This is a message to all of our friends including those who we have known for a long time and those we have yet to meet.
This is Kailash Temple.
Ashleigh and I arrived at Ananda Village on Nov 6th.
As we prepare for Thanksgiving we are nearing three weeks of time living in our new home. It’s been very busy for us so far and there is much for us to learn as well as many opportunities for us to grow here. We miss all of you in the Southbay but we are very happy to be here at the same time.
Inside Kailash during meditation.
We look forward to sharing our adventure with you and hope you’ll enjoy (or at least a good smile) reading about our transition from life in Los Angeles to our lives at Ananda Village.
Driving in a crazy amount of snow with ice and assuring Ashleigh that I have it all under control, with my manly man deep voice.
We’ll start updating our blog regularly now. We have a lot to share! And we will to include lots of pictures from our lives here too. If you have questions about life in a spiritual community (ashram) or Ananda or anything at all, we would love to hear them and will do our best to answer you. We hope to hear from you. You will be notified of updates to this blog if you subscribe at the upper right of this page (or below if you make a comment).
And this is what happened. Kind of fun, but really scary and stupid.
God Bless You and Your Loved Ones.
May your Thanksgiving weekend be filled with
Gratitude and Joy.
Our morning commute! It’s just amazing to be here!
Blessings,
Turiya (& Ashleigh)
Hi Turiya and Ashleigh,
So great to hear from you, great photos and great sharings. I had been telling Holly my girlfriend how the weather is much warmer in CA, but the photos do not support my story!:) Hoping to join you later in the year. Sadhana going strong! Keep on blogging and many blessings on your journey and home!
Happy Thanksgiving
Justin
Hey Justin,
For the record, the snow here was pretty much gone after a couple of days, but it is pretty cold still. The fountain in the piazza has a good layer of ice. Great to hear about your meditation practice!
Joy,
turiya
The “like” does not work for me! Just so you know I do “like” this post!!!!!!!!
Turbos
Welcome to snow country. See you and Ashleigh soon
I’m walking a lot more these days. It just wasn’t in my mind as a possibility yet. To actually walk to work only takes about 10 minutes and it’s so much more fun than driving anyway.
Aum,
turiya
Thanks for the blog It’s a wonderful way to keep the South Bay updated on your life at the ashram We love and miss you See you in February unless you have plans on attending the retreat in PV in Jan
We look forward to seeing you in Feb Judi. We think of you all the time. We are really enjoying the meditations at Kailash and Hansa Temples with the community. It feels like when we had those good meditations with our Gita Study group or on Sundays before service in Southbay, but it’s every single day. It’s amazing what an effect daily meditation makes and even more so when you have the time to go deep and are in a very supportive environment all day long. We still get busy here but most people don’t take the material plane as seriously as people elsewhere so it’s a lot more fun.
I spend a lot of time with Trimurti and he is super productive, totally busy, but he doesn’t experience any stress as far as I can see. He is a joyful saint and an awesome role model for me. I have a ton of respect for him and I just love what I’m doing right now.
so much Joy,
turiya
Bravo….
AUM is raw, and vegan.
:-)
Turiya and Ashleigh,
That last sentence says it all – I feel the same way. Many blessings to you today and always, my Divine Friends. Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Joy
Dear Turiya and Ashleigh!
What a nice gift on Thanksgiving morning to get this update from you! It’s so beautiful up there, despite the scary pond adventure.
Have a warm Thanksgiving!
Love,
Cristina
I’m glad you started blogging again. As someone (still) living out in the “normal” world of Los Angeles, I’m very interested in your transition to living in a full blown spiritual community.
It’s an interesting experience for us to be here as residents Kirk. There is so much we want to share. We’ll write more soon.
Blessings,
turiya
Beautiful pictures, nice to see them so I can imagine where and how you live. Beautiful road on the way to work. I feel like I can see you walking with calm mind, in joy and with smile, which makes my heart feel warm. Thank you for posting. I enjoyed it very much.
Dear Hiroko,
I hope you’ll be able to visit us here. I think you might really like it. There are deer that I see along that path in the photo and it’s so peaceful out there you just want to sit on a rock and meditate. Last night I was walking home in the dark and the stars were out so I tried to do it the whole way without using my light. I got poked in the eye by a branch pretty good. So I learned another valuable lesson!
There are little red headed woodpeckers, beautiful ducks in the pond, and we had about 16 people over tonight for Thanksgiving dinner where we live. I just wish you all could know what it’s like here. That is why I’ll write about it. Living here is not for just anyone, there is a focus and a purpose to all of this, which I’ll write about soon.
Basically, it’s about finding God and eventually breaking free from the grip of ones ego. It’s not easy, but it is liberating.
Blessings,
turiya
Greetings Turiya & Ashleigh,
Ohhhh, I love snow on the holidays! Thank you for sharing.
Aums,
Mary
Hi Mary,
I hope you are having a great holiday weekend and getting some quiet time in. I think we have more snow coming soon. It’s really pretty. Because the trees hadn’t yet dropped all of their leaves, the snow did break limbs off some and several trees came down. There were also many cars stuck in various places around the village, maybe six or even more for a while, but we beat them all by far with our little adventure! We have crazy scratches all over the windshield from crashing through the bushes on our way down the bank to that pond. Ashleigh said she was screaming but I had no idea because I was busy controlling the situation (ha ha). I actually gave the car gas because I thought we were going to have to get through that pond and up the other side. So we powered down that hill once we knew there was no way to avoid it. It was intense!
