Every tradition uses the gardener as an analogy for spiritual work. The garden is a place where everything grows within a prescribed area. We are gardens where everything grows, both beautiful and ugly things. And many times in a garden a beautiful plant begins to be seen as a weed because it has been allowed to grow to the detriment …
Sadhana Is Uncomfortable….
We have been looking at how we repackage things to suit our small selves, and seeing that it is so sad. If we do not restrain our small selves, we only repackage. Repackaging is just another word for twisted love. We are unwilling to love openly and honestly, so we twist and repackage and then present that to the world. …
Stop Repackaging the Practice….
Be with your experience. This does not mean “in it”. This means “let it happen”. Always did. When I first wrote down the practice Baba taught me in A Spiritual Survival Kit, it was 1992. The truth is the truth and it has not changed. Be with your experience, whatever it is. This is so important. We are not to …
Are You Sharing or Reporting?….
On a plane heading toward Florida. Reporting or sharing? Just a fact. Do you need to know? Not really. What you need to know is there is a person in the seat in front of me that has not stopped talking for over an hour. She is reporting as if it really mattered and anyone would like to listen. The …
I Lost My Patience….
In Orkney I cried, I laughed, and I finally gave up my attachment to patience. Thank God. I had been driven to travel to Orkney for the last two years, and on July 27th I finally arrived, not knowing what would happen or how, but knowing this was an important time. The quiet was amazing as well as the landscape. …
Twisted Love….
Twisted love is still love. So everything is love in one form or another. The problem is, God is having to push through our ignorance. Manifestation is love; just twisted love; twisted because of us. If we give up our wrong understanding and let God be the doer, and we no longer believe we are the center of attention, then …
Low and Behold….
Around our cottage in Orkney there are fields filled with cattle, sheep, wheat, grass pasture, or wild growth. The ocean, with cliffs rising from it, is within walking distance. Spotted around are farm compounds. No stores. Virtually no people for us to see or hear. The main landmark, high on the ridge two miles away, is Marwick Head. Entertainment is …
Vacations….
Vacations are designed to help us. We say we need a break, we need a rest, we need to get away. Vacations can help us with detachment. When we go away or just stop our normal work or activity we are forced hopefully to disentangle from that very activity. We get to see how involved we were, which may not …
What Does the Guru Do?….
The Śiva Sūtras say the Guru is the means (Sūtra II.6). For me, my Guru, Swami Muktananda, Baba, has been and is the means. In all the years I knew, studied and worked closely with Baba, he never let me down. He was and is always guiding me to the state of union with God. If the Guru is the …
Resources….
Resources. What are they? Resources are people and materials that aid us in our lives. These resources can be within us or outside us. We should know what they are and use them wisely. Our resources should be looked on as gifts. Do not waste or disrespect your resources, because if you do they may run dry, and you are …