It truly was a beautifully inspiring week of Inner Renewal, and I wanted to just quickly share some highlights from the concert on Saturday night. It was titled “A Musical Pilgrimage into God Communion”, and was filled with many very deep performances of some of Swami’s most sacred pieces.
Cloisters:
In the Temple of Isis:
Mother of Wisdom:
Make Us Channels of Thy Peace:
He Who Clothes the Field & May We Serve You:
God! God! God!
The Divine Romance:
I highly recommend listening to a larger work, Life Is the Quest For Joy, on the Inner Renewal Week page (I wasn’t able to upload here, due to size limitations).
It has been a blessed month indeed! Here are a few excerpts worth a listen:
First, from our Living Wisdom High School Concert on Friday, Dec 11th, a piece by John Rutter titled Mary’s Lullaby.
On Saturday, Dec 12th, I led an astounding performance of Swami Kriyananda’s Oratorio, Christ Lives! at Mills College in Oakland, in a beautiful chapel with marvelous acoustics! Here are a few choir pieces: Christ Has Come
Sing Out With Joy
When Human Hopes Toward Thee Aspire
Thy Light Within Us Shining
Then back at the village, on Sunday, Dec 13th, we had our World Brotherhood Day celebration, which included performances of: The Christ Child’s Asleep (studio recording)
And The Christmas Mystery (studio recording)
Here is a link to the video of many of the pieces performed that afternoon (Three Wise Men at the beginning, The Christ Child’s Asleep and Mother of Wisdom at 24:23).
On Sunday morning Dec 20th, we had our Christmas Sunday Service, led by Jyotish and Devi, which can be viewed by visiting our video page. It includes our children’s choir joining us at the beginning of the video for Christ Has Come and The Christmas Mystery. You’ll easily find my daughter - the only one not standing still!
That same evening we had our annual Christmas concert on Sunday, Dec 20th, which included performances of The Blue Danube, For Unto Us a Child Is Born, the Halleluiah Chorus, a visit by the Victorian Singers, and many of Swami Kriyananda’s Christmas pieces.
It truly has been a blessed month, and our wish is for you to carry with you these vibrations of Light, Love, Peace, and Joy with you throughout this coming year! May God Bless you all.
Swami Kriyananda has often said that music has the power to change consciousness, and I have always believed that to be true. But there are always new levels of understanding to discover.
I have been singing in the Ananda Portland choir now for many years and find that my consciousness is always uplifted when I concentrate on the music written by Swami Kriyananda; whether singing in choir practice, a performance, or singing to myself in the car. I know I feel more expansive and joyful at those times. But it is difficult to convey in words the power that is within each song.
This week we had two opportunities to sing in concert and celebrate the Christmas season. The first time was a Catholic sanctuary here in Portland. There is an annual festival of lights and a beautiful stone chapel with amazing acoustics. Choral groups sing every night in the chapel and we were honored to be one of them. The day of the concert, when I should have been meditating, practicing, and happily preparing for the evening performance, I was home feeling irritated and moody.
It was my one day off during the week and I felt pressured to get a lot done in very little time. The house was in chaos because of several unfinished projects. The Christmas decorating had just begun and boxes were everywhere. My daughter had a piano lesson and there was no place for the piano teacher to even sit. My oldest son was coming home for the holiday and there was no place for him to sleep or put all the stuff he was bringing with him. There were several stressful issues that came to a head on the one day I didn’t want to deal with them, and the idea of singing in a challenging concert became more of a burden than a joy.
When we arrived I was still feeling impatient and irritable while we waited our turn. After warming up and reviewing details, we all sat to meditate a bit before we were called upstairs to the stage. After meditating just a few moments, I felt calmer, but not exactly inspired. We stood in the lights to sing the first song and I could see friends in the audience. I prayed it wouldn’t be a disaster. The first song was Children of God:
Children of God, your time of trial has ended!
See where the dawn irradiates the night.
Soon all your tears will rise like dew to the sun,
Sorrow will turn to joy, your griefs to delight.
Children rejoice for lo, the kingdom of God,
Comes in full splendor,
It needs but your sight.
Listen to an earlier version (some of the words have changed, but the melody is the same) of the song:
My mood was gone and in its place was joy and gratitude.
When you sing a song with that message, there is no room for anything but joy. We sang for forty more minutes and the joy grew. As the story of Christmas unfolded through each piece, the little me disappeared and I felt a kinship with everyone in the audience and those beyond the gray stone walls. We were all blessed by Christ, and we could all experience the consciousness he manifested, if we turned our sight within.
A few days later was another concert. This time the setting was more intimate – just a small gathering of the Portland Ananda sangha. But the vibration of the music is the same, regardless of the setting. I felt blessed beyond measure.
