The question is: Why is truth contemporary though uttered five-thousand years ago? The answer is: Because it is Truth. Truth never gets old. Two plus two is four today as it was five-thousand years ago. Swami Ranganathananda, in his introduction to The Message of the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad Nineteenth-century science was purely materialistic. Study was confinedContinue reading

n the beginning this universe was the Self alone, in the shape of a person. He reflected and saw nothing else but His self. He first said: “I am.” Therefore He came to be known by the name I (Aham). Hence, even now, when a person is addressed, he first says: “It is I,” andContinue reading

Where there is creation there is progress. Where there is no creation there is no progress: know the nature of creation. Where there is joy there is creation. Where there is no joy there is no creation: know the nature of joy. Where there is the Infinite there is joy. There is no joy inContinue reading

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.  Mary Oliver The Veda speaks of itself as being the science of consciousness. It says that consciousness is all there is. Everything in the universe, and beyond, is nothing but consciousness.  Therefore if we wish to change our experience of life, we must change ourContinue reading

com·pas·sion – a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering [of that person] Random House Dictionary from the Latin com – together with + pati – to suffer, literally ‘to suffer with’ The Oxford English Dictionary   When I was teaching meditation in MexicoContinue reading

Ask the physicist. He’ll tell you: “It’s all mere vibration; particles or charges in constant motion or just waves of different frequencies in a perpetual flux. Your three-dimensional world is largely a concoction of your senses and mind. And you? You are the consciousness which is the witness of all the drama, watching in amusementContinue reading

The first chapter of Bhagavad Gita is ‘Arjuna Vishada Yoga’ – it begins with the sorrow of Arjuna. This is an important thing to understand. One will not turn around and try to find the truth behind the appearances unless sorrow comes about in some form. Otherwise, one would remain satisfied with the little lollipops offered. One would suckContinue reading

Q:  Is sorrow a thought?A:  All thoughts are sorrowful.Q:  Even pleasurable thoughts must be sorrowful.A: Yes, because thoughts take one’s attention away from the Self, which is undiluted happiness. From A Practical Guide to Know Yourself: Conversations with Sri Ramana Maharshi  We are meant to enjoy life. This is the Vedic worldview. We are meant toContinue reading

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. Albert Einstein The Sanskrit word maya often is used to describe the world as illusion. In fact, maya refers more to the mind’s propensity to divide the world–which the Veda tells us is one, whole, complete reality–into apparent duality. When we live through the mind, rather thanContinue reading