Shanti serves as a co-director of Ananda Sangha in Palo Alto, California. I think of myself as being two things in this world. First I’m a minister, and I’m also a physician. I’ve never been sure that they’re terribly different. But I was trained as a physician in internal medicine, and for many years at … Read more
Kristina is a long-time member of Ananda Sangha in Palo Alto, California, whose cheerful, loving presence can be felt at most Ananda events. Here, she tells how her service brings her inspiration. Chopping Fruit and Veggies I was fairly new to Ananda – I had taken a couple of meditation classes and I’d begun coming … Read more
Q: In Finding Happiness, the movie about Ananda, you described your work as manager of the original Ananda community, and your concern for stewarding the earth’s resources from a spiritual perspective. Can you talk about that, starting with your background? (Photo: 2005) Atman: I grew up on the East Coast and attended Princeton University where … Read more
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