Over 200 Ananda members traveled to Southern California last week for 5 days of events. The highlight was the official launch of Swami Kriyananda’s new book, Revelations of Chirst. It was held at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles, and was attended by over 1,000 people. You can listen to Swami Kriyananda’s talk and view slideshows by following the links at the bottom of the page.

The Jewel in the Lotus
The first event was a performance of Jewel in the Lotus, a beautiful play written by Swami Kriyananda many years ago. It was performed in front of about 150 people at the Seaside Church of Religious Science in Encinitas on Wednesday, July 18. The following evening we performed the play again, before another large audience at a beautiful auditorium in Malibu.

Both audiences were extremely receptive to the story that takes place 200 years in the future. That is when Paramhansa Yogananda said he would have his next incarnation. The play is a mixture of humor, inspiration, insight, and deep spiritual teaching that ends very poignantly (I won’t give away the ending here!). The play has been performed numerous times, on three continents - testimony to its universal impact.

Gala Evening with Swami Kriyananda
On Friday evening, a dinner was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City to raise money for promoting the new book and to help launch Ananda’s new center in Los Angeles. Swami Kriyananda gave an inspiring talk about the book, Ananda musicians performed beautifully, and the food was exceptional!

Launch of Revelations of Christ
This special event on Saturday evening at the Wadsworth Theatre was truly extraordinary. Swami Kriyananda spoke for one and a half hours to about 1,200 extremely attentive souls. I can’t recommend this talk highly enough – please take the time to watch it on the Ananda website.

He covered many topics relating to the book. The common thread throughout his talk was the soul’s unique relationship to God – one that is beyond the power or control of religious institutions.

Religious organizations and churches have misinterpreted the teachings of the Masters throughout history, in order to boost their own importance. Swamiji’s new book brings back the original meaning of Christ’s teachings – unfettered by ‘churchianity’, as Yogananda used to call the church’s misinterpretations of Christ’s words.

Swami Kriyananda spoke beautifully, humorously, and devotionally about our search for divine realization. Everyone I could see around me was deeply moved by his presence and his words. He received several standing ovations before and after his very uplifting presentation.

At the conclusion of the evening Swamiji was presented with two awards. The first was the “2007 Pioneer in Yoga” award, given by the Los Angeles Yoga Fellowship for “blazing a spiritual trail which leads to the highest goal – yoga: scientific union with Spirit.”

The second was the “Beacon of Light Lifetime Achievement Award” presented by the National InterFaith Council for “outstanding and tireless spiritual work for mankind across our planet.”

Launch of Ananda Los Angeles
Ananda has a new center in Los Angeles! They are still looking for a permanent home, but Ananda ministers Krishna Das and Mantra Devi LoCicero have moved to Santa Monica, and begun giving satsangs and classes. About 250 people came to the Roosevelt High School auditorium on Sunday morning to inaugurate Ananda’s newest center. Swami Kriyananda spoke yet again, and stayed long afterwards, greeting everyone who wanted to talk to him.

Video and audio of Swami Kriyananda’s talks in Los Angeles
Ananda Los Angeles
Revelations of Christ home page

Hello from Southern California. This is the week for the launch of Swami Kriyananda’s book, Revelations of Christ. There were two special events on Wednesday and Thursday night. The Jewel in the Lotus was performed in Encinitas at the Seaside Center for Spiritual Living and in Malibu at the Malibu High School. Both were great venues hosted by wonderful souls.
Each time I watch the performance of the Jewel in the Lotus I am impressed, inspired and awestruck by the beauty of the words and the story they tell.
There isn’t a wasted word in this play. It masterfully portrays the journey of the soul from self involvement to the deep desire to return to it’s home in God. Through humor and accessible poetic wording, Swami Kriyananda opens our hearts and minds to the sweet longing of the soul for God. Tim Kretzmann did a wonderful job portraying a man whose “heart was a stone” and through his association with the storyteller found devotion and longing for God stirring in his heart. Jyotish’s portrayal of the Storyteller reminds us that no matter what our past contains the guru’s love is always there for us. I think every one of us watching the play feels the longing for God deepening in our own hearts.
Before the Malibu performance Swamiji stated, “I hope you can feel my devotion and sincerity in this play”. Through the performance and deep sincerity of the presentation I think everyone in the audience could feel Swami’s devotion and feel their own devotion deepening. In both the Encinitas and Malibu performance there was such a stillness in the audience. The actors stated the depth of their performance was partly inspired by what was being drawn out of them.
So, I thank Swami Kriyananda for his beautiful words and their ability to rekindle, re-inspire, and fan the flames of our devotion. I thank the actors for their devotion to the play—its message and spirit.

