Stranger in a Strange Land

A few weeks ago Jyotish and I led the Astral Ascension Ceremony for a dear friend, Judy Fox, who passed away recently. Judy was part of a small team, as were we, that Swami Kriyananda sent to Italy in the early 1980s to help start Ananda’s work there.

We landed in Northern Italy near Lake Como at a lovely summer villa that belonged to a friend and fellow disciple. Sound idyllic? Perhaps, but as the months passed and temperatures dropped, living in a summer house with little heat during the coldest winter in Europe in one hundred years was a huge challenge for all of us.

Moreover, living in a different culture from what we were accustomed to, knowing very few people on whom to call, and having none of our usual comforts all reinforced the feeling that we were “stranieri,” foreigners. As time passed, we felt more and more like “strangers in a strange land” (Exodus 2:22).

Swamiji knew all of us well, however, and felt that we had the strength and commitment not only to survive the challenges, but to grow spiritually in the process. And so it proved. We soon realized we had one of two choices: 1) to let our energy drop, and sink into loneliness and depression; or 2) to raise our energy level and deepen our faith in God’s guiding presence with us.

Together our small team consciously chose the second option: to keep our spirits uplifted and to look for ways to share Master’s great teachings with seekers in Europe. From these humble beginnings, Ananda now has a thriving international community outside of Assisi, Italy, as well as centers spreading throughout Europe.

Our friend Judy, who was there that first winter, had an especially joyful and ebullient nature, and helped us all to stay positive. At her Astral Ascension Ceremony, her partner of twenty-seven years, Ric, shared with us a beautiful story about her.

Judy met him shortly after returning to California from Italy, and told him about Master’s path and Ananda. Then (after knowing Ric for only ten days) she told him that he should visit Assisi, because: “The farther you are from home, the closer you are to God.”

With those simple words, Judy captured our whole experience of that difficult first winter. With nothing familiar from which to draw, we had to tune in to another form of comfort and sense of “home”: God’s presence.

This world—which alternates between seeming welcoming and familiar to seeming unloving and foreign—can never really be our home. Why? Because on the deepest level, it’s only an impermanent illusion. We are strangers in a strange land. Our true soul home can only be found by reuniting with God, from Whom we sprang lifetimes ago.

So remember, when you’re going through a difficult time outside of your comfort zone and the world seems inimical and unwelcoming, think of Judy’s mantra: “The farther you are from home, the closer you are to God.”

And at those other times when life is going all your way? Recall Judy’s mantra to mind just as forcefully then. Will you rest comfortably in all that’s familiar? Will you, in Yogananda’s immortal words, “bask in the familial warmth”? Or will you embrace self-expansion and as yet uncharted waters? This choice is always before us.

I’ll close with these stanzas from Swamiji’s beautiful song, “God’s Call Within,” which captures the essence of our soul’s search:

Listen! Listen!
Whispering within your soul:
Hints of laughter, hints of joy;
Sweet songs of sadness, of quenchless yearning
For the Light,
For My love, your true home.


Friend, how long will you wander?
Friend, as long as you seek your home
In a land where all are strangers,
Love locks her door.


Turn, turn, turn within:
In silence of soul, in cave of love
Find My abode.
 

Listen! Listen!
Whispering within your soul:
Hints of laughter, hints of joy;
Sweet songs of sadness, of quenchless yearning
For the Light,
For My love, your true home.

Your fellow wanderer,

Nayaswami Devi