“I Did This”

[Listen to Asha read this story]

One night, Swami Kriyananda was walking through an area of the Ananda Community near his home.  It was a picturesque scene — lights twinkling in the windows of several residences, and faintly in the distance the sound of someone chanting.

 “For the only time in Ananda’s history,” Swamiji said later, “the thought crossed my mind, ‘I did this. Formerly, there was only forest here. Now there is a community.’

“It felt so limiting, though, to bring everything we have done together to a personal focus in me.  Instantly, I repudiated the thought and it has never occurred to me again. I prefer the truth and the inner freedom it brings: God is the doer.”

Someone once asked Swamiji, “You receive so much praise and appreciation, yet I see no trace of pride in you. How do you manage it? I would think the temptation to feel pleased with yourself must crop up now and then."

“Pride comes,” Swamiji replied, “when you place importance on what you receive from others. When your energy is focused wholly on giving, you forget yourself and simply do.  Then the question of pride never arises.”