Last week, Thursday, July 12, the statues of the Kriya Masters were blessed with a wonderful ceremony at Hansa Mandir where we hold Sunday services and daily morning meditations.

Swami Kriyananda conducted the dedication ceremony for the statues at Hansa Mandir, Ananda’s community temple. He spoke simply and devotionally about how Divine Grace can be drawn from the objects of worship by the power of our love and how our devotion will further activate this energy within these objects. I spoke at length with the sculptors during their visit here and they told me about the ceremonies performed to bless and energize these statues prior to shipping them to us. That was why many of us could immediately experience deeper meditations from the first day they appeared in the Hansa Mandir.

A slide show was placed on the ananda website which beautifully portrays the statues and this blessing ceremony. you can view it here.

While the smaller 24 inch statues each weighed close to 200 pounds and were easy to move, the larger 42 inch statues required some heavy lifting. Fortunately our crew was creative and borrowed an half ton engine hoist which allowed us to lift it up 18 inches very easily. Stop by next time you visit Ananda Village to spend some time in meditation with these beautiful works of art. They will bless us all for centuries to come.

Previous posts on this: Chapter 1, Chapter 2. Email me if you want more photos.

Only a few days left to the launch of the new book “Revelations of Christ” written by Swami Kriyananda. A large group of us from the Ananda Village are heading down to Los Angeles to help with and attend this event as well as to attend and support the opening of Ananda Los Angeles.

I recently interviewed my wife Suzanne, who is the event coordinator for the upcoming book launch.

Koral: How are the preparations for the book launch going?

Suzanne: Very well. Smooth as silk, really.

Koral: How many people are working on the book launch?

Suzanne: The core group is four people. Underneath that core group there are eight different teams, including 70 people in choir, green room team of four people, vending team (book and CD sales) of ten people, security team of six, special edition (for the special edition of the Revelations) team of four, will call and ticket team of two, usher team of twelve in addition to the twelve ushers from the theater, production team of three people with four staff from the theater and last but not least, the stage design team of four. So, there is quite a number of people helping create this beautiful event.

Koral: Have you seen the theater yet ?

Suzanne: Yes, I went down and visited it a few weeks ago. It’s a very nice theater.

Koral: How does it compare to last year’s theater that was used for the “The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita” book launch ?

Suzanne: It’s about 40% bigger than last year’s theater. Last year’s theater held 900 people. This one holds just under 1400 people. It’s set in a very beautiful location of the Veterans Administration complex. So, it’s got a lot of grass and park-like area around it. The inside has a very intimate setting. Even the person in the very back of the top balcony will feel like they are still very much part of the show.

Koral: What are we doing differently this year compared to last year’s event?

Suzanne: Well, Ananda is very much a place of invention and new ideas and new thoughts, always trying to improve things. One of the things we are doing differently from last year is last year we had one person managing every detail about the event; everything from promotion to the ticket sales, and to the event itself. This year we have things separated more into teams, instead of one person we have a core managing team of four.

Koral: What is your role in this event?

Suzanne: My role is to make sure that the event on Saturday night happens without a hitch. Making sure that the production team, stage design team, green room team, ushers, greeters, choir, and guests have everything they need.

Koral: Are you excited to be doing this project?

Suzanne: Yes, I am. It’s a nice opportunity and something different than my normal everyday routine.

Koral: Would you do it again next year ?

Suzanne: [laughter] It actually has not been as stressful as it could have been. I think one of the reasons it has not been that stressful is because I don’t have responsibility for every aspect of the event. Somebody else is in charge of publicity and public relations. A wonderful person in the team is dealing with ticket sales, complimentary tickets, etc. Of course Sean (manager of Crystal Clarity Publishers) is making a lot of the very important overall decisions. Sean is the one who selected the hotel, the theater, and did a lot of the preliminary footwork. There are many other people that are coordinating all the other events leading up to the launch. Even though it’s been a fun, creative, a wonderful opportunity to work creatively with others, and inspiring others, next year I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for somebody else to have these experiences.

