Chapter 10: Crystal Hermitage

Crystal Hermitage! If there’s a place in this Village meriting a poem dedicated to it, Crystal Hermitage is the one! The home of Swami Kriyananda when he’s staying in the United States, and also the most beautiful place I have ever seen, dwarfing all others by far. I went up to Crystal Hermitage every single one of the (whole) days I spent in the community (except for Tuesday, because I attended a class), and not once did the thought “It’s too far, I’d rather not go today” cross my mind (the Hermitage is about 30 min on foot from where I was staying, mostly uphill).

It all started when I had finished dinner on Sunday, the first day I spent in Ananda Village. It was about 7:15PM and I hadn’t found the courage to call Lakshman during the day, so I was restless because I had only five days left and nothing was decided about my appointment with Swamiji! Suddenly, the urge came to me: “I’m going to walk up to his home so at least I can see it… maybe meditate right outside it. But I can’t just stay here and go to sleep.” That having been decided, I picked up my map of property and set off.

My first problem lied in that, while I knew Swamiji lived in Crystal Hermitage, I didn’t know where to find Crystal Hermitage! I looked at my map, but didn’t find it anywhere. Refusing to allow this to discourage me, I set off toward Hansa Temple, assuming Crystal Hermitage had to be in the same direction.

Once I got to the entrance of Rajarsi Park, my suspicions were confirmed. There, in a road that was next to the park’s entrance, was a sign that read “Crystal Hermitage”. Soaring in cheerful anticipation, I hastened to take the road and follow it. It wasn’t until halfway through it (I was close to the school by then) that I realized that Crystal Hermitage was in the map after all! I had been looking everywhere for little letters saying “Crystal Hermitage” and had failed to realize that it was written in huge bold letters, at the top of the map! Laughing to myself, I set off again, with new confidence that I’d be able to get there with no problem.

After some minutes walking uphill and surrounded only by woods, I came by a road that crossed the one I was using… and on the other side of it, behold, Crystal Hermitage! Thrilled and at the same time very at peace, I took the little path of white stones that leads inside, to the Shrine of the Masters and the Hermitage itself!

The entrance to Crystal Hermitage.

I looked briefly to the Shrine of the Masters: it was closed. It didn’t matter; the house where Swamiji lived stood ahead, just a few steps away!

The Shrine of the Masters. To the left start the stairs that go down into the gardens.

I started my way down into the gardens, admiring the beauty of them all around me, but focused mostly on going all the way down to the house where Swamiji lived and worked.

External garden of Crystal Hermitage.

External garden of Crystal Hermitage.

External garden of Crystal Hermitage.

External garden of Crystal Hermitage.

About halfway down, I arrived to the chapel. Curious, I decided to go in later, but not now: for now, the building ahead was all that mattered.

Crystal Hermitage Chapel.

Finally, I reached almost the bottom of the stairs, but what I found there was a gate that separated the “outer” gardens from the “inner” gardens. In the gate there was a sign that read: “Private zone, go in only with an appointment.” I was not surprised and, curiously, I was not disappointed either. I had come to Crystal Hermitage as it was my objective; now I knew where it was and how to get there. My intention also was to start a flow of energy into the direction of “coming to Crystal Hermitage to see Swamiji”, hoping it would help me later. Whether it did or not, I do not know, but in the end, I came to Crystal Hermitage five days out of the six I spent in Ananda Village; four out of those five days, I was allowed into the inner gardens and the house. What a blessing! But I’m getting ahead of my story…

The gate that leads to the inner garden. It was closed the first time I went there.

Satisfied at last with my pilgrimage, I decided to visit the chapel and see how it was from the inside. I didn’t plan to stay there for long: I only wanted to see it. The moment I entered, however, I was invaded by an aura of peace that was almost tangible. Giving up, I sat myself to meditate for about ten minutes, which was as much as my tired body (this was on Sunday, the day after I left Canada, which means I had been up 25 hours and slept less than five, and now it was getting dark again; so, I was tired) allowed me. During those ten minutes, however, I was bathed in the spiritual vibrations of the place, and for the first of many times, I addressed the following prayer to Divine Mother: “Mother, I have only a week to be here. Please, let this week be fruitful. Generate all the possible opportunities for my spiritual development, and don’t let me miss any of them because of cowardice or laziness.” I can say without hesitation that this prayer has been granted to the letter. One more drop to add to the sea of gratefulness I feel for my Divine Mother.

