Until his passing at age 91 in 2022, Ron Cantoni, a retired mechanical engineer, operated the video camera at the Ananda Sangha church in Palo Alto, California.
Q: How did you come to Ananda?
Ron: When the new church opened on El Camino Real seventeen years ago, I just walked in the door. I had known about Ananda for some time, and I was looking for a spiritual home. I was working with somebody from Ananda, and they invited me to come to service.
Getting to know the people at Ananda was a joy. I recognized, “Oh, these people are all right.” After that first Sunday service, that was it – I never left.
Q: You were literally at the first service in Palo Alto after it moved into a former Catholic church?
Ron: Yes. I think Asha gave the service, and then, of course, there were all kinds of work parties for painting and so on, and I immediately got involved. I liked the Sunday services, I liked the singing, and I liked the people, so I thought, “I’ll volunteer and see what happens.” Because there was a good vibration that I felt while being around Ananda.
The workdays were a good experience; otherwise I probably would have stopped coming long ago. It was hard work, but I enjoyed it somehow. When I volunteered, I was always asking people, “How do you want this done? You asked me to build these shelves? Do you want me to buy new lumber or look for some used lumber? What do you want me to do?” And they would try to give me directions, but I quickly realized that they didn’t know any more than I did, and if I saw that something needed doing, I would just do it. But it took me a while to learn that I could do stuff without asking all the time.
I gradually moved into doing other things. The woman who was managing the Ananda Sangha website had moved to Italy, and I was interested in learning to create websites, so I taught myself. I asked David Praver if I could take over her job, and I’ve been doing it ever since.
My background is in mechanical engineering. I worked for GTE’s government systems and I learned computers while I was there, but when it came to helping the Sangha I basically just learned whatever was needed as I went along. For example, they needed somebody to figure out the telephones and build a telephone interface box on the outside of the church offices. I didn’t know anything about telephones, but I started learning, and one thing led to another. Being a mechanical engineer helped, because I like to get my fingers on things.
Then somebody gave us a grant to buy a video camera because it was generally agreed that it would be nice to film the Sunday sermons, and they asked me if I would be willing to learn to do that. I knew absolutely nothing about video or cameras, but I searched online for recommendations, and it turned out that I made a decent choice. But it’s just one more thing that I had to pick up along the way.
I used to spend three days a week helping out at the Sangha, but it’s now maybe a half-day because I can do most of the website work and video processing at home. I’ll come in when I’m needed, but it isn’t as often.
Q: What have the rewards of service been for you?
Ron: As I said, I started helping out because of the thought, “These are really good people. I like their energy. I like being around them.” And now I feel that they’ve become family to me. In my retirement, I didn’t have anything pressing that I wanted to do, and I thought, “This feels good.” And it has continued to feel good for seventeen years. I recognize that someday I’ll have to slow down, but I’m not ready yet.
I didn’t have much inner resistance to service or membership. At the time, I didn’t know it consciously, but I was looking for an outlet for my energy, and I found it. I didn’t have any other thoughts about what I might want to do; I had done all the traveling I wanted, and I was fortunate to be retired, so my life is my own.
Q: Have you found that when you’re connecting with Yogananda’s work, there’s an energy that helps you do the work?
Ron: Yes, it does help. There’s definitely a special energy here, and in this path. At one point, I had an episode of severe heartburn – I was feeling awful while I was driving home, and I started chanting, and it went away. Another time, my heart went into atrial fibrillation, and I wanted to get it recorded by the cardiologist in Palo Alto, so I left my house, and I was driving along very carefully, trying to control everything, and as I passed the church it suddenly stopped. I thought, “Oh, no – I wanted to record it, but I’ll take this!” [Laughs]
You can be feeling kind of down in the dumps and then you go there to volunteer, or you come to a kirtan or a Sunday service, and it lifts you right up.
There was another experience when my heart was in atrial fibrillation. I was talking with a friend who was going through terrible back pain, and all of a sudden I felt totally empathetic toward them, and boom, the atrial fibrillation went away. It told me to be there for others and don’t worry about yourself, because Master will take care of it.
The atmosphere at the Sangha can make a real difference if you’re open to flow with it, and sometimes when you go away, you realize what you’re missing and you want to come back.
Q: Do you feel that you’ve grown spiritually as a result of your connection with Ananda?
Ron: Oh, yes. I used to be very shy, although in the last forty years I’ve come out of my shell to an extent, and Ananda has helped. The people are very friendly and happy and joyful, and they have good energy. I think Ananda accepts people as they are and allows them to come out and be who they are.
Ron Cantoni’s sweet message is inspiring and touching. At the time Ron came to Ananda I was already living there. I had joined the church in 1985 when it was still on California Avenue above the appliance store. We had founds bits of time to talk together, so I had the chance to know him somewhat. During those times I was so grateful for his sharing of himself, and came to know him to be an accepting and very honorable individual. A blessing to all the lives he touched.