Koral: How are the ticket sales going?

Suzanne: Actually we think we will sell out. We only have about 187 tickets left. We started a very strong advertising campaign this week. So, we feel like we are going to sell out very quickly.

Koral: Thank you very much Suzanne for your time.

Suzanne: Thank you for the opportunity to share.

Next week is a big one. Swami Kriyananda will be in Los Angeles to launch his new book, Revelations of Christ. Many people from Ananda Village and Ananda Colonies will also be there to join in and help with all the festivities.

Along with the book launch, some of the events we are all looking forward to are the performances of Swami Kriyananda’s play, The Jewel in the Lotus and the dedication ceremony to help launch Ananda Los Angeles. My husband Dave and I will be going down to record as many of the events that we can. So, I hope to share many photos from that trip, and Dave will be doing video.

One of my avenues of service here at Ananda is through photography. I have taken many classes, read many books and bought alot of equipment. But, I have gained the most as a yogi-photographer by studying Swami Kriyananda’s photography. He has taken, by his estimation, at least 15,000 photos. They are of people, places and things from all over the world.

Fortunately for us we all have access to his photos. They are in books and slideshows that he has written entire musical scores and narration for. They have been remastered (by Dave!), and are available to view on the web. I have looked through 1000’s of additional photos by Swamiji, and eventually came across this photo of a field of poppies.

For some reason, this is my “ah-hah” photo where I started to understand what I should look for in my photos. There is a subtle quality to the light and it seems that Swamiji noticed and captured with his camera a quiet moment in time. Other than that, I can not say anything except that this photo feels good, and that it inspired me deeply, and this is what I try to capture with my camera.

All of Swamiji’s photos have a quality of stillness and insight, and I encourage you to spend time gazing at his photos. I am grateful that Swamiji has been so generous with all his God-given talents, and can inspire us all with photos, music and writing.

I also include a photo of Swamiji at the inspiring dedication ceremony of the new statues at the beautiful Hansa Temple. Next week, the inspiration continues…

My friend and I in a high school performance

A friend of mine died two weeks ago. He was my closest friend during high school, and was planning to visit me at Ananda Village today.

Events like this give us a chance to ask, after it is all over: where are we, spiritually? how did we react? This experience was surprising for me in this way, and I’ll explain why.

When I found out about his death last Wednesday, I naturally prayed for his soul; for it to rise and seek the light. I used a version of Yogananda’s “Divine Mother prayer,” modified for this purpose. It is:

“Divine Mother, Thou art omnipresent. Thou art in all Thy children. Thou art in the soul of [the person’s name]. Manifest Thy healing presence in [his or her] soul.”

(For a living person you would end with “body, mind, and soul.”)

The next day there was an hour-long healing prayer session, held for a number of people. We have these each Thursday at Ananda Village, and all community members and guests are invited.

Praying for my friend during both of these times, I seemed to feel him very near, as if no gulf of time and space rose to separate us. However, I didn’t feel, until the group prayers, as if it was doing any good! But a couple of hours after praying with a group, a thought of him crossed my mind, and I was surprised to feel joy.

With an experience like this, it is hard to feel that any permanent loss has occurred. With this, and with wise counsel and friendship, what I expected to be difficult for weeks was only painful for a few days. It is like it was the spiritual test that “might have been.”

Yogananda explained much about what happens after death. In The Essence of Self-Realization, he says that materialistic souls fall into a deep sleep, and are reborn after some time, to continue their climb toward spiritual enlightenment.

Spiritual souls, having developed spiritual sensitivity through right action, go to heavenly planes.

And, he says, “Those souls, especially, who in this life have meditated even a little bit, go to regions of great beauty after death.”

My friend had many good qualities. He even had spiritual inclinations, but left them mostly unfulfilled. Because of this, in the last week I’ve been feeling a sense of urgency in seeking God.

Death can come at any time and without warning; life is precious – not something to let slip away, neglecting the things that really matter.

As Yogananda said: “Everything else can wait, but my search for God cannot wait.”

The history of Ananda is comprised of a series of miracles. Ananda Sacramento has been blessed in this way since its inception in 1977.

