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Ananda Sangha of Portland
March 306 Dwapara (2006)
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In This Newsletter
Articles & Letters
Lead Article: Yogananda's Mahasamadhi
Christ Lives! An OratorioSpiritual Family (by Kriyananda)
Original Christianity (by Kriyananda)
News, Events and Schedules
Yogananda's Mahasamadhi, March 7, 1952
“When
I am gone, only love can take my place.” Paramhansa Yogananda uttered these
words when asked by a disciple what would happen when he left his body.
Over the last 24 years I have been studying the teachings of Yogananda, practicing what he taught, tuning into Swami Kriyananda’s guidance and the insight and inspiration of hundreds of other disciples and devotees. There is no aspect of life that I have found that Yogananda did not address, providing guidance for increasing fulfillment in all of life.
Yogananda addressed spirituality and how to grow in stillness so that we might realize our oneness with Spirit, and thus with all creation.
He addressed psychology, how to develop the personality so that we become more open to divine qualities—like cheerfulness, kindness, consideration.
He expounded on relationships, that we discover the blessings of sharing upliftment with others.
He addressed education, showing how children might grow into fully developed and well-rounded individuals, capable of drawing from life that which feeds their growth and contributing to life that which is deeply meaningful.
Yogananda addressed health, opening vistas of possibility for how to live with dynamic vitality throughout life, how to overcome physical, mental, and emotional blocks that detract from our well-being.
He worked with the arts, music, the sciences, prosperity and wealth, intuition, the intellect, feeling, psychology, humor, and fun... One pitfall, however, that goes hand-in-hand with the vast amounts of knowledge and information available on this path is “spiritual indigestion.”
Awareness of information is not the same as experience derived from applying information. Knowing that the Energization Exercises can heal the body, banish depression, increase vitality, improve memory, along with a whole host of other benefits, is very different from being depressed and Energizing 2 or 3 or 5 times a day until depression is driven from the consciousness. Using the Hong Sau technique to banish restlessness from our lives is different from believing that it brings peace.
It is easy in our culture to amass information, but the actual willingness to be transformed...this power only comes with love. We must yearn with all our hearts and feel the teachings to be God’s response to our yearning before we find the courage to actually apply the teachings.
Ananda was founded as a channel for that love. It was created to support those who would make the self-offering it takes to become whole in God. Ananda, through the guidance and inspiration of Swami Kriyananda, has been a laboratory for individual truth-seekers to explore applying these principles for 38 years. In those years it has grown from a handful of disciples to a globally movement supporting tens of thousands of people daily. Ananda is becoming one of the most powerful channels for God’s light into this world for this time.
Yogananda’s Mahasamadhi celebration is a great time to honor the coming of this great wave of love and the channel through which it came. It is a great time to recommit ourselves to the “disciplines that bring His grace,” becoming channels for the love that takes his place.
eric & ingrid
In
the mid 1980’s, enjoying a period of relative calm in the Middle East, Swami
Kriyananda and a number of others from Ananda made a special pilgrimage to the
Holy Land. There they not only experienced the places and the history
surrounding the life of Christ, but also his very real presence. It was as if
one could almost see Jesus walking the hills.
Many and deep were the inner experiences from this trip, and as an avid photographer Kriyananda had also taken a fair number of pictures. Later, he wanted to share a slide show of the pilgrimage with those who hadn’t been able to make the trip. As he’d done with other such shows, he also composed music appropriate to the presentation, taking the powerful inspirations of those inner experiences of Christ’s ever-living presence and expressing them musically.
Thus was born the Christ Lives! Oratorio, Kriyananda’s greatest musical work and a perennial source for many of our most cherished and most performed songs. For in this music one not only re-lives the story of Christ’s life and mission, one feels the true message of that life and mission. Many have said how this music in and of itself has given a new and fresh reality to Christ that they never felt simply by reading the Bible or listening to stories about him. For through this music, one can feel his joy, his love, and his exalted consciousness.
Over the last two decades, the Oratorio, as we generally refer to it, has been performed in many venues around the world; portions were even sung for Pope John Paul II! Everywhere it has had the power to uplift those of all faiths and even no faith at all. As one man said after a concert in Assisi, Italy, with tears in his eyes, “I’m from France, and I don’t speak a word of English,” (in which the songs are written), “nor do I know Italian. But I understood everything!”
As described in the sidebar, we’re delighted to welcome Ananda’s best musicians and singers from our local choir for a special presentation of the Oratorio on March 24, part of a six-city tour leading up to Easter. It’s a special opportunity not to be missed.