When you come up here, you can drive. I’ll just ride in back and give instructions.
Aum,
turiya
The joy this is bringing me right now. My experience with driving in the snow can be summed up in one word: taxi!
Dear Turiya and Ashleigh,
Thank you for sharing with this blog. I look forward to reading more. Your environment sounds so peaceful; I am envious of the commute! The vibrations there must be incredible. Happy Thanksgiving to you. I continue to read everyday and meditate. I made a little area in the house for an Altar. I haven’t made Monday nights,,, started working with hours that begin at 6A, so I am off to bed early! The position is a blessing and came to be soon as I arrived back from AZ. Look forward to seeing you when we can get that way.
Love, Blessings, and Joy to you both!
Laura
So glad to hear you have a meditation spot in your house! It makes a huge difference. I know because our own altar spot is not the way either of us want it to be yet, still working on it and I miss the altar I had in the Lomita house. We’ll get it together soon. But the group meditation here are really wonderful. It’s so great when you know everyone around you, in homes or gatherings are all meditating first thing in the AM and many of us at the same exact time. You can feel it here.
Joy to You and Matt,
turiya
what a wonderful update. thank you for keeping us informed. i will see you both next month hopefully:)
I’m glad you’re planning to come up. It will be very nice to see you here!
What joy to read about the adventures you’re having at the Village while we’re experiencing the adventure of living in LA! Such a lila, eh? We look forward to seeing you when we visit in December.
It’s pretty awesome; Divine Mothers really big show!
See You Soon!
Thanks for sharing this! I can truly feel the serenity (okay, less so w/ the “Parked” photo!) and this is a wonderful treat to see. So happy for both of you w/your new growth opportunities- and, yes, adventure!
Joy!
Paul, you are a great inspiration. We are so thankful to have you as a friend. You are a great friend and spiritual support for so many. We hope to see you soon!
God Bless You,
turiya
Looks like your car had a soft landing in the snow. Any snow boarding going on up there? We had some dicey weather down here too. Water came out of the sky. I’m told it’s called “rain”. Joy to you both
Tim
I have not had time to snowboard, but there is snow at the resorts for sure. It’s freezing cold at night and right now it’s very clear. I walked home from “work” with Trimurti tonight and he said he doesn’t always take the route I have been using because they have seen some mountain lions around. I thought that was so cool. But it also made me wonder what it would be like to come across a big cat at night in the trees out there. hmm…
Maybe we can hit a mountain if you come up during the winter?
Thank you so much for sharing the beautiful pics. Looking forward to hearing more about your adventures on your journey up there.
In God’s Love,
Kit
Hi Kit,
Thanks for writing. I hope you are well. I wanted to say goodbye to you before I left town, but it just didn’t happen. It was hard to get out of there. So much to do, and it was just hard anyway. It’s nice to hear from you.
I hope all is going very well for you.
Joy,
turiya
Dear Turiya,
Greetings old friend. I recently have become the proud owner of a suburu outback. Purchased from Tim D. I had no doubt the original owner meticulously paid attention to maintence and the car handles as if it were still new. I found a picture of Yogananda. So far have I strayed and long since I convinced myself that joy was actually the front for a clever hustle crafted by sceamers, emotionally manipulating, the weary disolutioned boomers that desperately seek to re-kindle that spark of consciousness they felt in their youth but have become confused and alone absorbed by materialism and isolated from truth. And conveniently with the capital to generously donate they made a good congregation even by evangelical standards. I convinced myself of this and never looked back. Since then I have been traveled a shadowy path and encountered the antithesis of Yogananda’s teachings. seeing his image instantly wrapped be in a joy a forgot. Thank You for sharing his message with me. I’ll always have much love for you Jeff. And now I’m mashin around in your old whip with Yogananda in my heart again.
Blessings
Until we meet again old friend.
With Gratitude and love
Alex M
Hi Alex,
I’m glad you got the car. It’s very nice to hear from you. I hope you are happy and have peace in your heart.
Yogananda will never leave us.
Please keep in touch.
Joy,
turiya
Glad to have found your blog this morning. I’ve been thinking more and more how I’d like to live in a spiritual community. For now, I try to go to south bay temple or ananda ashram house every day of the week. I’ve also become a vegeterian- I think I’d like to be Vegan, but I think it would take a little more research than waking up and deciding to not eat meat. You mentioned visits from friends in feb? Is there some retreat or something up at the village? I wish I could go on retreats, but I have no money at the moment. Anyway, I mostly left a comment so I can subscribe to the site, as I am on my mobile and don’t see any other way to. Hope you and Ashleigh are well. Haridas and Roma(?) Are nice, but I sure miss having a teacher that “read my mind.”
Dear Christal,
It’s very nice to hear from you. I’m glad you found the blog. I plan to write a post soon. Yes, a couple of friends from the southbay center are coming for a visit in a couple of weeks. It’s not a retreat or an organized event, they are just going to stay here for the weekend so we can catch up.
Ananda has a retreat center called the Expanding Light and that is where they will stay. Ashleigh and I live a short walk away and will be spending some time with them.
It sounds like you are spending a lot of time around the Ananda Centers. I’m glad you are, and hope you are making some good friends there too. Please send our love to Iris!
You have my email (I’m sending you a note) so please write when ever you feel to.
God Bless You.
turiya