raviksubbiah

Pooja

2008-03-10T03:01:00.000-07:00

Puja ca pujaniyanam
Etammangalamuttamam

Pooja is the core of worshiping God, in a Thaanthric sense. It's purpose, in essence, is to propitiate the eternal and boundless God in any of it's manifestations (Siva, Vishnu, Durga etc.) by bringing or invoking one of the desired forms to the Poojakan's (Poojaari's) presence, and giving a general royal reception through various oblations and offerings (clothes, decorations, feast etc.), accompanied by chanting of hymns and Manthrams. It is an aspect of Karma Yogam.

What we offer:
Dhyaanam Samarpayami ========(Think or meditate on the Lord)
Aawaahanam Samarpayami =========(Invite the Lord into your home/heart)
Aasanam Samarpayami =========(Offer a seat)
Paadyam Samarpayami =========(Offer water to wash the feet)
Arghyam Samarpayami =======(Offer water to wash the hands)
Aachamaneeyam Samarpayami =======(Offer water to drink)
Snaanam Samarpayami ======(Give bath)
Maha Abhishekam Samarpayami =======(Main head bath)
Pratishtaapayaami =======(Make Him seated)
Vasthram Samarpayami ========(Offer clothes)
Yajnopaveetham Samarpayami ========(Offer the Holy Thread)
Gandham Samarpayami ========(Offer sandlewood paste/powder)
Akshatham Samarpayami ======(Offer Akshatha (rice))
Pushpam Samarpayami =====(Offer flowers)
Ashthothtra Poojam Samarpayami ======(Say the holy names of the Lord)
Dhoopam Aaghraapayaami ======(Offer fragrance)
Deepam Darshayaami =====(Offer light)
Neivedyam Samarpayami ======(Offer food)
Phalam Samarpayami ======(Offer fruit(s))
Taamboolam Samarpayami ======(Offer betel nut and leaves)
Dakshinam Samarpayami =======(Offer wealth)
Maha Nirajanam Samarpayami ======(Perform aarti)
Pradakshinam Samarpayami =======(Continue aarti)
Namaskaram Samarpayami =======(Prostrate before Him)
Mantra Pushpam Samarpayami =======(Offer incantations and flowers)
Praarthanaam Samarpayami =======(Offer prayers, request your desires)
Kshamaapanam Samarpayami =======(Admit wrongdoings and ask for forgiveness)

Gayatri Mantra

2008-03-08T00:12:00.000-08:00

Gayatri Mantra:
Om Bhur Buvaha Suvaha
Thath Savithur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi
Dhiyo Yonaha Prachodayath

We contemplate the glory of Light illuminating the three worlds: gross, subtle, and causal.
I am that vivifying power, love, radiant illumination, and divine grace of universal intelligence. We pray for the divine light to illumine our minds.
Om: The primeval
Bhur: the physical world
Bhuvah: the mental world
Suvah: the celestial, spiritual world
Thath: That; God; transcendental Paramatma
Savithur: the Sun, Creator, Preserver
Varenyam: most adorable, enchanting
Bhargo: luster, effulgence
Devasya: resplendent,supreme Lord
Dheemahi: we meditate upon
Dhiyo: the intellect,understanding
Yo: May this light
Nah: our
Prachodayath: enlighten,guide,
We meditate on the glory of the Creator;
Who has created the Universe;
Who is worthy of Worship;
Who is the embodiment of Knowledge and Light;
Who is the remover of all Sin and Ignorance;
May He enlighten our Intellect.

Rajnikanth

2008-03-07T22:55:00.000-08:00

Super Star Rajnikanth has a heavy interest in spiritual life. That is why, he used to visit Himalayas every now and then to seek the blessings of seers and sadhus who stay there.

He says……………

As Meditation is the key to his energy

About rajni:

Name: Shivaji Gaekwad

Screen Name: Rajnikanth

Nick Names: Superstar

Profession: Actor

Date of Birth: 12 Dec 1950

Mother Tongue: Marathi

Birth Place: Bangalore

Height: 5 feet 9 inches

Education

* Early education in Acharya Patasala and later in Raamakrishna Mission, Bangalore(PUC discontinued)
* Studied in the Film Institute

Family:

Father:Ramoji Rao
Mother:Rambhai
Sister: Shrimathi Aswathamma
Brothers:Sathya Narayana Rao & Nageshwara Rao
Wife:Latha
Daughters:Aishwarya & Sowandarya
Son-in-law:Dhanush
Grandson: Yatra

Marriage date: 26.02.1981

Earlier worked as: Carpenter, Bus Conductor

Spiritual Guru: Satchithananda Swamiji

Ardent Devotee of : Shri Raghavendra

Wish list

When he was working as a conductor he wished for Vespa scooter, a single-room apartment, and all the cigarettes money can buy.

