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
Devamuni runs an electrical contracting business at Ananda Village. Q: Can you tell us how you got into business? Devamuni: When my father died, I left college and took over the family’s hardware store in San Francisco. My brother had little desire to keep the store going, so I took it over and began remodeling … Read more
Karuna lived for many years at Ananda Village, where he started a surveying business that developed a large clientele in Nevada County. Karuna passed away in the 1990s. Q: Tell us about your background. Karuna: My dad was a trade union representative in New Zealand. He believed that the world’s weight was carried on the … Read more
At the time of our conversation, Nivritti managed Crystal Clarity Publishers, the company that publishes Swami Kriyananda’s books and recordings. She later moved to Seattle, where she co-managed East West Bookshop, a metaphysical bookstore that she and two other women started in the mid‑1980s. Q: How did your interest in business begin? Nivritti: I can’t … Read more
Vasanta served for many years as a general consultant for the Ananda businesses. His job involved helping the managers and employees find better ways to do business while growing spiritually themselves. (Photo: 2000s) Q: Tell us a little about your background in business. Vasanta: I graduated in 1970 from the University of Utah with a … Read more