Monthly Readings

July 1, 2007

Spiritualizing Human Relationships

Human relationships are extremely important for the obvious reason that almost every other aspect of life revolves around them. Naturally there will always be variations in these relationships because we are different people with varying temperaments, interests and capacities. During less complicated times, this issue of relating to others occurred in a natural way. But now due to industrialization and technological advances, the speed of life has accelerated leaving people with little time or energy to focus on this essential element of their lives. So it has become imperative to emphasize the need of forming enduring relationships. Simply stated, success or failure in life is greatly influenced by our associations with others.
June 1, 2007

Knowledge, Love, and Union: A Glimpse into the Christian Contemplative Tradition

To some Indians, it may seem presumptuous that a Westerner should write to them about meditation and contemplation, even if it is only about the Christian contemplative tradition. After all, India is the Mother of Meditation. And historically, Christians have not been especially known for their capacity to meditate. The world may admire their teachings on brotherly love, their care for the poor, their schools and their hospitals—everything pertaining to active works of charity—but generally it would not look to Christians as masters of meditation or contemplation in the same way it would look to Hindus or Buddhists.
May 1, 2007

Ethics in Our Human Relationships

Our lives become meaningless when we lose the value of justice and ethics. We all have an equal right to pursue happiness; no one wants pain and suffering. And yet justice and equality are uniquely human principles. We should not sacrifice these principles in the pursuit of power or material wealth. Instead, we should employ them in serving others’ interests. But to do so, we need a firm foundation in ethics.
April 1, 2007

“Dive Deep,” Said Ramakrishna

Spiritual progress depends to a considerable extent upon one's earnest personal endeavor. "Arise, awake! Approach the wise teachers and learn from them," the Katha Upanishad says. Throughout the Bhagavad Gita we find Sri Krishna exhorting his disciple Arjuna in a similar strain: "O mighty descendant of Bharata, arise; shake off all doubt and hesitation and hold fast to the practice of yoga."
March 1, 2007

Yoga and Self-Realization – Part 2

After the Shvetashvataropanishad, descriptions of yogic practice continued to evolve, and finally Patanjali gathered together all that was known from the experience of the seers and yogins before him and systematized it as the eight-limbed yoga (ashtanga yoga). His Yogasutra is the classic manual on the technology of spiritual science, and the core of its teaching is the series of eight steps that Patanjali lays out for us to follow.