The Arts & Crafts Fair

“Too often on the spiritual path, devotees are afraid to be creative because they think creativity itself leads to ego. This is not true. When the ego is offered into the divine, then creative work becomes an expression of God. Then it helps you spiritually. In fact, in order to grow, you have to express yourself in this way - creatively as an instrument of the Divine.” - Swami Kriyananda

Last Sunday at our annual Ananda Palo Alto Crafts Fair our devotee artisans were thankfully unafraid of sharing their creativity with us. They enveloped us with their beautiful, vibrant and uplifting energy expressed in

• hand tied gemstone and Rudraksha malas
• Christmas ornaments with Master’s picture 
• healing remedies and body care products co-created with the devas, from Ananda Village Permaculture
• paintings and inspirational posters for children
• handmade hats, scarfs, Kimonos and other items of clothing
• toys and elegant jewelry

Our Ananda artists included all ages -  from teenager to retiree - and from a wide range of different professions who find pleasure and satisfaction in “making things out of things.” For most of them being creative was a way of “just having fun” and having the experience of “letting the Divine flow through you.”

Ananda Valley Farm joined the Crafts Fair for the first time with a beautiful autumnally decorated table of wonderful nourishing food such as sweet breads, homemade canned items, eggs, etc. Many enjoyed in particular the hot curried cauliflower dish while walking from one crafts table to the other or chatting with each other.

We discovered also that some of our gurubais have creative pursuits we did not know of, and the fair was a wonderful way to admire this side of them in a heartfelt, loving, social gathering with much laughter.

in Master’s Creativity, Light & Love,

Mirela

PS:
Quote is from Asha’s book Swami Kriyananda As We Have Known Him (p. 238)

The Jewel in the Lotus

Last Sunday we gathered together and enjoyed a wonderful tasty Cuban meal and watched the beautiful, inspiring play The Jewel in the Lotus written by Swami Kriyananda and played by the Ananda Palo Alto Players.

The play tells the story of transformation including the conflicting yearnings for money and God in families, the power of the guru’s love for all people and creatures, and the effects of saints in our lives. The villagers find their love for God rekindled and their lives changed by listening to the storyteller, a wandering spiritual seeker, who shares his wisdom through inspiring and instructive stories in particular of Sri Paramhansa Yogananda.

We enjoyed a beautiful play with magnificent, colorful costumes, wonderful uplifting music, songs and chants, elegant and gracious dancing and impressive as well as inspiring performances by all the members involved in the play.

Every member of the Ananda Palo Alto theater group mentioned that it was a most transformative experience to work together on this play over the last 4 months. They felt very uplifted and inspired working with the words written by Swami Kriyananda, but also enjoyed the camaraderie, the friendship and the joy of seeing how each of them in their own way progressed, changed and transformed by, for example, facing their fears of being on stage, going beyond their comfort zone and internalizing and living the written words of the play.

During the play we not only had the pleasure of enjoying a beautifully and stunningly presented and skillfully directed and performed play, but we also experienced how our friends transformed themselves on stage in a most amazing, impressive and inspiring way. It was a blessing to watch our gurubhais showing us a side of themselves we have not yet seen and celebrating with us together their newly developed skill, ability and thus, transformation - the theme of the play.

For more photos click here.

in Master’s love,
Mirela & Tandava

Editors’ Note:
After about 5 years of writing this blog Tandava is giving the authorship over to Mirela. Please join me (Mirela) to send blessings to Tandava for his service: AUM, AUM, AUM