Politics

Played a major part in putting together an alliance between the DMK and TMC which won the 1996 Tamil nadu elections.

Admires

Lee Kwan Yew(Former Singapore prime minister)

Dwaraka

The name of his private quarters in his home

Health

Yoga and Meditation

Pets: loves dogs

Mannerisms: Swift movements, rapid-fire dialogue delivery

Books

* Autobiography of a Yogi
* Gita as it was
* Living with the Himalayan Masters' Swami Rama
* Books written by Shri Ramana Maharishi

Favourite

Colour: Black

City: Chennai

Place: Himalayas

Food: Non-Vegetarian items

Dress: White Khurtha

Past time

Likes to spend time alone

Address

18, Ragaveera avenue,
Poes Garden, Chennai- 600086

Quote: Happiness begins when ambition ends.

love

2008-03-07T00:34:00.000-08:00

When the change does come ....it comes naturally as the wind blowing ....the sun shinning .... the day rising ..... the night setting.

There is just no warning but an upsurge of energy filling the whole being with intense emotions of love. Feeling love in everything that one sees. In ones being ..ones existence...in everything around. Everything seems to just beautiful. Beauty fills ones very existence.

It is the sweetest of emotions ...combined with feelings of a turbulent tide... where the waves reach for the highest tide towards the furthest shore.

It is as though one is constantly drunk - drinking the sweet wine. The very essence of intoxication is totally over powering and filling.

When the change comes it is overflowing and intoxicating.

It is just amazing.....................

O Soul, I am your body. I am thirty-six years old today.

I wish to learn from you.

"Do good."

O Soul, I am your vital. I am nineteen years old.

I want to learn from you.

"Be good."

O Soul, I am your mind. I am sixty years old.

I need to learn from you.

"See good."

O Soul, I am your heart. I am four years old.

Please tell me the secret.

"Remain good."

O Soul, your body again.

What do you do with your boundless Love?

"I distribute my boundless Love

To ever-expanding horizons."

O Soul, your vital again.

What do you do with your Infinite Peace?

"I feed the teeming vasts of the

Past, Present and Future with my Infinite Peace."

O Soul, your mind again.

What do you do with your Vision of the

Ever-transcending Beyond?

"I feather the Golden Nest of my Reality's

Infinitude with my Vision of the ever-transcending Beyond."

O Soul, once more your heart.

Tell me your absolute secret, please.

"I live for the Supreme and for the Supreme alone.

This is my Absolute Secret."

wanna be happy

2008-02-13T02:24:00.000-08:00

We are all capable of living lives characterized by great joy. Within each of us is an amazing human spirit that is strong enough to overcome pain and disappointment. And no matter what our current situation happens to be, or what beliefs we may currently harbor about ourselves, we can tap into that inner strength and wisdom and move forward to create more joy.We are full of emotions and thoughts. Our brain is endless noisy ocean. Try to stop this noise of ocean on some seconds. Maybe, using all your will-power you will do it. But it is nothing. Because you must stop this noise of your ocean without power. Medical experts estimate that most of the people will have high blood pressure at some point in their lives. With staggering statistics like this on their minds, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh embarked on a 13-year study to see if early-life stressors impacted someone's future blood pressure levels.So how do you go about minimizing your tendency towards getting stressed? Is it even possible in today's fast paced, information-overloaded and hectic society? The answer is yes and you're about to learn how. The Only Way = Meditation Our bodies respond to meditation through three physiological systems: 1) Autonomic Nervous System 2) Endocrine System 3) Musculature System.. These systems are very tightly interconnected and therefore interdependent. The chemical changes resulting in one system often has a cascading effect over the other systems.

