A: I think the authors did a brilliant job in bringing together all the latest research, including some of their own, on how religious beliefs and practices affect the brain. The book is well written and accessible to the non-scientist, but a scientist can also gain from it. I’ve thought about this subject deeply for years and I find the book very helpful.

One thing I really appreciated about the book is that the authors included studies of a wide range of different religions. Because of this, they were able to show that the positive effects of religious beliefs and practices on the brain are not tied to any specific religion or belief system.

Q: Does the book suggest that all religious beliefs and practices are helpful to the brain?

A: Generally speaking yes, but there are exceptions. The book shows that certain concepts of God are not helpful because they evoke negative emotions like anger and fear. The authors found that about half the people in the United States who believed in God, from a broad spectrum of religious disciplines, viewed God as authoritarian or critical. These people saw God as someone who laid down all the rules for them to obey — if they didn’t obey the rules, they would get “in trouble.” The studies show that concepts like these not only evoke anger and fear, but lead also to judgmental attitudes and intolerance towards anyone perceived as “different.”

From the standpoint of health, negative emotions like anger, fear, and intolerance activate the limbic system, the part of the brain that stores negative emotions and functions as the brain’s “fight or flight” safety net. All negative emotions, but especially anger and fear, release destructive neurochemicals into the brain which, over time, can cause cardiovascular disease and other serious health problems.

Q: Does the book discuss other practices, religious or otherwise, that are harmful to the brain?

A: Yes. The book explains that the brain engages in an ongoing process of “mirroring.” When you see someone who is angry, even if it’s just a picture of an angry person, your brain begins to respond in an angry fashion, and of course that response affects your limbic system. Watching violent movies, listening to music with violent lyrics, listening to military music—all of these have an arousing effect on the limbic system. Violent music and images in particular have a very negative effect.

Violent interactive video games present an even more serious danger. The video games today have become very realistic. There are video games in which you shoot down planes, and kill other people, and games in which you fight other people hand to hand. The young people playing the games are modeling aggressive and violent behavior, and their brains will respond as though the video reality were a true reality. The result is not only increased violence among young people but also more anxiety and depression.

What the book really shows, in an understandable way and backed up by scientific evidence, is why our mental diet—the environment we create for ourselves—is so very important. At the clinic where I work, we often caution parents of young children: “No television at all before age two and limit it very strictly until age five.” In those early years children’s nervous systems are so pliable that the exposure can be harmful.

Q. Does this process of mirroring also occur in positive ways?

A. Interestingly, mirroring also occurs when people smile. Even if you’re not smiling yourself, when you see a smiling face, your brain cells begin to mirror those of the person who is smiling. Frequent smiling stimulates the brain circuits that enable you to maintain a positive outlook on life. When Yogananda said we should all become “smile millionaires” he obviously meant it. We’re changing our brains, and the brains of others, just by smiling at them.

I was very pleased to find this research about the benefits of smiling. If I said to one of my patients, “If you smile, you will feel better,” he or she would probably balk if I didn’t have scientific research to back this up. So it’s very helpful to have studies showing that smiling is among the most important things you can do to maintain a positive outlook on life.

Q: What does the book say about the effects of meditation on the brain?

A: Of all the practices discussed in the book as helpful to the brain, meditation is given the greatest emphasis. One of the points the authors make that I really appreciate is that you don’t need to meditate six hours a day to begin to strengthen the areas of the brain associated with spiritual development. If you’re having trouble meditating long periods, you can start with 10-20 minutes a day and gradually increase the length of your meditation over time. But you can make meaningful brain changes by meditating 10-20 minutes a day for two months. Your brain will begin to function differently.

Q: There are studies supporting that conclusion?

A: Yes. The authors of the book did a study of people ages 35-69 which shows that when someone is meditating 10-20 minutes a day, within days, at a microscopic level, there is a growth of new dendrites in the brain. The dendrites are the extensions that grow out from the brain cells. Within two months it’s possible to see these brain changes on an MRI or PET scan, two of the most common brain-scanning procedures.

The incredible changeability of the brain is tied to the astonishing speed at which these dendrites can grow or recede. Since there are about 10,000 dendrites per brain cell, changes in even a handful of brain cells can make a difference in the overall functioning of the brain.

Q: The body ages, of course, but it sounds as though the brain, perhaps even more than any other part of the body, has an amazing ability to rejuvenate?

A: Yes. Although the cells of the brain and their dendrites deteriorate with age, the more you meditate, the more you preserve your cognitive functions and the ability to remember things as well as you did when you were younger. One thing I’ve said for years to my patients is: “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” To retain cognitive function a person has to stay mentally active. We now have scientific evidence showing that adding a meditation practice provides a very important additional bulwark against the loss of cognitive function with age, because it spurs the growth of new dendrites.

Q: What do the studies show about the effects of longtime meditation on the brain?

A: When we look at the brains of longtime meditators, what we see is a quiet limbic system and strong, robust prefrontal lobes. When a person meditates at the point between the eyebrows, the spiritual eye, his or her awareness is focused in the prefrontal lobes of the brain, the brain’s most superconscious area.

Focusing at the prefrontal lobes has an automatic quieting effect on the limbic system. The more you meditate and strengthen the prefrontal lobes, the more you inhibit activity in the limbic system. The authors cite studies showing that longtime meditators have limbic systems that are very calm, more “un-arousable,” and less reactive. Longtime meditators might be described as having, in Paramhansa Yogananda’s words, the ability to remain calm “amidst the crash of breaking worlds.”

Strong prefrontal lobes are also associated with improved stress management, increased emotional self-control, and greater social awareness and compassion for others—qualities we find in most longtime meditators. The studies have also identified an area associated with the prefrontal lobes called the anterior cingulate, which we now know relates specifically to the ability to feel compassion and to get along with other people.

Q: Are any other areas of the brain affected by longtime meditation?

A: Yes. When people are meditating and feel a sense of expansion, timelessness, and oneness with all life, there is decreased activity in the parietal lobe, which is a region in the rear of the brain. The parietal lobe function is known to be associated with our sense of time and space, and how we relate to others who are different from ourselves.

Q: Does the book explain why, over the years, meditators may experience God as more of a reality?

A. Yes. The research shows that the more you meditate on God, or on any concept or object that’s meaningful to you, the more real the object of your meditation becomes. For those who meditate on God, God becomes tangibly real—as real as any object they can see or touch.

These changes in perception are reflected in the area of the brain known as the thalamus, which is associated with mental concepts becoming tangibly real to a person. What’s also interesting is that we can now determine if someone is a longtime meditator simply by looking at a scan of the thalamus. The scan demonstrates very clearly that the thalamus of a longtime meditator functions differently from that of a non-meditator.

Q: Apart from meditation, how do Paramhansa Yogananda’s other techniques relate to what the authors discuss in the book?

A: The authors discuss a number of different practices including breathing techniques and positive affirmations, and discuss why they seem to be helpful. Science is still trying to understand exactly why these practices may be helpful, and research on these questions continues.

Toward the end of the book, the authors cite eight positive practices that the studies show to be beneficial for both neurological and spiritual health. One of the practices is smiling, which we’ve already discussed. Another practice they mention is repetitive finger movements.

The book shows that simply going through the finger movements associated with keeping track of mantras or saying the rosary, is both relaxing and neurologically beneficial. I think we can conclude, from this research, that counting kriyas using kriya beads, or the fingers, has a similar effect.

Q: Is there anything else you want to say about the book?

A: I think for anybody who teaches meditation or hatha yoga, this is an important book to read. I’ve talked about some of the studies on meditation. The book also discusses studies showing that hatha yoga, when done in a meditative way, has positive effects on the prefrontal lobes. This seems to me a good description of the way Ananda Yoga approaches yoga postures—with gentle stretches and calming, uplifting affirmations.

I’d also like to say that this is a excellent book for the general public, especially for people to learn how a meditation practice can transform their lives over time, even if they start by meditating only 10-20 minutes a day. Most people would like to be happier and to live less buffeted by the winds of fate. The book shows how to achieve these goals using techniques that science has shown to be effective.

Finally, it’s important to mention that Paramhansa Yogananda said that the central nervous system is the pathway to God—that we all find God through our own nervous system. This book shows that more and more, yoga and science are coming together on the vital importance of the nervous system spiritually.

Peter Van Houten, a Lightbearer and resident of Ananda Village, is the founder and CEO of Sierra Family Medical Clinic near Ananda Village.

Related link: click here to learn about our online meditation course.

To order How God Changes Your Brain click here

Q. Peter, you started a medical clinic two years after moving to Ananda Village. Since then, you’ve had the responsibility of running a busy rural clinic while also providing medical services to clinic patients. In addition, you’ve often had to respond to medical emergencies in the evening after work and on week-ends.

Under these circumstances, how has it been possible for you to put God first in your life?

A. Since becoming a devotee, I’ve always tried to see my life as belonging to God. Interestingly, I started doing that much more consciously during a period when I was facing more challenges than I thought I could handle.

Q. What was happening at that time?

A. It was during  the late 1980s. The clinic had been open for about five years, but we were still just barely hanging on financially. I was working all the time, doing everything from seeing patients, managing the finances, and being on call most nights.

In the midst of all this, local doctors were criticizing me for starting a clinic with so little medical experience, claiming that we didn’t provide good health care. Then county officials began pressuring us to move to an approved structure, which we simply couldn’t afford to do.

That was the last straw. I began asking myself, “Is it really my karma to be a doctor? Are all these problems a ‘sign’ I should be doing something else?” I started thinking seriously about closing the clinic and wrote Swami Kriyananda for advice.

After consulting with him, I understood more deeply that it was God’s will for me to be a doctor, and on some level I relaxed. I realized that it didn’t matter if the challenges felt crushing, or if my ego was bruised by the criticism from other doctors. What was happening was God’s will for me–His way of making me stronger.

The problems still existed, but I became more resilient in dealing with them because I no longer struggled against them. I relied more on God’s strength and guidance for solutions. It was an important turning point in surrendering to God’s will.

Q. Another important aspect of putting God first involves consciously acting as His instrument and channeling His love to people. Is this something you do in your work at the clinic?

