SRW highlight + Guru Purnima

Out of a week full of deeply inspiring and uplifted moments, I believe the ultimate highlight for me was singing “O Master” on Sunday service.

It felt appropriate to skip the usual solo singer and invite everyone (choir and congregation) to sing the melody right from the beginning of the song. Then, as the full arrangement unfolded, the power of the song simply grew and grew.

The words are so heart opening and meaningful, but what really put it over the top for me was singing it together with at least 300 devotees, and feeling the lived reality of the lyrics that speak of “the truth that we’re all one (emphasis is mine).

On Sunday I was so caught up with the completion of Spiritual Renewal Week that I didn’t tune into the fact that Guru Purnima — a time to express gratitude towards one’s spiritual teacher (or Guru) — was the very next day. It wasn’t planned that way, but what a perfect divinely inspired time to be singing “O Master”!

Here’s the video of the choir singing it during Sunday service. There are even a few moments when the camera captures a few of the hundreds of people singing along with us.

O Master lyrics

O Master, may Thy joy fill our days.
O Master, may Thy wisdom guide our ways.

The time has come for us to see
That there’s but one reality
Upon the earth and high above:
The truth that all was made from love.

A love that calls to us to fly
Above the hills, above the sky,
Above the storms, above the pain:
A land where peace and laughter reign.

O Master, may Thy joy fill our days.
O Master, may thy wisdom guide our ways.

Guide all our hopes and all our dreams
Past every glow that only seems,
Into the light, the inner sun,
Into the truth that we’re all one.

Help us to find in every hour,
In every thought in every flower,
A joy that spans eternity,
The truth that makes us ever free.

O Master, may Thy joy fill our days.
O Master, may Thy wisdom guide our ways.

The blessing is mine

It’s Yogananda’s birthday, but I’m the one receiving the gift of his many blessings!

Thank you, Master, for all the ways you have transformed (and continue transforming) my life.

O Master

I am beyond thrilled to finally be able to share the finished video of “O Master”!

More than ninety singers participated in the Ananda World Brotherhood Virtual Choir… from Mumbai, New Delhi, Noida, and Pune (India); Tel Aviv (Israel); Milano (Italy); and California, Missouri, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington (USA).

The love and joy is palpable; devotees singing with hearts full of gratitude and devotion.

We’ll definitely be doing more of these!

Jai Guru! 💗

Into the truth that we’re all one

Tonight’s session with the Living Discipleship participants was “beyond imagination of expectancy”!

They’re all so experienced and so committed, with most of them already serving as powerful leaders in their home communities. The majority already sing in (or direct!) Ananda choirs, and the ones who don’t (yet) are open and eager to sing with the group.

For a variety of reasons we went up with only a very loose idea of how the evening would unfold. So how did it unfold?

We sang a lot and laughed almost more than we sang! We had given them a handout titled “Music as a Spiritual Tool” and the group ended up spontaneously experiencing how humorous music raises energy in the spine and lifts us high above life’s challenges, where we’re able to see things from a positive perspective.

But the absolute high point of the evening for me came towards the end, after we sang Brothers. According to our outline the next song would have been Many Hands Make a Miracle. But we felt guided to sing O Master instead. Words are inadequate to describe the feeling as we sang the words: “…into the light, the inner sun, into the truth that we’re all one.” The sense of unity, of oneness, was palpable.

That was the end of the session, but no one wanted to be the first to break the circle. Finally, someone suggested we end by standing up to sing Thy Light Within Us Shining. So we did…it was wonderful…and we all stood there not wanting to break the circle!

Then someone suggested we really end with Peace and–my oh my!–the bliss level just went through the roof! I’ve had a lot of powerful experiences with Ananda Music in twenty years, but this was right up there in the top five. Unbelievable.