When I arrived at Ananda, I was offered a job at Ananda Publications, later Crystal Clarity Publishers, where I was asked to start a magazine for Ananda.
No one had to tell me how to publish a magazine. I had learned the needed skills at the company where I worked before I moved to the community.
The new Ananda magazine was called Spirit & Nature, after Paramhansa Yogananda’s chant: “Spirit and nature, dancing together – bliss in the Spirit, and bliss through all nature.”
Before working on the first issue, I gave lots of thought to the types of articles we would publish. I decided that it would be a serious spiritual magazine for serious people who were serious about the spiritual path.
No sooner had I reached this decision than Swamiji stopped by the publications office. After talking with Asha, he sauntered over to my area and asked how the magazine was going. I gave him a brief report, and then he said, “I think we should print crossword puzzles!”
So much for the super-serious magazine I had envisioned.
When I was in SRF, Brother Bhaktananda, in response to a question of mine, offered me this counsel: “Learn to relax and enjoy the spiritual path.”
It was advice that resonated with Swamiji’s spirit. Swamiji could be uncompromising, if he saw that we were headed in the wrong direction, but he was relaxed and delightful to be with when serious issues weren’t at stake. Obviously, he didn’t want Ananda’s magazine to portray the spiritual life as all work and no play.