So we're entering now
the main part of
Crystal Hermitage,
and this is the Shrine
of the Masters.
And we're going to
meet Mandala, who is
the manager of
the Shrine of the Masters.
Hi!
Nice to meet you!
Nice to meet you!
This is Shrine of
the Masters
at the Crystal Hermitage,
and we are a gift shop
in a little garden center.
We have lots of people
that come here
for the Tulip Festival.
This is Yogananda,
a poster from early on.
This is his original
“Autobiography of
a Yogi” and some
of his earliest lessons.
Welcome,
blessed viewers, to
A Journey through
Aesthetic Realms.
Today, we’re visiting
Ananda Village
near Nevada City
in Northern California,
USA, a place to
help people experience
the Divine
through meditation
and spiritual living.
Ananda Village
is situated amidst
the foothills of the
Sierra Nevada mountains,
on 900 acres of beautiful
meadows and forests.
Two hundred fifty people
of all ages and
backgrounds reside here
permanently, including
adults and children.
This is Lahiri Mahasaya,
and this pot is
very special.
We fill it with water.
This was a water pot
that belonged to him and
he would fill it with water
and then bless the disciples
that would come to
have fellowship with him.
We fill that with water
and then we take it down
to the Crystal Hermitage
to Swami's apartment,
it stays on his altar.
It gets blessed,
and then we pour it
into little bottles,
and I'd like to give you
some of those as well.
This is Babaji, Lahiri
Mahasaya’s master,
and here is some more of
Yogananda's things.
His family members,
many of these are
the family members that
have offered all these
little relics to us.
Ananda Village is part of
Ananda Sangha,
a worldwide movement
founded in 1968
by a direct disciple of
Paramhansa Yogananda,
Swami Kriyananda.
The Sanskrit word
ananda means “bliss.”
The Ananda Village
community is based on
the teachings of
Yogananda, who showed
how everyone can realize
God in their daily lives as
a tangible, loving reality.
At the age of 22,
Swami Kriyananda, who
at the time was known as
J. Donald Walters,
began the adventure of
his lifetime:
the search for joy in God.
His guide was
the great Indian Yogi,
Paramhansa Yogananda.
Kriyananda became one
of Yogananda’s
foremost disciples
and his spiritual path
eventually inspired
thousands of
other truth-seekers in
all corners of the world.
Swami Kriyananda
has completely dedicated
himself to two main goals
in life, in his own words,
“to find God, and
to help others find Him.”
A gifted writer
and composer,
Swami Kriyananda has
written over 100 books
and 400 pieces of music.
He speaks 9 languages,
and his books and music
have sold over
three million copies
and are published
in 25 languages.
From April to May 2011,
Swami Kriyananda held
a weekly lecture series
at Ananda Village and
read from his latest book
to be published soon.
This book consists of
treasured reminiscences
of his teacher
Paramhansa Yogananda.
Heavenly Father,
Divine Mother,
Divine Beloved God,
Jesus Christ Babaji-Krishna,
Lahiri Mahasaya,
Sri Yukteswar,
Beloved Guru,
Saints of all religions.
We bow to all of you.
We love you.
We want to serve you.
We want to be one
with you.
Om. Peace. Amen.
On the day of
giving this lecture,
Swami Kriyananda
had to go to the dentist.
Still having some
difficulty speaking, he
used this uncomfortable
experience to elaborate
on the deeper meaning
of pain in life.
There are times
when there is
a certain sensation.
I think I have learnt that
the important thing
is to not to define
that sensation as “pain.”
It is just a sensation.
And if you find
the thought coming that
“Well, it is pain,” then
accept it, because – okay
– but it doesn’t matter
if it is painful.
In other words,
don’t reject the pain.
One time, the pain
was rather intense.
But I told myself,
“Well, this is only
right here and right now.
Reality is much bigger
than this little tooth
of mine.”
So, I lived in that reality
and noticed that
this reality here was
bothering me but it
didn’t matter that much.
