Singing our blessing before dinner

Today we had a sweet (sweet in Spirit! though there was also pumpkin pie) dinner at the Meditation Retreat. This was my second year here for it, and both years what I have enjoyed most is serving together with spiritual family. There was a sweetness there that transcended for me the attraction of food! It was like how meditation can be more enjoyable than any other activity: higher delights transcend the lower.

Yesterday there was a 150-people-large group of Ananda school children and their parents here for a small celebration-event. I’m told there was a lot of noise. They left a little tree at the retreat, and on each leaf of the tree was written something that a person was grateful for. “Family” was very popular. It was moving to see.

Looking at it, I had the thought to, with each step back home, think of something I was grateful for. Normally, it is about a three minute walk. Doing this practice, I was amazed at all the things a person can come up with to be grateful for. I was of course walking slower than usual, but I was by no means in danger of running out of ideas: spiritual qualities, gifts of inspiration, gifts of Divine friendship, the gifts of Yogananda’s teachings, and on and on. This must be because gratefulness is first a state of consciousness, and only second a feeling that arises due to circumstance.

Over time, I found that I needed to expand the “range” of my thankfulness, feeling gratitude for things that others had. As I said, this was not for a shortage of things to feel grateful for – it was simply more joyful to be grateful on their behalf than only on my own: grateful for their spiritual progress, for their happiness, for their commitment to meditation, and grateful even for their tests!

Surprisingly (to me), the most difficult thing to be grateful for was a particular test that a friend is going through. She is shining because of the way she is rising to meet it, but it has not been easy, or pleasant! Yet it does look like a great blessing is taking place. I feel blessed by association, and so am grateful, in fact, for both of us.

This weekend at the meditation retreat (www.meditationretreat.org) we had around 50 guests – Tibetan Buddhists – from a group called “Shambala.” They filled the dining hall with their powerful, silent presence three times a day for meals, and held their ceremonies and meditations in our large blue dome temple.

It is beautiful to see truth-seekers of another religion advancing in their chosen path. On the last evening, as they were packing, I asked one of them how things had gone. “It couldn’t have been better,” he said. “There was a real lightness of being.”

A few moments later I turned to see a man with his hands folded in a gesture of respect and gratitude, toward the images on our altar. I think he must specifically have been offering his gratitude to Babaji, with whom this group has a strong connection. It was a touching display of devotion. The kind of reverence that man expressed honors not only its recipient, but also to the one who expresses it.

For those beginning on the spiritual path, there is sometimes uncertainty and hesitation about which spiritual path to choose, among the many available religions, churches, teachers, etc. I remember feeling this way myself. (That one should choose a single path is evident in the metaphor of a “path,” itself. We cannot take two routes to one destination - we’d spend all our time traveling between them!) It was comforting, then, to see a living demonstration of the truth that there is more than one way to holiness.

Friday Night is Pizza Night at Master’s Market in downtown Ananda Village. From 5-7 PM folks come into the market to buy slices of vegetarian pizza, beverages and other assorted market items from the Deli as well as well stocked shelves.

Its growing reputation amongst our neighbors has increased business so much they have added extra help. Many village residents volunteer to spend 3 hours on a friday night helping out the dedicated staff.

Needless to say that I am a regular customer of the best pizza in Nevada County!!

It took me years to convince myself that I should start a blog. I don’t necessarily chase the latest technology craze and end up usually waiting for a while until the dust settles and see what remains after that. Finally about a year ago I started a blog, primarily to send news and pictures to friends and family about a trip my wife and I took to India. It was extra effort to post fresh news while traveling, but it was well worth it. And it was much easier than sending individual emails. You can see a link to that blog in my profile.

A couple of months ago, my dear friend Maria Warner (an Ananda minister and webmaster for ananda.org) approached a few of us about the possibility of an “Ananda blog”, so I jumped on the opportunity. In this column, I will share highlights about life in a spiritual community, community events, a picture here and there, and observations. I look forward to sharing with you.