My spouse, Lahari, and I’ve had the privilege of serving in most of the ashrams Ananda has established around the globe. Since our arrival within the 1980’s, we now have had 15 years at Ananda Village, 2 in Portland, 2 in Ananda Ashland, 3 in Palo Alto, 1 in Ananda Rhode Island, 2 in Sacramento, 5 in Gurgaon, 3 in Pune, 10 extra again in Palo Alto, and most lately 1 in Mumbai. One would possibly rightly say we now have been a few of Ananda’s wandering sadhus!
Every Ananda location has its personal strengths, and inevitably, its personal quirks. However all have encompassed the identical underlying threads: Grasp, Swamiji, meditation, service. The readings are the identical, the prayers are the identical, the chants are the identical, the kriyas are the identical. The languages used might differ, however Ananda FEELS the identical in every single place you go across the globe.
Beforehand, we had by no means spent longer than two weeks at a time in our sister ashram in Assisi, Italy. However present circumstances have provided me and my spouse the present of spending three consecutive months there.
Methods Ananda Assisi is particular
What are among the issues that make the ashram at Ananda Assisi so particular? It has so many components, too many to write down about in a single brief article. How will you not point out lunches on the Terre di Luce farm, the boutique, the ashram program, the programs they educate, or the seva program? Every individual’s perspective on Ananda is sure to be distinctive. Acknowledging that, I’m going to give attention to solely 4 features from the numerous that might be written concerning the ashram at Ananda Assisi.
The Choir
The primary of my private favourite features is the Ananda Assisi choir. Peter Treichler has been the director for the previous decade, and the schedule he units will be daunting. Simply hearken to the choirs’ schedule for this week simply concluded.
There was a 4-hour retreat for each singer on Tuesday, a 1 ½ hour rehearsal for the bigger choir on Wednesday, a 2 ½ hour rehearsal for the smaller choir on Thursday, then a forty five minute live performance for all of the visitors on the retreat that very same night time, a 15 minute sing through the Friday night time introduction for brand new lessons beginning on the retreat, and a serious 90 minute launch of their newly recorded album on Saturday night. The choirs’ standard three songs for Sunday Service rounded off this gorgeous week of music.
Now, admittedly, this week had extra choir occasions than some, nevertheless it suggests how central the choir’s work has change into for the entire ashram. About 25 members of the Assisi ashram participate actively on this facet of Ananda’s work, attuning increasingly more subtly to Swamiji by means of his music.
Espresso bars
I notice that the second facet of the Ananda Assisi ashram I need to spotlight would possibly sound a little bit irreverent. It’s the chats that happen over espresso and cappuccino!
Nearly day by day I’ve had deep conversations whereas sipping espresso drinks at one of many two “bars” that Ananda members frequent. One is straight throughout from the visitor’s eating corridor, the place Rasamayi serves. The opposite is the bar in Morano, a mere 5 minutes down the street, the place Simone and her household serve.
For these unfamiliar with practices in Italy, “bars” right here serve a tiny little bit of liquor and a complete lot of espresso drinks! In each locations there may be a lot heat banter happening. It has been amidst these joyful environment that my most significant religious conversations right here in Italy have taken place.
Temple of Mild (Tempio di Luce)
And on a extra critical be aware, the third of my most favourite features of life on the Ananda Assisi ashram is that Tempio di Luce! How does one describe the expertise such a spot offers us?
It’s nonetheless. It’s quiet. It’s candy. It enfolds you. It is stuffed with presence. It’s dynamic. It’s hovering. It attracts you upward. The sunshine is available in from all instructions. The cupola appears to radiate gentle. These beams coax us towards that supply of Mild above.
It’s tough NOT to meditate deeply in such environment. The whole lot on this temple is conducive to surrendering your self simply into an upwardly altered state. To place it succinctly, the Tempio di Luce meditates FOR you…
Moksha Kutir
And naturally, no different Ananda middle has the place the place Swamiji took his final breath. The Moksha Kutir makes clear to me that all the things that’s vital about my life comes by means of Swamiji, that each precept he taught, I now take as my very own. That my ideas about methods to be and methods to suppose on this planet come from him.
In these environment I notice that the identical tangible silence I really feel within the Moksha Kutir is similar silence I really feel on the shrines for the Catholic saints in Assisi—for Francis, and Clare, and Joseph of Cupertino. There may be NO distinction! Profound peace. Profound stillness. Vacancy that’s utterly full. Stillness that’s pulsing with dynamism. It’s like my pores and skin tingles with out bodily trigger. That’s what the Moksha Kutir is for me.
So sure, all Ananda’s colonies are the identical, in essence. However I can’t assist having a particular place in my coronary heart for Ananda Assisi. You in Europe who stay so near such a holy spot are tremendously blessed. Don’t miss the chance to go to usually!
