Reflections
On Dharma
Dharma is often translated as “religion”, “righteousness”, or “virtue”. But its meaning goes deeper, referring to the “nature” of something, its “essential characteristic”. Dharma is also closely related to the concept of “ṛtaṃ” meaning “ordered movement”, “rhythm” (ṛtaṃ is the Sanskrit origin of our English word “rhythm”). So we could say that dharma refers to our natural spiritual rhythm...
Kedarnath
This mountain is my beloved. He is my friend, my father. My love of the Himalayas started here, with him. I have watched in tear-filled silence as he catches the rays of the rising sun, seen him bathed by the full moon’s light and understood why the ancient sages tell us Shiva shines like a silver mountain...
Summer Solstice
Cycles are circles. But they aren't cold or static—they allow for transitions, for change. They are meant for change, really. For though there is always a return to a point in time or in space or in state, that return is anything but tangential. A cycle is dynamic because it requires a traveler. Some one or some thing must experience the cycle, must engage in the constant act of
returning, and in doing so, themselves close the circle at every moment...
On Unicorns
If one does not possess a frame of reference to include the spaces at the periphery, then how can that one claim to know for sure what they “see”. We must not forget that we view everything through the lens of our choosing...
Details
The Himalayas will draw your eye out, to gaze in wonder at the snow-capped peaks or the seemingly endless forests of deodar and pine. In March the Himalayan foothills in Kumaon are aflame with rhododendron in full bloom...
Mountains
Tagore wrote that in a mountain “stillness surges up to explore its own height.“ Perhaps those of us who are lovers of mountains feel that by our ascension...
Epiphany
Today, the 6th of January is traditionally the feast of the Epiphany, celebrating (among other things) the Magi’s encountering the infant Jesus at the manger. The term “Epiphany” comes from the Greek...
Climbing
While walking the plains, we can use the mountain on the horizon to set our physical bearings. From a distance, the mountain provides us with that sense of place; it contextualizes the land and the space around us.
Upheaval
California's abundantly fruitful and beautiful geography is due in such large part to its tremendously chaotic geology. As these two...
On Austerity & Dedication
Some years ago I had the great fortune of attending a satsang given by the beloved and saintly monk and yogi, Baba Hari Dass. He has taken a vow of silence, and hasn’t spoken a word out loud since 1952. During the satsang...
Twilight
Twilight in the Himalayas reminds us that life is at its most vivid, most vibrant along the shared edges. When two things meet, they do so in space and in time, and a very powerful thread runs along their common edge...
The Fire of Consciousness
The ancients tell us that fire is hidden in the fuel that sparks it, that the burning is buried within, unseen. This potency is sleeping, waiting to awaken...
Narasingha - The Man-Lion
This evening we celebrate the appearance of Lord Vishnu’s incarnation as Sri Narasingha, the Man-Lion. The Demon King Hiranyakashipu had received a boon from...
Musings on Ma Matangi
This life is vibration. This life is music. And while we may think we are the musicians, or consider ourselves composers, we are really always only the Mother-strung cords of Her instrument. Her fingers have held us down, released us, plucked us, fine-tuned us. And every time, slack or taut, we have vibrated. Everything we create is only Her expression...