Moment by moment, day by day, song after song…the music ministry did our best to help create the best Spiritual Renewal Week ever.
Tomorrow we return to “normal” life, but tonight I’m taking it easy.
We did it
A fitting conclusion
There was a beautiful sunset as we headed home after tonight’s Indian banquet. A fitting conclusion, with the sun setting on what has been a glorious Spiritual Renewal Week.
Tomorrow is Sunday service and then the numerous guests head home and Village life returns to normal — though after so much inspiration I think it can’t help but be a higher level of normal!
Today’s thrilling moment
This is the song we performed before this morning’s (very inspiring) Spiritual Renewal Class. It’s one of my (many) favorite songs by Swamiji!
(Of course, our ensemble arrangement is a lot simpler than this version from Ramesha’s album — The Inner Temple!)
Today’s thrilling moment came when we invited the audience to join us on the final chorus.
What an amazing experience it is to be one of 300 or so people singing the words, “Dear God, my God, I am Thine for eternity! Dear God, my God, I am Thine eternally!”
And meaning every word.
Here are the complete lyrics:
I WILL ALWAYS THINK OF THEE
Every morning when I greet the sun,
When I move forth through crowded ways,
In my heart, Lord, ever so silently,
I will always think of Thee!
When I laugh, O, and when I cry with pain,
When my best friends misunderstand.
In my heart, Lord, ever so silently,
I will always think of Thee!
Chorus:
Dear God, my God, I am Thine for eternity!
Dear God, my God, I am Thine eternally!
Though my path lead me over desert sands
Though it take me through bitter storms,
In my heart, Lord, ever so silently,
I will always think of Thee!
When I’m working and when in earned repose,
Let come vict’ry or low defeat,
In my heart, Lord, ever so silently,
I will always think of Thee!
Chorus:
Dear God, my God, I am Thine for eternity!
Dear God, my God, I am Thine eternally!
Being the music
As part of her comments during this afternoon’s Gratitude Tea, Devi expressed her appreciation for the Joy Singers (who sang at the beginning of the event) by observing that we “are the music.”
I’ve been reflecting on that and, while I believe it is true, I think it doesn’t go far enough. In truth, we all “are — or can be — the music.”
All of creation is vibration. Therefore, everything in creation vibrates — including every single one of us — just not all at the same frequency.
We are blessed at Ananda to have a wealth of music that vibrates at an extremely high frequency. Members of Ananda have been singing and attuning to this high frequency music for over fifty years, which allows us to vibrate at that same high frequency in everything we do and wherever we are in the world.
When people (delivery or repair persons, etc.) visit an Ananda community, they often ask “what is this place?” They can feel the deep harmony that comes as a result of that consistently high vibrational frequency.
It’s subtle stuff that I struggle to put into words. But I’ve personally experienced the reality of this so many times that I know the truth of it in every fiber of my being.
A little indulgence
After our big concert last night, I was up early today preparing music for this morning’s class.
Then lunch with dear friends; a few errands around the Village; and an inspiring Q&A with Jyotish and Devi tonight. All in all, it was still a very full day.
So, tonight I decided to indulge myself with a little treat…some potato chips!
A wonderful concert
Tonight’s concert was wonderful on so many levels…which I hope to be able to actually communicate about tomorrow!
Right now, I’m ready to call it a day and go to bed.
The blessing of kirtan
My town errands took all afternoon and into the evening, so I arrived back at the Village just in time for the beginning of tonight’s Spiritual Renewal Week kirtan.
Ramesha organized it this year, so I really wanted to attend. However, I couldn’t stay for more than two chants (also because I had perishable groceries in the car).
But I’m really glad I made the effort. Largely because it was nice to simply sit in the audience and feel the joy and devotion without being in charge of any of it.
The kirtan is almost always Monday night, with the concert following on Tuesday. So, I’m usually up to my eyeballs in preparations and find it hard to make the time to go. But I’m going to try and change that next year.
Devotional kirtan and chanting to God truly is a wonderful thing.
Off to a great start
We had close to eighty singers at tonight’s choir rehearsal (for the SRW concert).
Then there are another ten or so who couldn’t make it tonight but will join us for the warm-up rehearsal and concert on Tuesday.
I’m just not sure how or where we’re going to fit them all in!
Dinner and a show
I’ve lived outside of Nevada City off and on since 2007, but tonight was the first time that I attended an event at the Center for the Performing Arts in Grass Valley.
The occasion was a show by my friend Nancy’s new voice teacher (Carrie Hennessy). What a voice and what a show — entertaining, thought-provoking, and moving.
We met early for a delicious Italian dinner before the concert and had an altogether pleasant evening.
A thousand details, one at a time
“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”
Mother Teresa said that, and it was the perfect reminder I needed this morning to start tackling my day.
Later…
I read that quote this morning and it did get me going. The challenge now is to keep going until it’s all finished.
Much, much later…
Well, I couldn’t get it all done before coming home, so for the first time this week I’m working late into the evening. There were just a few too many details requiring completion.
Oh well.