Swami Prabhavavnda being escorted by Swami Krishnananda
Smiling Swamis
Swami Chetanananda and Swami Ashaktananda on the boat
where Mother Kali was to be taken back to be delivered
and merged into the vast ocean.
After a lecture in Santa Barbara
A Swamiji Puja laugh!
In 1973 - it was a Swamiji Puja and Swami Prabhavananda, who had recently named me Sumishta which means "very sweet", came to our table and asked me, "Are you sweet?" I replied, "Only if you say so, Swami" and we both had a good laugh.
A letter from Vishishta
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| Vishishta and Friends |
"Here's a pic from my 2005 trip to India with Swami Aparananda (Berkeley centre). I am sitting with orphans from the ashram/orphanage on the Holy Rameswaram Island (at the train station).
These days I am studying Advaita Vedanta with Stuart Schwartz, a travelling holy man (and still going every Sunday to Berkeley to Vedanta). The spiritual community up there is really wonderful.
We all loved this blog and appreciate your efforts! The Old Swam! In his Bug Glasses! Sometimes he appears before me glowing, looking better than he did struggling around with his cane and overcoat. I am sure it is much easier for him now.
Much love, Vishishta"
A Note From Pavitra
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| Rabindra & Pavitra |
"Your blog is wonderful. It actually brought tears to my eyes, even though i am not sure why. I remember Swami had made such a deep impression on me as a kid and I remember feeling so special because I knew him and somehow I understood that I would have his support in my life....it brings back so many amazing pure memories - probably the best childhood memories i have. I am so grateful to my sister, Nalini, for dragging me along with her....thank you for making your blog. love, love. P"
A Time to Laugh
Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)
words adapted from the Book of Ecclesiastes by Pete Seeger
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven...
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| Peter Schneidre & Sumishta |
A Note from Nalini
"Hi, Sumishta! Wonderful to see your new blog. I just came home from the Ananda Ashrama....it's beautiful, as usual. I've decided to take a little retreat there next weekend for the Ramakrishna Puja. Everyone deserves to retreat now and again, to get outside of this world and focus on those very personal and lasting spiritual experiences. This blog will be a retreat. :) Reading the entries and seeing Swami P.'s photo is uplifting. I'll definitely be checking back. love from L.A., Nalini"
Through the Trees
There's a certain light that occurs when you go up to the Santa Barbara Vedanta Temple.
The trees allow the light through. And on a certain day many years ago I stood on a path and watched the light break through. I am still on the path although no one can see I am still there.
A Note from Rabindra
"Very nice indeed.
How about some news on who's doing what these days? Tons of old time Vedantins would love to know. Ramurti has just completed a CD of devotional songs for
Vedanta in Portland. Lonnie Hirsch is living in Tokyo doing Transcripts for the Tokyo
Vedanta Centre...some more photos of the gang then and now could be something!"(Yes, please!! If anyone has photos and stuff they'd like to contribute that would be wonderful! - ED)
Those Special Walks
It's hard to describe what this particular walking was like. Certainly, it wasn't brisk. It didn't require it. There was no requirement. If you were there you'll know what I mean. Maybe you know what I mean anyway! It didn't matter if you were very young, old or a teenager like I was. It was a kind of grace. Can you tell?
Sri Sarada Devi, The Holy Mother
When a friend asked me "...Ramakrishna or Holy Mother?" I replied "They are the same." There is the seed and then the tree. That's how I feel about it. If you need shelter, then ask Mother because she can never say no to her beloved children. Below is a little bit about her. Do find out more if you like.(1853 - 1920]
"When Holy Mother came to Dakshineswar at the age of sixteen, Sri Ramakrishna asked her whether she had come to pull him down to a worldly life. Without hesitation she said, "No, I am here to help you realize your Chosen Ideal." From then on, Holy Mother lived with Sri Ramakrishna as his spiritual companion, devoted wife, disciple, and always the nun. She was the embodiment of purity. Her mind was never sullied by the faintest breath of worldliness, though she lived with Sri Ramakrishna for the greater part of fourteen years.