Learn to Meditate ---------------------------------------------------- Research indicates that meditating for less than 20 minutes a day is extremely conducive to mental health and minimizing stress levels.One of the reasons meditation is so effective at reducing stress is because of the power of breathing properly. Go ahead and try it - right now. Take a long, deep breath through your nose...hold it, hold it...Then slowly let it out through your mouth, and say to your self, silently, 'relax'. Even with that one single breath, you felt a wave of relaxation pass through your body as tension drained away. Now imagine what a session of twenty, fifteen, ten or even just five minutes per day, whatever you can manage, of deep breathing meditation or guided relaxation will do for you.The benefits of meditation are remarkable and this is not just some mystical Eastern "new age" prattle - the scientific research now proves it. One way to easily get started with meditation is with hypnosis audios. Did you know that hypnosis sessions begin by using deep breathing to induce a state of deep, deep relaxation? In fact, when you "let go" and let a hypnotherapist guide you through it, whether in person, or more conveniently by listening to audio, you automatically release tension, reduce stress and reach a deeper state of profound relaxation than any other way. The life of peace begins anew each morning. We take a breath, awaken, and receive the gift of life, the gift of the present moment. The great spiritual traditions urge us to take time each day to center ourselves in the spirit of peace. If we dare enter the solitude of peace, we will rediscover who we are, each one of us a beloved, precious child of the God of peace. It is really interesting to see just how often we lose control of our own thoughts.
And Wishes for Peace!!!!!!!!!

Yes, Meditation is needed

2008-02-09T05:22:00.000-08:00

Yoga & meditation are pretty much the only things that can bring us down from our natural state. Our natural state is high strung, slightly high maintenance, very emotional & sometimes easily upset. That sort of makes us sound like a bad person, lol. That's not really the case. We usually can hold it in & We have a great sense of humor (I think ha) but in meditation & yoga We can let it all out & breathe & stretch it away. No thoughts. No worries. LOVE IT!......

Meditation and yoga are the few things that work for us for releaving stress. Stress got so bad that at one point We ended up at the emergency room from the pain. Stress can effect many health problems in a negative way. Regular meditation works for us. We have to like to think of a babbling brook and imagine the sounds. Clear your mind.

Yes, Meditation is needed , It's very calming and allows our thoughts to flow freely from our mind and to rest in silence in our mind.

2008-01-10T01:33:00.000-08:00

Each day you wake up to a new beginning. Each day you turn the page of your life story and can begin to write whatever you want. Stories change and what makes any book interesting is reading how the hero makes a transition, has an epiphany, or saves the day. What’s the story of your life? Would you want to read about you? What would you want to read? What would you like to write if you could be the screenwriter of your life story? What kind of hero would you be? This year marks a new chapter in your life. With the New Year comes the opportunity to re-create yourself and the best way to do that is to find yourself.
As you look within and get more connected with who you are, you will naturally begin to discover why you were born. The more you connect with your purpose, the clearer it will be to fulfill your life purpose. As you begin fulfilling your life purpose you begin to feel more fulfilled, happy and peaceful. As you dial in on that inner connection through Shaktipat meditation the cloud of unknowing is lifted, like the fog evaporating on a sunny day. As you let more light in, everything becomes clear. Innately you already know; you have only to seek to find.
Come with me to a place where the sun always shines and God’s love is felt so deep you lose your mind. All the things your mind thinks won’t matter after you’re dead. What matters is love, and I am inviting you to make this next chapter of your life about love. About receiving love and sharing it. Not just personal love for people you love, that’s a given. I am inviting you to really love yourself. I am inviting you to stretch your capacity to love others. I invite you to forgive everyone, to drop all judgments of yourself and others. To surrender any and all negativity, and surrender to the presence of God that prodded you to read this.

