This week begins a four-part class in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The Yoga Sutras are among the core scriptural sources chosen by Paramhansa Yogananda when he came from India to the West to share the ancient wisdom of India. There are innumerable sources from which Yogananda could have chosen in addition to which are countless commentaries by some of … Read More
I read a poem by the medieval woman saint, Mirabai as quoted by Yogananda in Chapter 7 of his life story. For “all thy getting, get understanding” and that understanding is not of the mind but of the heart. Love is joy; love is enthusiasm; love is respect; love is acceptance. And while virtue cannot by itself take us into … Read More
Swami Kriyananda tells us that our soul loves to meditate, but the ego doesn’t! The ultimate goal of meditation is for the ego to dissolve back into the infinite consciousness and so the ego resists. If you are having a hard time meditating (and most of us do at various times), remember this. It is the ego putting up its … Read More
Few people realize the connection between Gandhi and ML King. King was a follower of Gandhi. He visited India and met with Gandhi’s successors. In his first civil rights protest in Montgomery, Alabama, he made Gandhi and his teachings household word in the deep South!
According to legend, the female Sphinx lived outside the city of Thebes and tested travelers with a riddle: what creature has one voice but, in the morning, has four feet; in the afternoon two feet; and in the evening, three feet?
“The characteristic features of Indian culture have long been a search for ultimate verities and the concomitant disciple-guru relationship.”
This sentence encapsulates the timeless and ever timely reality that life is both objective AND subjective.
Each person who strives for maturity must come to grips with the influences of their upbringing. But it’s more nuanced than just “blaming” your parents etc. We attract that which we resonate with or, not. Spiritually speaking, the path is one of rising up out of instinct, subconsciousness, and environmental influences into conscious and intentional living and then finally upwards … Read More
As a separate ego we are always alone; as a soul, we are One. How do devotees reconcile feeling isolated from the world, from worldly values and from others on their unique path to God with the goal of Oneness? What is the dark night of the Soul?
When others are misbehaving, what can we do?
Someone wrote to me to ask how to meditate while having a cold? I had just got over one myself so I thought to share some thoughts. “Tis the season!”