I found that
with that attitude,
I can lie there while he
[the dentist] is working
and not even know
what he is doing.
I can work out points
of philosophy that are
a little difficult
to figure out, or
write music in my head.
Really, it’s
a very important lesson
in life because all of us
have experiences
that are not easy.
Some of us have what
we choose to call
“tragic experiences.”
We don’t have to
call them “tragic.”
Let’s accept that
this is what life is.
Even when I see a movie
and I see a painful thing,
a recording from it,
I try to put myself
right in that position.
And I say, “Well,
what attitude would I
need to be able
to bear that pain, or
bear that tragedy or
bear that whatever it is?”
And I find that
it’s a very good practice
for real life,
because in real life you
will have to go through
your own particular
pains, not necessarily
that one but some others.
But if we can have
the right attitude,
we find that nothing
needs to touch us.
And I have discovered
that that’s true,
just remain even-minded
all the time, even-minded
and cheerful.
This is what
Master taught us.
Swami Kriyananda then
continued to read
from his new book
of reminiscences
of Yogananda.
I have been reading
his characteristics.
And it’s absolutely
wonderful to ponder
his greatness in
so many different ways.
One thing I noted
about him was his always
blissful outlook on life.
I would notice this fact
not only in his calm
inward expression but also
from the deep bliss I
often felt in his presence.
What you need to do too
is try to feel that
everything that
you were doing,
the underlying reality
is bliss.
I had this dream.
I shared it with you before.
It was in Florence
between meeting with
our distributors in Italy.
I woke up with this
wonderful inspiration.
I had this dream of
thousands of people.
And I knew that
the one thing they all
wanted was bliss.
And they were Mafiosi
[criminal] types,
tough business types,
all kinds of people.
But all of them,
they all wanted bliss.
They just didn’t know
where it was,
they didn’t know
how to find it.
So the Mafiosi types
thought, well, we’ll get it
by punishing people,
by riding hard on them,
by taking from them,
by killing them,
by taking revenge.
But all they really want
is bliss, they just hadn’t
figure it out yet.
And it takes many
incarnations to figure out
that that’s really
all that life is about.
We should learn to find
how bliss can be
discovered
in any situation.
This bliss that
Master talked about
came to him because
he was completely
even-minded, because
he was not attached to
anything.
You don’t have to
do things to attain bliss.
You have to remove
those things
that cover that bliss.
Bliss is like gold buried
in the earth.
You don’t have to
make the earth gold, you
have to uncover that gold
so that it will shine.
So, you have that bliss
in you.
But you think
“I need this,
I want to do this, I am
going to try to do this,
I don’t want that
to happen,
I want this person to
come, I wish this person
would leave me alone.”
All the thoughts
that come to people.
If you can get rid of
all that, it’s not that
you become apathetic,
you find that then you
begin to enjoy things.
Paramhansa Yogananda
often predicted that
world brotherhood
communities, based on
the principles of “plain
living and high thinking”
would be the social
pattern for the future.
Since his youth,
Swami Kriyananda
had dreamt of creating
small communities
based on cooperation
and high ideals.
So when
Swami Yogananda spoke
about the importance
of creating “World
Brotherhood Colonies,”
Swami Kriyananda
immediately felt that it
was his mission to help
create such communities.
To establish
a spiritual community
is not an easy task and
the noble intentions
to do so are sometimes
misunderstood by others.
In his talk,
Swami Kriyananda
elaborated that
true masters do not
do anything, including
coming into the world,
for their own benefit,
but only for the good
of others.
Master gave
that beautiful example
in his life that
whatever happened
he was always blissful.
He was deeply loving
to all, and concerned
for their well-being.
This is something that
people have to realize.
A guru doesn’t
come into this world
for his own good,
he comes here, because
he has this deep feeling.
He knows how much
he suffers, over millions
of incarnations,
to attain freedom.
And, most people, when
they attain that freedom,
they say,
“Well, I’ve had it.”