After the brief meditation, I was so overwhelmed with peace and joy that I felt the urge to leave a big donation, or at least big considering the money I had, in the chapel “donation box” (that’s a smart idea, leaving a donation box inside a place where people find inspiration!). I bowed before the images of the gurus, and mentally before the Divine Mother who had allowed me to be there, and left the chapel to head home.

The walk back to Serenity House was interesting: it was already dark, there were no lights (after all, it was just a road surrounded by woods), and I had no flashlight! Curiously enough, I wasn’t afraid or nervous at all. How different from a city, where walking at night, even on illuminated areas, is a hazard and has to be always on alert! Luckily there was some moonlight; very little, but it was enough for me to see barely the road up to a few steps ahead of me. The most fun part of the walk back to The Expanding Light was when I had almost reached the place, and I left the road to go by the little earth path: there, the only way that I had to know whether I was still on the path or not was to listen to the sound of my footsteps! If I heard I was stepping on dry leaves, I knew I had left the path and I had to look with my feet for ground that made “the right sound”. It was fun!

The chapel of Crystal Hermitage would have been the highlight of all the places I visited in the Village… Would have been, I say, because I had the blessing to enter Crystal Hermitage itself.

The next day I called Seva, whom I had not been able to reach on Sunday, and we agreed on having lunch together. Next, I called Lakshman to tell him I had arrived, and he told me he’d come down to lunch at The Expanding Light that day, and suggested that we met me there. At the Dining Room I finally encountered Seva! I had been eager to, and I owe her a lot because it was her who convinced me go visit Ananda Village. “You have to do your dharma,” she wrote to me, “and only you can tell what it is.” I’ll quote here the wise words of Dave Warner: “Always listen to Seva!”

After we had talked for a while, Lakshman arrived. The three of us talked for a while longer (actually, it was more of an interrogation, of which I was the victim), Lakshman had to go talk to someone else; then Seva departed, because it was evident that I wouldn’t ever finish my lunch while she was there talking to me.

I finished my lunch (quite fast after Seva left) and went inside to leave my dish. I saw Lakshman at the table with the person he was talking to. He looked at me and I waved. I headed towards the door to leave…

“Wait!” Lakshman called. He excused himself to the person he was talking to and walked toward me. “Should you want to visit me at Crystal Hermitage at some point, please come; I’ll be delighted to show you around.”

“Wha… uh… sure, thank you so much! But… there’s a door, and it says the zone is private…”

“Oh, don’t worry about it: come down anyway. My office is to the right of the door when you reach the bottom of the stairs.” He then gave me his schedule and added, “anyway, call me before going. Just in case.”

“Sure, I will! Thank you!”

In case anyone has any doubt, my idea of “at some point” was “the sooner, the better” and “this evening, if possible!”

That afternoon, right before lunch, I called Lakshman and asked him if it’d be okay with him if I passed by after dinner. He told me that there was no problem, and that he’d be in his office there between 7:15 and 8:30PM. I intended to have dinner as fast as possible and then head to Crystal Hermitage, hoping to arrive at 7:15, but visits to my table kept me until about 7:10, when I excused myself saying I had to get to the Hermitage. Shankari offered to take me there, but I told her I’d rather walk.

After I had brushed my teeth and discarded picking up a flashlight (after all, I thought, I had come back without one the night before!) I made my way to the Hermitage. Such was my willingness to be there that I walked all the way in something like 20 minutes, without even intending to go too fast! I entered the outer garden and, thrilled, went through the same gate that had stopped me the previous day, and down to the house’s door! Looking to the right, I saw Lakshman in his office, who came out to greet me. It was 7:45PM, so I thought I might get fifteen minutes or so of his attention before he went back to work his last half hour.

Past the gate, into the inner garden of Crystal Hermitage!

Finally! The house! Home to Swami Kriyananda when he stays in the United States.

After Lakshman took care of a few things, he offered to give me a tour around the house, which I gladly accepted.

Then something happened, something I wasn’t remotely prepared for: I don’t know if those are the normal vibrations of the house or it is especially so because Swamiji was living there for the time being, but as soon as I stepped into the house, my being was invaded by joy. This joy seemed to be born in my heart and spread through my whole body and beyond; for a few moments I could hardly speak, such was my surprise and delight!

Because it was getting dark, Lakshman proposed that he show me first the garden (the true “inner garden”, which is on the other side of the house and you cannot see from the stairs that lead to the Hermitage); I agreed, of course, but such was my joy that I did not care too much what we saw first or did not see. However, a few minutes later I was glad he made this proposal, as this was one of the most profoundly moving experiences of the whole week and, indeed, of my whole life.

