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The Ananda Sangha News

Ananda Sangha of Portland
May-June 306 Dwapara (2006)

PDF (hi-res) 1.14M, | PDF (low-res) 497K (PDFs include photo galleries)
PDF May-June Calendar, 60K

In This Newsletter

Articles & Letters

Lead Article: A Mission of Fun
Yoga Teacher Training in Portland!

Meditation Keys (by Kriyananda)

One Man's Quest (by Swami Kriyananda)

Try This Out

News, Events and Schedules

Portland News

Ananda Worldwide

Class and Event Announcements

Weekly Postures Schedule
Birthdays

Of Special Note: The mandir offices will be closed on May 3, 4, 5, and 19th in preparation for various events.
 

A Mission of Fun

Once asked “What is Ananda’s Mission?” Swami Kriyananda responded: “To have fun.”

Often in Sunday Service, I encourage us all to apply spiritual principles “just for fun.” A friend wrote the following after last Sunday: “I can’t help but smile when you say ‘try it just for fun!’ - you can find fun in the oddest places Eric, ... (an endearing quality)… But remember there are many other reasons to try doing things differently—it just might lessen your pain, it might take away your fear, it might open up your heart, it might connect you with others, it might show you a new direction, it might heal old wounds, it might make you smile more, it might make you remember who you are. One of my earliest and most life-changing meditations was very shortly after coming on the path. I had a true experience of smriti—soul memory. No lights or voices or breathlessness—just a little door opening and a feeling of ‘oh yes, I remember…’  I understand all of that is embodied in your encouragement to just do it for ‘fun’, but you might want to say that once and awhile.”

  So, here it is, and it is gratifying to have her say it so eloquently.

  She is right, of course. All these things and so many more happen when we apply the teachings, and each of those things is gratifying in itself. However, none of those are sufficient in themselves to keep us interested in and focused on the path, because each of them is transient and can easily be replaced by an opposite experience. What we are looking for is an experience of life that is filled with a sense of adventure, joy, anticipation of discovery, freedom from pain and self-involvement, possibilities of victory over any adversity...and these are what are implied in every teaching the Masters bring. These things are what courageous individuals seek out for fun (all recreations I can think of have some or all of these qualities).

Yogananda said that this life was designed by God “to educate and to entertain.” He then went on to note how few of us are “either educated or entertained.”

Swami Kriyananda, through the creation of Ananda, has helped create an environment where we can discover the “fun” of living a life in increasing attunement with Spirit.

  With his visit here in Portland on May 7th, it is a good opportunity to observe what it looks like to spend almost 60 years having this kind of fun. Reading his autobiography The Path, you realize that Kriyananda began life in the mix with the rest of us—with a full litany of cares, concerns, and self-involvement. The freedom and joy he lives in now is a good guide-post to where this path leads, and the stories that have come through Ananda are a reflection of where having this kind of “fun” can lead.

Let us relax with our relationship with Spirit, open ourselves to the adventure of spiritual discipline, and have fun with the process.

And THANK YOU, SWAMI KRIYANANDA, for leading the way.

In Divine Friendship,

eric and ingrid

Details on Kriyananda's visit are below.
 

Yoga Teacher Training in Portland!

As you read this we will be finally putting the last touches to the Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) course that will start in September. The course will be approximately six months long and graduates will be able to register with Yoga Alliance as a RYT 200. The course will follow the curriculum of Ananda Yoga at Expanding Light. In our last week we will combine our class with the YTT students at Expanding Light for a final week of testing and classes in April.

The power and beauty of this course is that you can fit it into your life! Classes will be every Tuesday evening, plus every other Friday evening and Saturday morning.

You’ll experience the depth and breadth of Ananda Yoga and learn to share the life-changing experience of yoga with others.

Here is a glimpse of the YTT course:

• Experience and learn to teach a wide range of asanas and pranayamas

• Learn how to design routines and structure yoga classes for beginners

• Explore the spiritual dimension of yoga through meditation and yoga philosophy

• Learn anatomy and physiology for yoga teachers

• Gain confidence and polish through practice teaching and guidance from the instructors

If you have questions feel free to call the mandir office (503) 626-3403 or talk with David Ramsden, the Director of Ananda Yoga of Portland.

By May 1st we will have complete details of the course, including the downloadable application you will need register on our web-site: www.anandaportland.org

Course Cost: $2800*. Pay in FULL by 8/1/2006 and save $300

Class begins Tues, Sept 5. Class size is limited to 15

* Cost is variable due to the cost of accommodations (food & lodging) at the Expanding Light Retreat. Our price is based on an estimate of a 7-day stay in a standard shared room. Transportation to the Expanding Light is not included.
 

