Ananda is a global movement based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, who showed how everyone can realize God in their daily lives as a tangible loving reality. Ananda was founded in 1968 by Yogananda’s direct disciple Swami Kriyananda, widely recognized as one of the world’s leading spiritual teachers. Yogananda’s teachings embrace the deep truths that underlie all the great religions. People from all faiths and backgrounds are welcomed at Ananda. Expand your sense of harmony and gain an increased sense of God’s loving presence in your life through ancient and effective techniques including meditation, Kriya Yoga, spiritually oriented Hatha Yoga, community and divine friendship. We invite you to join us at our temple, retreats, and meditation groups to experience the joy of your own being. We believe in a single, blissful, eternal consciousness, Satchidanandam, which pervades the entire universe, unifying it and all creatures in a bond of mutual love and service. This blissful consciousness is the underlying reality of all existence; it precedes the very manifestation of the universe. •We believe our highest duty is to realize ourselves as an expression of all-pervading Satchidanandam (Satchidanandam is Sanskrit for Ever Existing, Ever-Conscious, Ever-New Bliss). •We embrace the way to this Self-realization through the inner silence, above all, of daily communion with the infinite Self, through the practice of meditation. •We embrace, for ourselves, the need to embody this realization in our own lives by daily acts of compassion and service to our fellow beings. •We embrace and honor all religions and spiritual paths and to see them as our brothers and sisters in that Supreme Consciousness which is variously called God, Ishwara, Allah, Buddha-nature, or Jehovah. No person or group has a monopoly on truth. •We aspire to make our own lives works of art, whether through music, through the visual arts, or through the simple deeds of our daily existence, with a view to expressing the bliss that is latent in our deeper selves. •We seek never to convert anyone; only to inspire all with the desire to reclaim the bliss of their own being. •We seek fellowship and community with others willing to join hands with us in this loving labor for universal upliftment. Thus, by our united efforts, our hope is to share inspiration with ever-increasing effectiveness.