There are very few
people who come back
again and again.
They don’t need to
take on the pains of this
world, they don’t need to.
They come back because
they want to help us.
And then people say,
“Yeah, what have you got
to give me?”
It’s certainly not
an easy thing but he
had love for everybody.
And he wanted to help us.
It’s such a beautiful thing
to realize.
Through many years of
dedicated work,
Swami Kriyananda
and the members of
the Ananda Sangha have
made Ananda Village
and other affiliated centers
around the world havens
of outer and inner beauty.
Visitors to
the Shrine of the Masters
at Ananda Village often
remark on the deep peace
they feel here.
We have three
3-hour meditations here
every week.
So we've had this
going on since
the very beginning.
Every Saturday morning,
from 6 to 9, without fail,
we have people come
in here and meditate
for three hours, and then
Thursday night
the men come, and
they have a meditation.
And then
Sunday evenings, we also
have some young people
that are new
to the community come
and have
a 3-hour meditation.
So it's very blessed in here.
Many people come
and they wonder
what they're feeling,
and so I think it's
a combination of having
Yogananda's relics
as well as the meditations
we have here, and
the beauty, of course.
This concludes the first
part of our program
on Swami Kriyananda
and the Ananda Village,
a spiritual community
in the US which was
inspired by the teachings
of Paramhansa Yogananda.
Thank you,
noble viewers,
for being with us today.
Please join us again
next Sunday, July 17
on A Journey through
Aesthetic Realms,
when we will continue
our visit to Ananda Village
and hear more from
Swami Kriyananda’s
engaging discourse there.
Up next is
Our Noble Lineage,
right after
Noteworthy News.
May each of your days
be filled with
beauty and bliss.
For more information
about Ananda Village
and Swami Kriyananda,
please visit:
www.AnandaVillage.org
and
www.SwamiKriyananda.org
God is Life
God is Joy
Life is God’s
Life is Joy.
God is Life
God is Joy
Life is God’s
Life is Joy.
This is
Swami Sri Yukteswar.
Each year,
we take the glass down,
and we have a lot of people
come in and sit, and
we pass the relics around.
This cane
is especially popular.
People get to hold it.
This is once a year.
It's usually in the summer.
And would you have to be
a member
of the community (No, no.)
or anyone can come
in here? (Yes, yes.)
Welcome,
peaceful viewers,
to the concluding episode
of our two-part program
on Swami Kriyananda
and the Ananda Village
near Nevada Village in
California, United States.
Expanding Light is
Ananda’s spiritual retreat
for yoga, meditation,
and health.
Ananda Village also has
its own business park,
school, community center,
and permaculture garden.
The Ananda College
of Living Wisdom
is a state-approved college
which offers
associate degrees and
baccalaureate degrees.
The spiritual heart
of Ananda Village
is the Crystal Hermitage
which is the home
of Swami Kriyananda.
The gardens here are
among the most beautiful
in the world.
The annual springtime
at Ananda Open House
draws thousands of visitors
who come to enjoy
the incredible show
of 9,000 tulips and
flowering trees amidst
the mountain scenery.
This is our chapel.
This is a replica
of the Portiuncula
in Assisi, Italy,
the chapel that was made
by St. Francis.
And this was made
by an Ananda member.
And we had someone
in the community
made all these
stained glass windows,
and they're just
all nature scenes.
The nice thing
about this chapel, you feel
a part of the garden,
you feel a part of nature.
It doesn't close you in
or separate you.
We have weddings here.
We do have a meditation
every Monday night here.
More and more people
are finding out about us
through the gardens.
Indeed, Ananda Village
is a physical manifestation
of Swami Kriyananda’s
principle: “I will live
in the remembrance
of what I am in truth:
Bliss infinite!
Eternal love!”
Residents Lisa, Peter,
Devi and Jyotish
described a typical day
at Ananda Village
and the inspiration
behind the community.
