For your enjoyment I have created a video of me performing a short Shiva puja for Mahashivratri. For the rest of the day I will be fasting and then this evening singing bhajans until 11:00 pm at a friend’s house. Hopefully the roads will be better by then. I was going to go to the temple this morning for a puja but there is a lot of snow and ice and our roads haven’t been plowed! UPDATE: There has been... Read more
Lord Shiva’s blessings to you all! Thank you for being part of this journey with me! If you missed it, here is my post with information on how to celebrate: Mahashivratri is Coming Up Read more
A little while ago a commenter here on the blog summed me up. They said I was an Advaitan with Shivite leanings. I thought about that and wondered if that is what I am. There’s no doubt that I’m an Advaita Vedantist. That is my branch of Hinduism for sure. And there is also no doubt that Lord Shiva is the focus of my practice. You may remember my stories about the Nataraja statue that I discovered when I was... Read more
This Tuesday (17/2/2015) is “Shiva’s Great Night.” This is one of the most important holidays of the year for me. Tomorrow I’ll explain my relationship with Lord Shiva. Until then here’s some information for you to help you celebrate the occasion! About Mahashivratri: my post from 2013 More about Mahashivratri plus My Celebrations from 2014 Again this year I will be fasting and attempting to keep a vigil. Again I will be joining my Sathya Sai Baba friends for bhajan... Read more
My trip to Sringeri was life changing. It shifted something inside me and slightly changed the course of my life. While I was watching the Shishya Sweekara a conviction began to take hold and grow within me. I realized that seeing my guru, going to Sringeri, is the most important thing in my life. So far I have gone only when my dad was going. I would tag along on his trips. And I’m so grateful to have been able... Read more
First of all, darshan is a word that means seeing and being in the presence of someone like a guru or a deity. I don’t know how it is that I did not before appreciate the amazing energy that one gets from seeing the guru and being in his presence. It is electrifying. I felt it a little bit in 2011 but I was tuning it out, focused so much on my own problems and thoughts and miseries. This time... Read more
As you guys know, my husband and I have been trying to have a baby for the last couple of years and we’ve discovered some medical issues that are making it challenging. To update you on that situation, I have been diagnosed with two things: 1) PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) which leads to irregular cycles and 2) under active thyroid. I started medication for the thyroid in October. It turns out that my sudden weight gain over the last few... Read more
A big change is coming up in my life! When we arrived at Sringeri (location of my guru, His Holiness Sri Bharati Tirtha) some of the people who were helping coordinate our stay called me Ambaa. It must have been my new friend Sundar who told them about my Hindu name. In real life only one or two people call me that. I’ve debated internally for years about my name and whether I should officially change it. After all, it... Read more
When this trip was first planned it was only to see His Holiness. It wasn’t until after we had our tickets and our travel plans confirmed that the Sringeri Math put out a huge announcement… (English subtitles after the Sanskrit) His Holiness announced that he had found a successor to the title of Shankaracharya and the ceremony that would make him officially next in line would be happening while we were in Sringeri! An amazing coincidence and a once in... Read more
Four years ago I tagged along on a trip my parents took to Sringeri to see the guru, His Holiness Shankaracharya Sri Bharati Tirtha. I wasn’t that interested in seeing the guru. I just wanted to finally go to India for the first time. It’s amazing to me now how I squandered the opportunity that I had. Shankaracharya is a weighty title and it’s a really big deal. The gurus at this math (pronounced maat, meaning temple complex) have an... Read more
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