A. Yes, but I’ve had to learn to do it. My inner relationship with God has always been very devotional, and it’s been easy for me to feel love for God. One of my main lessons in this life has been learning to give that same love outwardly to people.

At the clinic we see about 15,000 patients a year, most of whom are society’s dropouts—indigent, homeless, and often mentally ill with difficult personalities. They’re people you have to work at loving—and I’ve had to work at it.

Q. How did you “work at it?”

A. When seeing patients, I would consciously try to feel God’s love in my heart– and then project that love out to them. At the same time, I would also pray for them. Gradually, my heart opened to them, especially as I began to see how deeply healing it was for patients when I worked with them in a loving way.

Q. Specifically, how was it healing for your patients?

A. It had a calming effect on  those who were agitated or disturbed emotionally. In general, their physical and mental health improved, and they had a greatly improved ability to make constructive decisions about diet, smoking, exercise, intoxicants and other things that affected their physical and mental health.

Q. In your many years of practicing medicine, there must have been times when you did your absolute best but something nevertheless went “wrong.” How does that affect you? Have you been able to develop non-attachment to the “fruits” of your efforts?

A. For someone like me who really takes what he does seriously, non-attachment has been very difficult. Many times something has gone very badly for a patient and I thought maybe I was at fault. Usually it turned out that I wasn’t.

But I’ve realized that if I let my concentration lapse for 30 seconds, I could miss a key piece of information and the patient could end up being harmed, or even dying, from my mistake.

Q. Was there a turning point when you became stronger in non-attachment?

A. Yes, about six or seven years ago. I was injecting cortisone into a patient’s back to relieve pain and accidentally punched through the muscle into the lung. The patient ended up in the hospital with a collapsed lung. It’s the kind of thing we routinely warn patients about, but it was horrifying to actually have it happen.

The patient made a perfect recovery, but it felt terrible to have hurt someone who trusted me. Still, I’m grateful for the experience.

Q. What did you learn?

A. I realized more deeply the message of The Bhagavad Gita—that in this world we have no choice but to act. Things like this are going to happen even though we try our best. We have to understand that the results of our actions are completely in God’s hands, and always give what we do to Him.

If your work involves a lot of exposure and a high level of responsibility, as mine does, you’re going to make “big” mistakes, not little mistakes. I have to be willing to accept that and surrender it to God. He’s the Doer. The results of my actions belong to Him.

Q. When did you first understand that God was the Doer and that He was working through you in all health care situations, even when the outcome wasn’t what you want?

A. This is perhaps the most important lesson on the spiritual path, and it’s been a gradual process. It started when I was an intern and had no choice but to depend on God because often I didn’t know what to do. After praying, I would know what to do. Even today, when with a patient, if I don’t know the solution, I always pray.

But there’s a deeper level of seeing God as the Doer, when you begin to feel God flowing through you, silently guiding your thoughts and actions. Only for the last five or six years have I begun to feel that more continuously.

Back in the first days of the clinic, I tried to think that way, but it was mostly affirmation. More recently it’s been the reality.

Q. Have there been any dramatic instances of this?

A. Yes. Sometimes I’ll be talking with a patient, trying to figure out what’s wrong, and suddenly find myself talking about something I know absolutely nothing about. I’ll look it up afterwards and find that what I’ve told the patient is correct.

It’s very humbling and always reminds me who’s in charge. But I don’t think I’m unique. If we see what we’re doing as a service and an offering to God, the superconscious will sometimes infiltrate our thoughts and behavior.

Q. Paramhansa Yogananda said that willingness is one of the most important spiritual attitudes. Has willingness been a challenge for you?

A. Willingness has been my hardest challenge because I like things to be organized and predictable. It’s sometimes difficult to stay willing when it’s 6:00 p.m., I’ve already seen 25 patients and would really like to go home—and suddenly there’s one more patient who really needs to be seen. My battle is to not do the easy thing by sending the patient to the hospital emergency room or telling him or her to come back the next day.

As devotees, the pitfall is to decide that we have only so much energy—and no more. Just when I think I’ve done everything I can do, Divine Mother often says, “But there’s so much more you can do,” and then shows me that’s true.

Q. If being willing leaves you with less time for meditation, wouldn’t that adversely affect your spiritual progress?

A. Not necessarily. Recently the clinic went through a very challenging 3-year period when it looked like we might close. We’d been doing very well for a long time. Then gradually we lost most of our top medical staff and couldn’t replace them because finances had become very tight.

For a while I was the only one seeing patients and working 16 hours a day just to keep the clinic afloat. I couldn’t meditate much. Yet it was a period of real growth for me spiritually.

It helped me understand that God will work with us in the ways we need for our spiritual development, and we shouldn’t think that the only way we grow spiritually is by meditating eight hours a day. We just have to be willing to do what God asks of us.

Q. How did the experience change you?

A. I had to confront a number of my fears very directly. The clinic was something I’d worked on for almost 30 years and it looked like it was going to fail. I could have ended up financially ruined. There were so many ways this could have happened.

More than once I felt like I was going a little crazy with the whole thing. I got stretched far beyond what I thought my limits were, and yet, looking back, I can see that God and Guru protected me the whole time.

Q. I imagine you gained a much deeper level of trust and faith in God?

A. The experience definitely took concepts like “faith” and “trust” and made them much more real because I’d lived it. Repeatedly I had to say, “God, you’re going to have to protect me because I’m going far beyond what I think I can do.”

And God came through and produced a miracle. From any standpoint, the clinic should not be standing today.

Q. Didn’t you need a certain level of faith and centeredness to successfully go through a test like that?

A. For sure. Being a devotee for many years gives you the momentum to get through things that would have been insurmountable earlier on the path. You’ve already gotten through many challenges, and you’re more confident that God will carry you through this one too. You learn that God will always protect you, provided you do your best and keep moving forward, no matter how hard it gets.

Peter Van Houten, a Lightbearer, lives at Ananda Village and is the founder and Medical Director of Sierra Family Medical Clinic.

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Q. Bharat, when did you first realize that nature was important to you?

A. When I was five-years-old. I was in my backyard and looking intently upward into a thick fog when all of a sudden, bursting through a gap in the fog, came a flock of pearl-white snow geese. It seemed as if the sky had given birth to them. Seeing the snow geese thrilled me deeply, and ever since I’ve wanted to immerse myself in nature.

By the time I was twelve, I was waking up at dawn to run through the wildlands near my home. I took such delight in everything I saw that I often ran right through the ponds and marshes.

Q. When did you know that your career path lay in doing something connected with nature?

It was when I was a student at Chico State University and majoring in international relations. In one of my courses I read a statement by a 19th century European leader who said, “I don’t want war, but I want my country to get what it wants.”

This was during the Vietnam War and I, like many others, felt a deep desire to bring peace into the world. But after reading that statement, I realized that the self-interest of people and nations made it very difficult to achieve world peace.

I had been spending many days in the wilderness and feeling at times a joyous sense of stillness and expansion. Recalling these experiences, I thought, “This is real peace. This is something true that I can share with others.”

So I changed my major to Nature Awareness. I was the first student to be accepted into Chico’s special major program, where a student could create a non-traditional degree. I also started a meditation practice to try to experience more regularly the joyous serenity and expansion I often felt in nature.

Q. After you graduated from Chico State, did you find a way to share with people the peace you experienced in nature?

A. By then I knew about experiential nature activities, which I had immediately recognized as a way to imbue nature encounters with a dynamic sense of joy and receptivity. After graduating in 1973, I began developing my own nature activities and sharing them at outdoor schools and camps.

Both children and adults enjoyed them immensely. The activities became very popular among educators and youth leaders, and soon nearly every Boy Scout camp in the western United States was using them.

Q. You later presented many of those activities in your first book, Sharing Nature with Children. What prompted you to write it?

In 1975 I joined Ananda and soon entered the monastery. I was under the impression that monks should not be involved in society, but knowing how much people loved the nature activities,  I decided to write them down for posterity. I thought I was writing the book as a last gift to the world.

Swami Kriyananda, however, had other plans for me. After Sharing Nature with Children was published, he suggested that one of the senior monks begin arranging autograph events to promote the book. It was due to Kriyananda’s encouragement that I began making public appearances.

Q. Sharing Nature with Children has been widely praised as a landmark book. What distinguished it from other nature books?

A. Most nature education books then available engaged only the intellect. I wanted to engage people’s hearts and intuition so they could deeply experience nature. The book was also practical, with easy-to-use activities and inspiring stories that captured people’s imagination.

Paramhansa Yogananda said that rather than explain things to people, we should help them put out the kind of energy that brings them onto the wavelength of what we’re trying to teach. Each nature activity in Sharing Nature with Children is a little discipline that helps children and adults become more sensitively aware of nature and their higher Self.

Q. Why did eight years pass between your first and second book?

A. I was planning to write a sequel to Sharing Nature with Children when Swami Kriyananda asked my wife, Anandi, and me to become leaders of the developing Ananda Palo Alto Center. He said, “The work you’re doing in nature is wonderful, but you’ve come to Ananda to find God and I have to honor that.” So I suspended all of my nature work for the three years we were in Palo Alto.

Kriyananda’s words were really about following God’s will and embracing divine opportunities. Serving in Palo Alto was very helpful to me spiritually and also gave me the understanding and tools to write a much better book. From teaching the meditation classes at the Ananda center, I gained a deeper understanding of the importance of stillness and inner receptivity, not only for meditation but also for deeper nature experiences. Through prayer and meditation, I later found ways to apply what I learned in writing my second book, Sharing the Joy of Nature. *

Q. Can you explain how you were able to do that?

A. I created a system called “Flow Learning,” a way of sequencing nature activities to awaken in people a strong flow of energy and open them to an experience of absorption and expansion. An experience of absorption is the key to deeper nature experiences.

The great naturalist, John Muir, would become so absorbed in the natural world that he would lose consciousness of his own separate existence and feel himself merging with the totality of nature. His great love and reverence for life came from his experience of oneness with everything around him.