We all have jobs
that look like normal jobs,
we have kids,
we have families,
we have monastics.
We all try to meditate
between 2 and 3 hours
a day.
Normally in the morning
we have about
an hour and half
meditation to 2 hours.
After that, you come home,
have breakfast,
get the kids to school,
get ready for a job.
Some people work for
our community businesses,
other people work
outside the community,
but the majority of people
work here on the land.
We practice his
[Yogananda’s] teachings
of meditation, proper living,
vegetarian diet,
but most of all,
we have energy where
we take high principles
and put them into
practical daily practice.
Yogananda
came to America
from India in 1920,
and he had many
wonderful statements
we can quote,
but one of them is:
“The time for knowing God
has come.”
And what he really
wanted to bring was
a way of integrating
high spiritual teachings
with daily life.
And so, part of his mission
was to create
what he called “world
brotherhood colonies,”
where people would
practice plain living
and high thinking.
During his talk
at Ananda Village,
Swami Kriyananda read
from his soon-to-be
published book
which consists of
treasured reminiscences
of his spiritual master
Paramhansa Yogananda.
In Los Angeles,
he used to walk
up and down Main Street,
and there are
all these bars there.
Why did he do it?
He wanted
to tune into these people,
to keep them
from getting possessed.
When you’re alcoholic
or in a state of stupor,
that’s when you
open yourself
to astral entities.
Do you know in bars,
many people commit
murder, for example?
They don’t want to do it.
It’s some entity
possessing them,
that makes them do it,
These are realities.
Drunkenness
can make you that way.
The low astral entities
hover around such places,
looking for opportunities,
unless Master would
walk up and down
and try to help protect
these people.
His love for everybody
was incredible.
He didn’t have to come
in the first place,
and yet he took on
all the betrayals,
all the heartaches,
all desperation
of earning money
to make things possible
for people and so on.
What a huge job!
And yet, all for our sake.
When I think
what he went through,
when he didn’t have to
go through any of it –
there was nothing in it
for him.
Swami Kriyananda also
spoke about
the great mysterious power
that the revered
Paramhansa Yogananda had.
He had power.
There was this one time,
it was the brother of
one of his close disciples,
but he was very belligerent
and probably didn’t like
the way that his sister
had been “trapped
by this charlatan.”
So one day he decided
he would come up the stairs
and beat Master up
and boast to everybody
how he had beaten up
this “charlatan.”
Master saw him
and the coming in a vision.
So when the man
reached the doorway,
Master said, “I know
why you’ve come, but,”
he said,
“I want you to know,
I’m very strong physically.
I can easily beat you.
But I will not
beat you physically.
Nevertheless I warn you,
don’t cross that threshold.”
“Come on, prophet!
What can you do to me?”
And he strode
across the threshold, and
suddenly fell on the floor
and started, “I’m on fire!
I’m on fire!”
And he went running out
of the house
and he was rolling around
on the ground outside
and Master came
and touched him,
and the man was fine.
And the man said,
“Don’t come near me,
don’t come near me!”
He went in,
had his wife get everything,
and they left right away.
Master had great power
but he didn’t use
that power usually.
He used it
when it was justified.
He used it when
Divine Mother told him to.
The love
of an enlightened Master
is beyond description.
Swami Kriyananda
further recalled
Paramhansa Yogananda’s
endearing ways
of changing his disciple’s
preconceived ideas.
He wanted nothing
from others
except for their own
highest happiness.
Once after
he had scolded a disciple,
the disciple said.
“But you will forgive me,
won’t you?”
His question
surprised the Master.
Pausing briefly,
he then said, “Well,
what else can I do?”
Yogananda was a mirror
to the highest Self
in everyone.
He was inwardly childlike.
I myself had always
thought that at this age
he must be solemn,
smiling only in concession
to the weaknesses of
ordinary human beings.
To correct
this impression of me,
he once bought a few toys.
This episode occurred
at his Twenty-nine Palms
retreat.
We were seated
in the kitchen at that time.
