All Entries Tagged With: "Spirituality"

Speaking from several experiences as a fighter pilot, I feel even on the ground, in normal life, when you get into a situation that demands calmness and you panic! Tell yourself…  “Do Not Panic.” When in distress this is the very first thought that should emerge from your brain. To you. So, go ahead…and train [...]

A new approach to time management

The Red Wheelbarrow – William Carlos Williams so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. So much is because of you. The letters you’ve written and sent, the touches, the kisses, the parties. Every grain of advice, set of directions, every breakfast for guests. That quarter you [...]

“…holding no prisoner to guilt, we become free.” – The Course In Miracles Someone asked me this week, “Have you forgiven so and so for such and such?” And I did the puppy head tilt, “Huh?” This question throws me for a loop. “Well…I don’t really feel like it’s my place to forgive them,” I [...]

You know that the teacher appears when you’re ready. Sometimes it’s a pop tune, or an ad on the bus, sometimes it’s the handy man. Keep your heart open and you’ll recognize the wisdom when it shows up…wearing overalls and fedora.

One mile south of Georgia O’Keefe’s beloved Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, thirteen miles down a cliff-hugging dirt road in the heart of Chama Canyon, you will find Christ In The Desert. The Benedictine Monastery is cloister to about twenty monks. I’d fantasized about retreating to the remote monastery for about fifteen years. And when [...]

Saraswati, by Pieter Welteverde www.sanatansociety.com Saraswati is my #1 Goddess. She rules what I dig most. I’m surprised she’s not up there with Kali and Aphrodite in mass popularity. Saraswati is regarded as the Goddess of knowledge and the arts. She represents consciousness and wisdom, is regarded as the goddess of sound and speech, and [...]

“The mind knows no limitations aside from those it accepts,” says Jaime Licauco, President and Founder of the Inner Mind Development Institute, Manila, Philippines. This, in fact, is the motto of the institute he established in 1988.

 The 69-year-old Filipino is his country’s foremost authority on inner mind development, paranormal phenomena and Philippine mysticism. He [...]

This weekend my son and I ended up at a Sand Mandala ceremony guided by Tibetan Monks. I just vaguely remembered that something about monks was going on at the Chinese Gardens, and we just happened to arrive as the ceremony was beginning. And there was a prayer carpet in the front row that was [...]

I’m not sure there is a bigger question than this. It bears repeating: what…is…your relationship to life? I was in Kauai in the fall and read Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth between beaches. And this question of his became my walking, rambling, meditation. “What is my relationship….to LIFE?!” Daunting. Spectacular. Galvanizing. Perhaps my favourite question [...]

There is a Buddhist saying: As in the beginning, so in the middle, so in the end. …and it’s one of my life compasses. It never fails me and it’s nearly always proven true. Things often continue how they start. The click, the comfort, the clarity – or the lack thereof, is there at the [...]

On my first trip to India, my friends and I made two important visits. We went far north for a private audience with the Dalai Lama. And we went far south to stay at the Ashram of the famous guru Sathya Sai Baba. Sai Baba is a controversial swami. I have right-minded friends who have [...]

A sage who lived in the jungle was very popular with the masses. The emperor was very curious to know the ways of the sage and invited the wise man to stay in his palace. The emperor wanted to observe the sage. As soon as the sage came near the palace he said, “Wow, what [...]

The taxi driver and I shared one thing in common: indulging in the art of listening and understanding. From Sharjah he cruised at a constant speed towards Dubai. Studying his profile from time to time, I saw he was about 54, a sparse, almost ordinary man, but there was in his voice that indefinable tone, [...]

“The word ‘happiness’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.” The last few days I was feeling exhausted but I carried on my household duties because I have a house to run and many commitments to honour. In India we teach our daughters that the home revolves around them; women are [...]

It’s all very nice to believe in a power greater than myself – some version of a beneficent overseer with management capabilities that boggle the mind – but I want a personal relationship, not a vague idea or a one-way yearning. Over the years, that desire has led me to develop a system of getting [...]

Any honest scientist will tell you that the theory of evolution is only a theory, and nothing more. For many years, evolutionists have tried very hard, often resorting to imaginative concepts, conjecture and assumptions to prove their point. Let us take a look at the basis of the evolution theory and let the logical thinking [...]

Allowing Evolution : Esther Speaks You will, eventually, in your human experiences, witness the fall of your intellect. One who has witnessed the Source within becomes open to shifting/ascending… thus choosing to live in a paradigm of freedom, abundance and endless wonderment. This however will not be achieved in one go. The journey involves many [...]

An opportunity (relating to material world) comes one’s way in normal course without any effort or initiative.  One starts pursuing the opportunity and soon the door is closed.  What is the teaching in this? The question refers to a pursuit that did not bring the desired result. Interestingly, the pursuit began when an opportunity one [...]

My Grand Master Sri Yukteswar ji would always say, “Learn to behave.” Three simple words are these, but a vast spectrum of meaning, as we can see. Let us understand. The world is our extended Self. If I want to get along with others, I must first learn to get along with myself. Now, to [...]

I began to meditate in 1990. About a year later, at my guru’s ashram, I was asked to teach meditation. Given the fact that I myself was relatively new to the practice, I was not sure of any success as a teacher. However, I had underestimated the power of grace. The teaching sessions at the [...]

To do that, you don’t need an instrument. You need yourself, to begin with. You can dial and connect anytime. Stay connected too, for as long and as often as you desire. The receiver always connects and listens to you. The two way transmission is always “strength 5″. The receiver is never off the hook. [...]

Today the topic of this ‘tickle’ came to me like an illumination, a glimpse of light from above. Would anyone call it enlightenment? You single? Yes. It is a long story filled with suitcases and international travels, me moving Monday and no one able to follow my route, me longing for love but me refusing [...]

Just about to turn thirty, I was given a rare opportunity to have a private audience with His Holiness The Dalai Lama. “Hey kid,” my boss said on the other end of the phone, “I think I’ve got us a meeting with the Dalai Lama – at his place in India. You in?” I had [...]

I’ve shopped the mall of meditation since my early twenties. I’ve tried Vipassna, and guided visualization, and Transcendental Meditation, among others. Vipassna helps empty my mind, but I find it punishing. It’s taken me a long time to admit (lest I appear spiritually whimpy) that Vispassna isn’t for me. Guided visualizations can be useful, but [...]

Although it is often distressing to feel confused about what next step to take on your spiritual growth path, the mental state of confusion is actually a higher state of consciousness than being certain of your beliefs and spiritual principles. Feeling confused or “lost” is actually a signal that you are about to be given [...]

When we give something we are always keeping a track of every penny that is going out but when we are receiving we feel that we have never received enough. And then we compare our giving with what is coming in and always the final balance shows a negative balance because compared to what we [...]

Last night I searched in Google, typing ‘Prof Daya Krishna’, the name of my most loving teacher, rather a lovely, witty friend with white beard. When I joined the philosophy department in university, he had already retired. I met him as a helper student who was supposed to read and write for him as his [...]

God helps those who help themselves. But How? To reach God: you need to communicate with him. To communicate, you need to pray as you don’t get to him by any other way. A prayer bereft of feelings of Love is like…a lake without water. Love flourishes when it is propagated with humility. Humility nourishes [...]