I’ve reached a new level of awe for what Swami Kriyananda has given us. There is something about these two experiences that reach deep into my consciousness. I know the vibration of this music is changing much more than my emotions. It is not just an easy answer to mood swings (although that is a good place to start!). If I can feel it changing my consciousness, and my perception is extremely limited – I know there are subtle changes happening beyond my awareness.
I urge you to listen, sing, play, hum, and memorize the music of Ananda. I don’t know if it is the greatest gift Swami Kriyananda has given the world, he has given so many. But I am convinced it is the most accessible and powerful transformational tool available on the planet today.
Use the music of Ananda to experience the truth of Christmas. Open your heart to the message of light and love that Christ brought and that can be experienced by every soul. Children rejoice for lo, the kingdom of God,
Comes in full splendor,
It needs but your sight.
Free samples of music by Swami Kriyananda can be found at Crystal Clarity and at Ananda.
Writing and posting on this site has been moved up the priority list in my life; I hope to be sharing more regularly with you. Paramhansa Yogananda said we should regulate our lives – approach our days with a sense of order. We also have to flow with life and be willing to change our priorities when circumstances present new opportunities for growth, service, and self-forgetfulness.
The challenge for me lies in finding the middle ground. I err on the side of fluidity and willingness to do what needs doing in the moment. But I find that the balls I drop often never get picked up again. So here I am, picking up the ball again and reenergizing my desire to be part of this sharing about Ananda.
It helps that I am feeling full of gratitude for the teachings that come through Ananda and the great souls who are a part of this movement of consciousness. Every part of my life is changed and uplifted when I pick it up with the idea that my true nature is joy and everything I do can awaken that joy.
Here at Ananda Portland we have had a very busy season of joyful offerings and special guests. David Eby, friend and director of Ananda music worldwide, came here to visit and share his attunement with the expression of joy in music. We had an amazing weekend of learning and practicing and then sharing the music in a concert of choral and instrumental masterpieces. Every aspect of the spiritual life can be felt in the music of Swami Kriyananda, and there is no end to the inspiration that can be drawn from it.
Then another guest, Dana Lynne Andersen, came and shared her experience with tapping into joy through creativity and the visual arts. Her work has appeared as cover art on several books by Swami Kriyananda, but those are small representations of her full-size canvases that vibrate with light and superconscious expression of spirit. It is a wondrous thing to see what can happen when we allow divine energy to flow through us without resistance.
Right now we have the honor of hosting Lila Devi, founder of Spirit-in-Nature Essences. Through classes and individual consultations, she helps people discover their true nature and experience the inner joy that is always there. I had a flash of understanding into the “essence” of what she does when she said it is about “life force meeting life force”. We can access the more pure vibration of spirit that is within nature’s bounty to attune our vibration to a higher level. Just as we can change our vibration with the purity of superconscious music or superconscious creativity.
Ananda is a movement of consciousness – an awakening of our true potential as spiritual beings. To be awakening in the company of so many joy-filled souls is a blessing beyond imagining.
Here are a few songs from the evening concert at Swami Kriyananda’s Spiritual Anniversary celebration on September 12 at Ananda Village.
The concert included readings from The New Path, Swamiji’s autobiography, and songs written by him over the years. Performance by Swami Kriyananda and Ananda Choir.
Enjoy!
“God, God, God,” poem by Paramhansa Yogananda, music by Swami Kriyananda
“Where Has My Love Gone,” a mystical love song by Swami Kriyananda
This has been an action packed Spiritual Renewal Week. It will take me a few more days to catch up and post photos from the various classes and happenings.
What I am posting today is a bit out of order. Yesterday, Friday, Swamiji spoke to a packed house at the amphitheater at The Expanding Light. His talk was so powerful, devotional and moving that I hope you will all be able to watch it. It is hard for me to put to words what he spoke of or how it felt. But I felt lighter when, after it was over, I trudged up the hill fro the amphitheater with all my equipment. It will be on ananda.org today sometime.
Swamiji’s newly rewritten book, The New Path, arrived at the village the day before and is now available to us all. It promises to be a wonderful book.
The Peace Treaty was performed Wednesday night. Everytime I see it it sounds like a new play, I hear new things each time. This year there were many new actors and it was fun to see how they played their parts. Everyone did an excellent job. I am always amazed at the talents they display—sometimes humorous (hilarious, actually), serious, sweet, and inspiring. The play is so well written. Deep spiritual truths and insights into human behavior are presented in a very entertaining way.
The evening was very majestic. Speaking as a photographer, the light was amazing! The light shining through the trees and the shade cloth made the amphitheater look magical, the evening sun created rich lighting on the actors which highlighted their faces and beautiful costumes. And the sunset during the intermission was astral!
Really, the whole week for me has been a feast of beautiful light and color—maybe it all seems special because the spiritual vibrations are so high. I feel very blessed by this gathering of souls and I feel people from around the world tuning and magnifying this spiritual energy. Thank you all!
I will have more to post soon. I will be thinking of YOU. Blessings to you, Barbara