He asked that something
be brought to him.
Whatever it was came
enclosed in a paper bag.
The Master asked someone
to turn out the light.
We heard a few chuckles
along with
the little crinkling paper.
Suddenly sparks
began flying as a barrel
of a toy revolver.
The light came on and
the Master looked at me.
“How do you like that,
Walter?”
Walter was the name
by which
he always called me.
“It’s fine, Sir,” I replied,
still trying to get over
my astonishment.
Then gazing at me
penetratingly,
he spoke quoting
the words of Jesus,
“Several little children
do come unto me
for of such
is the Kingdom of God.”
He finished
that charming lesson
by firing from
another toy pistol,
an object which rose
into the air then
opened into a parachute.
We all watched solemnly
as the parachute
descended to the ground.
I never saw him
play with those toys again.
I suspect
he had bought them
only for my sake.
The generosity
and determination
of the great Master
Paramhansa Yogananda
were recounted
by Swami Kriyananda.
His generosity extended
far beyond mere money
or material gain, gifts.
It included also
for example,
allowing others
to have the last word,
deferring to their opinions,
applauding
whatever good they did.
He never judged anyone.
Judgment he left to God.
He was truly a friend
to all.
I’ve indicated this before,
but he had
a strong will power.
I remember
from public function,
when he wanted
to blow a conch shell,
it seemed he had all but
lost the knack for doing so.
Instead of getting up with
a self-deprecating smile,
however he continued
determinedly through
several tries until some
sort of sound emerged.
One afternoon after
I’d served lunch for him
and a few guests,
he had me sit at the table
with him for a time.
Then he tried to flip a fork
into his empty glass.
Again and again he failed.
When finally he succeeded,
the fork broke the glass.
But “I got it in,”
he said to an impish smile.
I think he was
teaching me a lesson
in perseverance whenever
I set my will to anything.
Swami Kriyananda’s
accounts reflecting
Paramhansa Yogananda’s
holiness are truly
inspirational, especially
for spiritual seekers.
His nature was enthusiastic
but never bouncy.
He never reacted
emotionally to anything.
His enthusiasm
was always an expression
of his bliss in God.
He always knew
how to act appropriately.
Divine Mother is loving,
she’s playful.
She’s even
mischievously playful.
The relationship with Her
is a delightful thing.
And when you pray to Her,
think of Her
as your friend.
Don’t think of Her
as anything else.
Whenever Master saw Her,
I remember
the Christmas meditations,
he would say, “Don’t go!
Oh, you look so beautiful!”
And then he said,
“The material desires
of the people here
are driving you away.
Oh, but don’t go, don’t go!”
It was so touching
to see that.
Remember,
God is on your side.
He is your friend.
He would like you
to play with Him.
Don’t hide from Him.
If you make a mistake,
don’t say, “Well, I hope
You didn’t see this one
God.”
Just open yourself to Him,
“Hey God,
I made a mistake
that time, I blew it.
Help me next time.”
It’s true. He likes that.
He likes absolute trusting,
childlike honesty.
And so,
the relationship with God
is an ever sweet one,
and evermore blissful.
We are deeply thankful
to Swami Kriyananda
for sharing
special reminiscences
of the beloved Master
Paramhansa Yogananda.
Our sincere appreciation
also, Swami Kriyananda
and the residents
of Ananda Village,
for creating and offering
to the world
such a beautiful paradise
in accordance with
enlightening teachings.
This concludes
our two-part program
on Swami Kriyananda
and the beautiful
Ananda Village in
Northern California, USA.
Thank you,
kind-hearted viewers,
for joining us today on
A Journey through
Aesthetic Realms.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
Up next is
Our Noble Lineage,
right after
Noteworthy News.
May we all nurture
a profound
and fulfilling relationship
with the Divine.
For more information
about Ananda Village
and Swami Kriyananda,
please visit:
www.AnandaVillage.org
and
www.SwamiKriyananda.org