In 2013, I was reading Swami Vivekananda’s book about himself. Around that time, I was searching for prominent saints of India, and ended up reading about Yogananda and his book Autobiography of a Yogi. Inspired by the book, I started looking for an organization that offered his teachings and whoa!… in the next few days I saw an advertisement by … Read More
Walkathon – Bringing a change from Within
To be a part of the movement towards health awareness and bringing this change in myself motivated me to participate in the Be the Change walkathon. Walking in nature has always been my favorite activity. When it comes to Ananda, being with gurubhais makes the Joy multiply. I was especially waiting for the walkathon because it was our beloved Guru Paramhansa Yogananda’s … Read More
What Swamiji Taught Me About Karma
Swamiji has taught me two important lessons about karma. Before I begin, I want to share what I always felt about Swamiji. I always felt that Swamiji had come to this plane to bless us all before his final merging back into God. Our Guru had told him that he would find final liberation in this life. And he did. … Read More
Shiva’s Dance
In Hindu legend, Lord Shiva is depicted as Nataraja, lord of the dance that destroys the old and weary ways of the world. Whether by wisdom or whim, Shiva decides what must go, and with wild and ecstatic abandon, he performs its obliteration. His purpose, though widely misunderstood, is to release soul from its false identification with illusion. It matters not, … Read More
Go with the Flow
Together with my soulmate and spouse Gurupriya, I participate in the Ananda Yoga Teacher Training in Pune. We visited different Ananda places worldwide during the last couple of years, in the spirit of “the world is a book and those who don’t travel only read one page”, and practicing our motto “go with the flow”. This is sometimes still a … Read More
The Joy of Creating a Pilgrimage
Choosing my blog topic, I didn’t realise how timely it would be — following as it does on two recent Ananda Pune discussions: Nayaswami Jaya’s talk on “The Pilgrim’s Path: The Quest for Happiness” and Sangeeta Laishram’s blog on “Art as a Journey in Self-discovery”. My topic is also related to journeying, but from a different angle. Since childhood, I … Read More
Being Respectful to Others
I first met Swamiji when I was 14. It was the day of his birthday in 2004 and I went with my family to meet him at his satsang at B-10/8 (the ashram in Gurgaon). As I sat there on the floor close to his feet, my eyes started to tear up. Deep inside I knew that this was a … Read More
Art as a Journey of Self-Discovery
Everyone is an artist. It’s just that the way we express ourselves are different. That’ i the thought that I have always had, and still do. I love the arts: the colours, the written and the spoken words, music, and the graceful movements of the body in the form of dance – all of these communicating and touching us deep … Read More
Reflections on a Special Seva: “The Answer” Movie Promotion
*In this blog, Master refers to Paramhansa Yogananda and Swami to Swami Kriyananda As rightly said by someone, “Learning is a lifelong process;” I experienced this when I took up the promotion of the film The Answer. Truly speaking, I instantly jumped at the opportunity when it was suggested to take up the movie promotion work for Ananda Pune. Being a … Read More
The Greatest Teacher
We celebrate Teacher’s day in India on 5th September, a day in which we offer our gratitude to all those who have taught us in life. In Ananda, we had a chance this month to honor this occasion with the ‘Education for Life’ team in Pune, who made a beautiful presentation on some of the principles of the curriculum, taught … Read More
