovingly, so warmly before. I was charmed from the very beginning!

Then I got a tour around the area and I can still feel the joy of my hostess as she took me around. I had never come across such a happy person – happy, apparently to simply show a guest around a resort…and I wondered. As it would turn out that was only the beginning; I would pause and wonder many times during that trip.

Helicopter landing near the Village green

Smoky air…

I was waiting for my room in the reception foyer when I thought I heard a helicopter outside. I couldn’t believe my ears. Helicopters belong in LA, not here! – I remember thinking to myself!

However when I peeked outside, I saw that the sun’s light had turned orange in the dark smoke that was curling out in the distance. Before I realized what was happening I, along with everyone else, was asked to get in their cars and leave the Expanding Light area – there was a fire!

Ananda’s “downtown” area obscured by fire smoke

As I had flew into Sacramento and took a shuttle up to Ananda expecting nothing but an uneventful, peaceful week, all I had with me was a small carry-on. As I got into someone else’s car with my bag I was still in a state of shock and disbelief. I was whisked away from the hill top down to a meadow like area which I would later come to know as the Master’s Market. As I stepped out of the car, not knowing what to expect next, I found myself looking at a huge crowd of people.

Prayer circle

Someone was asking everyone to fall in a circle – she seemed very familiar – I felt I had seen her before. Again, as I was to find out, that was a feeling I would have many times that week at the Village. Everyone gathered around in a large circle.

I looked around to see happy, calm eyes of people chanting Aum. That resounding Aum awakened something in me and as I joined in with everyone else I felt so much at home, so much in place!

Invoking divine protection

We had powerful prayers going on till the afternoon. I was amazed to see people so calm, so loving and joyful even in the midst of an ongoing fire. Again I remember thinking “These people have their houses on fire – literally! – What keeps them so peaceful, calm and joyful? What is the source of this courage and strength?”

I was, along with other retreat guests, asked if I would like to leave given it was uncertain when the fire would subside. While all the other guests left I wanted to stay back. Ananda had hooked me! The place and the people felt strangely familiar and there was no way I was leaving before finding out all about it!

One of Ananda volunteer firefighters

As we continued to pray in the circle, we got word that the fire had been brought under control. The firefighter captain came down and congratulated us on our successful prayers. He said the wind was blowing the fire closer to the Expanding  Light when there was a sudden shift in the wind and the fire was driven away.

Later that day I was offered to stay with one of the residents at her house. I accompanied her to a community meeting in the evening. Everywhere I went I came across joyful, happy people. Their eyes mesmerized me with their warmth of love and depth of joy, seeming to pour from deep within. “What is this place? Are these people real?” I asked myself. I came across so many faces that seemed so familiar – how is that possible?

Everything’s under control!

I attended Sunday Service the next morning. Again I had never experienced anything like that before! Words fail me to describe the wide range of emotions I felt that morning. Finally when everyone sang together during the Festival of lights I remember feeling “This is how heaven is, this is how heaven must feel!”

Little did I know I had stumbled across a place that would help me find my guru, awaken yearnings long buried under dusts of day-to-day familial life and launch me on an incredible journey of spiritual awakenings.

Peaceful village the day after the fire

Thank you, Swami Kriyananda! Thank you, Ananda! For being what you are – a beacon of Divine’s Mother love and light for God-thirsty, truth-seeking souls everywhere.

I teach science at a public high school in a southern California suburb. This is my third year of teaching and though not a veteran yet, you can say that I have mastered it quite a bit. But I thought I’d share with you some of my experiences as a brand new teacher. While on one hand they did not feel pleasant, especially at the time, on the other hand they are some of the most cherished experiences of my life as a devotee, as Master’s (my Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda’s) child.

Let me give you a little background about myself. I had very little experience of the school system in the U.S having completed K-12 in India. An American high school classroom felt very “foreign” to me; the teenage jargon, the dress code, the behavior, the attitude – I was at times completely overwhelmed! – not to mention the pressure to perform anew in front of a 40 member class audience five times a day and the need to come up with new lessons every day, five days a week! I was exhausted!

Also since I had opted for what is called the internship instead of traditional student-teaching, it meant I had no mentor or guide to lend me a helping hand. I was on my own. However I did have Master and Divine Mother by my side.

Our school has a strict electronic policy that students cannot use electronic devices in the classroom. One day, and this was probably within the first three months of my first year, I had confiscated the cell phone of a student who was using it in the class and kept it on my table. It had never crossed my mind that it is possible for my students, the 14-15 year olds, to steal! Yes, I was naïve as I soon found out to my horror! The cell phone was gone and I realized it right after the class got over. It was very embarrassing as a teacher! What am I going to do?

I remember visualizing holding Master’s hand for support; “Everything is fine” – I felt calmer and centered. I talked to another teacher and she advised talking to the class which I did the following day. I told them how deeply disappointed I am and why I do not expect such behavior from the class. At the end of the class two students quietly came up to me, after everyone else had left, and said “We know who took the phone!”
Eventually the thief confessed and the phone was returned to the owner. I quietly thanked Master.

Another time I had left my thumb drive on the desk computer in my classroom. Again something one should never do, as I learned very quickly. As it turned out I had to call sick the following day. When I finally returned the day after the thumb drive was gone! Now that thumb drive had not only all my lessons, power point presentations and files, it also had all my assignments that were due at the university where I was completing my teacher preparation course. Remember that was my year of internship which means I had to go back to the university to my student-teaching class every week and yes, all my homework and papers ready to be submitted to the State was in that thumb drive. And it did not have a back-up. I was lost! Also there was a little hub like connection in the classroom where the video player, CD player, computer and speakers were all interconnected and connected to the overhead projector. Someone had pulled out every cord out of every socket and everything was lying in a big meshed up pile on the floor!

I went to see my department head about this incidence. He said this happens. As teachers we happen to enrage teenagers who then take out their anger on us. He also told me not to take it personally and that he too has lost his zip drive in a similar way. I was grateful for his support and kind words. However even though I understood it all, I was panicking in my mind – “what will I do without my lessons and assignments?”

I didn’t think I had the time and energy to recreate the lost work again – something that is sure to take months. I didn’t have all that time. I returned to my classroom and closed my eyes and tried to meditate. I mentally gave my problem to Divine Mother. “Thy will Ma, thy will; and whatever that is, its ok with me.” I felt lighter and relaxed and started to get ready for the next class.

Later that same day, I got a call from my department head. He said he’s found a zip drive and wanted me to check if it was mine. As it turned out it was mine! He, while keeping an eye out for his lost drive, by chance, saw something zip drive-like lying on the roof of one of the classrooms. The science building being a two-storey building allows a view of the rooftops of surrounding single storey buildings. Some students(s) might have thrown the zip drive and it landed on the roof. The recovery felt miraculous and I felt so grateful, both to him and to Divine Mother, that words didn’t come easy to me. I prayed that he find his drive too.

There were so many similar incidences that first year as I went fumbling my way into the school system and every time I experienced the guiding, protecting hand of Master and Divine Mother. We devotees do have an umbrella, in form of Divine Mother’s love and guidance, to protect us from the storms of our karma. We might get a little wet but isn’t it wonderful to experience the umbrella around us? And I’m thankful for all the storms. Looking back, how else would I have experienced Divine Mother’s umbrella?