Discover the healing power of your mind

2007-12-01T05:34:00.001-08:00

Discover the healing power of your mind

Doctors have long known that the great wildcard in healing is the human mind. The will to live in a patient can make the difference between recovery and prolonged sickness, even between life and death. Now, recent scientific discoveries are leading the medical community to a far more specific conclusion: The quality of our thoughts and feelings directly affect the body's systems, including the immune system. No longer can there be any doubt that the mind profoundly influences physical health.Today we are witnessing a revolution in modern medical understanding: Mind and body are no longer seen as entirely separate from each other, but as two facets of one whole. As a result of this revolution, meditation has become a widely accepted tool in the treatment of heart disease and other stress-related illnesses.How can a purely mental practice like meditation influence physical health? In the 1970's numerous well-designed scientific studies confirmed that meditation rapidly produces a state of rest and relaxation much deeper than the deepest rest achieved during an entire night's sleep. This profound, rejuvenating rest frees a person from stress and tension, generating well-being healing to mind, emotions, and body.Doctors agree that a buildup of stress and tension poses one of the most substantial threats to mental, emotional, and physical health. So whether suffering from heart disease, high blood pressure, ulcers, colds and flu's, depression, anxiety, or fatigue—or whether you simply want to feel better, more alert and alive—meditation is a tool no longer to be ignored.

An ancient Taoist proverb says, "When you have a disease, do not try to find a cure; find your center, and you will be healed." Many cultures around the world have long recognized the power of our thoughts and feelings to affect physical health. Finally, Medical Science is placing its stamp of approval on this understanding. Isn't it about time that we benefit from this ancient wisdom? Is it really so surprising that the wisdom of the ages might just hold the answers we seek?
Reviving an ancient paradigm for establishing Ideal Health.

As healing as the deep rest of meditation may be, rest alone is not be the last word in terms of creating optimal health through meditation. For thousands of years, yogis have claimed that the key to health and longevity lies in the harmonious, balanced, and unrestricted flow of prana (life-force, similar to the Chinese concept of chi) through the nadis (subtle channels conducting energy). When the subtle, energetic body is in balance, the physical body enjoys improved health and vitality. This is also the basic principle of Chinese acupuncture and the health-giving practice of Tai Chi.

Indian and Tibetan manuscripts speak of particular advanced meditative and yogic practices based upon this principle. These have been employed by yogis for centuries to vastly accelerate their spiritual growth, while optimizing physical health and lifespan.

Over the past 30 years of studying with enlightened masters and yogis, Ajayan has researched these ancient techniques. In addition to beginning courses in meditation, he now teaches these practices. Effective in enlivening and refining prana and clearing the nadis, they expand consciousness while filling body and mind with the power and vitality of that consciousness. As such, they hold tremendous promise in furthering our explorations of the healing power of the mind.

No doubt that the human waking state experience can and should be improved. The means for that are varied and many – from improving our physical health by means of good nutrition and exercise, through our material health by education, hard work, and prudent investing, to our mental health by seeking good company, understanding and dismantling unhelpful behavioral patterns, etc. All of this is well and good and should definitely be pursued to make this living experience a bit more pleasant and ourselves a bit less of a nuisance to our surroundings. However, if our aim is to eradicate suffering from our life, this is not enough.Meditation has a reputation as an activity related to religious practices and hippy-dippy pseudo-science. This is unfortunate, because meditation is a simple, effective stress management tool that can be used by a anyone – and solid medical research has shown that meditation is highly effective as a way to lower stress and even manage pain.When you meditate, your heart rate and breathing slow down, your blood pressure normalizes, and you use oxygen more efficiently. Your adrenal glands produce less cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline and you produce good, healing. Your mind clears, allowing you harper thought and greater creativity. Meditation has proved beneficial for people trying to give up smoking, drinking and drugs.
Meditation by its very nature is not an intellectual pursuit. True, it, like anything else we do, begins with the help of the mind. It is the mind that needs to decide it even wants to do it. It is the mind that finds a comfortable seat, a nice shawl, gets someone to teach it a mantra. It is the mind that says “OK, now I will sit for five minutes.” But once that sitting begins, the mind is no longer in control. It is not the mind that effects the transition from waking state to deep sleep (though it is the mind that picks a comfortable bed) and it is not the mind that brings about the meditative state. And yet, it happens.
As you meditate the number of random thoughts occurring diminishes, as does your attachment to these thoughts, and your identification with them. This is because you are usually not aware of all the mental activity that you are engaged in.

This meditation is a unique combination of breathing, looking, letting go and witnessing. Looking at the light with soft gaze is so relaxing, your fragmented energies are integrated.
Meditation allows your mind activity to settle down and results in you becoming more peaceful, calm and focused. when meditation: * Reduced blood pressure * Lower pulse rate * Decreased metabolic rate * Changes in the concentration of serum levels of various substances.

