I’m someone who cares passionately about Hinduism and my spiritual life. It’s a thread behind every thought, decision, and moment of my life. At the same time, I detest politics. I don’t like the maneuvering and the manipulation and the trying to “win” against other people’s interests. Yet, when people talk religion, politics is almost always at the heart of the discussion. Here I am writing my little spiritual diary and I am frequently asked to comment on issues of... Read more
I’m always advocating for love, peace, and understanding between people but it’s difficult. It’s hard enough to be kind towards people you dislike, but there are times when you feel hurt or dismissed by the people you love. I wonder how we are meant to deal with the minor personal conflicts that grate on us. I wonder why it seems to be impossible to be close to people without accidentally hurting one another sometimes. This question isn’t brought up by... Read more
This year Ganesha’s birthday, Ganesh Chaturthi is on Friday August 29th (this coming Friday) and lasts until the final day, Ananta Chaturdasi, on September 8. This is a holiday of renewal. The belief goes that Ganesha comes to stay with us for a little while and at the end he goes back home, taking our problems with him. People get new Ganesha statues (or make them, see below!) and then at the end of the holiday they are immersed in a... Read more
The well respected Himalayan Academy and their guru Subramuniyaswami put out a book several years ago called How To Become a Hindu. Over the next few weeks I’ll be reading the chapters and discussing each one individually. Today we’re looking at the seventh chapter: Six Steps Toward Conversion Finally we reach the chapter that spells out what the “ethical conversion” process is! Subramuniyaswami explains that in order to fully become a Hindu, one must examine and reject previous beliefs as... Read more
The swastika symbol has some pretty heavy baggage in the western world and that’s a real shame. I think many people in the west are not even aware that it is a Hindu symbol and not invented by Hitler, though that is starting to change. Straddling the two worlds between America and India, I’ve observed that most people in America are unaware of the swastika’s original meaning of good fortune and most people in India are unaware of the powerfully... Read more
A story I used to hear about meditation when I was little was that meditation was the reason the cold war never turned into a hot one. It was rumored that the Maharishi bringing meditation to the west allowed enough people to be sending peaceful vibes into the world that the war dissolved before it came to blows. I began thinking about this assertions again when I received an invitation from a fellow SES child to join a Facebook event... Read more
Can you believe it’s been a year since my wedding? I know I can’t! This time absolutely flew by! But yes, it was our one year anniversary on Monday. I’ve heard it said that the first year of marriage is the hardest, as you adjust to one another. I hope that’s true because I found it extremely easy! Brad and I love being married to each other and it has been nothing but smooth in our first year of marriage.... Read more
No book club today. Instead here are some inspiring images of Sri Krishna… (More info on Krishna Janmashtami here) Read more
This is my favorite time of year! I love holidays and festivals piled on top of one another! Every few weeks there is something to celebrate. Huge holidays are packed into the next couple of months and the excitement for each feeds into the excitement for all of them. I like having a time of year that is particularly dense with holidays and I look forward to it for the rest of the year. I hope you all have some... Read more
There’s an experience that I have a lot and I don’t know if there’s a name for it or if other people do this too so I’m curious to hear your take on it. Things don’t surprise me. It’s like when I get new information about something, it just gets instantly processed into what I know about that something and so I think Yes, that makes sense. Someone says, “Did you know that ______?” and I didn’t but five minutes... Read more
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