For Flow Learning to work, I also had to create many new nature activities. I would think of a spiritual principle from Paramhansa Yogananda’s teachings, hold it in my mind, and pray: “How can I create a way for people to easily experience this principle?”

“Expanding Circles,” for example, is based on one of Yogananda’s meditations where you expand your sense of self. In this activity, you sit quietly in nature and gradually, in stages, expand your awareness to encompass everything you see.

One woman who did this activity said, “At first I felt like I was composing a picture. After a while I found that I’d stepped inside and become the picture.”

Q. What has been the response to Flow Learning?

A. Very enthusiastic. Our Sharing Nature leader in Brazil gave a workshop based on Flow Learning for Amazon tour guides. They were skeptical at first but after several activities, one person approached her and said with deep emotion, “You are helping me find the forest inside of me! We don’t know the forest in this way!”

In Switzerland, the professors at a teachers’ college were so enthusiastic about Flow Learning that right after my speech, one professor eagerly asked me, “What was life like before Flow Learning!”

Flow learning shows people how to awaken energy and direct it upwards for superconscious inspiration. For most people this is a revelation. Today Flow Learning is widely used by educators and corporate trainers throughout the world.

Q. Have Flow Learning and the new Sharing Nature activities caused people to become more interested in the spiritual life?

A. Yes. Through the experience of absorption, people achieve a deep level of peace and joyful expansion. Often they become interested in forming a meditation practice to cultivate and enhance the feeling they had during the workshop.

Often people are caught up with the mundane realities of life and fail to appreciate life’s underlying unity and harmony. But the understanding that we are a part of something larger than ourselves is Nature’s greatest gift. As people experience their larger reality, they become inspired and their life priorities change.

Q. You have offered sharing Nature programs in countries like Japan, China, Brazil, and Greece — places where the spirituality varies. What is the response of people who are Taoists or Buddhists or follow other spiritual paths?

A. When people experience divine qualities like peace or love, they become deeply appreciative, no matter what their culture or spiritual tradition.

I recently gave an “Inner Nature” workshop at a Zen community in Devon, England, and the leader there told me, “We wanted to include environmental awareness in our programs, but didn’t know how to do it and stay true to our spiritual calling. The Sharing Nature activities are perfect for us.”

Sharing Nature is based on universal principles. In Greece people said the Sharing Nature program was just the way Plato taught, and in Japan they said it was very Japanese.

Q. Sharing Nature has triggered a consciousness revolution based on direct experience through nature activities.  It has changed the consciousness of millions of people and given them the tools to change others. How can someone receive training to lead Sharing Nature programs?

A. In May 2009 I’ll be offering a five-day training and retreat at Ananda’s Expanding Light Guest Retreat. People new to Sharing Nature as well as Sharing Nature leaders from around the world will be attending. The program includes nature meditations, nature activities for children and adults, Flow Learning, and much more. It’s going to be a wonderful week.

* The name was later changed to Sharing Nature with Children, II.

To read the inspiring story of Sharing Nature around the world and to learn more about the upcoming May 2009 Sharing Nature Training & Retreat Week, go to: www.sharingnature.com

Bharat Cornell is a Lightbearer and longtime Ananda member. In addition to his nature activities, he works in the Sangha Office at Ananda Village as Meditation Support Coordinator. His many books on nature awareness include, Listening to Nature.

Q.

A. I had been a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda and doing Kriya Yoga for three years. When I heard about Ananda Village, I decided to visit because I very much wanted to start a spiritual community based on Yogananda’s teachings.

I immediately recognized, however, upon meeting Swami Kriyananda, the kind of magnetism needed to found a successful community. I felt I could help build Ananda, but leadership required much more attunement and experience on the spiritual path, and in life, than I had at age twenty-three.

Q. When you moved to Ananda Village in 1975, you worked in the Ananda garden.  Did you have an interest in gardening?

A. Yes. My supervisor in the garden was Haanel Cassidy, a Kriyaban and an expert in biodynamic gardening — Swami Kriyananda had invited him to move to Ananda in 1970 to start the garden.

Working under a master gardener like Haanel Cassidy was for me the answer to a prayer. I had always wanted to learn gardening and when I came to Ananda and realized that Haanel was the foremost expert on biodynamic gardening in the world, and also a Kriyaban, I knew Master had answered my prayer.

Q. What challenges did you face in the garden?

A. In 1975, the garden was still very small and underfunded. It was a huge challenge to undertake a garden at such a high elevation, with poor soil, and no money to build the infrastructure. Then, in 1976, the fire came and destroyed everything.

Those of us who could leave were urged to get outside jobs to help earn the money to rebuild. As gardeners, we wanted the garden to be much more than it was before the fire, and for that we needed water for irrigation (dams, pipes, sprinklers); the proper equipment (tractors, implements, backhoe); fencing to keep out the deer; and money for seeds.

So I worked in construction in San Francisco; others left to do tree planting or rice harvesting. As a garden staff we also did odd jobs for a fee. But we were still short of the money needed for big infrastructure items like a dam, which cost $20,000.

I prayed to Yogananda on how to raise the money for the dam and step by step followed his guidance. Using $5000 I had saved working as a contractor before moving to Ananda, I opened a futures trading account in precious metals by phone. I had no investment training but I would meditate on when to buy or sell, promising Master if he gave us the money, it would all go to the dam.

At one point there was a spike in the price of silver and I made $20,000. We built Nandi Dam that fall. Though the garden continued to have financial challenges, Master never guided me to do this again.

Q. Haanel Cassidy has been described as a “hard taskmaster with a heart of gold.” Was that your experience?

A. At Haanel’s passing in 1980, Swami Kriyananda said that the principal lesson Haanel shared with Ananda was “discipline.” He taught us that to be great you had to learn discipline. Most of us were not mature enough to understand the need for discipline. He sometimes called me “his wild Irishman,” but he knew that what I lacked in maturity I would make up for in effort and sincerity.

He required us to be prompt, to work hard, and to speak English correctly, and if we did these, he gave us absolute loyalty and friendship. We met each morning at 7:30 for our garden meetings; 7:31 was late. Often we would work for weeks on end without a day off, sometimes fourteen hours a day, but the wisdom and training he gave us has lasted a lifetime.

Q. In addition to self-discipline and intensity of effort, what else did you learn working in the garden?

A. The garden was a great environment to learn about humility and non-attachment. You could work a whole season and the deer, or a frost, could wipe out the entire crop in one night. It was a training in selfless service, in learning that God is the Doer and that He wants you to serve joyfully regardless of results.

Young apprentices usually found working in the garden very difficult. Only a small percentage would last a season, but the ones who did are still members of Ananda thirty years later.

Q. Did the challenges ever shake your faith?

A. When Haanel passed away, Swami Kriyananda asked me to be in charge of the garden. I asked myself: “Was I really ready to take over the garden?”  “Whom do I ask for advice?”  “Will I let Swamiji and the community down?”

Day by day, I realized that God was the Doer and that he could do things through me, if I let him. The miracles of the Ananda garden helped me understand that Yogananda was guiding this work and that all we had to do was cooperate with His “ray.” Because God always came through, my faith became stronger.

Q. How did God always “come through?” 

A. God and Guru would give us what we needed for God’s work, but not for personal desires. It became clear we needed to attune to His will, not our desires, to activate the law of success. If we kept open to what He was trying to teach us, we found miracles at every turn.

Once, for example, we really needed a cultivating tool that was extremely rare in Northern California. We had only a quarter of the price of a new one, but through an ad in a Yuba City newspaper, we found a used one in almost new condition for exactly the $2,300 we had.

Another time an early storm soaked the garden and didn’t clear until sunset. It seemed certain the entire tomato crop would freeze — there was no way we could protect so many plants. We prayed deeply, giving it all into Guru’s hands, and went to sleep. That night a fog formed and kept the air temperature above freezing. No plants died.

Q. It sounds like working in the garden enhanced your sensitivity to nature and the unity of all life? 

A. This was the greatest blessing of gardening, to see Divine Mother in everything, from the plants and flowers down to the insects and bacteria, and to realize how little our human efforts determine what happens in proportion to the wind, rain, sky and earth.

Through Kriya Yoga and Yogananda’s teachings we learn that we are connected to the Divine and a part of all that exists. So we always tried to see ourselves as channels for God’s blessings to work through these powerful natural forces so they could yield food for people. It was constantly uplifting to work in this consciousness. It gave us a dynamic awareness that God is the Doer.

Q. In 1986, you and your wife, Maria, who also worked in the garden, were asked to lead the Ananda Sacramento center.  Did your garden experience prepare you for your new challenges? 

A. Embracing the impossible challenge of the garden and having the experience of Yogananda’s grace bringing success was an invaluable spiritual lesson. The reality that God is the Doer became more and more ingrained. We left the garden ready for anything the Guru wanted of us.

Q. Some say that establishing the apartment complex community in Sacramento was another “impossible challenge.”  Was Yogananda’s grace involved here?

A. At every turn. As we set out to find the “perfect” apartment complex for our Guru’s world brotherhood colony in Sacramento, we had a brainstorming session with future residents of the community. We listed everything we needed for the perfect community, ending up with thirty-seven items: close to the American River; places for outside Sunday services; community temple and dining room; trees for shade and color; and so on.

Each day we prayed, said affirmations, and meditated, and then surrendered the project to Yogananda, asking him to guide us. We looked at 140 apartment complexes and when we found what is now Ananda Lane, it had 35 of the 37 things we told Master we wanted.

Q. You and Maria will be moving to Ananda Village in early 2009 to be leaders of a new “community within a community” consisting only of “young people.” Ananda Village has never had this kind of “separation” before. Why is it happening now?

A. Starting a community is a wonderful spiritual opportunity. The young disciples need the experience of starting something “from the ground up,” so they can learn what’s involved in building a community, and then pass it on to the next generation.

All of them now serve Ananda. But they need the chance to tune into the Guru’s plan for them, to feel his guidance, and to know they are just as capable as the young people at Ananda Village in the 60s and 70s.

Q. Will gardening be the focus of this community?

A. The direction the new community takes will come from the attunement and intuition of the young leaders. This will apply to every aspect of the community.