Himalayan Heaven

2007-12-01T05:32:00.000-08:00

Himalayan Heaven

Author and meditation teacher Ajayan (Henry) Borys, former Kirkland resident, shares his experience of living in a cave in the Himalayas during the spring and summer of 1996.
The spring of 96 was a fateful moment for human visitation in the Himalayas. That season saw the terrible Mt. Everest climbing tragedy, as well as the filming of the spectacular IMAX movie, Mt Everest. These two events would respectively shock and inspire the world. Yet just a few hundred miles from Everest, something else was taking place in the Himalayas. Something much, much quieter. I was sitting in a cave, meditating. And it was the experience of a lifetime.
What brings a man with a wife and two daughters to spend two months in a dirty, scorpion-invested, natural freezer of a cave? Well, it wasn't exactly to kick back and enjoy creature comforts. Ever since 1970 I had explored with a passion various forms of meditation. I had traveled the globe studying with saints and yogis. In 94 our family had sold our Kirkland home, Aerostar, and all other belongings, to live in the south of India. There I taught meditation. It was only a matter of time before I'd land myself in a Himalayan cave.For my retreat I selected the remote pilgrimage spot of Gangotri. This is the legendary source of the holy Ganges River (actually 18 kilometers below the glacier that is the present-day source). For untold centuries this area, at just over 10,000 feet, from which springs India's most revered river, has been a favorite spot for yogis seeking union with the Divine.There is a saying that everywhere in this world is the earth, but the Himalaya is heaven. It is not just a saying. Though raised in the Cascades, still, I had never seen so much beauty in one day as that day I first approached Gangotri on a rickety, packed-jammed Indian bus. Keep in mind that even the foothills of the Himalaya are so extensive that only after a full day's drive within them does one glimpse snowcapped peaks. Yet then more appear: the towering wind-swept, snowy mammoths, the highest mountains on earth. And everywhere are waterfalls-cascading from incredible heights, showering silvery streams and rainbows over the alpine forests of pine, Indian cedar, and birches.

The Ganges itself at these higher elevations doesn't merely flow, it explodes. Every foot of that river brims with unimaginable power-gushing, boiling, rising and falling in oceanic waves, cutting through the maze of cliffs and mountains surrounding it in every direction for hundreds of miles. Finally, one arrives in Gangotri, a tiny, remote hamlet, nearly uninhabited most of the winter, but a favorite pilgrimage site from May through October.Somehow I had thought finding a cave in the Himalayas would be easy. I soon discovered differently, however. This was prime season for holy men to come from all over India to pursue their spiritual practices in Gangotri. All caves were filled. We're talking zero vacancy rate. Yet on my third day there, by the miraculous blessings of a local saint (who lives naked much of the year at that altitude), I discovered an ideal cave as I hiked through the mountains.This hovel was about a mile outside of Gangotri, surrounded by virgin pine forests, overlooking the Ganga with 360 degree mountain views-and no one lived within a kilometer. Adjacent to it was a dramatic canyon rising above the Ganga, serene meadows, and natural rock gardens. That spot would have been one of most beautiful National Parks of the world-and it was all mine.For the next two months I observed strict silence (no talking), meditated, ate one warm meal daily, did yoga (after establishing a truce with the scorpions, who liked to sunbathe on my blanket), bathed in the icy Ganga, and drank its holy waters. My daily meal consisted of rice and dahl (mung bean soup), which I ate with the other swamis in the area. I supplemented this meager diet with wild edible plants growing in the mountains.Yet cave life, I discovered, is not quite as comfy as the creators of the Flintstones would have us believe. First, caves are dirty. Ergo, lots of laundry, and the Ganga freezes your fingers in seconds. Caves leak and are musty. They are home to many bugs, beetles, mice, etc., which often joined me in bed or during my meditation.One morning, for instance, a couple of hours into my meditation, I felt something crawling at the base of my neck inside my clothes. Reaching under the neck of my sweater with my hand, I grabbed it-carefully so as not to crush whatever it was. When I opened my hand, I saw that it was a huge, black beetle. Just like the kind you can see on exhibit at the Science Center. Gently, I placed it outside the cave. As I continued meditating, though, I couldn't shake the thought that I had seen a beetle of this sort before. Where had it been? Wasn't it in that movie about Richard Burton's and John Speke's search for the source of the Nile (Mountains of the Moon)? That beetle had crawled into Speke's ear while he slept-for the purpose of burrowing into his brain! Speke had stabbed the critter while it was still in his ear, and this had permanently damaged his hearing. The more I meditated on the beetle, the more afraid I became that it was indeed related to Speke's. This beetle had, after all, been heading in the direction of my ear… My cave was infested with them, too-dreaded, black, Himalayan, brain-burrowing beetles! Nevertheless, by God's grace, I would emerge from my retreat fully endowed with brains and ears intact.As for wild animals, I had heard that tigers roamed these forests. That was my one unspoken fear. Tigers always struck me as a bit overwhelming.Before going into silence, I asked a swami about this, "Are there any tigers around here?""No tigers."Hmmm. He seemed pretty sure about it. "How about bears?"
"Bears no disturb sadhaks," came his unequivocal reply in broken English (a sadhak is a spiritual aspirant).This still left one question: How would the bears know I was a sadhak?As it turned out, I never saw any beast larger than the small rat that shared my cave. Speaking of this rat, he turned out to be a most worthy and pious roommate.I had been keeping a little food in my cave, and each night I had been awakened by some nocturnal forager. One night, after the rustlings disturbed my sleep, I figured it was time to draw the line. Picking up my walking stick and flashlight, I crept in the dark over to my food. Turning on the flashlight, I walloped with the stick the plastic bucket that contained my goodies. A moment later a small rat hopped out of the bucket. He walked a few feet towards the wall of the cave, but very slowly, as if my blow had stunned him. It would have been easy to do him in then and there, but I didn't want to hurt him (in fact, I hoped I hadn't hurt him); I just wanted some undisturbed sleep.

