Reflections on Living

This book invites you to enter the lives of a small group of people who helped shape the evolution of one of America's foremost spiritual communities, dedicated to yoga and the search for the Divine.

Ananda Village is a fascinating experiment in discovering what brings people closer to God. Founded in 1968 by Swami Kriyananda, the Village rests on 900 acres of meadows and forests amidst the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Northern California.

In the early days of its creation the Village included a monastery, a large bio-dynamic garden, a dairy, a natural foods market, a small school, a yoga and meditation retreat, and more. Filled with triumphs, disappointments, laughter, warmth, clarity and humility, these stories give the reader a glimpse of what it is like to create an environment dedicated to living the teachings of yoga and to finding God.

Often as I stand and gaze out over Ananda's green fields, woods, and rolling hills, I am reminded of a poem I wrote . . . set in the legendary golden era of Lord Rama, whose kingdom of Ayodhya, in ancient India, was a place of universal harmony, peace and brotherhood. Thus, may all men learn to live, wherever their paths take them outwardly. For now, as then, true, divine peace is possible only when people place God and spiritual values first in their lives. —Swami Kriyananda, The Path