I thought it would be helpful to give some tips on how to deepen our meditations, especially longer ones.

After nearly three months in India, we’ll be returning to America in a few days. Although it will be a welcome change to stop traveling and have some familiar things around, my heart is filled with profound appreciation for all that we’ve received here.

Recently in Mumbai, India, we were asked the question: “What are some of the lessons you’ve learned on your spiritual journey, especially those involving Swami Kriyananda?” I’d like to share some of my responses with you, because they touch on issues that each of us faces as a devotee.

Making good decisions is one of life’s most important skills, and yet we have gotten virtually no training. Sometimes even life-defining choices such as marriage, job, or taking up a spiritual quest are given little energy.

Nitai, who had been a school teacher before coming to the community, once commented to Swamiji, “Many families with children are starting to move to Ananda. We really need a school here to serve them.”

“I’m feeling so stressed at work. What can I do about it?” This, or a variation, is one of the questions we hear most often as we travel and share with others.

What is happening to our consciousness when we live in such a restless way? Repetitive, nervous movements of the body, eyes, and, especially, the mind break up our experience of reality and time into small, discrete units.

Our thoughts and emotions affect the body through various chemical, electrical, and hormonal pathways. But most healing modalities completely ignore the importance of the mind and emotions and therefore never address a disease’s root cause.

Swami Kriyananda sat with his eyes closed and a blissful smile on his face as he listened to a piece of music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As it ended, Swamiji quietly remarked, “Mozart was a consummate artist. He never compromised integrity for showmanship.”

It was one of the most remarkable evenings of my life. I sat mesmerized, along with nearly two thousand five hundred others in the auditorium, listening to ragas played by some of India’s finest musicians.