The Bhagavad Gita is a timeless story of the moments before a civil war when the protagonist begins to doubt what he must do. His chariot driver is the beloved god Krishna who, thru his playful spirit is a delight to all. These doubts of Arjuna are not the doubts of someone just coming to…
Nagaland: The Tribal Warriors of North East India Many people have asked me about Nagaland and of course I’ve been meaning to write about it for years. Over the past couple of days I have found these words to say about it. Enjoy! The complete photo gallery can be found on [here] on Flicker. Getting…
I’ve been quiet with my writing. I’m back in Canada where I have other duties to preform; writing looses it’s place on my priority list. But my mind is still working, learning and churning out ideas. The topics are simple on one hand but suddenly as I begin to explain things, I find I have…
Yoga was once shared among friends. Someone would wander off to India or some ashram, blowing everyone’s minds in the mean time, and then come back and perhaps start teaching a few hesitant friends in someone’s living room. That was before the Yoga Alliance stepped in to “promote and support the integrity and diversity of…
I stepped into a bright sunny morning on Kensington a few weeks ago; it had just been raining for three days. A chipper fellow sitting on a bench reading the news-paper said good morning to me immediately. I returned it and asked him how he was on this beautiful morning. “Miserable, how can anyone be…
One of the richest men of India graced the evening aarti (ceremony) in Varanasi one evening. Not unlike Obamas visit to India, several private planes landed in the days before his arrival to ensure he would have all the comforts to which he’s accustomed, as well as the security preparations to keep him safe. Aarti…
I was asked to write a few words about India to help sooth some of the hearts that are missing Mother India’s expansive embrace. India is an impossible country that will easily defy anything I say about her. Those of you who have met Mother India know her more surely than my words, while those…
How does one satisfy all desire by putting the mind on the self? If we know the self, then we know our desires and our potential; we know what we want and what we can get. It often seems, however, that we don’t know ourselves. This is why we practice meditation and yoga and travel…
Om poornamadah poornamidam poornaat poornam-udachyate poornasya poornamaadaaya poornamevaavashishsyate Om Shanti… Shanti… Shanti….. ~Upanishad~ It’s not unusual to hear the new age refrain that “this is perfect, and that is perfect, everything is god so everything is perfect just as it is.” On one hand, who can argue with this? Who can argue with the deeper…
“When (the yogi’s consciousness) pervades all things by (his) desire to precieve, then why speak much? He will experience it for himself.” ~Spandakarika~ One of my goals in writing about Indian philosophy is to clear up some of the New Age misunderstandings, which, though they carry some grain truth, are only adding fuel to the…
From the Aghore branch of Tantra it’s clear that common impurities like shit, menstrual blood, drugs, alcohol, death and other filthy tamas things like are not in themselves impure from a Tantric perspective. Nothing can be impure in itself since everything is, in its essence, divinely pure consciousness. But it’s because of this notion of…