Q. What will you and Maria do?

A. We hope we can facilitate the process of starting the community and foster the Ananda vibration. What we will do day-to-day is entirely unknown. It is a new chapter in the history of Ananda, and Maria and I are very eager to see how it plays out.

Ananta McSweeney and his wife, Maria, are Acharyas (Spiritual Directors) of Ananda Sacramento.

A. Years ago, I discovered that one of my biggest challenges as a nurse was attachment—attachment to the person I was serving, and also to my role as a caring professional. My first big awareness of this came when I found myself in tears because I was unable to be present at the childbirth of a favorite patient. This was in the 1970s, long before I came onto the spiritual path.

Q. How and when did you come onto the spiritual path?

A. In 1984, after hearing an Ananda minister, Asha Praver, give a talk in Seattle, Washington on “How To Bring God into Every Moment of Your Life.”  Her talk affected me profoundly, especially in helping me see how much I yearned for a spiritual life.

At the time, I was teaching nursing at the University of Washington School of Nursing and also seeing patients. After hearing Asha discuss the eight aspects of God, especially peace, calmness, love, and joy, I realized that what I most loved about teaching and nursing was being able to express these divine qualities, and helping students and patients express similar qualities.

Q. As you studied Yogananda’s teachings and began to meditate, were you able to bring those qualities more into your work?

A. Yes, and I was discovering that when attuned to the divine qualities, one’s energy becomes more deeply healing.

Q. You mentioned that attachment has been one of your biggest challenges. Have you been able to resolve that?

A.  I took a big step toward resolving it when I made the decision to leave for a desert retreat, even though a friend had suddenly become severely ill, with the possibility of dying. I was then living at Ananda Village (I moved there in 1987), and I worked as a Nurse Practitioner at the nearby clinic founded by Dr. Peter Van Houten, an Ananda devotee.

Q. How did this decision help you overcome attachment?

A. This woman and I were very good friends and I was also one of her caregivers. So it was natural for me to want to be with her during her crisis. At the same time, she had been through several such medical “crises” previously, and she always came through them just fine.

The situation forced me to introspect and try to figure out what was the dharmic or “righteous” decision—to stay, in order to be part of her support team, or to go ahead with my plans to take time off and nurture myself with a much-needed rest.

My first inclination was to stay, because staying seemed so obviously the right thing to do. But the thought kept coming that I was attached  both to being with her, and to my image of myself as a good friend and caregiver, and that for my own spiritual growth, I needed to go.

So, after much agonizing and trying to tune into inner guidance, I decided to go as a conscious act of non-attachment and faith that God was the Doer and fully in charge.  I also believed I would be an even stronger part of her support team while away because I would have much more time to meditate and pray.

Q. Ultimately, did you feel you made the right decision?

A. Ultimately, yes, but I had a great deal of self-doubt about it for some time. My friend died while I was away, which was very difficult for me. I so deeply regretted not being with her when she died that it wasn’t easy to break through my emotions and see how my leaving might have actually been good for both of us. Only after a lot of meditation, prayer and soul-searching was I convinced that I really had made the right decision.

I felt my friend’s presence very strongly the whole time I was away, and I know my prayers and visualizations reached her. Spiritually, this experience was an important turning point in my learning to trust my inner guidance, to trust God, and to trust the power of prayer.

Q. Being able to help people from afar is the foundation of Ananda’s healing prayer ministry. Was this your first experience of the truth of this teaching?

A. I was part of the healing prayer ministry and believed this to be true, but in this situation I was actually able to experience that it was true.

Q. In this experience with your friend, you resolved a potential conflict between your role as a nurse and what was right for you spiritually. Have you faced that potential conflict in other situations?

A. Many times! There was another big lesson around this issue involving this same friend who died. When I first learned of her diagnosis with a very serious and usually fatal illness, I wanted to mobilize a community support system to assist her in coping with her illness. My training as a nurse had taught me how important this was.

Swami Kriyananda, however, told her that she shouldn’t share the diagnosis with any more than the few of us who already knew. This surprised me, but at this point in my spiritual development, I knew enough to accept that Swami Kriyananda’s inner attunement with the Divine was likely to be more “right” than my “professional” knowledge.

Months later, I was able to see the wisdom of his guidance. He had wanted my friend to become strong enough in her acceptance of the diagnosis, and in her commitment to make it an opportunity for spiritual growth, that she wouldn’t be weakened by the fears of others.

Q.  How might others’ fearful thoughts have weakened your friend?

A. My friend had been told that she probably had only about eighteen months to live. She was frightened and in shock, and her aura was weak, which made her susceptible to becoming even more ill from the negative, fearful thoughts of others.

After taking a few months to become stronger in her mind and in her attunement with her Guru, she was able to share her situation with others without their fears weakening her resolve to fight as a spiritual warrior. By giving full energy to her spiritual practices, she lived another ten years with vitality and joy.

Q. Have there been other experiences that strengthened your faith that God is fully in charge of our lives?

A.  It’s been a major recurring issue for me. A key situation involved a devotee who was dying of cancer and came with his wife to live his last days near Ananda Village—to be in the vibration of other devotees. Toward the end, the man’s wife was having difficulty coping with his physical needs and his impending death.

One day, while driving back to the clinic after changing his dressings, I prayed to Paramhansa Yogananda: “Why can’t you just take him? He’s ready to go!”  In that moment I “heard” a response, “But what if by staying in his body a few more days his soul could be liberated?”  Immediately I retracted my request!

From then on, I’ve had a much easier time accepting that God has a plan, and that the only appropriate prayer in situations involving peoples’ lives and health is: “Thy will be done.”

Q. Can you share any other instances of where you came to see that God was “in charge” when it wasn’t immediately obvious?

A. I learned another aspect of this truth while treating a woman at Ananda Village who had sustained a severe injury to her leg. As the doctor and I were cleaning the wound, which was very deep, I apologized because our efforts were obviously increasing her pain.

She looked at me very seriously and said: “About a week before the accident, I dreamed that I had lost my leg.  I know that it’s only by Guru’s grace that instead of losing my leg, I got this nasty wound.  I’m very grateful it wasn’t worse.”

I’ve always remembered this dramatic demonstration of how much worse things could be if it weren’t for God’s grace, and how easy it is to forget that a loving God is in charge and taking very good care of us, even if it doesn’t seem so from our limited perspective.

Q. Currently you are serving as director of the new “Lifestyles for Radiant Health” program at the Expanding Light at Ananda Village. How does this tie into your efforts to integrate spirituality and health?

A. Ultimately, the course enables participants to see radiant health as a bridge to spirituality. Yogananda says that the highest level of healing is spiritual, and involves opening to God’s presence within.

For this, there are no better tools than those Yogananda brought: Energization Exercises, meditation techniques, affirmations and visualizations. These same spiritual tools also enable us to achieve radiant health on all levels—physical and mental as well as spiritual.

Q. You’ve offered the program twice now. How have people responded?

A. Participants have loved the course for how it empowers them to move to their next steps in radiant health of body, mind, and soul.

Q. It seems, then, that this course is very much in alignment with your spiritual goals?

A. Indeed, it is. It brings me great joy to help others awaken to their soul natures.  And for some people, the doorway to that awakening is their health.

Mangala, a Lightbearer, lives at Ananda Village and serves as Director of the “Lifestyles for Radiant Health” program at the Expanding Light.

Q. Many devotees have read Yogananda’s statement about Lincoln and Lindbergh quoted by Swami Kriyananda in his autobiography, The Path, but you are the only one who has investigated it. Why did you decide to do that?

A. After reading what Yogananda had said, I was intrigued. So I began to do a little research. For years that was all it amounted to. Then, one day, I felt inspired to do a more in-depth investigation.

At the start, I had no idea what I would find—possibly only a few things suggesting a connection between the two men. What I discovered was simply amazing.

I found hundreds of connections—resemblances in their physical appearance, thoughts, feelings, spiritual aspirations, friendships, and the circumstances and events of their lives. I was especially impressed with the connections that tied both men to the path of yoga.

The depth and quantity of the evidence persuaded me that if Lindbergh wasn’t Lincoln reborn, he darn well should have been! The ties between them shed much light on karma and reincarnation, making those concepts vividly real for me.

Q. When did you first decide to write a full-length book?

A. The idea for this book came to me on an airplane flight. I was flying east to Baltimore and during the flight, I realized that I had come to a turning point in my life.

Much of my spiritual service up until then had involved expressing creativity through art, music, or the spoken or written word. At the time, however, it seemed that every door of creative expression had been closed and that I had no creative way to serve as Divine Mother’s instrument.

Knowing how much one’s spirit can stagnate without some means of sharing with others, I closed my eyes and began to pray for some creative means of sharing some of the inspiration and insights Divine Mother had given me on reincarnation and other subjects.

Within about a minute, the idea for this book came—and very strongly. It felt like I had received a commission. The book project was ideal for me and I am very, very grateful to Divine Mother.

Q. What were some of the challenges you encountered?

A. The first challenge came when I ran up against the fact that I had to eat and sleep! From the start, this project grabbed me by the throat and wouldn’t let go. So many ideas and inspirations came to me that it was difficult to write them all down.

Usually I found some means of recording the ideas, but I regret to say that some of them were lost for lack of writing materials, or time to stop and make a note.

Some years into the project, I even had to pray that the inspirations about the connections between the two men would stop coming—I was worried that I would never finish the book! But as long as I remained interested in the information, Divine Mother kept giving me more.

I didn’t include in the book everything I discovered, only the best examples—those that made the point about reincarnation in the clearest possible way.

Q. Were you able to interview any of Lindbergh’s surviving relatives?

A. I thought of trying to contact them, but what would I say? Reincarnation is still a somewhat unusual concept in our culture, and from what I had read, there was no reason to think that any of the Lindbergh children believed in it. I also knew from my research that the Lindbergh family had a history of odd people pestering them. So I let go of the idea.

Q. How widespread is the belief in reincarnation among Americans?

A. I was intrigued to discover that about twenty-one percent of all Americans, including Christians, believe in reincarnation. Yet for most of these millions, it seems that the belief is rather vague. I hope through my book to bring some clarity to the subject.

