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)