We left for Europe in mid-December immediately after our Ananda Village Christmas concert, then spent two weeks with family in Lugano and one week visiting Ananda Assisi.
Add another ten days or so of laying low in order to recover from pneumonia, and it feels like a really long time since I’ve done anything musical!
Which I think is why I’ve been feeling rather out of sorts and kind of rudderless.
But the good news is that I’m singing for Sunday service tomorrow and will hopefully continue on a regular basis going forward.
Tonight in Assisi – S. Rufino church with lit with colored lights.
Tomorrow we leave Ananda Assisi and take the train to Roma, where we’ll spend the night before flying back to the States.
So yesterday and today have been very much about seeing and connecting with as many people as possible.
Yesterday was spent with numerous different people at Sunday service, Sunday lunch, coffee in the bar, and Master’s birthday event.
Today we spent time with new friends at lunch, had coffee with a different multitude of friends in the bar, then spent the evening in Assisi with a group of longtime friends — laughing and eating pizza.
I woke up quite early this morning, which was a good thing because there was so much to do before leaving for the train station and our trip to Assisi.
But what was really cool was opening the window before dawn (preparing to energize) and hearing church bells and bird song.
It somehow felt like an auspicious beginning to 2025.
We’ve actually had an interesting time saying goodbye to 2024 and “bringing in” 2025.
For one thing, we’ve been so busy as our time in Lugano draws to a close that we didn’t get much of a headstart on packing.
Today’s plan was to have lunch at Silvio’s, followed by a quick coffee/tea with the Lo Menzo’s, then home to get everything ready to leave first thing tomorrow morning.
Except “lunch” lasted from noon until a little after 3:00 and coffee/tea went from 3:30 until almost 5:00. By the time we got home I was pooped!
Little by little I managed to get it done, but as I sat down to write I realized I haven’t given a single thought to the year that’s ending or spent a single moment pondering my goals and intentions for the year ahead. Oops! Maybe there’ll be an opportunity on the train to Assisi tomorrow.
Regardless — I wish you all a Happy New Year and a 2025 filled with blessings!
A beautiful sky for our final night in Riomaggiore
The train trip to Genova went smoothly, but the drive from Genova to Assisi was a form of GPS hell.
No need to go into detail. Suffice it to say that instead of driving for four and a half hours, we were on the road for more like seven and a half.
We saw a lot of beautiful Tuscan countryside, but still…
These are some serious clouds! In fact, the real rain finally arrived as we were leaving Riomaggiore.The first glimpse of the basilica in Assisi is always a thrill!
With Swamiji in Assisi (possibly during the oratorio tour in 2000)
I’ve been catching up on my reading of several books about Swami Kriyananda (the founder of Ananda, who I also consider one of my dearest friends).
In the course of reading, many memories are surfacing. Some of them are quite precious and I’m hoping to dedicate more time to getting them down in writing in 2023.
Swami Kriyananda blessing us during a satsang at Ananda Los Angeles.
Tonight I’m reflecting on the meaning of the spiritual name that Swami Kriyananda blessed me with back in 2005.
It had been an exceptionally powerful weekend. For starters we were invited to celebrate our first anniversary at a small dinner with Swamiji and a few of the leaders of the Assisi community — amazing evening!
Then we were informed that Swamiji would be blessing us as ministers and giving us our spiritual names at the same time.
Whoa! Talk about a doozy of a day.
I share this to explain how it came about that — although Swamiji shared several aspects of what the name meant — I was so blissed out that the only part of his explanation that stuck in my mind was “the fortunate one”.
But after close to twenty years of being Bhagavati I’m beginning to think that it was no accident that I couldn’t retain the other information, because “the fortunate one” so perfectly describes my life and I’m very grateful to be reminded of it all the time.
At our Ananda Assisi wedding in July of 2004. Our legal wedding was two weeks before at Ananda Palo Alto, but we repeated the Ananda wedding ceremony in Assisi for our Swiss and Italian family and friends.
It’s been such a busy time that I haven’t made a lot of progress on my Swami stories project. However, it’s definitely been percolating in the back of mind.
I find memories surfacing as I sing a particular song or find another photo, and I’m doing my best to make notes so I’ll remember them when I start writing.
In the meantime, I’m seeing the truth that when you focus on something you attract more of it!
Completely out of the blue today, I received an message from a photographer friend saying she had just found a stash of photos from our Assisi wedding back in 2004.
I guess it could be “just a coincidence” (but I don’t think so). 😊
I finally have the bandwidth to share my favorite memory of Seva.
I had only moved to the Ananda Palo Alto community in 1999, so when I relocated to Assisi in 2002 to be part of a singing group touring Italy, I was still quite new to the path.
In January of 2004, Assisi was raided by the Guardia di Finanza, and nine of our key leaders were put in prison in March. Although it took something like seven years, the charges were eventually completely repudiated, but while it was happening it was a very intense situation.
Jyotish and Devi were visiting Ananda Assisi for a Kriyaban retreat followed by a big public event in celebration of Yogananda’s Mahasamadhi. They and many others stepped right in to cover for the leaders and teachers who were in prison so the event went off as planned.
Our choir director was among those arrested, so I was called upon to direct the choir, including for a large concert we had planned to do in Perugia later in the week.
And this is where Seva came into the picture.
You see, there was a large group of American devotees coming to Assisi on pilgrimage. Imagine their surprise when they arrived to the news of all that was going on!
To me, they were like the cavalry; a group of solid, seasoned devotees who came in and helped prop us up when we had been broadsided by circumstances. And Seva stood out for me, even in the midst of this amazing group of souls.
So, I asked her to sing the woman’s solo at the beginning of “Lift Your Hearts.” I remember her looking a little surprised, but she said yes. Later I discovered (I don’t recall exactly how) that Seva was not normally a soloist! I guess I had put her on the spot, but she didn’t hesitate. She simply did it.
And that is now a memory I cherish.
Here’s a recording of the song from that concert. Seva’s is the second solo voice you hear at the beginning.
“Lift Your Hearts” from the Ananda World Brotherhood Choir concert in Perugia, Italy (March 2004)
It’s thrilling to see the dynamic “Next Wave” of Ananda gaining in strength and magnetism! Today I briefly participated in the Ananda Assisi and Ananda India events; tomorrow night is Ananda America’s turn!
The Next Wave group on WhatsApp is over 300 people, from all corners of the globe.
The event itself is on a platform called Airmeet, which I think is just about the best thing since sliced bread; yeah, it’s that cool! And it’s giving us soooo many ideas for the music. 😄
