August Roundup

The month of August was not nearly as dull as the lack of activity here on Ananda Family News might suggest. Luckily, if a picture is worth a thousand words, our trusty Ananda photographers can easily pick up the slack. Click each event name below for an album of photos. Enjoy!

The month started off with a gourmet fundraising dinner to raise money for improvements to Master’s Kitchen. It was held at Chela Bhavan and featured Ramani’s daughter Danielle as the chef who prepared such an inspiring meal that it resulted in donations to the tune of $9,700 for the kitchen!

Erica and Craig’s wedding on August 10th, was so popular that it literally outgrew the church, and we held the ceremony and the following (enormous) potluck on the community green. And fittingly enough for the wedding of two teachers, it was absolutely overrun by the most well-behaved small children imaginable. 

You may have heard already, but guess what? We bought a farm! A group of Ananda investors signing legal documents may not make for the most entertaining photographs, but... well, it’s pretty awesome anyway. (If you haven’t been following this particular saga, Asha summarizes it all beautifully here.)

And to round out the month, we had our annual Krishna Kirtan outside in the community courtyard... a balmy summer evening filled with the names of God.

Not bad for one month! What's next?

Guru Day

Swami Kriyananda has taught us that we can be divine channels to receive and transmit inspiration in any area of human endeavor. A musician will find a melody, a writer receives words, a mathematician discovers new equations. And when an Ananda community comes together, we draw to ourselves a very special kind of inspiration that is uniquely ours, born out of our deep connection to this spiritual family and to our line of gurus.

Our annual Guru Day celebration is a beautiful experience of this, with all our collective energies coming together for an evening to focus so one-pointedly on each individual guru in turn. Through five rounds of chanting and meditation, guided by Asha’s words, we come to feel each guru’s influence at every level of our lives, from our own personal thoughts, to buying a farm for the whole community, to behind-the-scence guidance of world events. Each of these threads running through our lives from the masters weaves us closer together and closer to God.

Gathered in the afternoon sunlight at the Jesus shrine.

A constellation of candles around Babaji.

There are many more lovely photos of the evening, and Asha’s talks on each guru have been posted as well. Download them here: Jesus, Babaji, Lahiri, Yukteswar, and Yogananda.

The Unheard-Of Concert

Our choir concerts here are always very special events, but this Saturday’s was a particular extra kind of fun. From Swami Kriyananda’s vast collection of compositions, we pulled out a magnificent selection of songs that are rarely — if ever — performed. Shakespeare featured prominently in the program, Swami having written a whole album of songs based on his lyrics. We also enjoyed a few children’s songs, as well as selections from Mystic Harp, Rumanian Memories, and more.

The evening included just a few well-known favorites, but even those came with some surprises. It turns out that the solo for “Mother of Wisdom” is beautiful in Italian. And with “Home is a Green Hill” as the closing song, the audience was invited to join the choir up at the altar. With the choir around and the masters above, it was just sublime.

As well as having some great photos, the entire concert was recorded (through a new system that should give a much better rendition of what the sound is actually like in the temple) and you can download all the MP3s here. Not only that, but we got nine of the performances on video. All the links are below, but first, you absolutely have to watch “Big Frog, Little Frog.”

Here’s the complete list of the videos:

• Come Away Death
• Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind
• It Was a Lover and His Lass
• Who Is Sylvia?
• Big Frog, Little Frog
• Good Night, Sweetheart
• Dearest, When I Think of Thee
• Yes, It's Devil Worship
• Go on Alone!

Fourth of July

Our Fourth of July celebrations at the community this year kicked off with a pool party. The choice of “in” or “adjacent to” the pool was left to the individual, though judging from the photos, many smaller individuals opted for “above,” as well. That variation didn’t last long, but was enthusiastically repeated, at least as long as Craig’s arms held out.

After a bit, the center of activity migrated out of the pool and onto the field with a water balloon toss (and, more excitingly, drop). The water balloon race that was to follow was abandoned when we realized that no one was quite sure what exactly a water balloon race is, and that the ammunition stores were becoming more depleted with every moment spent thinking about it.

An attempt at croquet nearly degenerated into outright Calvinball, before morphing back into something that might actually have approximated croquet. The three-legged race was even more successful. In fact, it seemed that we weren’t hampered nearly enough by the limb restriction, as the entire line managed to launch itself out the starting gate nearly a full second before the signal. With every competitor thus disqualified, we ran a rematch.

Our late-afternoon potluck feast took place under the trees, and was accompanied by a “Variety of Talent Show.” This included such notable acts as: Thomas Jefferson the Time-Traveling Yogi and his Declaration of Interdependence; the National Anthem (Indian); and Cherry Blossoms in Kyoto, Yin-Yang edition.

We wrapped up the day with ping-pong competition finals, all-ages water polo back in the pool, seconds or thirds back at the dessert table, and general contented merriment. Lots of fun photos here!

