
We spoke with Paula in 1987 when she managed Mountain Song, a popular women’s clothing store and boutique in Nevada City, owned and run by Ananda members. Paula passed in 1997. Her thoughts on spiritual consciousness at work are a testimonial to her bright spirit.
Q: How did you come to manage Mountain Song?
Paula: I think I’ve always had a natural ability for “making atmospheres” and working with clothes. My two older sisters and I would go shopping a lot with my Mom, and she had definite ideas about taste. She’s seventy-five now and she buys things here, and it’s a real sweet connection. She worked here at Thanksgiving and Christmas last year and loved it. She’s always had good ideas.
For me, the challenge hasn’t been so much in the aspect of doing business as for turning the work into a spiritual thing. The business side really is just part of my nature, but one of the most interesting things over the years has been putting the spiritual teachings into action.
Q: Is it something you have to keep your mind on?
Paula: I think you have to experience the difference. It’s about not having the ego involved. That’s been a big one, going out and buying clothes and consciously setting aside the ego and calling on God – “Is this right?” “Is this good?” Then it’s amazing how quickly you can make decisions, and how, if you’re in the right flow, they will all be right.
Latika Parojinog and I do the clothing and gift shows together, and many times we’ll watch ourselves get our egos in the way. I’ll say to myself, “Hey, I really like that dress. I know Latika doesn’t like it but I’m gonna get it anyway.” And, sure enough, if those thoughts aren’t coming from the right spot, that dress will sit on the racks until it goes on sale.

Whenever I do the windows and decorate the store, I make myself call on God. I’ll say, “Okay, Divine Mother, let’s do the windows. What would You like to put in?” Many times people will tell me, “The windows look great!” and I’ll find myself puffing up and thinking, “Well, I do the windows!” But right way, I think, “Yes, but who helps you do the windows, Paula?” You call on God, and you begin to realize that God really is the Doer.
It’s easy to get into a goal‑oriented mode, especially when you’re in business. If businesses did less goal‑oriented stuff and got more into service and caring for their staffs they would do better. A couple of years ago we set some financial goals and we were “AUM-ing for dollars” and all this stuff. But we were having a poor day, and I was sort of talking to God and saying, “Well, you know, what’s the matter? Is the energy not right?”
I was thinking, “We have to make our goal. We need this money because of…” And then I sort of stopped and said, “No, that’s the problem. What we really need is to serve. When people come in, we need to see the Divine in them and serve them as if we’re serving our favorite person, our favorite friend, or God, or a saint.” Within fifteen minutes after I realized that, hordes of people started coming in. And for myself, I was able to serve them in a deeper way. It was as if God was saying “Okay, now that you’ve got the right attitude, you can go ahead and serve people in a better way.”

I think that having experiences like that, especially in business, makes the teachings come alive. In that way, business can be a spiritual opportunity.
Q: Can you talk about how you relate to the customers? The store has a wonderful atmosphere. I understand that you have a loyal clientele.
Paula: I think, first off, they know that we’re honest. Also, we don’t buy clothing that is tacky. We really try to help bring out the beauty in women, to try to make them feel good about themselves. So many people come in, short and fat, slim and tall, and we try to find things that bring out the best in them, by being honest and saying, “No, that doesn’t do anything for you.” The store has a wonderful mixture of clothing, and we can help lots of different women.
Q: Do you select the clothes with that in mind, to bring out people’s inner qualities?
Paula: Yes, we do. Colors and styles. We buy things so that people can look nice and bring out their true selves, so they’ll look good and feel proud of themselves. Sometimes women will come in and they’ll be unhappy and need some upliftment. By our being happy, and by having the store be happy and exude a positive vibration, they’re able to leave the store feeling uplifted.
We sell cassette tapes, and a woman came in and was asking if we played subliminal tapes to make people buy. Martha Green, who has a Texas accent, said, “Whah no, we dohn’t have to do that.” Because this lady said that every time she drove down the street, she would try not to stop at Mountain Song, but she said she could feel the car sort of pull over to the side of the road, because the magnetism was so strong for her to come in.
It’s a different type of “busy‑ness.” At many times of the year it’s not all that busy, and you can let yourself get bored. But if you work on your inner magnetism, and practice seeing everything as God, and see the little bath articles and vases and clothes as creations of God, and put energy into them, then you’re learning about that inner spiritual magnetism.
Q: Does it take a particular kind of person to work here?
Paula: It’s true. One of our staff was saying, “You know, Paula, it’s wonderful to see you change things all the time. I’m so fixed in my ideas that it’s nice to see you go through the store and wipe everything out and make it look really nice again. It makes you realize you don’t need to get stuck in what you’re doing. That you can change continually and it’s fine, especially when it’s a change upward.”
Q: I attended a fashion show here, and I came out feeling good and not at all pulled down by a vibration of sensuality or materialism. Do you have thoughts about what a person’s appearance means in terms of their spirituality and self‑development?