Portland News

• Yard Sale at the Living Wisdom School! Are you in the process of clearing out your clutter? If so, donate the fruits of your labor to the Living Wisdom School Yard Sale, May 26-May 27 at the school. If you have items to contribute please contact the Living Wisdom School at (503)671-9112.

• Meditation Training—Our next Meditation for Starters class is Wednesday May 10, 7:30-9pm; $40 (including materials). Our next Developing an Inner Life: Learn to Meditate (4 Tuesdays) class will begin May 16, 7-9pm; $150 (including materials).

• Looking for a fun way to introduce a friend to Ananda? Try one of our Free Seminars: Healing the Body of Pain & Tension, Thursday May 11 (7:30pm) or Introduction to Yoga Philosophy, Thursday May 25 (7:30pm). Both classes are taught by David Ramsden.

• Summer Family Activities! Join us at the Ananda Community for joyful family-friendly evenings of satsang and friendship. We’ll start with a vegetarian potluck at 5pm then enjoy an activity together like family movies, storytelling, kirtans and more! Our first date will be Sunday May 28 and then Saturday’s June 3, 10, 17, & 24.

• Discipleship—In Lessons in Discipleship Kriyananda writes “In the Indian language, the word ‘disciple’ has quite a different meaning than it does in English, one that implies a much sweeter and more personal relationship....the difference between siksha, or student, and chela, or disciple, is the difference between somebody who is out there taking notes but not really committed, and somebody who is your child. The chela is, in fact, thought of as the child of the guru."
      Last month 7 people took discipleship vows. We would like to congratulate Barbara Grafton, Sienna Marie Wise, Michelle Ritchie, Carla Nomaiia, Bill Peterkin, Agnes Prescott, and Jenny Suzumoto and wish them many blessings on their spiritual journey.

• Join the Ananda Choir! In June our choir will begin preparations for a concert in September. Now is a great time to join, even if you’ve no experience singing. If interested, please speak to Sayaki, Music Director. (satyaki@anandaportland.org)

Ananda Worldwide

• Last India Pilgrimage led by Asha & David Praver and Durga & Vidura Smallen—As you may have heard, Swami has invited Durga and Vidura Smallen to move to India. Because of this, and because of the increasing presence of our ashram in Gurgaon, this fall’s 4-week pilgrimage will be the last one led by the Pravers and the Smallens.
      Being part of this 4-week pilgrimage to India is an experience of a lifetime and a spiritual highlight in the lives of many devotees.
      For more information please contact Marilyn Holm: pilgrimage@ananda.org.

• The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita launch in India: With a capacity crowd, a large cadre of volunteers, and inspiring speakers, the launch of the Essence of the Bhagavad Gita was a big success! Speakers at the event included: Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, President of The Times Foundation, Indu Jain, The former High Commissioner to the UK, Shri Singhvi, the cover artist of the book Dana Anderson, and Swami Kriyananda.

• Swami Kriyananda meets with the President of India: Swami Kriyananda recently met with the President of India. They discussed education, solar energy, eradicating poverty, and unity among religions. Swami Kriyananda gave him the prospectus for the Yoga Institute of Living Wisdom, and he promised to study it. We believe he really will. Abdul Kalam is a very good man, and education is very near to his heart.
      He is nearly seventy-five, and has bright, intelligent eyes. He has been described as “wearing his power lightly,” and we found that to be true. He doesn’t at all have the heavy ego that so many in his position would have.
      There was a vibration of strength and depth that was tangible. Afterwards we all felt that India has very good karma to have such a person as Dr. Kalam helping to forge her destiny.

• Treasures Gems! This month’s gem is Signs of Spiritual Progress a truly exceptional talk that will both inspire you and open your heart. Next month will be “Self-Acceptance”. To join Treasures contact Melody at (530)478-7656 or email treasures@ananda.org. All proceeds benefit Ananda India.

Meditation Keys

from Awaken to Superconsciousness by Swami Kriyananda

We develop intuition, Paramhansa Yogananda said, by prolonging the peaceful aftereffects of the meditation techniques.

After meditation, don’t strip your mental gears by plunging hastily into outer activity. Try to carry the meditative peace into everything you do. To develop this habit, it may help to begin with outward activities that don’t involve your mind too much. While doing them, chant inwardly to God. The walking meditation is an excellent practice for bridging the gap between meditative peace and outward busyness. If you can’t devote time to walking calmly after meditation, try doing things slowly for a bit, consciously bringing peace and energy into your muscles and bodily movements.

