Conversations With Ananda — Ch. 55, Amara Fiesterman

Amara Fiesterman holds large chard leaf in the garden of the Ananda Community in Mt. View, CA.
Amara in the Ananda Community organic produce garden in the early 2000s.

A short and sweet Q&A with Amara in the early 2000s. Amara has since transitioned to devote more time to her art. She has a small studio in the Ananda Community of Mountain View, California. Her paintings are regularly exhibited in upscale galleries and shows in the greater Silicon Valley area. You can view her work on her website, Amara Fiesterman Art, and on Silicon Valley Open Studio.

Occupation: Staff member at East West Bookshop; yoga instructor; artist.

Hobbies: Gardening, yoga, creative arts, singing, hiking, cooking

Favorite ways to spend time: Enjoying nature while hiking and gardening, having satsang with gurubhais, attending Sunday service, which is the spiritual highlight of the week and great satsang!

Anything else interesting about yourself? Current creative art is making jewelry. I have a little shop online, and I sell items at East West and in the boutique at Ananda Sangha of Palo Alto.

What year did you first come to Ananda? In 1996.

What was the most rewarding and enjoyable experience of service that you’ve had with Ananda? Coordinating the hosting details for a group of pilgrims from India and Italy some years ago. We hosted a beautiful group of roughly twenty-five devotees from India. They stayed in our homes for several days, and it was a wonderful way to give them an expanded view of Master’s work in America.

At the same time, we hosted about fifty devotees from Europe who stayed in a nearby motel but meditated in the community temple and had their meals in the community.

Putting out more energy than I had ever thought was possible turned out to be an amazing experience. We would begin serving early in the morning and continue until late at night, planning, cooking, coordinating, shopping, cleaning, and sharing friendship and inspiration.

I knew “I” couldn’t do all the many tasks, so I prayed sincerely to be a channel for God and Guru, and I found the presence of God in many forms permeating our time together. Moment by moment, God poured Himself through our many hands to make a miracle – “God was serving God.” The meals were all served, all the tours were given, and the entertainment was offered with joy, grace, love, and gratitude. Although we didn’t speak the same language we could see the divine light in every face.

Which aspects of Ananda Sangha have you found most life-transforming? Paramhansa Yogananda offered us countless tools for living a life that progresses steadily toward God-realization. I would have to say that the most transforming aspects for me are meditation, yoga postures, and service. It can be hard to see the changes from day to day, but if we stick with it we find that meditation and yoga postures are changing the very cells of our bodies over time, and that our sense of a higher Self expands through service to others.

Can you tell a story about an experience where you gave freely of your time and energy and experienced personal growth or blessings as a result? Before I came to Ananda, I didn’t know the simple joy of giving. I had learned that tithing ten percent of my income to the source of my spiritual inspiration was an important key to my financial success, but I didn’t understand that giving freely of my time and energy could so powerfully lead to an inner expansion of freedom and joy.

Soon after I moved here, I walked into the community room one evening and found perhaps twenty people coloring Easter eggs and making decorations. The room was alive with laughter, meaningful conversations, and music. When someone invited me to join in, I couldn’t resist. We colored eggs and wrote inspiring quotes until late in the evening.

The next day, I came to kitchen and found people preparing food, and again they invited me to join them, and again I couldn’t resist. I wasn’t used to being up so late or being so social. Normally I would have to rest after spending so many hours with other people, but I was astonished to find that not only was I not tired but I felt VERY well.

At Ananda we’re encouraged to look for ways to give to others. It’s common for us to pray to be able to serve as channels for God’s grace and joy, and for His healing light into this world, and I found myself, day by day, choosing to join more and more in that flow. I found that I was opting to give of myself more freely and forget any sense of limited time and energy. In the years that followed those first experiences, the joy of giving has continued to expand and deepen my awareness of God’s unlimited energy as the foundation of everything.

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