Q. Did you at any point feel that you had actually tapped into the consciousness of Lindbergh or Lincoln?

A. Yes. About a year or two after I began this project I was on an airplane passing over Illinois. While looking down at the checkerboard farmlands, I had a strong desire to visit the places where both Lincoln and Lindbergh had lived. Within about a week I made that trip.

During my time in Illinois, I felt a definite connection with the spirit of Lincoln/Lindbergh. It was very beautiful. I experienced the same thing when I visited Minnesota, where Lindbergh lived for a while.

Q. It has been said the Lindbergh will probably become a yogi in his next life. Do you agree?

A. That’s what Swami Kriyananda wrote in The Path, based on statements by Yogananda. After working on this project for the past eight years, I have to say that I agree with him.

From what I can see, Lindbergh slipped a little in his spiritual progress after his lifetime as Abraham Lincoln. All of us need to put out some sort of spiritual effort to maintain forward momentum on the path, and neither Lincoln nor Lindbergh did that.

To me, Lindbergh was Lincoln “on vacation.” He was almost the same as Lincoln spiritually, but you can see that he was starting to slip a little. However, my impression of this soul is that he wants to be free, that his desire for liberation is strong.

You can see that desire reflected in Lindbergh’s final book, Autobiography of Values, where he expresses his disillusionment with modern science and technology and his curiosity about the spiritual realm. Three times in the book he refers to his metaphysical experiences while making his historic flight from New York to Paris.

Lindbergh traveled all over the world, met many famous people, was feted in practically every country, and achieved incredible fame and considerable worldly success. But it is clear from Autobiography of Values that his heart’s desire lay elsewhere, in something more spiritual. So what could be more natural than that he return to yoga practice in his next life?

Q. Do you believe that Lincoln’s lifetime as Lindbergh was karmically “necessary?”

A. I think Lincoln’s soul accumulated great good karma from his selfless lifetime. He left that life suddenly, before he had a chance to reap the fruit of his actions—widespread acclaim and recognition.

But we know from Yogananda’s teachings that all karma, even good karma is binding, because the product of ego-based actions based on the thought that, “I am the Doer.” Now that the soul of Lincoln/Lindbergh has reaped its karmic reward, it may be freer to move forward spiritually.

Q. Your book presents the best evidence you could find on the soul identity of the two men but allows readers to draw their own conclusions. Has anyone read your book and rejected your thesis?

A. Yes, but that truly doesn’t matter. The main thing is to share my findings with those who are interested.

Q. How did you gain spiritually from writing this book?

A. I gained in many ways: by tuning in to the soul that incarnated as Lincoln and Lindbergh; by acting as a channel for Divine Mother; by developing my ability to hear and follow Divine Mother’s guidance; by raising my energy to the level required to communicate my ideas as clearly as possible; and by overcoming any unwillingness in having to rewrite the entire book many times.

Q. Were any aspects of the writing process superconscious?

A. There were times when it felt as if I were taking dictation—the right words would simply flow through me. Also, whenever I needed something, Divine Mother brought it to me or guided me to it.

For example I would need a piece of information and soon after, I would then see a book that I felt compelled to open. And on that exact page would be the answer I was looking for. This happened over and over.

Q. Did you ever feel like giving up the project?

A. At times I felt frustrated, mainly because I thought this project would take two years and it ended up taking four times that long. And I sometimes worried that I hadn’t captured exactly what Divine Mother wanted me to say.

But our meditation training is a great gift: it teaches us to sit still, calm down, and ask for guidance in moments of doubt or frustration, And every time I asked for help or guidance, it came.

Q. Do you have any plans for any future books?

A. Yes. While writing this book I received inspirations for many other books about reincarnation and other subjects. I pray that Divine Mother will give me the time to write them.

A minister and longtime Ananda member, Richard Salva is affiliated with the Palo Alto Church and community, and lectures widely on reincarnation and yoga.

Q: When you arrived at Ananda Village in 1974 your background included teaching college and five years of graduate school. How did you get involved in forestry work?

Prakash: I grew up on a farm, and my training and inclination have always been to take care of the land. When the community burned down in 1976, I prayed to be able to work to heal the devastated forest.

But I’m a tall, skinny person and I don’t look like a worker. So in my first years at Ananda I was encouraged to do non-physical work—a lot of teaching, and later I became a minister.

Q: Did you take care of the land at all in those years?

Prakash: Very little. I spent a year trying to clear the brush in one of our housing clusters, and I put in a garden and fruit trees in another. The main transition came in 1990 when I pretty much collapsed after four years in front of a computer. After resting a bit, the community manager suggested that I go to The Expanding Light, our guest retreat, and help put in the landscaping.  There was a beautification effort going on.

There I was very happy. But then along came financial pressures and my job disappeared.

And I thought, “Well, I’ll just work and earn money. Then I can keep the beautification project going.” The inspiration for this was a fellow who worked in the Ananda garden. Every once in a while he would go work in the family steel business to earn money for the garden. I thought, “Oh. That’s how you do that.”

It was a gradual process of understanding how Ananda works—that if you feel inspired to do something, you just find a way to do it. You talk to the people in charge and see if it feels okay. Then you find a way to earn the money to make it happen.

So that’s what I did. I started doing landscaping jobs. Private jobs. I used the money I earned to buy landscaping materials for the guest retreat and installed them after work. Later, my sister loaned me enough money to purchase my first tractor. Dividing my time between private jobs and doing landscaping and forestry work for Ananda, I gradually added equipment—bulldozers, a backhoe, and mastication machinery.

Q: What exactly is your work today?

Prakash: I do brush clearing and forest clean-up projects for both The Expanding Light and the Village. Sometimes there’s money available to pay me, sometimes not. I do as much outside work as necessary to keep the equipment in good repair—an overhead that has gone as high as $40,000 in one year.

Q: Devotees are encouraged to “practice the presence,” that is, to keep an awareness of God when engaged outwardly. Did that become easier or harder for you doing forestry work?

Prakash: It’s been much easier to be aware of God on the tractor than in the office. Forestry work lends itself to that because you’re alone. It’s also just my natural attunement to the work. Working alone, out in the open, physical discomfort—these have never been a problem for me.

I’m an excessively mental person to start with – nervous, insomniac, all that sort of thing—prone to headaches and anxiety. I burned out in my office job. Working in the earth pulls me down to a feeling of centeredness.

Q: Is mental restlessness a problem with your job?

Prakash: No, because if you become restless, you break something. The physical plane is a wonderful teacher. If you make a mistake, it’s right there in your face. When you’re out there in the dirt trying to work, and you act in a restless or impatient manner, you’ll break something or get hurt.

One friend of mine lost focus and toppled off the edge of a dam we were building. We got the tractor off him but he lost part of a foot. I almost lost my hand trying to help the bulldozer cool down by removing debris from the fan. Just not being careful. Being impatient.

Q: It seems that your work is centering and supportive of someone who meditates?

Prakash: Very much so. Unlike most kinds of work I’ve done, it’s actually a normal part of what I do to try to find that center in myself as I work.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not true of many heavy equipment operators, although they wouldn’t talk about it in the same way. You can’t put yourself on automatic and do this work. You have to be completely focused and calm in yourself so that you can respond appropriately to whatever is happening.

There are endless opportunities all day to try to find that point at which the work flows smoothly, and flows through you.

Q: As devotees, we try to experience God as energy flowing through us when we work. Is that what you mean?

Prakash: Yes. There are moments that just come, when there’s a flow that’s happening through me, and a feeling that something is unfolding. That’s a rare and special thing that happens sometimes, and when it does, I have a wonderful feeling of gratitude to God and Guru. Usually that comes in the midst of the constant daily effort to remain centered, to be in the flow of what I’m doing, and to be quiet in myself while doing it.

So those are good days, and anything that I could call an experience of God working through me comes like that in a quiet way. There’s a feeling of flow, of centeredness, of calmness, a feeling of gratitude, and sometimes a conversation with God.

Q: What do you mean by a “a conversation with God”?

Prakash: It’s something in the background. Not a lot of words, more a feeling of sharing what’s happening. And sometimes it comes out as an inner chant, especially, “Sri Ram, Jai Ram,” or “Jai Guru.” These bring a feeling of centeredness.

But I’m on a slightly new tack with this. For years I’ve been hearing about chanting and the bliss of music, but never quite connecting with it. Recently I just happened to pick up a tape by Swami Kriyananda called “Some of My Favorites.” To my great amazement, all of sudden it just connected. Now it’s always playing in my truck. I’ve pretty much memorized all the songs, and I find myself singing along with him.

Those songs will be constantly going in the back of my mind while I’m working. And because they come from such a place of deep spiritual truth, to the level that I’m capable of, that becomes my experience.

So if I’m lurching around trying without success to rip out a tree stump, it’s very natural for one of these songs to come to the foreground. Then things go better.

Q: How do you stay centered when your work becomes unusually challenging?

Prakash: Recently when I was working on a steep slope, the bulldozer was overheating a lot, and there was so much dust that I couldn’t see where I was going. I had to stop every 10-20 minutes to let the engine cool, or the dust clear a bit.  These cool-down minutes became wonderful opportunities to watch the breath and re-center.

Q: Yogananda says that “right attitude” is very important in that it puts you on the divine wavelength. How do you maintain the right spiritual attitude in your work?

Prakash: What I’ve always looked for is a sense of community. Some people here feel that the land shouldn’t be cleared and made more open and park-like. Because I want to do what’s right, I attract a lot of advice.

My challenge becomes how to stay with the intuition I have, which is the only one I’ve got, and do the work in harmony with the larger community. So my ongoing prayer is “What’s true?” “Help me be in tune, help me find my way, help me to serve you when I’m working.”

Q: When did you first start to make certain areas of Ananda Village more open and park-like?

Prakash: In the late 1990s, the community was going through a difficult challenge, and one day I drove into Ananda and noticed a slope that was choked with half dead brush, star thistle, and fallen branches. And the thought came to me, that if I cleaned it up really well, everybody would feel better. That became my approach. Just clean it up.

Q: You’ve created a more spiritually uplifting environment, which helps everyone.

