
Jaya has lived in the Ananda communities almost since the beginning. (The original community was started in 1968.) He managed the day‑to‑day operations and planning aspects of Ananda Village for many years, and now he and his wife, Nayaswami Sadhana Devi, serve as leaders of Ananda’s work in India. (Photo: 1990s)
Q: This is the most boring question I could think of. “Please tell us about government at Ananda.”
Jaya: [Laughs.] It’s hard to pinpoint how Ananda’s government works. We don’t have a charter that says “This is how we do things.” Decisions tend to be made situationally, depending on what’s on the agenda, so the government is always in flux.
Q: In one of Swami Kriyananda’s books on communities, Cities of Light: a Plan for This Age, the chapter on government includes almost no discussion of structure. Rather it’s entirely about people’s attitudes.
Jaya: Swamiji made an interesting point recently, when he talked about how decision‑making authority will naturally fluctuate over time, because it doesn’t relate necessarily to the individual. In other words, the power to make decisions doesn’t go to an individual because of who he or she is, but because of the needs of the job.
He lamented the fact that in some organizations, whenever a decision needs to be made, a group of vice‑presidents will meet, even though they have no firsthand knowledge of what’s going on, and they’ll make a decision simply because they happen to hold a title.
Swami said that he wants to see Ananda structured around individuals who can make valid decisions because they’re directly involved in a project. This goes back to an idea that he’s expressed many times, that authority and decision‑making should devolve down to the people who have direct responsibility for a specific situation.
In my job, I find myself facing lots of situations where a committee will coalesce around a specific need. We’ll look around the community and see who’s involved at the grassroots level, and sometimes you’ll need to include a few people who simply want to express an opinion, because you may not know all of the parameters. But you don’t want to weight it on the side of mere opinions, because you want to put the hands‑on people in charge.
Q: It sounds as if you would want to avoid creating too many committees.
Jaya: That’s true. We have lots of them, but they aren’t standing committees – they tend to coalesce around a project. To take a recent example, we built a new guest lodge at The Expanding Light retreat, and a committee formed to steer the project. We were spending large sums of money, so you had people from The Expanding Light and the fundraising department and the planning department, etc. But as soon as the project was completed, the committee dissolved. And, again, last year we decided to consolidate the community’s fire insurance, and a committee formed and then faded away when the issue was resolved.
Q: Does that way of solving problems reflect a cooperative state of mind, rather than people wanting to start committees to entrench their own authority?
Jaya: Right, and then the committee goes out looking for things to do. It doesn’t work that way here at all. We look for the best way to make things happen, and because everybody is so busy, and we’re all trying to cooperate, a committee just gives us an efficient way to work together and reach a consensus. In any project, you need people who’ll get away from the committee and actually do something, but the committee will act as a sounding board, and then it will dissolve.
You do have certain standing departments in the community that handle the day‑to‑do management affairs. We work pretty much by managerial structures, and it’s a bit hierarchical. But the managers are autonomous to a large degree. So the hierarchy rises through the department heads directly to the spiritual directors, Jyotish and Devi, and the general managers, Vidura and Durga. We also have a manager who’s in charge of certain specialized areas, such as personnel and management consulting, and then I’m in charge of the village and certain areas of the ministry.
Q: It doesn’t sound terribly hierarchical in the sense of the federal government, with its jealous boundaries and infinitely proliferating regulations. What happens in the committees that allows them to work efficiently and effectively?
Jaya: It seems to work for us because it’s one of our shared philosophical goals to cooperate with each other. You need to have a common basis for making decisions, and I don’t think our way would be transferable to just any group. Also, we all have a certain base‑level faith in each other’s good intentions. We may disagree on the practical steps, but we have faith in the common direction, and that we’re all on the same side, trying to accomplish something worthwhile.
I think it’s also important that we defer to one another easily. In trying to reach a consensus, you can’t argue everything to the end‑point. I’ll defer to somebody who has more knowledge in a particular area, or I’ll defer to a person who has hands‑on responsibility. I’ll give my opinion, but if it ultimately concerns their world more than mine, I’ll respect their wish to do it their way.
When we built the Serenity House guest facility at The Expanding Light, I may have had an opinion about what color the building should be painted, but I would defer to The Expanding Light staff. So there’s a respect for one another. But if a decision fell in the realm of planning, or our relationships with the county, I would feel more strongly, because that’s my area of responsibility, and I think the others would defer to me.

So we use each other as sounding boards. Being in leadership and working with the community government isn’t seen as particularly desirable here. It just happens to be something that’s needed. If a person has the karma or the talent for it, then it’s a duty, in a sense, and it has to be seen as a duty, and not as something that has any value other than as the best way you can serve.
I think a lot of us would rather be out doing something else. [Laughs.] But we do the best we can. I think it’s ultimately based on a common feeling that we’re in this together as sister and brother disciples of Paramhansa Yogananda. I don’t think it would work as well outside of communities like Ananda, because in the world at large people’s private and business lives are so different that it’s sometimes hard for them to get on the same team. Whereas we all have shared goals.
Q: In successful ventures, it seems that there’s always a clear vision.
Jaya: That’s right. You have a bond, to the extent that you’re willing to put your personal likes and dislikes and gratification aside for the benefit of the whole.
