Chapter V: Plain Living and High Thinking

A Spirit of Adventure: Nalini Graeber

"Joy was, and still is, the main attraction for those of us who live at Ananda. However, for those of who lived here in the early 70's, the joy we felt was sommetimes in spite of, rather than because of, the physical plane! Each day we were finding opportunities to challenge ourselves.

In Jan 1971, in a spirit of adventure, I moved to the Meditation Retreat, where there were three feet of snow on the ground. I was eager to learn about Yogananda’s concept of “plain living and high thinking,” but nothing in my background had prepared me for what I was about to experience. I moved into a tepee so small that I could stand up only in the middle of it. I rarely did so, however, because in the middle we had dug a three foot hole in which to put the kerosene heater, my only source of heat. Since sleeping, reading and meditating were my main activities there, it was workable. Most of my meals were taken in the common dome, and I took my showers, theoretically at least, in the community bath house. There was one shower for the women and one for the men. If one was lucky, someone else was just leaving. This meant that not only was the shower available, but also that the small room would be pre-warmed and the propane light would be on. Otherwise, early or late in the day, one would fumble in the dark, hoping to light the lamp and the old-fashioned propane heater –- without setting the place on fire! I remember on a few occasions calling my mother who lived in the Bay Area, 3 or 4 hours away. ‘Hey Mom, I’m coming for a visit,’ I’d say. (My ulterior motive was the desperate need to wash my hair and take a decent shower!)

Many years later when my husband Gary and I got together, he wanted to take me camping. He couldn’t understand my lack of enthusiasm at the prospect until he had spent some time at the Meditation Retreat. Then he commented, ‘Now I understand your resistance –- you spent several years camping in those early days!’ Now that I live in a “normal” house my taste for camping has returned. As Ananda has developed more on the physical plane, the tests have moved to the mental and emotional spheres. Still, the all-pervading joy and love for God that permeates this place is what makes it all worthwhile."

Solitude: Jaya Helin

“In the fall of 1969, Kriyananda had asked Satya and me to remain at the retreat for the winter in order to keep an eye on things while others went to San Francisco to work. Shivani, and Gurupod (Chuck Slavonic) also stayed in seclusion there.

"We hardly saw anyone at the Retreat from Thanksgiving until March. During that winter, we fell into a routine, all in silence. The kitchen had supplies left over after the retreat season - wheat berries, rolled oats, rye seeds and powdered milk, plus many quarts of canned berries. About twice a week, Shivani would make yoghurt, and I would make bread. We'd put it out then scrounge out of the condiment section whatever was left on the shelves. We went through the winter on bread, yoghurt, canned blackberries and sprouted beans. Near the end of the winter, I was getting really tired of this diet, and was complaining about the food (in silence!)

"I had been reading the book, Saints that Moved the World, by Rene Fulop-Miller, and I especially liked the story about St. Antony and the raven that brought St Peter, another hermit, a loaf of bread each day. One day I went into the common room and found a big block of cheese sitting right in the middle of the table! It was wonderful and we had quite a feast. No one ever knew how it came to be there.”

“Future Saints Club”: Haridas Blake

“Binay and I came up with the “Future Saints Club”. We had this idea that all of us were potential saints and that if we would organize a little bit, maybe that would help to accelerate our spiritual progress. So we made affirmation cards and some other things to help remind us of the teachings. It picked up steam, and went for six months or a year. It was just another way to bring us together.”

Haanel Cassidy 1903-1979: by Anandi Cornell

"Many people who came to Ananda in the early years had previously had very unique and interesting life experiences. Haanel Cassidy was invited by Kriyananda to move to Ananda for his retirement.

"One of my goals when I moved to Ananda was to learn organic gardening. This turned out to be a wonderful experience, primarily because of our head gardener, Haanel Cassidy. Haanel was a unique individual who taught us gardening and much more. He had grown up in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, and began gardening as a child. Later, he moved to Japan, where he taught English and also taught himself to become an accomplished photographer. He then moved to New York City, and became an advertising photographer for Conde Naste magazines, doing very slick color photography. (His true love, however, was the subtlety of black and white photography.) While in New York City, he also developed his voice and learned quite a repertoire of music, including many Negro spirituals and Winnie the Pooh songs. He was known as ‘Cassidy the Waltz King,’ for his ballroom dancing skills.

"I believe Haanel discovered the Autobiography of a Yogi in 1952, the year Yogananda died. He became a devoted disciple and decided to move to Chile so that he could devote himself to a life of secluded meditation. The climate and general conditions in Chile, however, proved so harsh that he then moved to Southern California, where he supported himself by growing and selling organic vegetables.

"In the 1960s he met Swami Kriyananda who told him about the community that he was forming dedicated to Yogananda. At this point, Haanel was about 65 years old, and Swami invited him to live at Ananda and to enjoy a period of meditation in retirement.
“He was not only our teacher and leader, but he also became our friend, inviting us over for a hot cup of Pero (a cereal beverage) or dinner. Anything Haanel produced had a careful beauty and elegance to it, even his spaghetti dinner. In his spare time, he offered to meditate with us, and to give us singing, calligraphy, or elocution lessons.

