For five years I have had the great joy of working with fellow devotees of Yogananda at Ananda Sangha Worldwide. Together we have built temples, opened up new frontiers of technology, and mulled over some of life’s big questions. But mostly, we have supported each other’s highest Selves and brought light into the world as much as we could.
In the same period, Badri and I have welcomed two new souls into the world and watched them bloom into amazing tiny humans.
This period of my life can be characterized as a time of spiritual deepening.
Living the demanding and supremely rewarding path of parenthood and service has already given me countless lessons in dharma, perseverance, faith, love, and joy that are now the bedrock of my life.
It’s amazing, but when you make Self-realization central in your life, five years can bring so much change. Who I am today is simply better than who I was yesterday; more loving, more patient, more brave, more joyful, more authentic. I am far from perfect, but encouraged by the directional progress!
Next month I will begin a new chapter working for March of Dimes as their Director for Mid-Level Giving. I will work with one of my dearest friends from CARE, supporting a mission to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies, all from the comfort of my home at Ananda Village.
This tectonic life shift came about from the need to find new ways to support our family and is a beautiful example of Ananda’s dictum, “Jato dharma, tato jaya: Where there is adherence to right action, there lies victory.”
Late one evening in December, sitting at the dining room table reviewing finances, I came to the realization that our savings was running out. I turned, panic stricken, to Badri and he just nodded…he’d been aware for longer than me. What had once been a conversation about ideas, ways to earn more money while living at Ananda, shifted in that moment to resolve.
Coincidentally, if you believe in that, a friend from CARE called the next day and, toward the end of the conversation, suggested a job for me. That job didn’t transpire, but the energy was moving, and fast.
We sought counsel from our guides and in the silence of meditation.
Badri and I practice the act of seeking higher guidance, and then acting upon it (not always successfully). That’s not to say we ignore our feelings, nor that our guides are always right, it’s not really about that. It’s about learning to direct our will to something greater than our own ego and its desires.
From there, the earnest job search began with the intention to find a role where I can support a worthy mission, while balancing my family, community, and spiritual life…oh, and live at Ananda Village with minimal travel required a must.
The path forward unfolded rapidly. Although the speed of this is a bit jolting, thus far in my life, this sort of synchronicity is no accident.
When I am moving with dharma, victory is assured; things fall into place and often with greater ease than one could hope.
Even more heartening, great friends like Mai, Anna, and Nabha are working together in new and creative ways to more than fill the space I leave behind, they are taking it to the next level.
I feel deeply supported in this transition, grateful for the opportunity to live with my family in Ananda Village, to contribute to the world, and to work with wonderful people.
Will this new chapter be all rainbows and sunshine? No way. But, how would we grow if it were?!
Wish me luck!
Namaste.