Prakash: The heart of what I’m trying to do in the forest is to clean out things that block the flow of energy or lower the vibration. In one sense, it’s the same energy that’s in our consciousness that’s preventing us from going to God.

So, if I can open up the forest so that the energy there can flow more freely, then maybe the energy in our consciousness will flow more freely also.

Prakash founded the Apprentice Program and Yoga Teacher Training Course at Ananda Village in the late ’70s. In the 1980s he  served as the Ananda center leader in Sacramento. His forestry and landscaping work at Ananda Village fulfill Swami Kriyananda’s vision of a more park-like environment.

Swami Kriyananda writes: “The very devas are attracted to places where there is pure, devotional energy…. For this purpose the ancient Chinese even remolded the shape of the countryside, and thereby made their world itself a more perfect reflection of heavenly values. Wilderness alone, especially ‘unkempt’ wilderness, attracts rakshasas and lower entities

Q: You own a successful construction business that has built many beautiful buildings at Ananda Village and elsewhere. When you moved to Ananda Village in 1970, did you have any idea that you would be starting a business?

Nakula: When I arrived at Ananda, everything I owned was in a backpack made out of a used gunnysack. I didn’t even have enough money to buy lunch after Sunday service.

Q: How did you survive?

Nakula: At first I did odd jobs. Then I began making a granola cereal which I sold to friends and later to a health food store. Eventually I sold it to 35 health food stores in Northern California.

“You should buy those cows!”
Q: You started the Ananda Dairy in 1972. What caused you to move in that direction?

Nakula: By 1972 quite a few of us were buying milk from a local farmer. One day he told us that he had to sell his two cows. Later in meditation, I heard Paramhansa Yogananda’s voice say very clearly, “You should buy those cows!”

So I created a plan. A number of Ananda families agreed to pay me in advance for a year’s supply of milk, which enabled me to buy the cows and start the dairy.

Q: Had you planned to go into business?

Nakula: My plan was to follow Yogananda’s guidance. And I trusted the guidance. Money was very scarce in those days and the dairy was meeting a real need by providing an inexpensive source of nutrition. The dairy later made cheese, butter, yogurt and other products, and employed half a dozen people.

My real education in construction
Q: The dairy closed down in 1987, but before that you had moved to the Ananda community at Ocean Song?

Nakula: Yes, in 1980, and after that to the Ananda ashram in San Francisco. In 1984 I moved to the Washington D .C. area in order to learn more about architecture and construction.

My big break came when a large construction company hired me as a draftsman. I believe this was Yogananda’s way of giving me a chance to learn because this was the beginning of my real education in construction.

The company was building an airport car rental facility that had to be finished in record time. I’d been working on drawings for a month when the man in charge quit. The owner said to me, “Well, you know more about it than anybody. You’re in charge.”

Q: And you agreed?

Nakula: I took it on! I went to all the subcontractors and asked, “Can you do this?” They all said yes, and the bricklayer—who was a key player—was just as excited about the challenge as I was. He hired 30 extra men. And it became a big fun thing, with all the trades working all the time. We worked and worked and worked. And we finished on schedule.

Q: It sounds like you worked with a lot of joy.

Nakula: There was a lot of joy, and I was learning! The car rental company later hired me as a contractor, and that’s how the N. Paul Cryer Construction Company was founded.

Q: You were on your own as a devotee. Were you able to practice karma yoga—non-attachment to the results, seeing God as the Doer, and seeing yourself as serving God?

Nakula: My motive was always to serve God, to do the best I could with every opportunity He gave me, to see Him in everything I did. When I’m doing it for God, then I feel His energy flowing through me. And yes, most of the time I felt His flow.

Tuning into Yogananda’s teachings on success
Q: Was your experience at the Ananda Dairy a factor in your success?

Nakula: The dairy taught me self-discipline and many other things, but I trace my success in Washington D. C. to an inner call to go more deeply into Yogananda’s teachings.

Q: How did that come about?

Nakula: Before moving to Washington D.C. I was involved with multi-level marketing, and I went to motivational seminars and bought motivational tapes. So in Washington, when I saw an ad for a 14-cassette motivational course, I ordered it.

I was listening to one of the cassettes when I recognized concepts similar to Yogananda’s teachings. And I thought, “Why go to a second-hand source when I have my own Guru’s teachings on how to succeed?”

So I read out loud onto a cassette Yogananda’s The Law of Success. I also recorded myself repeating his affirmation for psychological success from Scientific Healing Affirmations, which is for overall success—material, psychological, and spiritual.

I played that cassette for months!  Whenever I was in the car, I listened to that tape. And I applied what I was learning to all the work opportunities that came to me. That was the turning point. From then on I got more jobs, better jobs.

Working night and day
Q: Exactly how did The Law of Success and the affirmation help you?

Nakula: The Law of Success taught me the importance of doing everything with total dedication. Yogananda stresses the importance of doing everything with 100% of your energy. So if my job was to build a car wash building, then my whole focus was to make that car wash building the best it could be.

And looking back to the early days of Ananda, I remembered that was how Swami Kriyananda built Ananda. Whatever he did, it was with all of his energy. When he needed money to pay for the land, he was on the road nearly all the time giving classes. When he wrote books, he would put all his heart and energy into writing, staying up late many nights.

So I worked night and day on that project. When there was something wrong with the welding, I’d bring in an extra welder at night so the regular crew could start in the morning without missing a day.

But success is multifaceted. Not everyone has the karma to succeed outwardly. Yogananda teaches that when you do your best in everything you do, whether you succeed or fail outwardly, inwardly you gain. I believe I also gained in courage, willingness and attunement to Yogananda.

Drawing Yogananda’s grace
Q: What do you see as the main difference between relying on the motivational speakers and relying on The Law of Success and Scientific Healing Affirmations?

Nakula: When we embrace Yogananda’s teachings with devotion, we’re tuning into a dynamo, something much bigger than we are. Our efforts are quadrupled by the power coming from God and Guru.

The motivational talks contained some spiritual truth, but without the power of the Divine behind you, that only takes you so far. And if I’ve turned to another teacher, then the magnetism isn’t there to draw Yogananda’s grace.

Q: Why did you leave Washington D.C. in 1989?

Nakula: I had learned all I could and I was eager to build for Ananda, either at Ananda Village or at one of the colonies that were getting underway. When I moved back to the Village I joined the Ananda Builder’s Guild, a private business.

I became head of the Guild in 1993, a time when it was facing bankruptcy. We had a big debt, over $100,000, caused by one of our clients going bankrupt.

Q: Did Yogananda’s teachings help you meet this challenge?

Nakula: I believe he guided me to the solution. Guild members had a meeting and it was suggested that each member be personally responsible for part of the debt. But I felt it would be difficult for everyone to do that.

So after the meeting I prayed to Yogananda, “What shall I do?” And I felt him say, “Take responsibility” as clearly as if he were standing next to me.

And I did. A few others joined me. I contacted every creditor and said, “We don’t have the money to pay what we owe, but we will pay you as much as we can every month.” And we paid every debt in full. It took three years.

I’ve since started my own company and I doubt that I would be having financial success today if I hadn’t honored those debts. That success has also made it possible for me to give more money to Ananda.

Q: Do you see a relationship between generosity and prosperity?

Nakula: Generosity keeps the flow going. God is the source of everything we have and we complete the circuit when we give to His work. No matter how tight my money situation is, I never cut back on giving.

Putting myself last
Q: Has it been smooth sailing since you started your own company?

Nakula: No. In the first few years I sometimes had barely enough money to pay salaries. For several months I took no pay so that our employees could be paid.  My family went without nice clothes, a decent car, and even haircuts because the higher dharma was to pay others.

In this instance, it was one of the principles in Kriyananda’s book, The Art of Supportive Leadership, that helped me. It says that the true leader puts his personal needs last—the employees come first.

But putting myself last wasn’t a hardship—I felt an increase in inner freedom from meeting those challenges in a dharmic way. Now, all the managers in my company read Kriyananda’s book, and we discuss it.

Q: Do you think that more people at Ananda should try to start businesses?

Nakula: Absolutely! We need more businesses. Not everyone is entrepreneurial but if that’s what God wants you to do, you’ll find joy in it and you’ll grow spiritually. You can see God in every action you take, even if you’re making sandals.

There’s a man at Ananda Village who feels Yogananda’s guidance to clear the dead brush and make the land beautiful. He works around the clock, even in hot seasons when he has to wear cloths on his face because of the dust. He puts his whole self into clearing the dead brush, and he’s a soul of joy.

Nakula Cryer is a Lightbearer and resident of Ananda Village. He is the owner of Ananda Design & Construction, and president of the newly formed, Ananda Institute of Alternative Living. With his wife Sara, he also manages the Ananda Meditation Retreat and the “Building with Spirit” work/study program at the Retreat.

Q: What attracted you to hospice work?

Sharon: When I first started in nursing in 1969 I worked in an intensive care unit but left after a year because I had such a hard time dealing with people dying. This was before I was on the spiritual path and I had a lot of fear around death.

But I always wanted to do this kind of work. I felt that there was something here for me to learn.

Three years ago, for financial reasons, I needed to work outside Ananda Village and a hospice job opened up. After 20 years on the spiritual path, I felt that I could handle the challenge of working with the dying.

The guru’s presence
Q: Did your background in meditation and yoga made a difference in how you responded to people dying?

Sharon: A huge difference. Meditation has helped me overcome many fears. As it says in Autobiography of a Yogi, “even a little practice of this inward religion will save you from dire fears and colossal sufferings.” I had learned, also, to “practice the presence,” and I knew that everything in my life improved when I brought God and guru into what I was doing.

So when driving to see a patient, I would pray deeply to Yogananda and ask him to go before me and calm the way. Then, before going into a patient’s home I would stop and try to feel Yogananda’s presence. Often, I would meditate in my car for a few minutes to become more interiorized and uplifted.

As long as I could feel Yogananda’s presence, I was able to bring a positive energy to the situation no matter how challenging things were. Then I felt I had something to give.

Q: Did you notice any changes in the people you were trying to help?

