TRUE FAIRY TALES FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
The Magical Awakenings of Ananda
It is the story of Ananda’s journey to enlightenment , based on my true journey of self-acceptance, compassion and self –discovery.
It is told in 9 enchanting narrative fairy tale like stories.
- The biggest Liar: Ananda, who has been lying since an early age about who she is, who her parents are and where she lives, is able for the first time to admit to stragners that she has lying about her life. But when she sees the person she has been lying to, she runs away and leaves her home to work as an au pair girl in Rome.
- The Chocolates: Ananda meets the family in Rome she has been set to work for and succumbs to the temptation of eating an entire box of chocolates that belongs to the master of the house whom she fears. As she’d rather die than be caught, she flees Rome back to her home in France only to find out that her mother has moved out.
- Ananda and the Holy Child: Now homeless, Ananda seeks refuge at the Louvres Museum and hides there so she can spend the night. Frightened to death by a guard doing his relentless rounds, she escapes out of her body into a vessel of light where a voice tells her to paint in order to heal herself.
- 4. Bird on the Branch: In the morning, she’s able to leave the museum, but hunger and stress has weakened her and she faints in front of a car. She awakens in a country castle and meets her rescuer, an eccentric aristocrat scholar, lonely and intrigued by Ananda who gives her a place to live and
tries to instill her with social graces and world history. But Ananda, now having realized her dream of living in a castle, still feels the same malaise about herself as she is unable to tell the truth about who she is and where she comes from. Feeling alienated by the servants, she hides in a little cottage on the estate and begins to paint, like she was told in the Louvres, doing nothing letting her hand be guided.
Painting, doing nothing, gives her tremendous joy, and soon the child in her that had been suppressed by years of abuse living with her mother, comes out and freely play in an explosion of colors and free flowing forms. For the first time, Ananda feels she found a voice to express herself. Painting becomes her passion and the world around her becomes very colorful and joyful. Everyone, especially her benefactor love the painting and for the first time she feels useful to people. Like what she does matter.
- 5. Odessa’s dream: One night, Ananda has a dream about her mother whom she’d almost forgotten by then. In her dream she loves her mother as much as one can love. Puzzled she wonder why. Then nightmares come invading her psyche with painful memories about her mother. Helpless, she asks for help and is told to go inside her mother’s heart with her paintbrush, feel her pain and understand it all and paint it all. This takes her back to her life with her mother and as she paints every painful incidents with her, the ice in her heart melts and she starts feeling love again for her mother. One night a little girl’s voice awakens her. The little girl is talking to her mother with all the love that she has for her and it is so beautiful that Ananda writes it down. In the morning, she realizes that this little girl is her, talking to her mother Odessa. And in a flash she sees all the painting, matching the world the little girl said and she gives birth to a book of love, compassion and forgiveness. A love song to Odessa. Now free to be more of who she is, she wants to go to America to fulfill her mothers dream. Her benefactor decides to let her go and sends her to America to live her mother’s American dream.
- 6. The American Angels: Ananda arrives to Los Angeles and moves into a little cottage and right away takes up with a beautiful kitten. But never having owned or given love to anybody, afraid to love, she can’t give a name to the kitten. So she just calls her kitten. Walking around her neighborhood she discover something unexpected. A peaceful meditation garden around a lake founded by Yogananda where a portion of Gandhi’s ashes are. It is there in the chapel that Ananda began her spiritual journey as the spirits of Krishna and Yogananda speak to her and gave her spiritual guidance. With her spirit guides she now explores taking ownership of the circumstances of her life and her karmic lesson and see the blessings in everything that happened to her. One day she has a vision at the lake that shakes her down. In the sky she see the face of her Vietnamese father whom she never met. An amazing healing takes place with her father as she know that she is loved by him. Empowered, she gives a name to the kitten – MOUNETTE – and allows herself to fully love her. And the more she loves Mounette, the more she loves herself.
- Ananda and Mounette: In this story, Ananda goes through the death of Mounette and with the guidance of Yogananda exeriences that there is no death. It’s only continuation and practice that truth with Mounette which enables her to still be with Mounette even more meaningfully than before. So Ananda never feels the loss of her. She knows she will always be there, in other forms maybe but her spirit is indestructible. She does not need to get another cat to fill the void. Then, unexpectedly Mounette reappears in a kitten’s form which blows Ananda’s mind away.
- 8. Heaven on earth: In this story Ananda revisits her life through a new set of eyes and discover that she is the master of her destiny and spiritually guide at all times. There is nothing to fear. After having owned everything about her that she could not be with she has found spiritual freedom.
Brigitte Callieu 