Easter Celebrations

Easter Sunday began with a very special Sunday service, featuring a number of reprised choir pieces from the celebratory end of the Oratorio. Rita also led the entire congregation in a dance to Velvali’s performance of “Children of God.” If you weren’t one of the volunteers up on stage with her, you have to try that next time. It’s a beautiful sight. 

From there, we shifted our base of operations to the community courtyard, where the smaller-bodied among us very conscientiously divested the grounds of eggs. Our local Easter Bunny aided the proceedings and supplied “spiritual Easter eggs” to those of us too tall to compete for the ones on the ground. 

Our outdoor Easter banquet (in perfect weather, by the way) consisted of carrot-ginger soup, salad, spinach frittata, roasted potatoes, various tasty dessert items, and lots of laughter and fun satsang.

And then, of course, there was the entertainment, which left no stop un-pulled-out. Graham performed a pair of Mary Poppins-inspired songs (can you say “sabikalba-nirbikalpa-karma-dharma-smritti” backwards?) and a barbershop quartet brought us Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, to perfectly capture the mood of a happy, Springtime celebration. The grand finale was when “The Colony People” performed their hit single Y.O.G.A. Click all those links to find the videos and lyrics; they are not to be missed. And while you’re at it, here are all the photos.

Funny, isn’t it, how Y.O.G.A. is practically indistinguishable from Children of God in a still photograph? Truly, Spirit unites us all....

Raja Yoga 2012

The three-month Raja Yoga class has always been one of the crown jewels of our offerings here. Read on as another delighted graduating class shares their impressions, in photos and testimonials.

“Taking this Raja Yoga class series has helped me to fully experience the transfer and connection of energy throughout my practice and spread it throughout my day to others.”
-Vanessa

“This is a class that helps you understand more of what Ananda is: the teachings and how our life is affected by our own thoughts and choices.”
-Char

“Community creating, sharing and growing together, heart expanding, connecting to Spirit, connecting to all.”
-Simone

“Raja Yoga is a powerful ride that begins so subtly that you don’t realize until it’s too late that you have wandered far away and strangely come home.”
-Brian

“Terrific class for receiving a grounding in everything yoga — philosophy, postures, pranayama, health, diet, and meditation — all the while experiencing a great community. Finally a class that brings the big picture together!”
-Donna

“An engaging and insightful class that is an important stepping stone on the road to spiritual development.”
-Manol

Easter Oratorio

It’s been a couple of years since we last performed the entire Christ Lives Oratorio here, but we brought it back in style this past weekend after Sunday service. David Eby came down from the Village to conduct and inspire the choir, whose ranks were swelled by a number of singers from the Village, Portland, L.A. and, apparently, the astral world. Several newer soloists got to perform (including Rita, D’Arcy, and Graham), and we also enjoyed having Chaitanya back for some of his wonderful tenor solos, including “Psalm of David,” accompanied by one of Rita’s dances.

Several much-appreciated volunteers were responsible for videotaping the entire concert, and we’ve been improving our recording process in the temple. So while nothing is really like being there, this at least begins to do our wonderful choir some justice. If you missed the show, or if you just want to re-experience it, you can watch it below, or listen to it as you browse through the photos.

Oratorio concert at Ananda Palo Alto (March 2012) 

from Ananda Palo Alto on Vimeo.

Happy almost-Easter!

The Subject Tonight Is Love

The subject tonight is Love
And tomorrow night as well.

As a matter of fact,
I know of no better topic
For us to discuss
Until we all
Die!

-Hafiz

The subject of this year’s Living Wisdom School play was Love, taking form in the life and poetry of Hafiz, mystic poet of medieval Persia. Over 70 children —every student in the school— took to the stage in a glorious pageant illustrating the transformation of human love into Divine love.

As a young man, Hafiz fell madly in love with the beautiful daughter of a family above his station, and began writing and reciting poetry that quickly gained renown. His feelings finally led him to undertake a 40-night vigil at the tomb of a great saint who was said to grant such a worthy supplicant’s heart’s desire. When he reached the end of the vigil, the archangel Gabriel appeared before him. In the radiant beauty of God’s angel, Hafiz forgot his human love and desired only to know and love God. And so Gabriel guided him to his spiritual teacher Shiraz, who would in time lead Hafiz and his poetry to God-realization.

If you think I am having more fun

Than anyone on this planet

You are absolutely correct.

There is a fascinating quality to LWS productions that was particularly powerful in this performance, which is that there very noticeably seemed to be two distinct plays going on simultaneously. If you tilt your head just right, you can see these are children who have grown into their voices, bodies, and self-control to widely varying degrees. You can feel the poetry’s translation into a new language, and into little bodies. It can almost seem like a school play.

But shift your mind and heart back over that subtle dividing line, and you can feel the enormous power behind these words and bodies, animating the entire hall. That’s where the real performance is taking place.  That’s the part that leaves you grinning through tears for the sheer beauty of it. That is God’s power as it acts through our own lives every day, made more visible to us for one beautiful evening on the stage.

