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Ananda at the SRF Convocation News from Asha Tuesday, August 21, 2001 Dear Everyone: The news from Los Angeles is all good. We are about 50 Ananda people now and the flow of energy is really strong and happy. Our “Ananda Room” at the Biltmore is proving to be a magnet for interested SRF folk. The video of Master, of course, is the irresistible draw. We keep it running over and over again and small groups sit and watch it, sometimes many times through. Conversations are happening all over the room. It seems like we have from 2-10 SRF people there all the time, in a steady trickle. The room is on the mezzanine level, up a flight of stairs off the main corridor. The stairs lead right into the double doors of our room. The first thing you see is the big bronze bust of Master against a beautiful orange cloth. As you enter the room, to the left of the bust is a full altar, against the left wall are two lighted museum cases with relics. Just in front of the bust to the right is the video player and chairs for people to sit and watch the video. Next to it is a display about Living Wisdom Schools. Against the right wall is a picture display of our many communities, and next to that a large display of Crystal Clarity books and tapes. It is all beautifully arranged with flowers and cloths and candles. There is also a small “living room” arrangement with a couch and comfortable chairs. All of it is being used all day long. We are open from 9 am–11 pm. It is also where we meditate and meet. We are having exactly the effect on the SRF members that we hoped to have. From us they are learning things they didn’t know and are now very interested in knowing. This includes the fact that Ananda exists, that SRF is suing Ananda, that SRF has made changes to Master’s writings and teachings. And those who don’t want to know just don’t accept our newspaper and that’s the end of the story. Hostile encounters are still very very very few: just an occasional rude remark on the level of “Why are you here?” Nothing more has happened. And even that has only been two or three times. Quite amazing, really, when you think how many people we are interacting with. The only public remarks made about Ananda by SRF monastics inside the convocation have been very neutral. Nothing unkind has been said at all. Just what they said on the first night: that we are outside the hotel and we are not really part of the convocation. Our pattern near the hotel has begun to focus more and more on singing and chanting, especially as the SRF people come and go. They enjoy our chanting and it forms the best possible heart connection. An SRF couple was walking by last night and Matthew asked them “What is your favorite chant? We’ll sing it for you.” After a moment they said, “O God Beautiful.” So Matthew—who has rigged up a harmonium with a strap so he can wear it over his shoulder—led a rendition of that song. The couple stood and enjoyed it completely and thanked Matthew and the others afterwards with great appreciation. Who can resist God’s name sung with devotion? SRF volunteers also stand around outside the hotel, so they, too, are listening to our chanting. Of course they have no choice. At the end of the evening, Matthew went around and introduced himself and shook hands with every SRF volunteer. They were all, naturally, very cordial and some thanked him for the chanting. Bent and Krishnadas were at the restaurant corridor at the Bonaventure and met an SRF volunteer who reminded them that they couldn’t actually pass out newspapers inside the hotel, which they knew. Two strangers—not part of the convocation—were nearby and asked what was going on. Bent deferred to the SRF volunteer and said, “He can tell you about it.” Afterwards they asked who Bent and Krishnadas were, and the volunteer graciously said, “They can tell you about it.” And then added, “They have a room at the Biltmore.” It was not a greatly important exchange, just a simple example of how people can get along with each other. Just what we are trying to communicate to SRF as an organization. Ananda people have been carrying the video of Master as a way of advertising it, and an SRF volunteer saw the video being carried inside the Bonaventure. “Oh, is that the video of Master? Can I buy it out on the street?” he asked very eagerly. Ananda folk had to tell him he had to go to the Biltmore to get it. “I’ll see you there,” he said. People are also buying The Path, and Essence, and a few of A Place Called Ananda, but it is the Autobiography and the video they really want. We are all running into people who lived at Ananda at one time or another. One man came out of the Bonaventure yesterday just as I was joining the singing. Immediately he said to me, “You can tell me what is really going on.” He was referring to the lawsuit. He lived at Ananda years ago, is still very positive. He is very active in SRF but also very open minded and realistic. We had a long and very good discussion about the place of organizations in religion. What Swamiji calls