Nirmoha and Rosalva's Wedding

A few weeks plus one honeymoon in Hawai’i ago, our extended community joyfully celebrated the wedding of Nirmoha and Rosalva. The ceremony at the church opened with a prayer by the father of the groom, as the ranking clergy member, very sweetly welcoming Rosalva to the family. The image of families joining together is a lovely reminder of how lucky we all are to have come together as a spiritual family with both of these gurubhais, and we were only too delighted to support them with our presence, love, singing, and rose petals on this special occasion. Even Asha remarked that, as cynical as she may seem at times (during, for instance, certain sermons on non-attachment), she still always winds up with happy wedding tears.

The reception afterwards took place in the community courtyard and featured such incredibly tasty pesto-stuffed mushroom appetizers that some of us were in severe danger of not even making it to the main course, never mind the cake. But we don’t shirk our duties around food here, and nothing was neglected. To work it all off, Rita led us in several fun circle dances (rated “E” for Everyone) to the accompaniment of some favorite chants.

The musical theme throughout the afternoon was an open mic with an invitation for anyone to sing any song with the word “love” in it, thereby inducing a state of osculation in the newly married couple. These ranged from some songs of Swamiji’s, to miscellaneous show tunes, to an original song by Nirmoha’s son John. (Singing a song about love in Hawaiian also happened to result in hula dancing.) The “Best Costume” award, though, went to Chaitanya and Supriya, who sang the adorable duet from Fiddler on the Roof, “Do You Love Me?” (Since we didn’t get a video, we’ll spare you the suspense: the answer is “yes.”)

And how more about photos? Also yes!

Free & Clear Italian Dinner

[Thanks to Karen for the guest post and the photos.]

Fifty-eight people dropped into an Italian evening of delicious food, music, and inspiration on Sunday evening. We’ve been having one fabulous fundraising event after another for many years now, and this one was splendid, indeed.

Almost exactly $30,000 was raised that evening! That leaves just $231,000 remaining of the original $1 million goal. We really are almost free and clear of any debt remaining on Ananda Palo Alto’s Temple property.

Asha spoke a bit at the end, remembering the long history toward this point. There was a small, not very well-maintained building that came with the property when we bought it. It was rented for awhile, but finally, we were able to take it down in preparation for the new school building. It was a big hole in the ground for a long time, into which we threw rose petals, prayed, and began moving forward bit by bit, whenever we had money in hand to continue the process. The lawsuit intervened, but then gradually we started up again, finishing the school against all odds. With the remarkable help of many people giving what they could over a long time.

Then this Free & Clear campaign began to raise $1 million. Within the short time, the Village announced their campaign to pay off $1 million of old debt from the lawsuits in one year’s time (which they succeeded in doing just when they said — by the end of 2012). And within that same time frame, the Ananda movie raised $2.2 million — everything it needed to finish the film. More will be needed to fully do the marketing portion, but the film is done. Amazing.

“Even though many of us are doing meaningful work,” said Asha, “the waters of time close in over you. It’s hard to leave something behind of lasting value. But when you leave a temple behind, it’s a real legacy, both individually and collectively. Every time I walk into that Temple, I feel an immense sense of gratitude. So much happens there. Each of you has divine memories of what has happened to you in that space.”

Easter Celebrations

“Vivid” is the word for Easter at Ananda. The clarity of Christ’s life and message comes through our gurus and teachers so powerfully, and then resonates throughout the deep spiritual connections in our community until its practically palpable. It brings the story to life again, for us and within us.

On Good Friday we had one of our evening services that are always so lovely and inward, and we experienced our way through the story of the crucifixion via music and readings. This is an evening that can be tricky to end well—Jesus dies on the cross, leaving us in suspense about the resurrection—but we managed to wrap it up beautifully at the “intermission.” It was clear by then that, though he had died, he hadn’t been killed. He “gave up his spirit” voluntarily, rather than waiting to die on the cross, remaining completely a master of the situation, even in tragedy.

The next day (which I’ve just learned is called Holy Saturday) we had an Easter Retreat in the temple, in which Asha treated us to a few hours of more free-form story-telling and teaching. It was a time to come to a deeper understanding of not only the events of Easter but the true spiritual significance behind them all. We had people there who have grown up with the story in Christian churches, and others who were only hearing it in its entirety for the first time, and everyone gained something very worthwhile in the experience.

And then, of course, we had the glory of Easter itself. The Oratorio pieces performed by the choir and soloists come through with even more power than usual on that day, and the story is completed in all its ever-new joy.

The Easter banquet followed service (and an Easter egg hunt), with spanikopita as the main course, several tasty side dishes, creatively lavender-flavored lemonade, and a dessert that was like pumpkin pie dreaming it was in heaven. We also had a great collection of new or seldom-heard songs for the entertainment, many of which were thematically appropriate, even if only in terms of being resurrected versions of popular or folk songs. If you missed them, or want to revisit them, check out the videos!

Hawaiiana	What Do You Do with a Blissed-Out Yogi?
My, My, It's the Spiritual Eye	Take Me Home, Babaji

The full set of photos is also worth a visit. Happy Easter!