"Along with another fellow gardener I had the great blessing of being with Haanel when he left his body in 1980. Pancreatic cancer took him quickly. He chose to meet his illness and his passing in his bedroom sanctuary at home. He told me that he felt Master’s grace pouring over him as he lay in bed; he was fully conscious as he left this world.”

Wild Animals: Sadhana Devi Helin

“Satya’s son, Monty Cox, was an animal trainer for the entertainment industry. He had trained several well-known animal entertainers, including Gentle Ben of television fame. One day, I left the temple after afternoon sadhana and noticed huge cat-paw prints in the dust outside. Just then, I heard someone say, ‘Hey, I saw a lion walk by!’ We all ran in the direction of the footprints (no one remembers being afraid!), and we found Satya, his son Monty, and a beautiful lion named Major. Major spent a day or two inside our fenced garden, the only place we had that could accommodate him. It was quite an experience to actually “pet” a cat of that size (through the fence!) Monty warned us to ‘pet firmly’, as a light touch would be mistaken for flies, and the lion would bat us away, resulting in pain for us! Even a trained lion isn’t a “tame” one”.

Ananda Meditation Retreat: The Heart of Ananda

Long after its population was outstripped by that of the Farm, the meditation retreat remained the spiritual heart of the community. Each Sunday people would car pool and drive up from the Farm to the Retreat for Sunday service, staying afterward for lunch together. Group sadhana (spiritual practice) was offered every morning and evening, marriages and baptisms were performed, and of course, guest retreats wee held there year round. In addition, the retreat served as a meeting place for the community, and it remained Swami's home until 1971. Its kitchen was the only one of any size in the community, which made it the obvious location for holiday celebrations.

Asha Praver arrived in 1971, one day after the previous kitchen manager had left. Showing some polite interest, and offering to help cook lunch, she was immediately drafted as the new kitchen manager! She served in that capacity for a few years, producing three meals a day for guests, plus Indian dinners for up to 100 people, with the help of Lakshmi Selbie, Seva Wiberg and other volunteers. Later, she became Swami’s secretary, and moved to the monastery at Ayodhya. Asha, along with her husband, David Praver, is now spiritual director of the Ananda Palo Alto Community.

On July 3, 1970, the first retreat temple burned down. Whether this was caused by carelessness or by arson may never be known. By the time the fire department arrived the building was fully engaged, and burned to the ground. It was a great loss, but everyone was inspired by Kriyananda’s cheerful attitude of surrender to the Divine Plan. In Money Magnetism, he says,

"I sat in prayer after this conflagration, and told God, "This was Your temple, Lord, not mine. I gat it to You when I first built it. I've lost , because I had nothing to lose.

"Suddenly I felt overwhelmed from within with a joy so great, I could hardly bear it. 'Lord', I then prayers, 'if the destruction of a mere temple can bing me so much joy, You should have taken all my other possessions too!"

"I recall entering a shop later that day. I was singing. The shopkeeper, who had heard of our loss, exclaimed, 'You're singing! When our shop burned down several years ago, I cried for one year!'

"Well, I answered, 'I've lost a building, but I haven't lost my voice!'

"The truth was, I felt like singing. God's joy within made everything else seem unimportant.

"Indeed, if one gift can bring blessings, is he not wise who gives everything to God?"

Construction was quickly begun on a new and larger temple and it was dedicated twice – once by Swami Muktananda in Oct 1970, then again in November of the same year. Early in 1971 we began using it for Sunday services, classes and gatherings during the week, and plays, holiday activites and Swami’s birthday celebrations.

One of the plays performed in the new temple was The Jewel in the Lotus, which Kriyananda had written in 1970. Kalyani (Marsha Todd) also performed Kriyananda’s music there and at other venues. These performances were popular enough to be performed at two other locations locally, as well as in Reno, Nevada and Los Angeles, and at the Davis Whole Earth Festival.

From time to time swamis and spiritual leaders from other ashrams and other spiritual paths visited us at the Meditation Retreat. One of the first was Swami Chidananda from the Divine Life Society. Chidananda embodied the concept of inner stillness by his deeply calm and joyful demeanor. When he visited the Farm he noted the debris left by the former property owner (and, yes, a little junk of our own, as well!) He advised us to clean it up, noting that allowing this debris to stay would attract lower astral energies. We’ve remembered that comment and have tried to follow his advice ever since. Other spiritual leaders who visited included Swami Muktananda (mentioned above), Sant Keshavdas, Amar Jyoti, Indra Devi, Roy Eugene Davis, and Norman Paulsen. From the Divine Life Society came Swamis Chidananda, Satchidananda, Venkateshananda, Hridayananda, and Vishnudevananda.