July - 2018

Ananda's Blog

Beginning Steps to Authentic Love

Beginning Steps to Authentic Love

Today, although I didn’t mean to—and it was the furthest thing from my mind and intention—I hurt the soft and tender heart of a very dear friend. Life gets busy, and we are so often focused elsewhere, and not on the quality of our precious relationships at each moment. So often I unknowingly trample on those who are dearest to me, because I’m thinking of tomorrow. Or, even worse, sometimes in distraction or abstraction, I’m thinking of a higher realm of love to which I have l

Chant and be Still

Chant and be Still

There is a great connection between stillness and listening. “Don’t move” we say when we hear some noise around the house in the middle of the night. In yoga we hold the body still in order to hear the breath. We will hold the shoulders of our child while we tell her something important. In the tradition of mantra meditation, the repetition of a sacred sound, how we listen, how we hear the mantra is the difference between a successful practice or not. Although in the Krishna

Expectations

Expectations

Have you heard it said these days that the secret to happiness is to lower your expectations? It makes sense, doesn’t it? We often put so much pressure on ourselves or each other, due to our unnecessary or overblown expectations. But the other day I read a statement from the great Bhakti teacher, Bhaktivinode Thakur. He lived and taught in the 19th Century. He was an esteemed district magistrate under the British Raj, he had twelve children, he slept little and wrote prolific