{"id":1023,"date":"2023-02-11T15:45:05","date_gmt":"2023-02-11T15:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/?p=1023"},"modified":"2023-02-11T15:48:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-11T15:48:19","slug":"conversations-with-ananda-ch-19-tom-taylor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/conversations-with-ananda-ch-19-tom-taylor\/","title":{"rendered":"Conversations With Ananda — Ch. 19, Tom Taylor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Tom and Sharon Taylor in 2015 at Ananda Village. Click image to enlarge.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tom Taylor managed Master\u2019s Market,<\/strong> a small health foods store at Ananda Village. Under Tom\u2019s sure hand the market steadily improved its services, adding a baking business that delivered fresh breads, cakes, and cookies to stores in the local area, and remodeling and expanding the premises to include a deli and indoor seating. Tom eventually left to start a construction business.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> How did you get started in business?<\/p>\n

Tom:<\/strong> My dad was a small businessman for twenty-three years. He had a hamburger stand where he\u2019d be working at his grill, frying his hamburgers and talking to people.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> He was a sociable man?<\/p>\n

Tom:<\/strong> He was. It was like a ministry. We were open from one in the afternoon until three a.m., so people would come in after the bars closed, or after their night shift at the mines. This was in northern Minnesota, and people knew my dad for hundreds of miles.<\/p>\n

I started working when I was eleven. I think the first job I had was peeling onions and potatoes and running potatoes through a French fryer. We made a mint in French fries. I swept and mopped the caf\u00e9 in summer, and in winter I would work behind the counter for two or three hours after school.<\/p>\n

I had a paper route, and then I worked in a gas station. I enjoyed that type of service work. I wasn\u2019t very talkative, and it was a way to meet people. I worked forty-two hours a week the last two years of high school, and in summertime I sometimes worked sixty to eighty hours. I had responsibilities, and I enjoyed it. I wasn\u2019t very good at school, and it was a way to excel and feel like I was doing something worthwhile.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> You must have come out of high school with a bankroll.<\/p>\n

Tom:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t. I spent it all on cars and girlfriends! When I got out of school, I went to work at Stevens Buick in downtown Minneapolis, but I found I didn\u2019t care for cars that much \u2013 it was more the people that I enjoyed. So I stayed there for six months, and then I went into the Marine Corps for four years.<\/p>\n

I had learned to be responsible through all the work I had done, and in the Marines I found I was valued for it, because they knew they could rely on me. The Marine Corps was a good experience in some ways. I ended up being a brig counselor, a job with a lot of responsibility.<\/p>\n

After the service, I worked for three years at a boys\u2019 home in Sacramento while I took classes at the university. I enjoyed working with the boys, but I didn\u2019t care for the administration, so I left and did some logging and tree planting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Back to his country boy roots; Tom helps out at a Rajarshi Day of community service during construction of The Expanding Light guest retreat at Ananda Village, early 1980s.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q:<\/strong> Did you return to Minnesota?<\/p>\n

Tom:<\/strong> Yes. And then I bought a small dairy farm, two hundred acres with pasture, and a few acres of wooded pasture. I learned to farm by doing it \u2013 that\u2019s how I\u2019ve always learned, by just doing it and taking classes at the agricultural extension. I would probably still be there if it wasn\u2019t for my ex\u2011wife, who was really against it, so we moved back to California in 1979, and I started a gardening and landscaping business in Winters, near Sacramento.<\/p>\n

What I enjoyed most about gardening was getting to know the people. I would see them regularly, and I got a chance to develop their gardens over time, which was much more gratifying to me than just putting in a yard and leaving. I think that, all along, my jobs have helped me understand that even though I could do lots of things really well, what would help me to grow was people.<\/p>\n

I moved to Ananda in 1983 and began commuting to my gardening business for a while, as well as doing some construction work and landscaping. Then one day Seva said, \u201cHow would you like to work at Earth Song and manage the caf\u00e9? (Earth Song was an Ananda-owned health food store and restaurant in Nevada City.) And I kind of laughed, because I had been wondering what I\u2019d do next. So I managed the cafe at Earth Song.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Was there a change in how you did business after you came on the spiritual path?<\/p>\n

