runbei

Q: You serve as an Ananda minister, and you sing Swami Kriyananda’s music with the choir and in a small ensemble. Has serving in these ways been a natural expression of who you are? Steven: When I came onto the spiritual path in 1991, I didn’t truly understand what it meant to serve. It was … Read more

When I visited Ananda Village for the first time in 1976, one of the first things I heard Swami Kriyananda say was something I wasn’t really prepared for. He said, “Faith is the most practical thing of all.” (Photo: Hriman in 2019) When I looked around Ananda Village, I saw a tiny community that had … Read more

When Nakula moved to Ananda Village in the early 1970s, he started a small dairy that he ran for many years. In the 1980s he moved to Washington, D.C., where he operated his own construction company. When he returned to the community he managed the Ananda Builders Guild, a construction company that was started in … Read more

Dharmadevi and her husband, Nayaswami Narayan, are the leaders of Ananda Sangha in Los Angeles. (Photo: 2020 – Dharmadevi and Narayan) At the end of her life, my earthly mother was given two weeks to live. She had just been diagnosed with stage four primary peritoneal cancer that had spread throughout her abdominal organs. I … Read more

Sarah Landau is a long-time disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda. She lived in the Palo Alto Ananda Community for many years and attends the Ananda Church of Self-Realization in Palo Alto, California. Noted for her eternally bright and cheerful disposition, she is kind and treasured friend to her many fellow seekers. Occupation: Personal Assistant and Childcare. … Read more

At the time when she wrote her story, Lilavati taught Pre-K and Kindergarten at the Ananda Living Wisdom School in Palo Alto, California. As the school year starts (in August 2023), she is the second grade teacher. I was in acute emotional pain after the end of a twenty-year relationship with my then-husband and father … Read more

  Kamaladevi Beswick was born in Marin County, on the rugged coast of northern California, across the Golden Gate from San Francisco. The coastal mountains encompass some of Earth’s most beautiful natural spaces, and Kamaladevi’s roots as a dancer are deeply connected with the ocean and forests of her native Marin. “I’ve always been dancing,” … Read more

Occupation: Middle School Science Teacher and Faculty Mentor for future science teachers who are getting their university credentials Children: Twin boys Hobbies: Yoga, meditation, bicycling, swimming, reading, hiking. Pets: Two cats (twin girls), a gecko, and a fish Favorite ways to spend time: Hiking or mountain biking on the SF Peninsula and in the Sierras; … Read more

Narya grew up in Venice, Italy. At age eighteen, he took over the family glassware business and built it into a supplier of custom glass to high‑end department stores worldwide, with a clientele that included Middle Eastern oil billionaires. In the late 1980s Paolo sold the business and moved to Ananda Village, where he lived … Read more

Asha Nayaswami is the author of Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer, a 635-page book that reveals the life of a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda to whom the Guru assigned a many-faceted “great work” that included fulfilling his dream of creating spiritual cooperative communities, as well as showing how people everywhere can understand the relevance of spiritual … Read more