As a focus for your devotion, you may find it helpful to set up an altar in your place of meditation. Include pictures on the altar, if you like, of saints, or of images of God, or of infinite light and space. (You may even find photographs of stars and galaxies helpful, as reminders of the vastness of space.)

A helpful practice also, if it pleases you, is the burning of incense as a devotional offering. The sense of smell is closely related to the memory faculty. You may recall, for example, catching in some fleeting scent a reminder of some childhood episode that awakened a host of associated memories. Incense, when used regularly in meditation, will help to create meditative associations in your mind, and bring you more quickly, therefore, to inner calmness.

Generally speaking, it is best to meditate in quiet places, and at quiet times of the day. It is also good occasionally, however, to discipline the mind. Don’t pamper it. You may even like to meditate, sometimes, in noisy places, as a mental discipline. Don’t sit where people will see you and wonder what you’re doing. Or, if the place is public, don’t sit in such a way as to call attention to yourself. In this case, you might practice looking ahead of you with open eyes.

One way of becoming virtually invisible in public is to put out the thought “I’m not here.” Send no mental tendrils out to your environment. Rather, put out a vibration of non-being—somewhat along the principle of modern noise-cancellation technology, where sound waves are nullified by projecting sounds of an opposite wave pattern. Obliterate “people-consciousness” from your mind. You’ll be surprised to how little an extent people notice you. Quite possibly they won’t notice you at all: That is, they may see you, but they won’t observe you.

 * * * *

The daily practice of meditation is the foundation of all that we do at Ananda. Each month, we offer both introductory (one-night) and comprehensive (four week) classes. Look for Meditation for Starters, (one night) May 10, 7:30-9pm $40 (includes materials) or Developing and Inner Life: Learn to Meditate, (four weeks), beginning May 16, 7-9pm, $150 (includes materials). Click here for details.

One Man's Quest on the Only Path There Is...

from The Path by Swami Kriyananda

“Master will see you next.”

Shortly thereafter I was ushered into a small sitting room. The Master was standing there, speaking to a disciple in a white robe. As the young man was about to leave, he knelt to touch the Master’s feet. This was, I knew from Yogananda’s book, a traditional gesture of reverence among Indians; it is bestowed on parents and other elders as well as on one’s guru. A moment later, the Master and I were alone.

What large, lustrous eyes now greeted me! What a compassionate smile! Never before had I seen such divine beauty in a human face. The Master seated himself on a chair, and motioned me to a sofa beside him.

“What may I do for you?” For the third time that day, these same, gentle words. But this time how fraught with meaning!

“I want to be your disciple!” The reply welled up irresistibly from my heart. Never had I expected to utter such words to another human being.

The Master smiled gently. There ensued a long discussion, interspersed by long silences, during which he held his eyes half open, half closed—”reading” me, as I well knew.

Over and over again in my heart I prayed desperately, “You must take me! I know that you know my thoughts. I can’t say it outwardly; I’d only weep. But you must accept me. You must!”

Early in the conversation he told me, “I agreed to see you only because Divine Mother told me to. I want you to know that. It isn’t because you’ve come from so far. Two weeks ago a lady flew here all the way from Sweden after reading my book, but I wouldn’t see her. I do only what God tells me to do.” He reiterated, “Divine Mother told me to see you.”

“Divine Mother,” as I already knew from reading his book, was the way he often referred to God, Who, he said, embraces both the male and female principles.

There followed some discussion of my past. He appeared pleased with my replies, and with my truthfulness. “I knew that already,” he once remarked, indicating that he was only testing me to see if I would answer him truthfully. Again a long silence, while I prayed ardently to be accepted.

“I am taking fewer people now,” he said.

I gulped. Was this remark intended to prepare me for a letdown? …

More silence.

More prayers.

“All right,” he said at last. “You have good karma. You may join us.”

“Oh, but I can wait!” I blurted out, hoping he wasn’t taking me only because I hadn’t yet found any other place to stay.

“No,” he smiled. “You have good karma, otherwise I wouldn’t accept you.”

Gazing at me with deep love, he then said, “I give you my unconditional love.”

Immortal promise! I couldn’t begin to fathom the depth of meaning in those marvelous words.

“Will you give me your unconditional love?”

“Yes!” ...

“Now, then, come kneel before me.”

I did so. He made me repeat, in the name of God, Jesus Christ, and the others in our line of gurus, the vows of discipleship and of renunciation. Next he placed the forefinger of his right hand on my chest, over the heart. For at least two minutes his arm vibrated, almost violently. Incredibly, from that moment onward, my consciousness, in some all-penetrating manner, was transformed.

