While living in the Ananda community in Sacramento a few years ago, I had a wonderful dream about Swami Kriyananda.
I had been going through a dry period with my meditations. I meditated regularly, twice a day, every day, with a long meditation on Friday nights. But for some reason I just wasn’t feeling any joy in meditation. I felt at a standstill.
After months of this, I started doing some soul searching. I remembered Swami Kriyananda saying that you should be able to tell when you’re making progress in your meditations. He said that if you feel you’re not growing, you need to see what changes you can make in your spiritual practices. Following this advice, I tried to think what I was doing wrong and what I could change. Then, one night I had a wonderful dream….
I dreamed I was standing in the Ananda community meditation room when suddenly the door opened and in walked Swami Kriyananda! As I saw Swami, I thought, “Maybe I can talk to him about this dry spell.” To my surprise, he walked directly to me and sat down in front of me. When I say “in front of me,” I mean right in front of me. He was just inches away! He could not have gotten any closer.
I sat down and tried to look into his eyes, but I couldn’t find his face. I was looking and looking, but I couldn’t see his face. Suddenly the thought came to me, “Silly, tune in and meditate.”
I centered myself and started to meditate. Immediately, I began to feel incredible Joy—joy I hadn’t felt in a long, long time. I just let it pour over me. I began thanking Yogananda for giving me this wonderful experience. I have always thanked Yogananda for any blessing I’ve received from Swami, or anyone else, for that matter, because I believe it’s his joy that we all share. I have always felt that Kriyananda was a pure channel for Yogananda.
How wonderful it’s been for us at Ananda to have had such a great teacher as Swami Kriyananda. He always thought of what we needed for our highest good, and how he could help us. It was his wish that we too would know the joy that comes from a life dedicated to loving God.
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