We are doing a scripture study together: reading along through some scriptures and discussing the passages. From the Winthrop Sargeant translation of The Gita… 35. The greatest warriors will think That you have abstained from the battle through fear, And among those you have been held in high esteem You shall come to be held lightly. 36. And your enemies will speak many words of you that should not be spoken, deriding your capacity. What greater hardship is there than that?... Read more
Amazingly it’s been around seven years since I first started stumbling towards learning Hindi. For those who are new here is some background: my parents study Sanskrit and so I grew up with some influence of that. I knew the letters of the devanagari alphabet (which both Sanskrit and Hindi use) by the time I was in college. I knew some Vedic prayers. I had a little kid’s learn Sanskrit book from the St. James school (affiliated with SES). The... Read more
What a fantastic idea! I am so impressed with this app idea. This iDevice app not only provides you with a list of US temples and reminders for festivals, it also has step by step instruction for various pujas you can do at home. You can purchase a little kit too that has all the ingredients you need for the puja you want to perform! They’ve got pujas for Shiva, Ganesha, and also pujas for a new car or a... Read more
I know I’m always saying that in any given country or population, probably 95% of people aren’t going to be strongly spiritual. I’m guessing at that number, but it seems that in the Kali Yuga very few feel the pull to chase down the mystery of what life means. So that means that in every religion and non-religion (in other words, atheists included) there are some who ask themselves the big questions about what our lives mean and others who... Read more
Spending two weeks with almost nothing outside of spiritual pursuits was very eye-opening. Yes, I did do some shopping. I still fell victim to my material desires. But for most of the time we were living in spartan ashram quarters and there was nothing to do besides meditate, pray, and read spiritual literature. I even experienced a complete break from food desire. I had a very small appetite and I ate only to sustain the body with no attachments or desires... Read more
We are doing a scripture study together: reading along through some scriptures and discussing the passages. From the Winthrop Sargeant translation of The Gita… 31. And, perceiving your own caste duty, You should not tremble. Indeed, anything superior to righteous battle Does not exist for the kshatriya. 32. And if by good fortune they gain The open gate of heaven, Happy are the kshatriyas, Arjuna, When they encounter such a fight. 33. Now, if you will not undertake This righteous war,... Read more
I’ve been feeling something that I’ve had a hard time quite putting my finger on. Going to visit India there’s a lot of talk about what vaccinations you should get, what medications you should take and bring, what to do when you get there to minimize getting sick. “It’s not ‘if’ but ‘when’ you get sick” people joke. You are admonished to never drink the water, never eat fresh fruit, never eat food from street vendors, never eat anything that... Read more
Coming back home from India has been a brutal transition. I definitely did not want to leave! Even as I felt the amazing peace of guru darshan, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold onto it. My only hope was that it would fade slowly. That was not the case. As soon as we got to the airport and were facing cancelled flights due to massive snow in Boston, all my calm evaporated. I made it through... Read more
Being away from my usual distractions I was able to see more clearly how desire keeps us chained. I saw a sign at a temple that said “As long as there is desire, you cannot escape the cycle of birth and death.” But how can you break that chain? Desire is SO powerful and our lives train us to increase desire. I feel like every time I’m looking at a group of things the expectation is I’m supposed to be... Read more
[For news of how my Mahashivratri went, see this post: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/whitehindu/2015/02/my-mahashivratri-prayer/] I had heard before that some South Indian temples don’t allow foreigners in on the theory that non-Indians aren’t Hindu. I hoped that it was a rare occurrence and maybe exaggerated but I can now say from personal experience that it is true. (I was told specifically about Southern temples on this one and my friend who has toured in the North extensively told me she’s never seen that and... Read more
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