Stories by Devotees

Befriending Swami Kriyananda – Connecting the dots

God is with us from the beginning, whether we are aware of it or not. Steve Jobs once pointed out, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.” I came to Ananda Sangha in 2014. Did I meet Swami Kriyananda before 2014? The following ‘dot’ happened around the year 2003. I might have been … Read More

Nature & Spirituality

A Himalayan Yogi: Corona Virus Seclusion

When I started construction of the Ananda Dehradun Meditation Camp in the Fall of 2018, I didn’t think much about what it would all lead to. It just felt like the right thing to do at the time. It didn’t occur to me that starting a large construction project in India as a senior might not be the most practical … Read More

Discipleship

Holding a Retreat During the Time of Coronavirus

On March 8, we decided it would be wise to cancel our all-India Kriyaban Retreat outside of Bangalore. That sounds like a simple decision, but we cancelled three days before the retreat was to begin, with over 100 people scheduled to fly there from all over India! Coronavirus was only beginning to show itself here — but with a number … Read More

Right Attitudes

Stay Home!

At a school that I was a part of, we were having a workshop. My friend who was also the director of the school, asked us to draw our “Home”. We all drew beautiful houses, some drew humble abodes, some a little more majestic. Some took extra effort to add beauty by adding colored roofs, elegant curtains, landscaping around. Later … Read More

Health & Healing

7 Practices to Strengthen Yourself in Challenging Times

What interesting times we are living in! Whoever thought we’d see something like this in our lifetime — like the plot of a movie. A mix of fear, combined with a great awareness of the need for a change in our lifestyle, is sweeping through all beings and nations. The buzz-word right now seems to be “social distancing” — not … Read More

Yoga Philosophy

The Mystery of Life

Everyone is faced with a long layover at some point or another. One thing I enjoy doing at airports is to find a comfortable place to sit and observe people rushing around. Airports can feel like a microcosm of the human experience, and we can likely see people in every kind of mood going through every kind of situation there. … Read More