First we went to a balcony, which allowed us an unobstructed view of the hills around. I have never seen a more beautiful setting in my life, and I stood speechless and with my mouth half open, contemplating the wonderful panorama and listening to the wind. My mind soared back to the times of my childhood, during which I often dreamed of visiting a place with a view like that: yet another childhood dream that was fulfilled, I thought gratefully. Lakshman, always receptive to other people’s state, helped reinforce this gratefulness and sense of awe with a few rightly chosen words. We spent a few minutes there before he led me to the garden.

Nothing could have prepared me for what followed. This garden was just the most wonderful and beautiful place, even more so than the view I had contemplated a few moments ago; part because of its real beauty, part because of the wonderfully “beautiful” vibrations. Lakshman’s remark, “you can feel the angels roaming through the place” says it all, you actually can! The garden, the moon-shaped pool; all of it was indescribably beautiful: like a piece of an astral heaven brought to Earth.

The most peculiar thing (for me) of it all, however, is that I could no longer say I had dreamed about a place like this when I was little. I actually had the feeling I could remember the place: all of the garden, to the smallest details, seemed to me as returning to a place I knew already and had been my home for a long time when I was a child. At this point, my inner joy had increased to an overwhelming point: it took all of my will to prevent tears from falling from my eyes. I could hardly utter two words, so I just nodded and followed Lakshman when he proposed that we enter the house again.

The interior of the house is a nice counterpart to the gardens and setting. I don’t remember much of it anymore, but all of the rooms are beautifully decorated, with paintings and wood carvings from extremely talented people, friends of Swamiji’s. All of what is inside is exquisite to the last detail, and the aura of joy is all-pervading. The reason why the Hermitage was built so exquisitely was given to me by Lakshman: “Swamiji said that when people come to visit Ananda Village and leave, they remember the joy they felt while being here as something abstract, and because it’s abstract, they can’t hold to that memory and soon they forget about it. Crystal Hermitage, however, is something very specific to which their memory can cling and they don’t forget.” He also told me that the place looked very differently when it only served the purpose of being Swamiji’s home! It was only a little dome with all the installations in a single room, and it wasn’t nearly as beautifully decorated as now. Presently, Swamiji’s quarters are under the main part of the Hermitage; you can get there by going through a room that says “Private”, which I looked at longingly but, of course, didn’t go through that day.

After the tour ended, we passed through the library on our way back to the main gate. At that point, I stopped for a little in order to look at a collection of red books. “Wait a second,” I said. And then “okay, I just wanted to know what these books were.” That was enough of a trigger…

We spent the rest of the evening in that very spot talking on a variety of subjects, until nine o’clock! He then gave me a ride to Serenity House (and lucky me, because it was then that I realized that the previous night had not been completely dark); there, I meditated, thanking Divine Mother for the wonderful experience, and then went to bed. From that day on, I got a new dear friend, or more likely, I renewed a never-lost friendship with an old soul-friend.

Lakshman and I outside the Dining Room.

After that experience, I made the decision of going up to the Crystal Hermitage Chapel every night to meditate. By a funny combination of events, I very rarely did so, as something else always came up; I’ll go into it in later chapters. However, I did get to go to Crystal Hermitage five or six more times after that, and in four more occasions I was allowed into the house for different reasons. However, nothing could compare to the first time I was inside: probably because all the other times there was a multitude of people and I either couldn’t feel or couldn’t focus into the so special vibrations of the place as I felt them the first time. Independently of this, however, I always looked forward to any opportunity of going into the house (it usually meant having the chance to see Swamiji, too), and thanked Divine Mother from the bottom of my heart for every single occasion in which she gave me the chance to do so.

I also had the blessing, on Wednesday, to go into the Shrine of the Masters, to which Nabha kindly offered to take me. We spent a good while there, looking at the museum in which so many items related to Yogananda’s life are displayed. I can hardly remember anything of what I saw right now, but for some reason, it was a moving experience (another one!). There are even chairs in the museum so that people can sit to meditate there, should they wish to; it looked like a really good idea, but we left without doing so. There is also a boutique right before entering the museum: another place in which I could have spent a fortune! I was especially attracted to a statue of Saraswati, but, alas! I didn’t buy it because I needed the money for other things!

Crystal Hermitage was, by far, my “highlight” when it came to places in Ananda Village, as you sure have guessed! The chapel, moreover, became my favorite place for meditation, and I tried to go there whenever possible with that end.

Previous: Chapter 09: The Temples
Next: Chapter 11: The People

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