I knew many things about Rohini’s house long before I arrived – voices, faces, stories, certain parts of rooms. To be honest, I expected it to be more austere or in another way strictly ruled, which very nicely displayed a misunderstanding of mine. As it turned out, the only disappointing thing was seeing how small I had made myself internally. …
Living Sādhana….
You can’t think your sādhana. And yet that is exactly what so many people do. They think good thoughts and believe that is sādhana. They wear “pure” clothes and eat “pure” food and act “purely”. They “believe” they are doing everything to succeed in sādhana. They are in fact going about it all wrong because they are approaching practice as …
Selfish Sādhana….
We do sādhana for ourselves. We also do sādhana for the sake of the Self. And if we all did sādhana for the sake of the Self, then we would all be living in peace and love. We would not be killing, and we would not be blaming. We would be taking responsibility for our actions and being empowered to …
Mirror, Mirror….
When my two sons were born, I felt that one of the most important jobs I had was to be a mirror for them. As I looked into their eyes, I would also be looking into my Heart. There was a strong feeling of connecting with them, and this was not about me; this was about us in the greater …
Reaching the Third Level….
The third level of practice, which is called śāmbavopāya (path of Śiva) in the tradition of Kashmir Śaivism, uses the will. All traditions teach this practice, in which we rest in the Heart by a well directed will. Obviously, this is not easy; it requires discipline and complete surrender to God, Self, the Absolute. Yoga Sūtras III.17 says that through …
The Love Machine Part One….
It’s all about recreating our childhood vibration, which we call love. We call it love (or safety, comfort, normalcy, etc.) because it is how the small self gets attention, and therefore power. For the small self, power is the surrogate for love. Intellectually we hate the vibration and look for “solutions”, but emotionally we crave it and keep looking to …
Talking, Doing, Being….
Idealists are idealized, and there is little people will say against them. We tend not to argue with them; most of the time they are right. Other names for idealists are visionaries, idea people, intellectuals, and talkers. Many of these people believe talking and sharing ideas are at a higher level than doing, and think their job is done when …
The Ease of Spiritual Practice….
Working to redirect to the true center is not easy; sometimes it can be extremely difficult. Somewhere in popular discourse, “ease” became a word that sat next to “spirituality”. Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all, the question needs to be “easy” for whom? If “spirituality” is a lifestyle driven by concepts and ideals, then “our small …
I’m All for Nondualism….
We have to die. Who has to die? The one that never existed. This seems unclear, but from the standpoint of the Self it totally makes sense. As long as the small self believes it exists, we are living a dualistic life, separate from God. Nondualism does not occur except in philosophy and theology class until we actually remove our …
The Buck Stops Here….
There is a hidden joke in the title of this blog. I approach the protection of my garden in very much the way Baba taught me to handle security in the Ganeshpuri Ashram. In Ganeshpuri there were walls with broken glass on the top. Intruders came in through the drainpipes or the front gates. After we put screens over the …