Sharon: People seemed to be comforted. Some would say, “Gosh, you know, just your being here makes me feel much calmer or more comfortable.”  But I knew it wasn’t me they were feeling. What they were feeling was Yogananda’s presence, his energy.

Interestingly, a situation would often improve even before I arrived. Sometimes I would receive a call saying that the family was in a panic, or that the situation had become chaotic—and I would take off immediately. On the way I would pray and do Kriyas while driving. By the time I got there the situation was calmer.

Fear of dying
Q: Do you frequently encounter negative emotions about death—emotions such as fear and anger?

Sharon: I’ve learned that most people, as they approach death, have some fear simply because they’re going into the unknown. Even people who are spiritual and have deep faith in God often have to deal with fear.

But a lot of people are afraid because they believe they haven’t lived very good lives. They may be afraid that they’ll go to hell. Sometimes they’ve turned away from God and now that they’re dying, they want to turn back, but are afraid that God won’t accept them. As death approaches, many people go through spiritual crises. They have difficulty accessing the strength and comfort they need to approach death calmly.

Q: And in what ways have you been able to help people with their fear and anger?

Sharon: I try to offer a picture of God who’s not vengeful, who loves us unconditionally, and who is always forgiving. Just recently I was helping a man who was really terrified. He’d been a devout Catholic, but when his son died in a military accident, he turned away from the church. In his mind, he had turned away from God, and so he had quite a bit of fear about dying.

I talked to him about God being a God of love and forgiveness. Eventually he reached a point where he was more peaceful about dying, feeling he hadn’t done so badly after all.

Q: What about anger? Have you been able to help people let go of those emotions?

Sharon: A hospice nurse always tries to relieve pain and make the patient comfortable. When you do that, people then usually have enough energy to deal with their anger, which usually involves forgiving themselves and others. I’ve seen beautiful healings between family members as a person approaches death.

“I am the doer!”
Q: You and I were talking earlier about a crisis in your hospice work that resulted in your becoming ill. You said that from the illness you learned that you had become over-confident about working with the dying. Can you explain how that happened?

Sharon: After about two years in hospice I reached a point where I felt I could handle most situations—and I actually said that to my husband. I didn’t realize what a dangerous statement that was!

What I was really saying was “I am the doer.” I was taking all the credit for helping my patients and improving their situations. And I had become so confident that I wasn’t praying nearly as much or tuning into Yogananda’s presence.

The result was that the daily exposure to the pain and suffering of dying began to weigh on me. It became a burden that I carried and that eventually manifested in my body as illness.

When I was regularly tuning into Yogananda and could feel him flowing through me, I could always see the “perfection” in what was happening whenever my patients were close to dying. I would hold onto the thought that my patients were simply leaving one house and entering another—that soon they would be in the Light, and that everything would be fine. And I would be at peace about it.

The higher Self, not the ego
Q: You’ve been off work for a few months, but as you prepare to go back, do you have any plans for how you will approach your hospice work?

Sharon: Hand in hand with Yogananda! I pray that I never again lose sight of who the doer is. If I can approach each patient with Yogananda’s presence in my heart, then I feel I have something to give.

A Buddhist who worked in a hospice house in San Francisco said that the most important medicine we bring to the patient is ourselves. By that he meant our higher self, not the ego.

Q: Do you have any ideas about how you can bring more of your higher self to your patients?

Sharon: For me the most important key is meditating twice a day, without fail. Also, praying before each visit for guidance and to be a channel to bring peace to the situation, always keeps me in my center. I also plan to do a private astral ascension ceremony for my patients when they pass on, to help them on their way— and to help me release them into the Light.

I feel very blessed to be able to do this work. You walk into people’s lives during one of their most intimate experiences and they share it with you. There are many times of laughter and many beautiful moments. It’s a wonderful way to serve God and guru.

Sharon Taylor is an Ananda Village resident and Lightbearer. A registered nurse, she is currently doing hospice work in the Nevada City-Grass Valley area.

Byasa. Yes I have. Today there are two conflicting ideas about where all the tumultuous change in our present-day world is leading. One is that we are descending into a moral abyss that will lead to self-destruction or, possibly, the end-of-the-world.

The other is that we are steadily advancing toward greater technological power and control. One perspective offers global darkness and decay, while the other envisions a world characterized by a sterile, super-advanced material technology.

The concept of the yuga cycles offers something much more hopeful than either of these two views—a world of expanded consciousness in which people are becoming more in tune with God and nature.

Q. What is the source of our knowledge of the yuga cycles?

Byasa. Sri Yukteswar wrote about the yugas in The Holy Science in order to give us an alternative framework for understanding the present-day world. He explained that mankind’s ability to grasp spiritual knowledge varies according to which yuga we are in.

There are eight yugas, four descending yugas and four ascending yugas, which make up a full 24,000-year cycle. The world goes through these 24,000-year cycles repeatedly, much as we repeatedly go through the seasons of the year.

During a descending cycle of 12,000 years, the consciousness of humanity becomes increasingly limited and materialistic, whereas during an ascending 12,000 year cycle, humanity gradually increases in awareness and understanding.

According to Sri Yukteswar, the first yuga, Satya Yuga—the age of truth, lasts 4800 years. This is the golden age of consciousness in which man, because of his spiritual development, lives in tune with the Divine. Following Satya Yuga is Treta Yuga; the age of mind, which lasts 3600 years; then Dwapara Yuga, a 2400-year age of energy, followed by Kali Yuga or “dark age” of 1200 years, in which the human intellect can only comprehend the gross material creation.

After the world descended to the lowest point of Kali Yuga in 500 AD, the sequence began to repeat itself in reverse order, starting with a 1200-year period of ascending Kali Yuga. In 1700 AD we began a 200-year transition into Dwapara Yuga. Dwapara Yuga began in 1900 AD.

Q. Dwapara Yuga is known as the  “age of energy.” What does this mean?

Byasa. In the age of Dwapara, energy will be seen as the reality behind all appearances, not matter or form. According to the yuga timetable, we entered fully into the age of Dwapara in 1900 AD. Six years later, Einstein published his papers showing the equivalence of matter and energy, which revolutionized our concept of the physical universe and laid the foundations for modern science.

Q. Yet, materialism and attachment to form are still very strong. How do you explain this?

Byasa. There are energies everywhere that want desperately to turn back the clock and hold onto the values of Kali Yuga. The forces moving us forward into Dwapara Yuga are doing battle with these energies. We see an expression of this conflict in religious fundamentalism, terrorism, political corruption, greed—those elements in society that want to keep us attached to materialism and outward form.

Of course, some of these things are part of the transition—the destruction of the old to make way for the new. One of the consequences, however, is that many people are confused about what our new values should be.

Q. Is this type of societal tumult characteristic of the transition between the yugas?

Byasa. Indeed it is! The collapse of civilizations seems to be one of the hallmarks of this changeover. For instance, the Egyptian dynastic civilization, which was founded at the beginning of descending Dwapara Yuga in 3100 BC, lasted only during that yuga. It collapsed with the opening centuries of descending Kali Yuga, in 750 BC.

The Roman Empire, which was founded in 753 BC, lasted only during that period of descending Kali Yuga. It was destroyed at the lowest point of Kali Yuga, 500 AD, which also saw the destruction of civilizations in India and China. These changes cleared the way for the beginnings of an ascending Kali Yuga.

The transition into ascending Dwapara Yuga, which began in 1700 AD, saw the birth of the European Industrial Revolution, which was the first major manifestation of Dwapara Yuga consciousness. The period 1700-1900 AD witnessed the French and American political revolutions—radical movements away from oppressive systems of government. In our own century we have seen the dissolution of great empires like those of Britain and the USSR, and the ending of colonialism throughout the world. These changes have helped clear the way for ascending Dwapara Yuga.

Q. What further changes do you see in the near future?

Byasa. Already we have seen great advances in the fields of electronics, air travel, medicine, and communications. Along with that we will see the continued breakdown of established institutions, national boundaries and cultural groupings. In science and religion there will be shattered dogmas and disillusionment. People will be confused, angry, searching. Kali Yuga will not go away peacefully. However, after a period of chaos, people attuned to the Dwapara energies will pick up the pieces and build a society appropriate to this new age.

Q. What is the greatest challenge of Dwapara Yuga?

Byasa. The major challenge of Dwapara Yuga is to learn how to use energy wisely. An age of energy gives people of Kali Yuga consciousness the power to realize their most evil dreams.

The first major application of our new understanding of energy was the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. This was a momentous step in warfare and certainly the fulfillment of the dreams of military leaders for thousands of years. However, once we had developed such a bomb, we then had to face the ethical question of whether or not to use it.

Q. Does the yuga concept challenge basic assumptions in Western science?

Byasa. Very much so. Western science is loath to admit that there may have been civilizations in the past more advanced than we are today. Among the so-called primitive cultures of 10,000 years ago, war was unknown and they lived in harmony with their environment.

Can we really say that they were less “advanced” than we are today? We are wedded to the idea that humanity has made steady progress from ape to astronaut, a notion that has blinded us to evidence that people in ancient times understood the world in a different and deeper way than we do today.

Q. In what ways can knowledge of the yugas help us to grow spiritually?

Byasa. Right now the changeover to Dwapara Yuga is a period of turmoil and change, bringing tests directly into our daily life. If we can approach this new age with a joyful, positive attitude and really understand the deeper meaning behind it, then the seeming chaos will be easier to accept and will, in fact, help us to move forward spiritually.

Sri Yukteswar explains that it is possible for devotees in any yuga to experience the same levels of consciousness enjoyed by people in the higher yugas. In other words, liberation may be easier to attain in Satya Yuga, but we don’t have to wait ten thousand years for that opportunity.

Byasa Steinmetz, a Lightbearer and resident of Ananda Sacramento, is currently working on a book about the yugas. His scientific career has included optical engineering and astronomy.

A: Yes. Sometimes the healing has been instantaneous, but most times it is gradual. Last year I worked with a man who had a longstanding chronic illness and it’s a good example of how the process can work. In a short healing session, I was able to help him to open his medulla oblongata and he regained his health, but after several months the problem came back.