The five Hafizes.

You can find some more photos here, and a beautiful slideshow here, courtesy of Heather.

What We've Been Up To

After Sunday service this weekend (and lunch), we invited everyone back into the temple for our annual-ish church meeting, reviewing the accomplishments of the past year. If you missed the list of what’s been going on around here, prepare to be impressed....

Ananda Church

Initiations & Ordinations

• 34 Disciples
• 10 Kriyabans
• 14 Sadhakas
• 1 Lightbearer
• 1 Minister

New Programs & Directions

• Meditation 1, 2 & 3 offered in Spanish
• Raja Yoga 2
• Heart to Heart discussion group
• AKASH class series
• Gateway to Membership
• Wedding Renewal for 16 couples
• Kirtans now every week
• Introduction to Self-Realization after Sunday Service

Outreach

• Meditation groups launched in San Jose, San Carlos, Fremont, and San Francisco.
• Weekly email lists: Ananda Family News, Ask Asha
• Database shifted to the cloud, using Salesforce
• Banner: “Google can't satisfy every search.”
• Ananda Palo Alto’s website in 2011:
• more than 2,000,000 hits
• over 100,000 unique visits
• people have listened to or watched more than 250,000 videos of recorded classes, music, and Sunday services

Buildings

• Refurbished the outside of the teaching center: stucco, paint, and new windows
• Installation of religious symbols in the Temple

Initiatives

• Free & Clear raised $425,000 of $1,000,000 needed
• Thank You & Goodbye (remember Ananda in your will) now established
• Expanded our self-concept to be the Ananda Community for Self-Realization
• New membership process with Gateway to Membership monthly gatherings

Ananda Residential Community

• Shrine to Lahiri built by the Sadhaka Training Group
• Community Supported Agriculture had an outstanding first season
• Local Exchange Network (national non-money system) launched

East West Bookshop

• Now is the largest independent metaphysical bookstore in California
• Management passed gracefully from Tushti and Surendra to Graham and Nooshin
• December 2011 sales up 9% from year before
• January and February 2012 sales up $30,000 from year before
• Again voted “Best Place for Unusual Gifts” (won every year since 1996)

Living Wisdom School

• Enrollment higher than ever: more than 70 children this year
• Increased interest allows us to be more selective in accepting students
• Successful internship program is developing talented new teachers
• Theater Magic broke all records for attendance: over 1,000 people

Jai us!

Shivaratri Kirtan

February 20th this year was Shivaratri, the Hindu festival day dedicated to Lord Shiva. We took the opportunity at Friday’s kirtan of diving a little more deeply into the vast ocean of Indian chants. We had a wonderful turnout of harmoniums, guitars, percussion, and singers filling the temple with devotional chants to Shiva (along with a few to his son, Ganesha).

As Asha occasionally reminds us, our teachings are “about as Hindu as they are Catholic,” and the style of chanting that Master created reflects that uniqueness of his overall mission. But it’s fun sometimes to tip a bit over to one side of the scale or the other. Repetitions of the many many names of Shiva may not be as automatically meaningful to Western ears, but that can also be a good excuse to leave the intellect behind entirely for a time and just become absorbed in the devotional flow of the music.

More photos here.

Members' Candlelight Tea

On Saturday night we held our annual Members’ Candlelight Tea celebration, in which we dress ourselves up a bit and come together to celebrate the wonderful satsang we have and the powerful community we’ve created by being a part of Ananda. If you were at service on Sunday, you got to see the magnificent display reaching to the rafters and forming a seat for Master, as our guest of honor. It was just too lovely to take down after a single evening.

The “tea” aspect of this evening is a bit of a misnomer, of course. One of the other things Ananda members tend to be good at creating, besides spiritual community, is good food. While there probably was tea available somewhere, the Department of Delicious Delicacies was dominated by a potluck spread of both savories and sweets, including the ever-popular chocolate fountain.

Another thing we’re good at creating? Music. The choir tends to have more than its fair share of that fun, though, so this time everybody was involved. Karen found two songs with nice, simple 2-part arrangements: “I Live Without Fear” and “Brave Were the People.” With everyone divided into four groups, and with a bit of guidance from experienced singers, each group learned one part of one song. Then each half of the audience got to regale the other half with their newfound talents.

As an added treat for the evening, several of our more historical souls put together a fascinating slideshow. Narrated primarily by David G., the Pravers, and pretty much anybody who wanted to call anything out, it stretched from the early days of Ananda Village, through the founding of the Palo Alto colony, to the present day. If you’ve ever wanted to see Asha in a Mickey Mouse hat, the Ananda baseball team, the original East West store, or the church before we renovated it, now’s your chance. You can see the whole slideshow here, and more photos of the rest of the event here.

The greatest blessing in all the three worlds is a true guru, but true gurubhais are pretty high on the list as well. Thank you all.