(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player needed)
A big part of life is learning to be curious about what its purpose is and how it works. Now scientists might agree with this statement, but they generally only accept a mechanistic, non-spiritual perspective. Those with a spiritual orientation to life study about and try to act on the fact that we are souls having a human experience. This view changes everything, as does our understanding about the dual purpose of...
Namaste
Growing up in the ‘50’s during the era of “Leave it to Beaver” and “The Lone Ranger”, black and white TV programming was presented for the whole family and to some small extent instilled family values and ethics. Now please remember, American society was somewhat peaceful having just finished the second world war and having not yet begun the next major conflict - Vietnam and the hippie revolution. At that time many slogans were prevalent and common in the vernacular of everyday life to...
Namaste.
Many years ago, before personal computers were the norm or even available, I worked implementing computerized accounting systems by replacing an office full of typists, accountants and secretaries with computers that spit out fancy invoices and kept tract of everything with the push of a button. As you can imagine good software was had to find in those days, and a majority of my time was spent looking for good accounting software that worked without (major) bugs. Eventually I found one...
Dear Friends,
I say friends not because we have ever met, but because of the close friendship I had with your intimate relative and friend, a kind soul I knew as “Taru”: devotee, writer, public speaker, humorist, ascetic and a true lover of the Supreme Lord. I dare say that my knowledge and appreciation of Taru differs considerably from yours simply because of our varied perspectives. You, of course, knew him as a close relative, someone you grew up with and loved, or nurtured into adulthood by...
Namaste.
Since I am now a card carrying member of the “over the hill club”, and will continue to be until my membership forcibly expires, I will start with an old time adage - “Be careful of the company you keep.” Or as most parents would say today, “Don’t hang with the wrong crowd”. When I was growing up, neglect may have resulted in a bloody nose, but today adherence to such stern warnings can mean the difference between living to a ripe old age or expiring in a pool of one's own blood on the...
Namaste.
The other day, while filling up at the gas station, I had to ask myself, “Where have all the hippies gone?” You know that “we’re not going to take it” generation; the ones who left home, left school, and every other material security to stand in front of national guard troops placing flowers in the barrels of guns to stop a senseless war and a corrupt administration. It seems that the generation of change has now given up the fight for what’s right, abandoned their rebellious natures...
In the U.S.A. we just observed “Father’s Day” and it’s celebrated in 55 other countries on various days. Although not a Vedic holiday per se, the day meshes well with the Vedic idea of honoring elders including our mother and father. (Austerity of the body consists in worship of the Supreme Lord, the brahmanas, the spiritual master, and superiors like the father and mother, and in cleanliness, simplicity, celibacy and nonviolence. Bhagavad-gita 17.14). Although the West is a very youth...
Our spiritual master Shrila Prabhupada often spoke of going back to home, back to Godhead. It is one of the mottos of the Krishna consciousness movement. I have thought often over the last 2 months about the concept we generally have of our “home” in this world and the idea that the soul has an origin, a place or real home where he belongs eternally, which never has to be—or is wanted to be—left. Although people like change and seek fulfillment through variety, we also seek permanence, and...
I
Soul within physical realms
planes within dimensions
levels within worlds
episodes within time
assignments within missions
travels within journeys.
Sitting in the living room
thinking of my 7 week visit
winding down while mountain gazing
the last legalities finalized
death certificate received
understanding the Will and adjusting.
After traveling to New Dwarka
the Prabhupada Festival,
to Carpenteria by the ocean
to visit Giriraja Swami and friends
we make the drive back to the desert
greeted...
The mountains are so prominent in the La Quinta area, and I am thinking of all the reasons they are so captivating to me. It is also typical that many people are oblivious to them, as much as they don’t take lessons from the sun-- that each new sunrise brings them closer to death. Regardless, I feel even the smaller ones close to the house are massive, ancient, and expressive of great wisdom. They appear like a huge pile of boulders and rocks that fell from the sky at the beginning of time, or...
2 years 46 weeks ago(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player needed) A big part of life is learning to be curious about what its purpose is and how it works. Now scientists might agree with this statement, but they generally only accept a mechanistic, non-spiritual perspective. Those with a spiritual orientation to life study about and try to act on the fact that we are souls having a human experience. This view changes everything, as does our understanding about the dual purpose of...1 Comment(s)420 Reads
2 years 47 weeks agoNamaste Growing up in the ‘50’s during the era of “Leave it to Beaver” and “The Lone Ranger”, black and white TV programming was presented for the whole family and to some small extent instilled family values and ethics. Now please remember, American society was somewhat peaceful having just finished the second world war and having not yet begun the next major conflict - Vietnam and the hippie revolution. At that time many slogans were prevalent and common in the vernacular of everyday life to...0 Comment(s)480 Reads