In 1991, after purchasing a 48 unit apartment complex that serves as our Community, Ananda Sacramento rented a 2,100 square foot doctors’ office for our teaching center and Mandir (Sanksrit for Temple). This facility served us well for awhile, but as our congregation grew, the number of ridiculously overcrowded gatherings and Sunday Services grew also. We started to look for a larger place, hopefully a building that expressed our ideals through its architecture, and was located nearby.

The blessing of having a Mandir close by was described by Yogananda in his ideals for World Brotherhood Colonies: “Job, Home, Church – all in one place!” With that in mind, we focused our attention on the Lutheran Church located next to our Community. However, the Lutherans seemed unaware of any Divine Plan that included converting their Church into our Mandir!

Maria McSweeney, Director of Ananda Sacramento

At about the same time we realized that the East Lawn Mortuary, also located on our town block, was just about the right size. As it happened, one of our member’s mother had just died. Prior to her passing, she asked us to perform her memorial service at the Mortuary. And so we brought our kirtan group (Sanskrit for devotional chanting), sang Yogananda’s chants, and read from his books of poems.

After the ceremony everyone commented, “this Mortuary feels like ours!”

We contacted the East Lawn Corporation, owners of the Mortuary. They had no plans to sell the property, but allowed Ananda to use their facility for special events. In June 2004 Swami Kriyananda spoke there on the topic “God is for Everyone.” After his talk, Swamiji agreed with the rest of us, “It feels like ours.”

Continued contact with East Lawn produced a letter from their Board of Directors saying, “We will NOT consider a sale at this time, but we will let you know if our position changes in the future.”

Bewildering at best! We found ourselves with a big head of steam and nowhere to go. Then in August 2004, Swami Kriyananda sent me a birthday greeting, “I wish I could get you a Mandir for your birthday, but Master has done that already.”

Swamiji’s words were puzzling. East Lawn had expressed no intention of selling the property. Our fundraising to date had produced $46,000, well short of the quarter million dollars required to make a serious offer, even if they did.

In March of 2005 we used the East Lawn facility to perform Christ Lives Oratorio. We invited their Board of Directors to attend. Swamiji often mentioned that Ananda’s music is the clearest expression of who we are. When we saw Alan Fischer, the Vice President of East Lawn in the audience, our hopes rose precipitously.

David Eby from Ananda Village directed a 50-voice choir gathered from every Ananda Colony on the West Coast. Mr Fischer, a baritone himself, loved the performance. He was deeply touched by the music, and was appreciative of the audience who had set up, took down, and cleaned up the facility that evening.

“You people bring so much life to this building. This building needs that!” he exclaimed. (We noted that East Lawn was used as a mortuary). Mr Fischer went on, “You people should be here every night,” to which one of our members replied, “We’re trying!”

Building the new Altar

Riding on the success of the Oratorio performance, we asked again if East Lawn would consider selling the facility to Ananda. This time, their answer was… Yes!

We began negotiations. Before long, a sale of the Mortuary and 5 adjacent apartments was agreed upon for 1.5 million dollars, an unheard-of price for two valuable parcels of land in a big metropolitan area. There were no agent’s fees, as the property was never put on the market. The miracle was now in high gear. In May 19, 2005 we were able to phone Swami Kriyananda with the good news that Master has given him Mandir for his birthday!

There still remained the small matter of a quarter million dollars for the down-payment. Ananda had a bookstore in Sacramento, called East West Bookshop. The store had not been profitable, and we considered selling it now and again over the years.

At about this time, a lady called and said she “felt guided” to buy East West! Negotiations proceeded rapidly, and by August 2005 the store was sold, with the help of an Ananda member. Again we were spared from paying high broker fees.

However, even with the sale of East West we were still short of the full down-payment amount. We needed to borrow money from a bank, but there was no one with this kind of experience in our congregation… or so we thought.

During our World Brotherhood Day celebration that year, one of our long-time members brought her husband to the celebration dinner. Very humbly, he offered to help us with procuring the bank loan. It turned out he was a commercial mortgage broker, specializing in church loans. We had no idea!

Between our fundraising efforts, the bank loan, and members’ investments in the 5 apartments that came with the property, Ananda Sacramento became the proud owner of the new Mandir. The date? September 12, 2005, spiritual anniversary of Swami Kriyananda’s discipleship vows.

Jai Guru!