My Spiritual Journey

Krsna teaches to take time to express devotion to God, without expectation of returns.   Worldly life is upon us all the time.  Unless you are blessed to be staying in an ashram or are a renunciate, the stress of daily life presses on. Going to work, earning money, taking care of family and friends, house and home, it’s like this for most of us. So where is the time to think of God? When a loved one is ill or there is a particularly important event pending, we may ask God for help, but asking favors is not devotion. Since returning from India , my life has been a bit unsettled and way too busy. The feeling that I can not find time to spend in devotion crept into my mind. But my teacher has always illumined the truth. God is within. Take his name, and dedicate the performance of all duties to Him. There is time in every minute, of every hour, of every day. Thoughts of God do not have to remove me from where I am or what I am doing. Retreating to a sheltered ...

Krsna teaches the root of most material world problems are unfulfilled desires. Contentment can be found in a simple life. Most of us struggle and work hard for money to provide a comfortable life for our family and ourselves. As we reach one level of comfort, we have already started to plan our next level, then our happiness rests in the fulfillment of that desire. Desires are unavoidable; we are always seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching objects. The mind takes the input from the senses and creates many emotionally charged scenarios. Thus, our desire grows when our attachment to those scenarios are formed. We cannot stop our senses from working. The best tool one can use to control desire is the mind. Bereft of the knowledge to harness this tool, one needs a guide, a Guru. By Grace, He or She can teach an individual to be aware of the mind’s process and to be in control of one’s response. Sorting out the experience from the response takes ...

Krsna teaches me to move ahead on the path. My time in India is winding down. It has been full of ups and downs. Literally, I tripped and fell down on the street in Kolkata during Durga Puja (lol). On the up side, my stay in India has been met with much kindness from everyone I’ve met along the way. Beyond falling, the trip to Kolkata was quite remarkable. My visit to Dakshineswar Kali Temple is among my most treasured memories. There at Dakshineswar, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa experienced many years in worship of the Divine Mother and it is there that He nurtured a Love of God that expanded out from India and across the world. While visiting Dakshineswar, and as Krsna's Devotee  held my hand, I dipped my feet into the holy waters of the Ganga River. Two years ago, I could not have even imagined that I would be in Kolkata. As amazing as it was, the experience was surpassed by the honor of meeting a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna. The man known as Bapp...