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Dear Friend,
We have been taught the technique of offering everything back to God at the end of each day. We bring attention to the spiritual eye at the forehead, energetically lift and give it all back. This includes our successes and failures, attachments and desires. It can help to visualize the fire of God’s consciousness burning it all up. It is all God’s anyway, right?
This exercise leads one to consider what his or her desires actually are. Some are easy to spot. Maybe you really want that new flat screen monitor. A bigger house, bigger salary, better roommate, prettier meditation shawl …… Or – here it comes – you wish that someone (lots of others?) would act differently than they do. After doing this exercise for a time, you can’t help but notice that the commonality is that in every case you wish something were different than it is.
Yogananda said that suffering comes from wishing things were different than they are. Desire means wishing that we had something different – or perhaps were something different. So giving up attachment to desires is to give up wishing things were different. And to no longer wish things were different is stop suffering.
This raises the subtle question of “But shouldn’t we be doing what we can to make things better?” The inspiring model of Swami Kriyananda provides an answer. What he does, he does for God and Guru - and the betterment of all. To live for God is to live without suffering – and to live in Joy. Find the Joy.
Timothy
Swami Kriyananda’s 85th Birthday Celebration
May 20 - 22
Plan now to join Swami Kriyananda and Ananda as we celebrate Swamiji’s birthday. Swamiji is now back in Ananda Village.
Change Your Habits: Achieve Holistic Health in Body, Mind & Soul
We just can’t recommend this program strongly enough. All those who have participated have found it to be of enormous and lasting value.
How to Achieve Glowing Health and Vitality
May 8 - 14
Are you ready to make changes in your life?
Are you tired of being tired?
Do you want a more balanced life?
Do you want to be happier?
Do you want increased health in every way?
Then this is the course for you!
Take action. Take charge of your own life. Get deep, meaningful tools and guidance to live a more rewarding life.
Have fun with our free online Holistic Health Self-Assessment Quiz
Inspiration from an 8-Year
Old Boy
8-year-old boy (known to Timothy’s sister) passed away on Valentines Day from cancer. He had been unconscious for a few days. He woke up and said: "Tell all the people who have been praying for me that I send the prayers back. And tell them this is just a phase, we all go through phases."
He died soon after.
Springtime at Ananda!
There is a wonderful list of programs to choose from in April. Select one, and while you are here, enjoy the beauty of the Crystal Hermitage Gardens
while the tulips are in bloom.
MORE NEW PROGRAMS coming up at Gaia House
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and to learn more about Gaia House
Inspiration from Yogananda
“How easy it is for even one desire, once fulfilled, to lead to others! They come in an unending procession, and tempt man to seek his fulfillment outwardly through the senses. One may wander as long as he elects to do so. How many mistakes get committed on the way, all of which end in broken dreams! How long it takes for an individual to realize that what he was always seeking was his own Self: the God-self within!”
from Conversations with Yogananda,
by Swami Kriyananda
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