Celebrating Ananda

September has always been a significant time of year for the Ananda Palo Alto community, and so we like to roll a number of celebrations into one big “Celebrate Ananda” event. Some previous Septembers of note have been:

• 1980 - Purchase of East West in Menlo Park
• 1989 - Purchase of the residential community in Mountain View
• 1992 - Beginning of Living Wisdom School
• 1994 - Purchase of our Temple property
• 1995 - East West moved to Mountain View

Over 100 people attended this year’s party at the residential community, which began with delightful circle dancing created and led by Rita.






Fine food, of course, is never far from an Ananda celebration. Lunch included tofu and paneer barbecued skewers, Indonesian rice salad, Anika's mother's famous baked beans, a mixed greens salad bar, and desserts extraordinaire lovingly baked and brought in by Marie and Simoné.



The festivities also included the world debut of Ananda Samadhi Bingo. The squares were filled with spiritual qualities and names of our gurus, and completed lines were marked by cries of “Samadhi!”

Congratulations to the winners: Anika with one complete line, and Kasey, Suman, & Eric, with two lines intersecting. (Though all participants are, of course, welcome to achieve samadhi, regardless of the state of their board. Contact your guru for more information.)

Many more wonderful photos of the day here!

Fraud at the Ballot Box!

Or perhaps “discoloration” would be more accurate.

You may remember the Sunday service a few weeks ago, when we had various paint swatches up on the Teaching Center building walls, and voted on our favorites. Well, it turns out none of the yellows were qualified to be serious contenders for an outside paint job. Fine indoors, but none have the stamina to be in the cold (or rather hot) light of day. All fade in the sunlight. “People familiar with the matter” say that a key person on the Color Committee failed to do the proper research before putting the sample colors on the wall. (Unrelated note from Asha: “Oops!”)

However, the will of the people was clearly expressed: More Bright Colors. So in keeping with the spirit (if not exactly the letter) of your votes, you’ll soon see our Teaching Center adorned with the same bright colors that grace the rest of the piazza. For the walls facing into the piazza -- orange on the windowed walls, red on the big, two story blank wall. And on the outside of the building, facing College Avenue, a warm golden yellow (qualified to be outside -- we made sure this time!).

Eventually we’ll take this color scheme all around the building, using the golden yellow on the building, and the orange and red to accent architectural features, the way the doorway facing El Camino is orange now. We hope you like it!

Left: Outside wall of the Teaching Center, facing College Avenue.

Right: Teaching Center windowed walls facing into the piazza.

Left: Big two story blank wall facing into the piazza.

Right: The fraudulent yellows.