Tom:<\/strong> Most of the businesses I\u2019d started fell apart after I left. One of the things I noticed about working for Ananda\u2019s businesses is that the energy you put into it isn\u2019t wasted. For example, after I left Earth Song, it just kept getting better. Working in a spiritual community, you have a feeling that it\u2019s going to last, because it\u2019s helping people and it\u2019s serving a spiritual work.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Does it do something different for you personally?<\/p>\n

Tom:<\/strong> Yes. When you\u2019re trying to make a business grow, you\u2019re always looking for areas to expand into, or areas that you can make better. You\u2019re putting yourself on the line, and you\u2019re asking others to do the same. A business is either growing or dying, one or the other, and I\u2019m always trying to look for ways to keep it alive so the people will be stimulated and the work can become their service. To me, that\u2019s what business is all about \u2013 having a place to put your energy on the line, and see how you can grow in the process. That\u2019s what makes business fun for me. I can\u2019t imagine doing a business that would always stay the same.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something about small business, and developing a business, that has always interested me. It\u2019s a way to explore myself, more than anything\u00a0else. That\u2019s something a spiritual seeker can use a business for, to see where he\u2019s really at. You can sit and meditate, but how will you do when you\u2019re on the firing line? How will you deal with someone who\u2019s complaining? Are you serviceful? Are you really just working for God, and unattached to how it turns out? Everything the devotee strives for can be brought out in work. It\u2019s like family life, which stretches you to the point where you can see how you\u2019re doing. Without those reflectors, without those people coming back at you, you can\u2019t see as clearly the quality of what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Tom and fellow Ananda member Hunter Black during another Rajarshi Day at Ananda Village in 2002.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q:<\/strong> Do you think a business has a soul?<\/p>\n

Tom:<\/strong> A soul? I think it takes a while to understand a business. When I farmed, lots of times I would go out to the barn because I could sense that something was wrong. I\u2019d walk into the barn and look down a row of cows, and I\u2019d see that one of them wasn\u2019t doing too well. It\u2019s almost a sixth sense. I think that\u2019s the intuition of the soul at play.<\/p>\n

For the market, too, I definitely know when it\u2019s not doing well. It doesn\u2019t always have a lot to do with the financial picture. It\u2019s more a matter of energy, and whether people are working harmoniously. When we\u2019re working well, and we\u2019re all meditating, the business takes on a certain aura that\u2019s inviting. If there\u2019s not a lot of harmony, if someone\u2019s having a problem in their work, the business can go through a period where it\u2019s not so magnetic. I\u2019ve been running the market for seven years, and it suits me primarily because there are so many different facets. There\u2019s the people, there\u2019s the ordering, there\u2019s the growth, and there are areas that help people grow.<\/p>\n

When I was fifteen, I worked at a Piggly\u2011Wiggly Market, a small grocery store in northern Minnesota. The part I liked was being a box boy, but sometimes I would have to stock shelves, and I didn\u2019t like it at all. Now, at Master\u2019s Market, I do a lot of shelf stocking, but what I do is not only stock the shelves, but I\u2019m aware of everything that\u2019s going on in the store while I\u2019m doing it. For example, I try to be aware of the customers. If I hear somebody ask for something, I\u2019ll tune in and get involved, and if somebody comes in, I\u2019m talking to them. So I\u2019ve made stocking shelves more than what it is.<\/p>\n

Another thing that\u2019s made stocking shelves good for me is that I want to make sure everything is lined up perfectly. I do the best I can with every little thing I try to do, even if it\u2019s just stocking shelves, so I end up enjoying it. It isn\u2019t difficult to enjoy something if you\u2019re putting your energy into it. If you\u2019re always resisting, of course it\u2019s no fun at all. I think that\u2019s the thing you start to realize as a devotee, that everything can be fun if you\u2019re really there with it, and it doesn\u2019t really matter what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a challenge for lots of people. They come from a job where maybe their ego was gratified, and they start working at Masters\u2019 Market where they\u2019re stocking shelves or waiting on customers, and they have to find ways to be fulfilled. Doing service is the way to be fulfilled.<\/p>\n

