Tag: Swami Kriyananda

Posted on

Ball of confusion

A song from my adolescence has been popping into my mind quite a bit over the past few weeks: Ball of Confusion by the Temptations.

The lyrics that have stayed in my mind since high school are:
Fear in the air, tension ev’rywhere
Unemployment rising fast, the Beatle’s new record’s a gas,
and the only safe place to live is on an Indian reservation,
and the band played on.
Eve of destruction, tax deduction,
City inspectors, bill collectors, mod clothes in demand,
population out of hand, suicide, too many bills,
hippies movin’ to the hills
People all over the world are shouting end the war
and the band played on.

I loved the Temptations when I was growing up and this song really made an impact on me as an angst-filled teenager learning to deal with the crazy world I was living in. Of course, the vibration of the song is pretty much the opposite of Ananda’s music; Ball of Confusion perfectly captures the agitation of modern life, and the musician in me admires the skill with which they did it!

So I find myself thinking about how crazy the world seems now…and then I think about how crazy the world seemed then (after all, this song came out almost fifty years ago!). And I think again about the article by Swami Kriyananda that I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, especially the following excerpt:

CAN THE WORLD BE PERFECTED?
The thought that this world can ever be perfected is one of man’s greatest delusions. What this world is, simply, is a school, through which the soul passes on its upward evolution. Perfection is, in other words, an ideal to be sought for the benefit of the students, not of the school. Were this school, our earth, to complete its educative purpose, by means at present unimaginable, it would mean simply that souls still in need of its instruction would have to be enrolled elsewhere.

No outward improvement in the world will ever guarantee a corresponding improvement of the individual. Ultimately, man’s betterment depends always on his own recognition of his need for it.

I don’t say, never try to improve things. Do improve them if you can, always calmly and in support of the good, never with anger. But realize that there are simply too many wrongs in the world for all of them to be improved very much. Your first need, always, is to remain calm and undisturbed in your Self.

Sure, the world is a ball of confusion; but that doesn’t have to be our reality. We can attune ourselves to higher consciousness and live in peace and love and clarity.

https://youtu.be/F8eg-oLdeoI
Posted on

Music antidotes

Our Living Discipleship music classes have been centered around the idea of Music as a Spiritual Tool, focusing tonight on the “tool” of the Music Antidotes. Keep reading to learn more about what, exactly, the music antidotes are…

“Around 1998 or 1999, Swami Kriyananda had the interesting insight that many of his songs, on a vibrational level, were “antidotes” to specific negative emotions. He then went through his book, Secrets of Emotional Healing, and prescribed a song to about two-thirds of the entries. On the surface, some of the prescriptions don’t seem to make sense. When you tune into the vibrations of the song, however, you can feel those vibrations transforming the specific emotion and lifting its energy to a higher level of consciousness, thereby raising you out of that emotion altogether.”

Here are the four songs we listened to in tonight’s class; we all experienced shifts in our energy, but I encourage you to listen and test it out for yourself!

Peace
From “Windows on the World” by Swami Kriyananda

Song: Peace
Negative emotion: Anxiety
Secrets of Emotional Healing – Day 2:
The secret of overcoming anxiety is to do your best in the present, without attachment to the outcome, knowing that whatever is yours by right must come to you sooner or later, and that all else, even if acquired, will prove evanescent. 

108 The Secret of Laughter B
From “A Tale of Songs” by Swami Kriyananda

Song: The Secret of Laughter
Negative emotion: Depression
Secrets of Emotional Healing – Day 3: The secret of overcoming depression is useful activity, devoted selflessly to helping others.

Dare To Be Different!
From “Windows on the World” by Swami Kriyananda

Song: Dare to Be Different
Negative emotion: Discouragement
Secrets of Emotional Healing – Day 7: The secret to overcoming discouragementis not to brood: instead, act! Uplift your heart’s feelings. Stand upright; inhale, and with the inhalation draw courage upward from your heart to your forehead; then exhale, and cast out of yourself all mental weakness and negativity.

Napoli
From “An Evening in Italy” by Swami Kriyananda

Song: When You Come From Napoli
Negative emotion: Mental Dullness
Secrets of Emotional Healing – Day18: The secret of overcoming mental dullness is to train yourself to say “Yes!” instantly, whenever your impulse is to grumble, or to cry, “No!” Welcome life in all its variety and challenges. Like the petals of a daisy, keep your heart open to life’s experiences. Overcome within you the tendency to rejection and withdrawal. 

Posted on

Filled to the brim

We spent the evening with yet another amazing group of Living Disciples…singing and laughing and going deep into a number of our children’s songs (all composed by Swami Kriyananda).

Just for fun I’m listing my favorite two lines from each song that we sang. It’s a fairly random selection of phrases from a variety of simple children’s songs and yet…these simple lyrics are filled to the brim with enough wisdom and truth to last a lifetime!

Sing in the meadows and ev’rywhere:
Sing out a blessing to ev’ryone!

All the world is my friend
When I learn how to share my love…

Teach me all my friends to bless,
Hold them in Thy light.