the “cultural assumption” in the West toward religious institutionalism is really what gives SRF its power. People just assume you need an institution to “protect the purity of the teachings.” People don’t even know this is an assumption, they just take it as a fact. This man was quite capable, however, of seeing through his own assumptions. He is very loyal to SRF, but also willing to think about things for himself. He said several times, “It is a very conservative organization. Change will come slowly.” He took a few newspapers to share with his friends. This conversation was typical of the SRF-Ananda exchanges we are all having. Also, of course, there is a general sense of outrage and disbelief when SRF members really get the picture of what SRF has been doing to us with the lawsuit all these years. Truth is coming out. David G. was talking to an attorney about details of the lawsuit. He is a very staunch SRF member but he, also, was affected by hearing the facts, and David promised to send him more documents later so he can research it for himself. A number of people said they are going to take the matter of the lawsuit up with SRF leaders. We shall see. One SRF member said simply, “Is that lawsuit going on? How could such great souls do such a thing? It is not spiritual.” She was talking to Karen Gamow, and afterwards, the SRF woman hugged Karen, and Karen said she felt a deep blessing. That feeling of blessing seems to be touching many of the Ananda people here. An woman who has been with SRF for 40 years was deeply disturbed to hear of the lawsuit. As she was leaving the Ananda Room, she said, “Better though, to be the victim, than the victimizer.” Today a few groups of people have gone to the Hollywood Church and also to Mt. Washington. SRF is beginning to send busloads of people on pilgrimage to their various sites. We don’t think we can get onto the grounds. They are usually closed to everyone but convocation attendees during this week, but we can stand on he sidewalk and sing. David just came in from the Hollywood Church and said it is working perfectly there. We were standing on both sides of the entryway and formed a beautiful corridor of chanting for the devotees getting on and off the buses. Actually added to the uplifting vibrations of the whole scene—at least from our point of view. I wouldn’t be surprised if next year SRF takes up the idea of singing people on and off their buses. We have heard there are 4000 people attending the convocation. All 50 states are represented and there are people here from 45 different countries. Even for us, who have lived so many years in community, it is really quite thrilling to be among so many devotees. The Bonaventure Hotel is a gigantic concrete monstrosity covering a whole city block. Inside it is a maze of concrete ramps and corridors. Looking around rather absentmindedly I thought for a moment I was under a freeway! Apparently there is a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger in which he drives a motorcycle into a hotel lobby. The hotel lobby is the Bonaventure. Maybe some of you have seen the movie. In any case, it gives you the idea. There are fountains everywhere inside, too, which helps a little. Outside, it is a gigantic concrete box looming up from the sidewalk. Our favorite singing spot is on the opposite side of the hotel from where the Biltmore is so we often have to walk around the whole Bonaventure. Our singing spot is a small island of public prosperity between the street and the pull through driveway. Raising our eyes heavenward we can gaze at the vast concrete hotel box above us. Within that box, the SRF devotees are staying. After the evening singing yesterday, Nitai said he felt like Joshua standing outside the walls of Jericho! This little band of singers in front of this huge concrete monolith. We now call ourselves the “Joshua Singers” because everyone knows what happened to poor old Jericho. This is only the second full day of the convocation. We are very interested to see what happens as the week progresses. If anyone else wants to join us, apparently there are still even rooms at the Biltmore. If you are interested, just show up, or call David’s cell phone and let us know you are on your way. We are thinking of all of you. This morning in our meditation, Nitai led a prayer in which he said, “Thank you for this opportunity to serve.” We are filled with gratitude. Oh, yes, on a much lighter, even comic note. Last night we were chanting and meditating in the Ananda room and someone near the door looked out and saw a group of young people kneeling in prayer right outside our room. It turns out they are a Christian youth group on a field trip. Their pastor took them to the slums to pray for the souls there and apparently they decided there were heathen right in the Biltmore who could also use a little help. What a lila! In Master’s love, Asha Next letter Top | Back to: Current events and news| Next letter | Home | Contact Us | Directory/Site Map Updated: November 26, 2001 www.YoganandaRediscovered.org/CE3ltr2.html