When I worked at Earth Song, there were lots of people that didn\u2019t do very well because they didn\u2019t want to be there in the first place. I remember a woman who\u2019d been around Ananda for many years and had done various jobs, and when she was at Earth Song, she was there to serve. She\u2019d come in and say, \u201cHere I am. What do you want me to do?\u201d Whereas with some people you\u2019d hear, \u201cWell, I\u2019m here to serve, but I don\u2019t really want to do this, and I don\u2019t want to do that.\u201d They had their little list, and you might as well go on down the road and work somewhere else.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m working with new people, I try to allow them space to grow. I\u2019ll get a new person, and people will start complaining that he\u2019s rude, or she doesn\u2019t do this or that, and I usually don\u2019t say anything. I just let them have time to grow and learn by example. Because you\u2019ve got probably sixteen people working there, and ninety percent of them have a great attitude, and it doesn\u2019t take long for those attitudes of a devotee to rub off.<\/p>\n

Most people are observant and want to change. They don\u2019t want to be unhappy, and in time they\u2019ll realize what\u2019s making them happy and what\u2019s making them unhappy. If you don\u2019t do that introspection every day, you never learn what\u2019s bothering you.<\/p>\n

There are lots of people who want to come live at Ananda and work in the ministry office or at The Expanding Light (Ananda\u2019s guest retreat and teaching center). And that\u2019s great, but if you want to serve God, there He is, right across the counter from you. He may be two feet high, or He may be six feet high. He may be giving you a bad time, or He may be hugging you, and we get them all right there at Master\u2019s Market.<\/p>\n

To me, that\u2019s much more real. Around food, people are able to be themselves, and that\u2019s how I want the market to be. It should be an embracing place that allows people to be who they really are. Maybe you feel you can\u2019t do that when you\u2019re someplace else, but you can do it at the market. And if you want to complain about the kind of frozen yogurt we carry or something, go ahead.<\/p>\n

You have to find someplace where you don\u2019t always need to be dressed up and on your best manners, because I think it helps people to see where they\u2019re at. We can live in the clouds, or we can be on this earth, struggling like most of us are. Having a place like the market helps people feel accepted just as they are. It\u2019s like Swami Kriyananda said at a ministers\u2019 meeting, \u201cJust be natural with people and allow them to be that way, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot more going on in a business than just talking shop. Because my natural inclination is to be an introvert, I found while I was working at the cabinet shop that because I wasn\u2019t being drawn out, I would go deeper in myself, but not in a positive way. I would shut down, so for me, a business that draws me out is real important.<\/p>\n

I think working with people, and serving, and trying to help the staff has been good for me spiritually. I look forward to being a hermit someday, but I think that will come much later in life, if at all. There\u2019s a sense that what I\u2019m doing right now is exactly what God wants me to do, in all aspects of my life. I only want to do my dharma, not somebody else\u2019s. Having a family and running a small business, I couldn\u2019t think of a better way to serve God.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I don\u2019t enjoy it, but I feel I\u2019m where I\u2019m supposed to be, and there\u2019s no doubt in my mind. I feel like riding my bike to the Market every day is a pilgrimage \u2013 going across the ridge and looking over the vista and feeling the air blowing by me while I go on my pilgrimage to the market every day to serve. It\u2019s where God is. Whether it\u2019s Swami walking in the door of the market or a little child, all of these wonderful souls are coming in, and it\u2019s a joy to be able to serve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tom Taylor managed Master\u2019s Market, a small health foods store at Ananda Village. Under Tom\u2019s sure hand the market steadily improved its services, adding a baking business that delivered fresh breads, cakes, and cookies to stores in the local area, and remodeling and expanding the premises to include a deli and indoor seating. Tom eventually … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nConversations With Ananda — Ch. 19, Tom Taylor - Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A long-time disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda talks about customer service and the inner life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yoganandafortheworld.com\/story\/conversations-with-ananda-ch-19-tom-taylor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conversations With 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