Move, all you mountains that stand in my way,
Nothing can stop my progress!

Lightly I fly when I live in laughter,
Lightly I fly when my heart sings.

Serve Him with thought, with hand and limb;
Love Him without any reason.

All the world should be dancing,
For God made us all!

What a gift for children to have their consciousness filled with thoughts like these throughout their childhood.

Posted on

Aaahhhh…

This afternoon I finally dropped everything and went to the Moksha Mandir at Crystal Hermitage to “spend time” with Swami Kriyananda.

I had been feeling more and more out of sorts, and I finally realized it was mostly due to my routines being so out-of-whack that I had started vibrating out-of-whack as well. And when that happens I start trying to operate on my power rather than tuning into divine, cosmic power.

So this afternoon was a major corrective. A pattern interrupt. A chance to simply stop and recalibrate. And, my goodness, did it feel good!

In fact, as I was driving home afterwards, I felt the impulse to stop at the Temple of Light and spend some quiet time there as well.

Words can’t adequately convey the sense of peace and stillness I felt meditating there. I’ll simply say that it was just what the doctor ordered and leave it at that!

Posted on

Discipleship

Honoring Swami Kriyananda on the 71st anniversary of his discipleship. I’m so grateful to Swamiji for demonstrating what it means to be a true disciple.

Posted on

“Yesterday”

It’s always a little scary going to see a movie that one’s friends have raved about, so I’m very happy to report that we loved it as well!

I enjoyed everything about this movie, including the fact that it really made me think. I’ve never been a huge fan of the Beatles, though of course I know and love their music. And that’s what’s so intriguing about this movie: it opened my eyes to just how much of the “soundtrack” of my life I take for granted.

I mean, can you imagine life without __________ or __________ (insert your favorite Beatles songs here)? It’s like the lead character, Jack, has been charged with an important mission: to keep that rich musical legacy alive and accessible for the world.

Of course, the music of Swami Kriyananda is something completely different (not least because it’s virtually unknown outside of Ananda!), yet I see parallels. It’s easy for us Ananda devotees to take the “soundtrack” of our spiritual life for granted, but can you imagine our lives without __________ or __________ (insert your favorite Ananda songs here)?

This movie left me feeling soooo grateful for all the powerful music in my life and that much more committed to keeping Swami Kriyananda’s rich, deeply inspiring, and uplifting musical legacy alive and accessible for future generations.

Posted on

A riddle

What do you get when you combine the new Temple of Light, hundreds of devotees coming together from around the world, and Swami Kriyananda’s absolutely astral melody, Life Mantra?

You get energy rising so high and so fast that you hardly know what to do with it! And you get swept away on a wave of bliss.

What a joy and a privilege to be a part of this experience with our choir tonight. An amazing start to an incredible week.

Posted on

Music for Inner Victory

“Sing and the Battle Is Won” is the title of the music workshop we’re scheduled to present two weeks from today, on Friday afternoon of 50th anniversary week. The question I’ve been asking myself lately is…when in the world are we going to find the time to work on it?

Well, this morning I started to understand the answer to that question…

We often start our weekly music meetings by singing one of Swami Kriyananda’s songs as our opening “prayer”; this morning I was inspired to suggest “Sing in the Meadows”, one of his children’s songs. The lyrics go like this:

Sing in the meadows and ev’rywhere:
Sing out a blessing to ev’ryone!
Lift up your voices, Lift your hands on high.
Sing and the battle is won.

Afterwards I realized that this song teaches us how to rise above feelings of overwhelm and stress by singing; blessing everyone; and looking up (keeping our energy flowing in an upward direction).

So now I get it. My preparation for the workship is to practice the principles of the workshop as I move into and through the 50th anniversary week. Singing this song helps me feel the reality of the workshop’s subtitle: Music for Inner Victory. Give it a listen, sing along, and see if you don’t feel inwardly victorious as well!

Sing in the Meadows
Posted on

Gratitude

Another birthday celebrated. Another solar return begun. So much to be grateful for…

I love responding to all the birthday greetings on Facebook because it’s a fun walk down memory lane. I enjoy that once or twice a year connection with people who are a continuing part of the fabric of my life, even though our lives no longer intersect.

About twenty years ago I experienced an “aha” moment of realizing just how blessed I am that I like people and people like me in return. That’s not a skill I learned or something I can take credit for; it’s my good karma and a gift from God.

So many of our gifts and talents are like that–pure and simple gifts from God. But in our egoic human-ness we take credit for them and start thinking how “special” we are, instead of offering them back up to the Divine in humble gratitude.

Almost fifteen years ago Swami Kriyananda, the founder of the spiritual community where I live, gave me the spiritual name of Bhagavati (don’t worry if you’ve known me by my given name for decades; I still answer to Sharon as well). He shared quite a bit about the meaning of the name Bhagavati, but the only thing I remembered afterwards is the phrase: the fortunate one.

Isn’t that beautiful? As someone who’s often had a difficult time feeling content and at peace with what is, my spiritual name reminds me every day to remember–and give thanks for–the abundant blessings that make me the fortunate one.