Recently Ananda Texas took a pilgrimage to Ananda Village, CA, the founding home of Ananda Worldwide and this expression of Paramhansa Yogananda’s teachings. It is located in the gold-veined foothills of the Sierra Nevada’s and is an intentional spiritual community augmented by a strong spiritual energy created by the 300 dedicated souls seeking God together. For visitors, it is a bubble of relaxation and spiritual renewal—truly a magical place where the tumultuous times we live in seem far away. Yet around the tables at dinner time, conversations would inevitably drift toward the impact on our personal lives.
These times are chaotic no doubt. How to wend our way through the confusion and fear? One guest commented, we don’t have to know the way, “the Way knows the way.” In many aspects this is true: according to the teachings of yoga, there is a conscious Force animating the universe. But don’t we often find ourselves lost in the forest of our own self- limiting fears?
The teachings of yoga take us to the root of the issue: everyone is seeking to avoid suffering and find happiness in the best way they know. And yes, as often as not, it’s sadly misguided. On the lowest level of awareness, unfortunately it comes at the expense of others, only exacerbating the suffering ultimately for everyone.
The teachings also offer a simple solution. Simple but not easy: follow the Love. The teachings tell us that everything in creation is imbued with this Love. We were literally loved into manifestation. To form this material existence a Divine Force was sent forth through the sound of AUM. Called the melody of Love, this Presence is at the heart of everything. When we feel love in our hearts it is harkening us back to the source of our true nature. As aspiring yogis we learn through our practices to commune with Aum, we learn to open our hearts to this inward calling. “The Way knows the way.” It awakens within us the one true path: follow the love.
So what do we do when the world turns upside down? Follow the love. However small the breadcrumbs, in whatever form it takes, on whatever level of commitment you can make, find the love and follow it. Meditation and yogic practices can serve as the touchstone reminding us of the way, gradually growing into an unshakeable, ever expanding reality that heals, protects, and provides solace for other weary travellers.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.
1 John 4:18
Follow the Love. The Way knows the way. Follow the Love. It is who we truly are.
Together on the Way to ever greater Love and Light,
Ananda in Texas
