I took this photo of the residents of Ananda Village at the end of Spiritual Renewal Week in September 1975. I worked here in Mountain View, in the original offices of Runner’s World magazine. When I returned to the Bay Area, I taped an 8×10 print of the photo to the wall beside my desk. In the days that followed, almost every one of the employees noticed the photo and stopped to look at it. They would peer at it closely, then stand and inquire after a moment’s reflection, “Who are those people? They look so happy!”
I would explain, careful not to proselytize, that they were the members of a yoga community where I planned to live.
Within four months after I posted the photo, sixty percent of the employees had given notice to pursue their dreams – without the slightest breath of “advertising” on my part.
By 1974, twelve Ananda singers had formed a group called The Gandharvas (celestial singers). When Swamiji felt that they were ready, he asked them to go on tour with the music. He then rehearsed them for up to 12 hours a day.
Nevertheless, some of the singers still felt insecure. Asha describes how Swami reassured them:
“Some of the singers were nervous about the upcoming tour, so he called them together and said, ‘Let me give you all the reasons for you to have self-confidence. It will be nice if you sing well. Be as good as you can, but that is not what will carry you. Just be yourselves. Whenever visitors come to Ananda, it is the people that make the deepest impression. The sweetness and happiness you radiate is what your audiences long to have in their own lives. It will make up for any artistic weaknesses.’” – Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer, 1974, p. 76.
— Rambhakta
How often we forget what we have, and the gifts we can share.
Lord, we’ve come to share Thy music,
Share our wonder in Thy love,
Lift our hearts on rays of gladness
To Thy light above.
– Invocation