Paula: I think that if you don’t look good it reflects what you’re thinking and feeling about yourself. And it’s not that you need to look good in an egoic kind of way. For me, I really like color and the creativity of clothes. They are objects of beauty. God did make all of the things that are beautiful, and it’s wonderful to see them on people. People have to look at you, and why not have them look at something pleasing? It’s reflective of where your insides are, to have a nice temple inside and have your heart be beautiful. Instead of being seedy and ugly for God, I want to be beautiful for God.
Q: Do you think clothes can help bring out a person’s spiritual side?
Paula: Well, if they’re receptive I think, they can. The women in the show are so beautiful. They shine with an inner radiance. If they don’t feel good in something I put on them, it’s wonderful that they can say, “No, that doesn’t feel like me,” and we’ll work around it. Really, everybody has a style, and we have colors that look good on us. God made us in certain ways, with certain skin pigmentations and everything. There’s a lot to the science of color, and helping people see it can bring out the better side in them.
One of the nicest things is that before the show, the models get together and pray. It’s so that they can be channels for God’s energy, and for giving to the people out there. I think that comes across in the show, because they have that sweetness.
Another nice thing we’ve had is continuity in the staff. As time goes by, you can work with unity and understanding and create a vibration, because you get deeper and deeper in tune with each other. In many stores, they have such a high turnover that they aren’t able to create that bond. We pray together every morning. We do prayers for purification, and we bless each other or we pray for each other. We’ll pray for the store, and we’ll pray for certain customers, and it creates a real bond.
Q: How about women’s roles? Is there an expression of women’s self‑development that’s going on with the staff?
Paula: I think there is. Several women have come from very outward, traditionally male jobs. One of our staff was a chemist and another worked in construction. They’ve brought the mental aspects of that experience into their work here, but they’ve come into a very feminine job, and they’ve been able to bring out more of the Divine Mother in themselves, and they’ve been able to achieve more of an inner balance.
I think that if women could learn, especially in business roles, not to worry so much about being assertive and aggressive, but to really tap into the higher role of the Divine Mother and then call on God for decisions, they’d find it much easier and more effective.
It depends on what women want to do. So many women want to make a big career, and I think there’s a way to do it where your ego isn’t so much involved. When Latika and I go to the shows, we see women who are very demanding, ranting and raving all the time, or very artistic and temperamental, or just ego‑demanding. I feel there’s no reason for that, because you can get the same results by being calm and centered, without being a pushover.
Latika and I go to lots of shows, almost one a month, and they are very intense. Many times we’ve had people at the shows tell us, “You and Latika are so centered. You’re always right there, and you know what you’re doing. We like seeing you.” They know we’re different, and when they find out that we’re part of a spiritual community and that we meditate, many of them will say, “Oh, please send me some literature, because I’d like to know more.”
One time when I was working at Earth Song, I was putting away some herb teas, and a woman came up and whispered in my ear, “Now, what is it that you all have here? I know it’s more than herb tea.”
You could talk a long time about women in business, and about the ways to bring out feminine qualities without becoming obnoxious. One of them is by learning to meditate, because you become so centered, and you have better ideas, clearer ideas, without needing to be defensive. When people get into a spiritual mode, especially women, they develop a great quality of the Divine Mother and of the heart.
When we go to the shows, I always pray to God to direct us to the products that are in tune, and to the people who have the same vibration that we do. Especially at the gift shows, where there are maybe five to eight miles of exhibits and you’re looking at booth after booth filled with stuff, you’ll be walking along, and you’ll sort of stop and turn and walk into a booth, and they’re wonderful people, and they have things that are really in tune with the store. It’s amazing how when you ask for guidance, just tuning in and concentrating on that inner quiet place, how all day long God guides you and helps you.
Many people ask us, “How do you keep God with you all day long in the store?” For sure, it takes lots of training. I can hardly wait till I can be in the consciousness of God all day. But you can make a start anytime.
You find little games for yourself. One woman was telling us that she has a beeper watch, and every hour she’ll make herself say hello to God. You can start making little steps for yourself. If it can’t be every hour, make it every two hours. Slowly, those hours turn into half‑hours, and the half‑hours turn into minutes.
I talk to myself a lot, and I just make sure I’m talking to God, too. It doesn’t have to be big and fancy. Just carry on small conversations. That way, you can be with God more. When you make a decision, instead of saying something off the top of your head, stop and say, “Divine Mother, what needs to happen here? How can I help this situation? What should I say? If I shouldn’t say anything, please help me keep my mouth shut!” It’s a real help. You feel so much better at the end of the day. Your job turns into a meditation, and when you go into meditation it’s so much deeper.
Another thing I’ve learned in dealing with the staff is to understand their personalities and help bring out the best in them. You don’t want people to be something they’re not, or something you think they ought to be. Because they’re not you. It’s good to remember that God created them so they would be able to help people in their own way.
Q: How do you get that kind of insight into people?
Paula: I think by meditating. The more you deal with people, the better you can understand them. Another very important thing for a manager is not to ask people to do things you haven’t done yourself. Our toilet ran over the other day, and I said to one of the staff, “Oh, gosh, our bathroom’s all funky.” She kind of looked at me like, “Oh, are you going to ask me to go clean it up?” I said, “No, no, I already cleaned it up.” And she was so happy! But now maybe the next time I can ask her, and it won’t be so hard.
What other things have I learned? Just having faith. If you put out the right kind of energy, and you have the right consciousness behind it, and the right attitude, God really will take care of everything, He’ll make it successful. Whether it does well financially or not, it will still be successful if you have the right attitude behind everything you do.