Christ Lives! an Oratorio Concert
Spend an evening in communion with Christ through music and song. The Ananda Portland Choir will be joined by Ananda Musicians and Singers from California and Washington (over 35 singers and musicians!) for this special performance in our newly remodeled mandir (with a state of the art sound and lighting system!) David Eby, concert cellist, will be directing. Invite a friend and share this special evening together.
Friday, March 24, 7-9pm, $10 at the Ananda Mandir, Beaverton
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The Women’s Retreat is almost full! If you would like to come please talk with Ingrid Glazzard. Dates: March 10-12.
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Men’s Satsang March 10—While the women are away on retreat, let’s spend an evening together. Join Eric Glazzard at the Ananda Mandir (7-9pm) for an evening of chanting, prayer, meditation, and inspiration.
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Thank you to everyone who helped at the Open House weekend!. We joyfully put the finishing details on the preparations, opened our doors to many out of town guests, hosted fantastic meals, and welcomed everyone to our new Mandir. And our celebration, complete with slide show & entertainment, was the perfect way to top off a busy project. Thank you to One & ALL!
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Visit
Swami Kriyananda at Ananda Village for his birthday in May! There are
still a few seats left on the bus trip to the Village (May 18-May 22). If you
would like to be part of the group bus trip (which includes devotees from
Ananda Seattle as well) please contact the mandir right away! Cost for the
transportation on the bus is $125. Lodging and event costs are separate. -
Meditation Training—Our next Meditation for Starters class is Mar 2 & Mar 21, 7:30-9pm; $40 (including materials). Our next Developing an Inner Life: Learn to Meditate (4 Tuesdays) class will begin March 21, 7-9pm; $150 (including materials).
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Looking for a fun way to introduce a friend to Ananda? Try one of our Free Seminars! Healing the Body of Pain & Tension, March 2 (7:30-8:45pm) or Introduction to Yoga Philosophy, March 7 (7:30-8:45pm). Both seminars are taught by David Ramsden.
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Our next Kirtan is March 17 (7-9pm)
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Join Usha Dermond (director of our Living Wisdom School), Lorna Knox (author of Scary News—12 Ways to Raise Joyful Children When the Headlines are Full of Fear) at New Renaissance Bookstore for a special Mindful Parenting Symposium: March 18, 12:30-4pm. Please call New Renaissance to Register.
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Preview of Swami Kriyananda’s Visit to America
We invite you to visit www.ananda.org and check out the latest details on Swami Kriyananda’s visit to America this spring and summer. As Swami Kriyananda currently lives in India, this is a rare opportunity to see him that should not be missed. We encourage everyone to make time in their schedules to attend at least one of these events (if not all!). The spiritual blessings will be well worth the effort to get to California.
His schedule is still being planned (and changes are always possible at the last minute). Here are a few of the highlights:-
Swami Kriyananda's 80th Birthday Celebration: May 18-21, Ananda Village in California (for reservations please contact the Expanding Light: 800-245-5350)
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Lecture and launching of The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita, by Swami Kriyananda: June 3, Herbst Theater, San Francisco (visit www.ananda.org to purchase tickets)
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Joyful Arts Festival: June 9-11, Ananda Village in California (for reservations please contact the Expanding Light: 800-245-5350)
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Watch "Meditation Therapy" video with Jyotish Novak online at www.ananda.org. Learning how to deal effectively with stress and change is one of the most important lessons in life. This video will help you learn how to relax, rejuvenate mind and body, and meet with calmness the challenges of everyday life. This video is also available for purchase at the Mandir boutique.
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Treasures Along the Path—For March, our “treasure” is the sixth in our “A Way to Awakening” series, taken from Swamiji’s television program in India. It includes three talks. In these deeply inspiring talks, Swamiji encourages us to see God in all forms. Want to join? Email treasures@ananda.org.
from The Path by Swami Kriyananda
Devotees sometimes ask, “Do souls that have been born on this earth keep reincarnating here?” Master’s reply, when once I posed this question to him, was, “No, there are innumerable planets to go to.” He added, “If they returned always to the same one, they might find out too quickly!” Divine perception, in other words, must be earned. It is not the “plot” of this cosmic drama for wisdom to be thrust upon man uninvited; he must employ the sword of discrimination himself. The house of mirrors must lose its fascination for him because he has seen through its tricks, and not merely because, by constant repetition, the reflections have ceased to interest him.