I realized then that he needed a way that he, on his own, could regularly energize the medulla. So I gave him Paramhansa Yogananda’s affirmations for the medulla and they helped him a great deal.

Q: Why is the medulla oblongata so important?

A: The medulla oblongata is also called the “mouth of God.” It’s where life force (God’s energy) enters the body. Many of Yogananda’s healing techniques involve drawing energy in through the medulla and directing it to your own body or out through the hands to send healing to others.

In doing hands-on healing with devotees who have chronic illnesses, I’ve noticed that the spiritual eye is often very strong but that the medulla oblongata will feel either “dead” or weak—there’s very little energy there. Whenever I’ve been able to help energize the medulla with a strong flow of energy, the person’s health has improved.

Q: I imagine that for the healing to be permanent, the person needs to continue to be actively engaged in the healing process?

A: Affirmations are one of the most powerful ways to address any healing need—be it physical, mental, or spiritual, chronic or short-term. Healing depends on the power of the healer and the receptivity of the patient. The process of powerfully affirming health increases a person’s receptivity to the healing process.

Some people think of receptivity as a passive state, but it’s actually very dynamic. The person who expects the healer to do it all won’t heal nearly as quickly as someone who takes responsibility to affirm and visualize health for himself.

Yogananda put it this way: “Faith, not time, will determine when the cure will be effected.” Faith motivates people to put out the energy that healing requires.

Q: It’s obvious, then, that a person’s attitudes are a key to drawing energy into the body through the medulla?

A: Very much so. People who are healthy, vibrant and full of energy aren’t usually thinking about the medulla at all! They simply wake up with a lot of enthusiasm, saying “I want to do that project today!” And then there’s a rush of energy. Enthusiasm, a strong will, embracing what each day brings with gratitude and joy, giving energy to others—all of these help to keep a strong flow through the medulla.

Q: The Energization Exercises, then, would also be very helpful?

A: That’s what they’re designed for—to bring a strong flow of energy into the body through the medulla. But the mental aspects of energization are just as important as the physical. The exercises won’t help you very much if you do them grudgingly or absentmindedly.

I love the words in the prayer for energization, “O eternal youth of body and mind, abide within me forever and ever.” Think of the life force entering the body through the medulla and then filling your body cells with that kind of energy!

Q: In working with people who have chronic illnesses, do you try to help them release suppressed emotions?

A: I used to devote a lot of energy to helping people release deeply held feelings and blocks (from this life and past lives) and it was very helpful. In the past year, however, I’ve felt Divine Mother guiding me to help people in a much deeper and faster way, by sending healing energy into the person’s spiritual eye and medulla, down the spine to the chakras.

Yogananda describes this technique as sending “divine healing rays into the patient’s heart and brain,” thus destroying the “seeds of ignorance” and enabling him to “smile with the health of God-love.”

Q: Can you offer any guidelines for selecting a spiritual healer?

A: It’s important that the healer not make you “healer-dependent” but, rather, assists you in regaining your God-given ability to be well. Just as herbalists and nutritionists empower their patients by giving them specific knowledge for health, likewise, “spiritual healers” should also empower their patients with suitable tools for self-healing, such as positive thoughts and affirmations, healing exercises, and ideas for right living.

When possible, I think it’s wonderful if followers of Yogananda are able to go to practitioners who have deeply studied and applied his teachings on healing. The truths they embody are powerful and limitless and only beginning to be explored.

Q: Where does the teaching that “God is the doer” fit in with healing? Is the healer necessary?

A: The true spiritual healer has experienced God’s healing power and knows that even miracles are possible, if God wills it. This faith in divine healing becomes a deep part of the healer’s vibration. Proximity to such faith often helps the patient begin to believe healing is possible and thus makes him more receptive to healing energy.

The patient, of course, can hold healing thoughts for himself, and it is vital to do so, but sometimes he needs the help of someone who firmly holds this faith. When the healer touches the patient under such circumstances, wonderful healing can occur.

God needs instruments, and the healer is only that—a willing instrument of something much, much greater. It would be the deathblow to a spiritual healer to think otherwise. You have to remain humble.

Mary Kretzmann, Lightbearer and resident of Ananda Village, is Director of the Ananda Healing Prayer Ministry. For healing prayers or to order Divine Will Healing, call 530-478-7560 or email, prayers@ananda.org.

Affirmation for Energizing the Medulla
by Paramhansa Yogananda

Simultaneously concentrate your will on the medulla and the point between the eyebrows. Repeat the following affirmation, first loudly and then gradually in whispers, and finally silently:

I will my life-force to charge
With Godly will I will it charge
Through my nerves and
muscles all
My tissues, limbs and all,
With vibrant tingling fire
With burning joyous power
In blood and glands
By sovereign command
I bid you flow
By my command
I bid you glow
By my command
I bid you glow.

Scientific Healing Affirmations
by Paramhansa Yogananda, 1924 edition.

A. The age of the child makes a big difference. For younger children, 6-12 years old, when something like the World Trade Center attacks happens, you mention it to them, you let them know what’s happening, but you state it as simply as possible.

It’s best not to show them graphic images of violence or to expose them to adults who are emotionally upset. One of the worst things for a small child is to see violent images over and over again.

Children from 6 to 12 are wide open and very vulnerable emotionally, so at our school we shield them as much as possible from the storms and extremes of life. It’s like cultivating a garden. Children at this age don’t have a lot of defenses, and can be hurt deeply by violence of any kind.

Q: What if the younger children have already seen violent images?

A: Then it’s important to find other images to reduce the impact—beautiful scenery, nature, animals—and especially scenes of compassion related to the event such as images of people helping each other or praying for the victims.

Q: What about the children over 12?

A: Our junior and senior high school students knew right away what had happened and we discussed it a number of times.

Q: What were the main concerns?

A: They wanted to know what in the Muslim religion would make people want to do something like this. So we brought in a member of the Muslim faith from our local area to discuss his religion. He explained that the people who committed these acts were unbalanced and weren’t acting from Muslim beliefs.

Q: Had you done anything before September 11th to help the teens learn how best to respond to challenging events?

A: In fact, we had. In our “Understanding People” course, we studied how different cultures interact with each other, how natural it is to have differences, and how these differences sometimes lead to conflict.

A particularly powerful experience for the students was studying Mahatma Gandhi’s and Nelson Mandela’s responses to discrimination and injustice. The students read books on the lives of these men and also watched the movie “Gandhi.”

They learned that when faced with injustice, or with any challenging situation, we always have a choice. We can embrace the challenge and expand and grow, or we can push it away and be afraid and contract. The challenge, of course, is always to find a way to expand.

Q: I guess the lesson is that a contractive attitude can lead to the kind of acts that occurred on September 11th?

A: Right. When you stereotype the other side as “devils,” it’s easy to think that whatever you do to them is okay because you have God on your side.

Q: How do you help teens choose the direction of expansion?

A: This question is especially important when working with teens. They’re outgrowing their little enclosed world of childhood, the secure garden you tried to provide for them. It’s a time in life when they need to develop their will power, and challenges are an important means of accomplishing this.

For example, there was a boy in our school who tended to freeze mentally when confronted with new situations, academic or otherwise. One day I handed him the book Affirmations and Prayers, by Swami Kriyananda, and said, “I want you to find and memorize an affirmation that will help you get through these blocks.”

He picked the one on “willingness” that goes “I welcome everything that comes to me as an opportunity for further growth.” We also made a list of all the “I can’t” words and phrases he used as negative affirmations, and then focused on removing them from his vocabulary. From then on he started making progress. He began to see that he could deal with algebra, with learning to debate, and with the many other challenges that are a part of life. Gradually that new attitude became part of who he is.

Q: I imagine that teaching teens how to serve is also important?

A: Very much so. We have problems with teens in our culture partly because there are so few ways for them to get constructively involved in life’s challenges.

When kids reach their teens they become aware of life’s problems and have a deep need to do something about them. Young teenagers especially are very open and idealistic. If they have ways of expressing that idealism, they learn how to find solutions to life’s challenges instead of being upset by them. But if there’s no outlet for their idealism, they become cynical and angry.

So we get the students involved in service projects that involve working with handicapped kids, homeless people, the elderly, and other needy groups. This type of one-on-one service is very helpful to teens.

They begin to see that change can happen. The experience of giving food to a hungry person or of playing with a handicapped child affirms the teenagers’ self-worth because they’ve been able to be an instrument to help others.

When hard times hit, whether it’s economic turmoil, terrorism, or some other difficulty, we don’t want to contract in upon ourselves. There’s a simple formula for transcending that—and that’s doing something for others. It’s a very important part of a young person’s training.

Q: Where does God t into the picture? Is there any particular age at which a child is more receptive to learning about God?

A: There’s a lot of individuality but also certain patterns. I’ve seen incredible devotion in children during the feeling years, 6-12. They will just fall in love with Krishna or the baby Jesus. This is the positive side of their being so open. But this type of devotion generally comes to an end around the age of puberty.

The natural focus of teenagers is on exploring the outer world, so their spiritual growth comes mainly in this domain. Our high school is based on adventure, service and self-discovery.

Through adventure, students feel the expansion and empowerment that come with overcoming limitations. With service there is the tangible experience of upliftment in helping others. Both lead to a greater sense of self-discovery, which is then supported and deepened through meditation.

But for teens the primary focus is “God in action.” Their spiritual activities must reflect this.

Q: It seems that Education for Life tries to help students become strong in themselves—to be able to meet whatever life brings.

A: Yes. Even when we’re not dealing with September 11th events, these are still troubling times. You can’t get away from it. We’re training the children to be spiritual warriors, to learn to respond with creative, solution-oriented energy and not to become discouraged when there are challenges in life.

Nitai Deranja, a Lightbearer and longtime Ananda member, serves as Director of the Living Wisdom High School at Ananda Village.

The Living Wisdom High School at Ananda Village combines college prep academics with life skills to offer a balanced education that prepares students for the joys and responsibilities of life. The school is now accepting applications for boys and girls 8-12th grades, boarding and day students. Contact: livwishc@hotmail.com. or (530) 478-7643.