“The more I sit in silent meditation, the more I believe in God.”

Len Swanson

There are two factors that typically inspire people to seriously pursue a spiritual path:  suffering, and the reality of death.  This was certainly true in my case.  My senior year in high school was the most difficult period of my life so far.  I had some family issues from the past I was dealing with, and was generally freaked out by the absurdity of life in general.  Why am I on this tiny planet with seven billion other people who continually attempt to destroy each other?  Why do I and these infinite galaxies even exist at all?  What is the point of doing anything if in the end it is taken from us by the impersonal wrecking ball of death; if the sun itself explodes in due time, forever making a mockery of civilization and all its flamboyant pageantry?

When I was 18 I resolved to begin meditating everyday in response to a personal crisis I wont elaborate on in this post.  So I cleared out my room, resolved to read the Dhammapada (which means sayings of the Buddha), and began my spiritual journey.  A few hours later, as I was moving my dresser into the attic to clear a space for meditation, my leg fell through the ceiling and went directly into my father’s room (which luckily he was not in at the time!).  It left a hole the size of a basketball and an even larger hole in my savings account.  God, you will learn, has a sense of humor.

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Lord Ram gave Hanuman a quizzical look and said, “What are you, a monkey or a man?” Hanuman bowed his head reverently, folded his hands and said, “When I do not know who I am, I serve You and when I do know who I am, You and I are One.” -Tulsidas Ramayana.

Aum.  The world of cyberspace is filled with millions of blogs.  Most of them would probably embarrass any self-respecting human being if read by an alien from another planet.  Dining on a verandah overlooked by seven multicolored moons on a planet millions of light-years hence, a three-eyed being with a seemingly meaningless tail on its face would ask me: “Is this what you guys are really like?  Do you simply bitch about things you can’t change, or ramble endlessly about how amazing your children are, or tell the whole world about how you stubbed your toe on Friday morning?”  I would then say, “Some of us take the matter of life and death seriously.  We write blogs to humbly reflect on the glory of the living God. And when offered ice cream when we are full, we politely decline.”  This blog, of course, is one of the latter types.

It has two main purposes.  Firstly, it will help me reflect on my own spiritual life in order to deepen it. Secondly, it will hopefully introduce people to spiritual practices, books, and concepts which have deeply benefited me.  Practically, I will write about my experiences with meditation, prayer, scriptural study, and relationship building with God. These practices are very potent, and as the Lord in the form of Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, “Even a little of this practice (of meditation) will save you from great fear.”  We are spiritual beings, and without a fruitful spiritual life I believe we are missing out on the truest source of love and joy.

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