In one respect, however, the soul does tend toward a long repetition of outward associations: in its relationships with other souls.
An example may help here. In the nebulous gasses of infinite space, the atoms drift about at great distances—the average is several miles—from one another: much too far for their gravitational fields to attract one another. But if two atoms happen to drift together, their combined field makes it easier for them to attract a third. For three it is still easier to attract a fourth. Thus, an occasional ball of matter may keep on growing, until its gravitational field at last encompasses a radius of many millions of miles. At some point in this process a mighty implosion will occur, as nebulous gasses from vast distances get sucked inward. The gravitational force of this huge mass becomes so great that changes occur within the structure of the atoms themselves: A shining star is born.
The soul, similarly, in its gradual progress toward divine wisdom, develops the “gravitational” power by which it attracts and holds the understanding it needs for enlightenment, until at last, in the firmament of living beings, it becomes a veritable “star.”
In the same way, too, the soul develops the gravitational
power to form meaningful and lasting relationships with other souls. Gradually,
in its outer life, it and others who are spiritually compatible with it form
great families of souls that return to earth, or to other planets, to work out
their salvation, not only inwardly on themselves, but through interaction with
one another. For divine emancipation it is necessary to spiritualize one’s
relations with the objective world, and with other human beings, as well as with
God.
The stronger the family, spiritually speaking, the greater its attractive pull
on new souls that may still be wandering about, searching for an identity of
their own. A family evolves as its individual members evolve. It too, becomes a
“star” in the firmament of humanity, once it begins to produce great souls of
Self-realization.
As spiritual “stars,” such great families become powerful for the general upliftment of mankind. Like stars, too, they then draw “planets” of less-evolved families into their beneficial auras, vitalizing them with rays of divine truth. Such families are like mighty nations. To them is given the real task of guiding the human race—not in the way governments do, by ordinances, but by subtler, spiritual influence.
Yogananda’s is one such spiritual family. His forms part of a greater spiritual “nation” in which Jesus Christ and Sri Krishna (in this age, Babaji) are also leaders. Yogananda, like William the Conqueror at Hastings, came to America to establish a beachhead—not, in this case, of worldly conquest, but of divine communion. Many have been born and are being born in the West to assist him in his mission. Many others are being attracted to it for the first time by the radiant magnetic influence, the spiritual “gravitational field,” it has created.
also from The Path by Swami Kriyananda
Many times progress in human understanding has occurred when one civilization has been exposed to the different insights of another. Religion, today, stands at the threshold of such an opportunity. The energetic influx of teachings from the East has already had a strong impact on Western churches, making them rethink their position on several basic issues. Among other things, it has reminded them of dormant traditions of their own. The practice of meditation, for example, once a vital part of Christian observance—particularly in the Eastern Church—is being revived owing to the emphasis given it by teachers from India.
Nor has the influence of Oriental teachings on the churches been limited to reminders of forgotten Christian traditions: It has also shown many Biblical teachings in a wholly new light. For truth, like a diamond, is many-faceted. The teachings of Moses and Jesus Christ have been given certain emphases in the West, but other perfectly legitimate emphases are possible, and would reflect truths that have been cherished for centuries elsewhere in the world. Exposure to those unfamiliar traditions might prove enormously beneficial to Westerners who desire deeper insight into their own religious teachings.
A visitor once asked Paramhansa Yogananda, “You call your temples ‘churches of all religions.’ Why, then, do you place such special emphasis on Christianity?”
“It was the wish of Babaji that I do so,” the Master replied. “He asked me to interpret the Christian Bible and the Bhagavad Gita, or Hindu Bible, and to show that their teachings are basically one. It was with this mission that I was sent to the West.”
Many Westerners in this materialistic age doubt the truth of Christ’s teachings. Indeed, many even doubt that he ever lived. Paramhansa Yogananda, by his example as much as by his teachings, turned agnostics into believing Christians again. For his mission wasn’t to convert people to Hinduism, but to revitalize Christianity. What he taught, he said, was “the original Christianity of Christ.”
One day in Boston, Massachusetts, he received a letter criticizing him for “sponsoring” Jesus in the West. “Don’t you know that he never lived?” the writer demanded. “He was a myth invented to deceive people.” The letter was left unsigned.
Yogananda prayed to be led to the writer. About a week later he visited the Boston Public Library. There, seeing a stranger seated on a bench under one of the windows, he went over and sat next to him.
