runbei

“I always knew I wanted to be a teacher,” Narani Moorhouse says with a quiet smile. It’s a January afternoon at the elementary school, on the grassy hill above the “downtown” part of Ananda Village, a thriving, fifty-year-old spiritual community in the foothills near Nevada City, California. The children have skipped down the hill after … Read more

When we spoke, Catherine Kairavi managed the fundraising department of Ananda. (Photo: 2012) Q: I wondered if I should talk to you, since your position as director of fundraising isn’t what many people would normally think of as serving others. But nonprofit businesses are proliferating, and donations may continue to provide an important slice of … Read more

For many years Latika was a financial coordinator for Ananda Sangha, a position that gave her unique insights on how Ananda’s businesses are run. She now works for the Sangha as a fundraiser. (Photo: 1998) Q: What were the particular interests that led you to your present position? Latika: Before I came to Ananda I … 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

Mangala is an award-winning registered nurse practitioner who, at the time we talked, worked at the Sierra Family Medical Clinic, a nonprofit facility started in 1982 by Dr. Peter Van Houten, a physician from Ananda Village. Mangala now serves at The Expanding Light guest retreat at Ananda Village, where she is the director of Ananda … Read more

In 1982, Peter Van Houten, MD started a medical clinic in the Sierra foothills outside Nevada City, California, just across the road from Ananda Village. The Sierra Family Medical Clinic (since renamed Sierra Family Health Center) serves more than 9000 patients who formerly had to drive twenty to seventy miles for medical help. The clinic … Read more

Catherine Rice owns an accounting business at Ananda Village that serves clients in and beyond the community. Q: How do you balance your busy work life with your roles as a mother and spiritual aspirant? Catherine: I feel that on some level it’s a dharma, a spiritual destiny, for me to be doing what I’m … Read more

 Arjuna played a key role in Ananda’s growth beginning in the early mid-1970s when he started Ananda Construction, a company that provided a living for many of the community’s families. Q: Can you talk a little about how you got started in business? Arjuna: I don’t really consider myself a businessman. I studied philosophy and … Read more

Years ago, the folks at Ananda Village put on a Winnie the Pooh play at The Expanding Light. Haridas was a natural choice to play Tigger, the cheerful tiger who bounces as he goes. It’s impossible for those who know Haridas not to associate him with words like “willingness,” “energy,” “good humor,” and “high spirits.” … Read more

  At the time we talked, Gyandev managed The Expanding Light Retreat at Ananda Village. In the late 1990s Gyandev moved on to other dharmas (still within The Expanding Light staff). Q: I hesitated to interview you, because The Expanding Light isn’t really a business. Yet surely there are business aspects to running a successful … Read more