Want to Learn More About Swami Kriyananda?

Look for these books:

The Path: One Man’s Quest on the Only Path There Is—This is personal autobiography. Written by Swami Kriyananda.

Faith is my Armor—This is the story of a new kind of hero: a man who has achieved extraordinary victories in his life-not with weapons, but with moral and spiritual courage. Written by Devi Novak spiritual director with her husband Jyotish of Ananda Worldwide.

Also check out the website: www.swamikriyananda.org for complete biographical details, including a gallery of photographs taken throughout his life

 

Class and Event Announcements

Swami kriyananda at sunday service

We are pleased to welcome Swami Kriyananda, the founder of Ananda Worldwide to Portland! Swami Kriyananda will be conducting Sunday Service on May 7th. This promises to be a very special day and we encourage everyone to join us. We look forward sharing this special experience with you and wanted to pass along a few logistical details below that will help make everything run smoothly.

We are expecting a large crowd at service that day, so the Mandir will look a bit different. In order to fit more people in the sanctuary we will be renting chairs for this event. The chair spacing will be tighter than usual. If you can, leave bulky items (coats and large hand-bags) at home. It could also be a bit warmer than usual in the sanctuary, so consider dressing in layers.

The entire Sunday Schedule will be shifted an hour. Purification Service will be at 10am. Sunday Service will begin at 11am. Sunday Service may also be a little bit longer that usual because of the larger group.

In order to give everyone an opportunity to get a good seat, the mandir doors will OPEN at 9:30am. Until that time, the mandir doors will remain locked. To get the best seat in the house we recommend arriving when the doors open! Overflow seating will be in Clarity and Inspiration Rooms where you can watch Swami via closed circuit television. Late arrivals will also be seated in these two rooms.

In order to allow every person the opportunity to see Swami Kriyananda here in Portland, there will not be Sunday School or childcare this Sunday. Please make alternate arrangements for your children

Would you like to Volunteer?

There are many opportunities to participate in making this event a success. From set-up and breakdown to serving & preparing after service snacks, there is an activity available for everybody! If you would like to serve please contact Eric or Ingrid at the Sangha office (503)626-3403. Many Hands Make a Miracle.

family activities at the ananda community

Join us at the Ananda Community for joyful family-friendly evenings of satsang and friendship. We’ll start with a vegetarian potluck at 5pm and then enjoy a family friendly activity together. Look for evenings of family movies, storytelling, kirtans and more!

Sunday May 28th, Saturday June 3, 10, 17, & 24, 5pm. Bring a Vegetarian Potluck dish

Developing your will power

Energy is the cornerstone of the yoga teachings. And developing the willpower is the key to harnessing that energy. We live surrounded by an ocean of cosmic energy, and draw on it to a greater or lesser extent all the time, depending on our willpower, or willingness, and on the clarity of our awareness. In this practical course we will explore the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda on developing dynamic persistent will power and uncover within ourselves new energy, joy, and intuitive insight.

3 Wednesdays, May 17, 24, & 31, 7:30-9pm, $45

Taught by David Ramsden

Try This Out

Food Recipe: Grate a fresh coconut fine. Mix it with one cup of cream whipped with the yolk of an egg. This is an excellent substitute for meat in strength-giving qualities.

Sliced eggplants slowly baked in the oven, covered with a little tomato sauce, make a delicious and healthful dish.

The contents of one can of whole wheat grains, mixed with a little honey and topped with whipped cream, is a meal in itself.

Eat less, chew well. Think not of your taste alone but of your health. Summer is coming; eat fruits plentifully. Walk or run daily. Bathe daily. Avoid starches. Life can be much simplified by a simple diet. The time saved can be used on better things than catering to the body.

—By Paramhansa Yogananda, East-West Magazine, May-June 1928

 

Weekly Postures Schedule at the Mandir

NOTE: There will be no yoga classes from June 7 to 17. Regular classes will resume on June 19.

 May & June Birthdays

MAY

6      Karin LaBriere

9      Deborah Fraser

18    Luca Gorman

24    Tonya Gorman

27    Ingrid Glazzard

30    Hollis Kaplan

 

JUNE

1      David LaBriere

5      Eric Glazzard
6      Kathryn Kendall

10    Roberta Beckman

15    Bob Flagel

16    Mary Little

19    Usha Dermond

20    Lise Thom

28    JR Safran
        Claire Potter

30    Lynne Sherley

Blessings to all these great souls! If you’re missing from our list, please let us know.

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