“Why did you write me that letter?” he inquired.
The man started in amazement. “Wh-what do you mean? What letter?”
“The one in which you claimed that Jesus Christ was only a myth.”
“But—how on earth did you know I wrote that?”
“I have ways,” the Master replied. “And I wanted you to know that the power by which I have found you enables me also to know for certain that Jesus Christ did live, and that he was all that the Bible claims. He was a true Christ.”…
Far from undermining the faith of Christians in their own Scriptures, Yogananda gave many of them renewed faith. One day a Catholic monk, inspired by an interview with him, begged in his prayers that he be vouchsafed a vision of Jesus. The next day he hurried to Yogananda, tears in his eyes. “Last night,” he cried, “for the first time in my life, I saw Him!”
The Mystical Teachings of Christ
When Yogananda came to America in the 1920’s he called his mission “The Second Coming of Christ”. He did so not merely to pacify a western audience, but because Christ is a living reality. Yogananda came to the west not to dogmatize westerners, but to awaken each truth seeker to the inner experience of the Christ Consciousness within. Join Eric Glazzard, co-director, of Ananda in Portland for a look at the deep mystical truths from the teachings of Christ.
2 Wednesdays, March 22 & 29, 7:30-9pm, $35
PARAMHANSA YOGANANDA MAHASAMADHI COMMEMORATION
Mahasamadhi is a yogi's conscious exit from the body. The great master Yogananda entered this state on March 7th, 1952. Tonight we'll commemorate that momentous occasion. Join us for an evening of devotion and inspiration.
Friday, March 3, 7-9pm. Donations Welcome
KRIYA
YOGA--The AIRPLANE ROUTE TO GOD
Join Dave Warner, Kriya Minister from Ananda Village in California, for a special evening exploring why Paramhansa Yogananda called the technique of Kriya Yoga the airplane route to God! From Dave “I’ve always had a strong interest in deepening my own Kriya practice, and in helping others with their Kriya practice. Kriya is the most powerful and practical tool that exists for hastening our spiritual growth. I’ve seen this in my own life and in many, many others.” Come with your questions.
Friday, March 31, 7-9pm. Donations Welcome
Yoga
for relaxation“The science of yoga might even be defined as a process of progressive relaxation: first, from outer attachments; then from attachment to body, to thoughts, to personality, to ego—until one finds himself at last in the stream of infinite life.”
Relaxation is the key for not only a deep experience of yoga postures, but also for having a joyful and dynamic life. In this class we will focus on using yoga postures, pranayam & meditation to dissolving tension & stressors in the body and experience a state of peace and tranquility.
3 Wednesdays, March 8, 15, & 22. $30 for the entire series. Students must attend the first class.
The Mystical teachings of christ
Christ Lives! Oratorio concert
Whenever you find yourself with a few moments of leisure, make a sincere prayer, “Father, come to me, reveal Thy omniscient presence.” Let no one know of your secret prayers. And remember you cannot know God if other desires are in your mind at the same. time. “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” means God will not reveal Himself to you if your thoughts for Him are not strong enough to blot out all other distracting thoughts...pray to God mostly in your own words of love and yearning, not in the borrowed language of others all the time. Never cease to keep up your prayers to God until He answers you.
Weekly Postures Schedule at the Mandir
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Monday |
10:00-11:15am |
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Tuesday |
5:45-7:00pm |
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Wednesday |
Specialty Classes (see above) |
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Thursday |
5:45-7:00pm |
1 Paul Alexander
6 Sierra Ditmar
10 Jeewan Negi
Val Hammond
12 Mary Knox
Kathy Dion
15 Michael Fellows
19 Michael Balogh
27 Jamey Potter
30 Marko Balogh
31 Linda Anderson
Blessings to all these great souls! If you’re missing from our list, please let us know.
“To find freedom, we must calm the waves of emotion, and dwell ever calmly in the consciousness of love and joy.” Paramhansa Yogananda, from Essence of Self-Realization
April 6
Meditation for Starters
April 7
Guided Meditation
April 8
Palm Sunday
April 14
Kirtan and Meditation
April 16
Easter Sunday
April 31
Silent Meditation
May 18-21
Swami Kriyananda's Birthday Celebration at Ananda Village
June 3
Launch of The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita in San Francisco with Swami Kriyananda
June 9-11
Festival of the Joyful Arts at Ananda Village with Swami Kriyananda
Details on these events will be in upcoming newsletters.
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