Q: Can you talk about how the individual can grow toward realizing these attitudes inwardly.
Jaya: I think it comes down to having one’s priorities and goals in order. Over the years, I’ve always had a question in my mind: “What’s the right thing to do? Am I acting in the right way?” And there’s always a little bit of insecurity, because you’re never quite sure. But I’ve found that as you practice meditation longer, you find your faith growing, and you’re increasingly being used as an instrument for the guru, and then somehow things work out. Even though you might not always do the right thing, somehow things seem to fall in place miraculously. And when you see that happening, it builds your faith. It builds your faith that “I’m not in this alone. The Divine is working with me.”

I feel, in a sense, that it’s out of my hands, and it allows me to relax a little, and I don’t feel quite so alone in the world. That awareness has developed over a long time. When you feel it very strongly, that’s what it means to “be in tune” – that you feel yourself being used to do the right thing. You feel that you aren’t doing it, but God is doing it through you.
You’ll inevitably find yourself having to make decisions where there’s a potential for misunderstanding. But if you feel very calm in your heart, and you don’t feel a sense of personal agenda, you can be relaxed about it. So there’s nothing personal about it.
You become very impersonal, but not cold. When a little disharmony arises, you can feel it right away. I’ve found that the best thing to do is make a decision and do what I think is right, and take the chance that I might blow it – and then blow it if you have to, and then go and apologize. [Laughs.] Instead of not acting, which kills the energy, I would rather act and goof up, and then apologize. But you’ve got to be careful, because you don’t want to step off a cliff. I find myself apologizing more and more. [Laughs.]
Q: In your position as a planner, you’ve had lots of experience working with the county. Do you think these attitudes have had an effect beyond Ananda?
Jaya: Well, not in the short run, but I think that over time people do begin to sense that you’re trying to be fair. Because it’s important to be honest in your words and your intentions, and forthright, not hypocritical, and not putting on airs or pretending.
In the very early years, I would go into town and people would say, “Where are you from?” And I’d say, “I live on San Juan Ridge.” I never liked to say I was from Ananda, because in the early years we were viewed as a strange place. But that feeling passed long ago, because what we’re doing is a very worthwhile thing. I’m comfortable saying, “I’m from Ananda,” because it’s a noble thing, it’s a good thing.
Some people will like it and some won’t, and that’s fine. I don’t feel judged by that. But, by the same token, I think we have to be careful not to judge others, because if you don’t judge them, you won’t feel judged yourself. I think “Let truth prevail.” Let Ananda stand on its own two feet and be presented in the best possible way, and then let people decide for themselves if it’s a good thing or not.
I’ve found that if you are open and honest with people, they feel it. If you don’t feel defensive or hostile or judgmental, people feel it and things tend to run smoothly. When I first came here, I was a little antagonistic toward government, but that isn’t helpful. When you’re dealing with government, you’re dealing with people. You’re dealing with the person behind the counter. If you treat the government inspectors and bureaucrats as people, they don’t treat you as an institution. So it breaks it down to a people level, where you understand that they have a job to do, and you help them do it as best you can, as if you were in their position. You treat them how you’d like to be treated.
I found that if you can get beyond labels and deal on that level, it’s successful. Now, I don’t know if that would work in a large metropolitan county, but in a rural county like ours, it’s very important that you deal with people, and not go in, like many people do, and bang on the counter and be nasty. Or when the building inspector comes out, be defensive and hostile.
It’s the same when you’re dealing with the neighbors. You have to realize that if you’re open and friendly, people will respond that way. I’ve noticed that when you first approach people, they have a tendency to be a little defensive and closed. It’s their natural reaction, and the first thing you have to do is break that down and be open and natural with them.
This is what I’ve seen Swami do. He’s a master at it. When somebody comes up, he’s just so open and natural that he charms them, and he breaks down any barriers of status and position. He’s a natural person. He acts appropriately in any situation. I wish I had that quality. I can do it in the narrow sphere of my own work, but whether Swami is dealing with artists, scientists, or people in high position, he puts them at ease very naturally. It’s an art, and it comes from a sense of ease within himself. It’s said that Yogananda was that way, too.
Q: It relates to a cultivated desire to cooperate, doesn’t it?
Jaya: Yes, that’s true, being able to recognize and relate to other people’s realities. I know that when I feel uncomfortable, it usually comes from within me. Usually I’m a little tense inside. But if I can relax and be open, and realize that this person is probably feeling tense and closed too, then perhaps I can overcome my shyness and make that person feel at ease.
Q: People have come from various urban housing developments to observe Ananda. Do you find that they understand what Ananda is doing?
Jaya: People come here and see what’s going on, and maybe at first they think it’s just an aberration, but then they see that it’s not only the individuals who live here that are unique, but that it’s the principles we’re practicing, and that those principles can be applied anywhere – the principles of cooperation, living for high ideals, and making those our life goals. When people begin to understand that, they start to look at the principles, rather than thinking that the people are somehow special.
People visit the Ananda communities and feel a certain presence. They go to our stores and feel something that touches them. People come here because they feel something that touches them, even though they can’t quite put their finger on it. It’s not the way we organize our houses or our businesses. It’s the spirit, Yogananda’s spirit, that we’re trying to express.