"Holy Mother was an unusual awakener of souls. With her disciples she served as teacher, dissolving their doubts, as mother, who through love and compassion won their hearts, and as the Divinity, who assured them of liberation. Herself nearly illiterate, through simple words she taught them the most profound truths. Her affectionate maternal love tamed their rebellious spirits; but her great power lay in her solicitude for all. Often she said, "I am the Mother, who will look after them if not I ?" She encouraged them when they were depressed because of slow spiritual progress, and she took upon herself their sins and iniquities, suffering on that account.
"Holy Mother was conscious of her divine nature, but she rarely expressed this awareness. For many years Sri Ramakrishna practiced great austerities and formally renounced the world, but Holy Mother lived as a simple householder, surrounded by quarrelsome and greedy relatives. As a teacher she taught the realization of God alone is real, and everything else, impermanent. The human body so treasured by most people, survives cremations as only three pounds of ashes. She was fully aware of her disciples' present limitations and their future possibilities. No one went away from her with a downcast heart.
-- Swami Nikhilananda
"Holy Mother and the Ideal of Indian Womanhood."
Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, India.
This is Keith
He's a big part of my spiritual journey. I have this premise that everyone is your teacher and Keith teaches me love, patience and how to have a sense of humor, which is integral to any spiritual path...why just today he said,"Make us a cup of coffee, that will prove your love". Shucks, how can I resist? And how easy is that?
A Brief History of My Journey to This Place
The way my mother and father brought me up was very nonsecular. The most we (my brother and sister) ever experienced of religion was Christmas with the occasional "Happy Hanukkah!" from my stepfather who felt a need to represent his background. But there was really never much said about it. The time of year was really about giving and trees with ornaments and if it was cold enough (we lived in Los Angeles) a fire in the fireplace. When I was 16 I got very ill and was told I could either stay in a hospital for one month or stay at home for 2. I chose home so at least I could have my Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan records to listen to. But my collection of music wasn't very big at the time so I started to read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. It was a perfect escape from the static situation I was in and I devoured it whole. Then I started to listen to the radio and came across a philosopher named Alan Watts who in a soft and cool English voice spoke about the eastern version of spirituality without an airy attitude. It impressed me. Got me to think about life. Another day, on the same radio station, an American voice came on named Ram Dass who really "spoke to me". He told stories about his life and his car and getting very high but not on drugs and that really impressed me. He was like a very cool Uncle who knew what "it" was all about and that's when I really started to listen. In the following year I went with my best friend from High School to visit the Vedanta Temple in Hollywood where I would meet my teacher and other people who perhaps without their knowing it would be like an extended family to me and to all of them I am ever grateful. That was the beginning of the journey that has lasted me all my life.
Sri Ramakrishna
Sri Ramakrishna, the prophet of modern India was born in the village of Kamarpukur, 70 miles west of Calcutta, on 18th February 1836, and brought up in a pious, devout and simple rural atmosphere. Gadadhar (childhood name) grew up into a healthy and restless boy, full of fun and sweet mischief. He was intelligent precocious and endowed with a prodigious memory, which enabled him to repeat, just after hearing only once. To listen to recitations of stories from Hindu mythology and the epics was his greatest delight. Painting he enjoyed, the art of moulding images of the gods and goddesses he learnt from the potters. But arithmetic was his great aversion. He was endowed with a yearning for the vision of God from his very childhood, at the age six or seven Gadadhar had his first experience of spiritual ecstasy. Neglecting his studies, he sat with wandering monks and pilgrims, and played religious dramas with his young companions. To turn his mind to a useful education, he was brought to Calcutta in his seventeenth year. Gadadhar, however, observed that the aim of all secular knowledge was mere material advancement, and he resolved to devote himself solely to the pursuit of spiritual knowledge, which would ensure eternal peace. Being insisted by his brother to studies, his reply was - "Brother, what shall I do with a mere bread-winning education? I would rather acquire that wisdom which will illumine my heart and give me satisfaction for ever".You can read more by clicking here and going to The Vedanta of Southern California website
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