Sometimes it seems like people feel like my faith is delicate and needs to be protected. I can understand that. One might be worried that I’ve seen and liked the peace and love hippie 70s version of Hinduism in the west and that when I get exposed to more variety of Hinduism, that I will be disappointed and give up on it (Hint: I’ve already seen many, many, many sides to Hinduism and Hindus). I suppose in the beginning for a convert,... Read more
I’ve been reading with interest a bit of a debate going on around Huffington Post Weddings about whether or not marriage is hard work. Some people are getting tired of hearing that oft-touted wisdom about relationships taking lots of work. My relationship thus far has been so easy and simple and loving that it’s difficult for me to imagine what this work people talk about must be. But then I’m not even married yet, so my thoughts are not valid.... Read more
Sivaya Subramuniyaswami is the guru of the Himalayan Academy, the organization that puts out the magazine Hinduism Today. He’s written many books and established a Shivite monestary in Hawaii. From all I can tell, he was a very respected member of the Hindu community, even being given an award by New Delhi’s World Religious Parliament naming Sivaya Subramuniyaswami one of five modern-day Jagadacharyas, world teachers, for his international efforts in promoting and chronicling a Hindu renaissance. Background He was born Robert Hansen in... Read more
Over the weekend Brad and I were visiting his mother and we ended up spending a good part of the day looking at old picture albums. It was really nice. And I discovered this picture… That would be Brad’s mom in Agra in 1979, three years before I was born. It was such a special find and she let me take the picture to show you guys! *** On Saturday Brad and I were able to go together to the... Read more
They say that when you meditate regularly, your body needs less sleep. I’ve never meditated regularly enough to know if this is true. I do know that when I was growing up, sleep was akin to laziness. Oversleeping, I was taught, is wasteful and decadent. We were instructed to never go back to sleep once awakened. If you happened to be awakened in the middle of the night, you were to get up and start doing something. I always had... Read more
It is popular in hippie circles to say that we choose our emotions. We might not choose the circumstances of our life (but maybe on some level we do because of karma), but we can definitely control how we respond to those circumstances. “No one can make you unhappy without your permission.” You can choose to be happy. Just choose it. Just decide to be happy and do it. I heard that a lot growing up. Sometimes I can see... Read more
Actually, the truth is, the experience is different for everyone. We all have different ideas about what we want our wedding day to be like and different relationships with the key players who will make it happen. So here is my real experience of wedding planning: Stress? No, not really. All you ever hear about is how stressful it is to plan a wedding. Perhaps it’s because I’m not detail oriented and I really focus on big picture in almost... Read more
To be honest, at this point the only thing I know about Osho is that he is a controversial figure. That made me curious, so I’m going to do some research and find out more… Background It seems that young Osho (born Chandra Mohan Jain) was a thinker and liked to question authority. He claimed enlightenment when he was 21 years old (note: I’ve always been taught that if someone claims to be enlightened, that’s a pretty good indicator that... Read more
I went back to the Sathya Sai Baba group on Saturday for their more regular service. It’s always challenging to be in a new place with unfamiliar people, but I know if I keep at it, I’ll make friends and become part of the fabric of the group. The first part was practice for the bhajans, which are hymns. I didn’t know what to expect from that, but it turned out to be quite difficult for me. I thought there... Read more
This interesting article suggests that it can. Can meditation change your brain? Contemplative neuroscientists believe it can From CNN’s Dan Gilgoff: …found that committed meditators experienced sustained changes in baseline brain function, meaning that they had changed the way their brains operated even outside of meditation. They have apparently found that very experienced meditators have an increased ability to focus and potentially an increased ability to tap into their brain’s happiness and empathy centers. This article is from 2010. I... Read more
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