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Every tree that offers shade, cleans the air, and provides a nesting place for birds and animals has grown from a small seed. So, too, with Ananda in Portland.

Ananda began in the late 1960s with the founding of Ananda World Brotherhood Village by Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) near Nevada City, California, a community that is still thriving today. For the next 15 years, this community grew and developed within itself and also began to serve as a fountainhead of inspiration to many others around the United States and the world. (For Walters' full account of Ananda's origins, see his book, A Place Called Ananda, available online both as text and streaming audio.)

Many people, after visiting Ananda Village on retreat or simply studying Ananda's books and other publications, chose to form small meditation groups in their own towns. Ananda Village supported these efforts (and continues to support them) by phone, through correspondence, and through personal visits from long-time Ananda members.

The Expanding Light Retreat at Ananda Village

As these meditation groups continued to grow and become more and more magnetic, some of those same members were invited to join those meditation groups full-time to develop them further. This development included the creation of local teaching centers, member-run businesses, and intentional spiritual communities.

Such is the story of Ananda Portland. From the seeds of a few dedicated souls in the early 1980s there sprouted a meditation group that met in the Northwest district of the city. With the support and guidance of long-time members from Ananda Village, the group developed a small center, an ashram (group home), and founded New Renaissance Bookshop (privately owned) along with a restaurant, Song of the Rose Cafe (on the site now occupied by Tara Thai).

In the early and mid-1990s the Ananda Sangha of Portland, as it is now known, expanded further west. A group of investors purchased an apartment complex on Vermont Court, which became the first Ananda Community in Portland.

Ananda Community in Portland

Ananda members also pooled their resources to purchase and remodel a lovely, older chapel on Watson Ave. in Beaverton that has since become the Ananda Temple and Teaching Center (below).

The Ananda Temple and Teaching Center in Beaverton

Ananda members in Portland also began the Living Wisdom School, part of a network of such schools inspired by the principles developed through the schools at Ananda Village. These principles, as they were developed in Ananda's working schools, are presented in the book Education for Life by J. Donald Walters, one of his nearly eighty books on practical spirituality, all offered through Ananda's publishing house, Crystal Clarity.

We recently remodeled and upgraded the Temple and Teaching Center, community, and school properties. At the mandir, for example, we've expanded our offices, remodeled our yoga room, added additional classroom space, greatly improved the sanctuary and created a new entryway and facade along Watson Ave.

Along with these physical changes, we're also working to expand our offerings at our center and at other locations around the greater Portland area.

Ananda of Portland is just one of many communities, centers, and meditation groups in America and around the world. Our most recent expansion has been the beginning of a work in our spiritual homeland, India, where our founder, Swami Kriyananda (now in his late 70's), currently lives.

Ananda's mission, however, is not to become a large organization with thousands or millions of members. Our primary mission is to help inspire and encourage others to simply deepen their inner relationship with God—with their own Higher Self—regardless of any religious and social considerations. For throughout Ananda's nearly 40-year history, we have found that a spiritually-centered life not only helps one experience inner peace and joy, but also helps one simply become a more successful human being in all endeavors.

If this is something you would like to experience in your own life, we invite you to explore our Sangha pages and become involved with our work here in Portland.