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.

She was a poor cleaning woman working in a hospital in Chennai, India, where a friend of ours also worked as a doctor. There was something about her that awakened compassion in our friend’s heart, and a desire to help.

With Nayaswami Jyotish and Nayaswami Devi

Yesterday, while meditating with the Ananda Assisi community, a perception popped into my mind without any preamble: “We need to move from ‘Nowhere’ to ‘Now Here.’” Plop!

Last Saturday night we helped lead a Kriya Initiation for two hundred people coming from ten different countries. As you can imagine, a variety of languages were represented in the softly lit temple, made especially beautiful that night for the initiation.

Now, a movie, The Answer—a living portrayal of the disciple-guru relationship—is about to be released. The first part of the film depicts Swamiji’s desperate search for truth.

“There is a hidden strength within me to overcome all obstacles. I will bring forth that indomitable power and energy.” Paramhansa Yogananda shared this formidable thought with us, and gave us tools to accomplish that great goal. Here are five effective ways to build our inner power.

The theme for the week is The Power of Self-Transformation, and Devi and I talked about the tools that can help us.