Then the strangest thing happened. The rat turned and lifted himself onto a large rock directly in front of me, making himself completely vulnerable. Crawling to the rock's edge closest to me, he faced me, bent his forelegs, and bowed his head down to his paws as if prostrating. Next, he slowly raised himself and lifted his head to look at my face. For perhaps 15 seconds he looked at me with large, soft, unblinking eyes. Finally climbing off the rock, he crawled into a crack in the cave's wall.From that night on, whenever my pious little roommate woke me up, I just rolled over and let him eat his fill.Caves are also natural refrigerators. Wearing everything I had brought with me (including wool ski hat, gloves, etc.), piling blankets on, topping it all with a rain slick, I just managed to stay warm enough to sleep through the night. It took me half an hour to dress for bed.At first the cave's cold seemed almost unbearable. In the first week I often pondered the possibility of borrowing a propane heater from some local ashram. During my freezing meditations at least, it seemed a reasonable enough request: "Excuse me. I'm living in a cave. Could you lend me a propane heater? It's very cold."Gradually, however, the discomforts began to seem an essential part of my retreat. This was tapas (spiritual practice with an attitude of self-denial), and I took solace in recalling the many sages who had done tapas in these very mountains throughout the centuries. They, too, could have chosen to live in the comfort of home, but they savored such spots as this. Indeed, such musings occasionally transformed the biting cold into a penetrating presence of God.Then there were those precious breaks in my routine of meditating 12 hours a day. I would crawl out of my cave into the brilliant mountain sun, stand surrounded by rugged mountain peaks jutting into the clear, blue sky, savor the solitude, holiness, and beauty of that place, the Ganga dancing before me, and know that I could ask for nothing more. Pilgrims visiting such sacred spots consider that their life has been fulfilled. Perhaps it is true. What I felt in those mountains was indeed something rare. Such spots have offered their beauty and solitude to thousands of sincere seekers of God. They have been the resort of saints and sages throughout the ages, and have been adorned with a vibration of sanctity. To stay even for a few days amidst that beauty, to bathe and drink of that holy river, to see the valleys of flowers and gaze on the peaks of the Himalayas, was indeed to be blessed by God.What about social life? Well, in spite of observing silence, I did make wonderful friends with some of the swamis (it is easy to make a good impression when you don't say a word). These included the naked saint, and two others who dearly wanted me to spend the rest of my life wandering the Himalayas and meditating with them. There is great kinship found without effort in the Himalayas amongst sadhaks-regardless of nationality, race, or religion-and this added greatly to the charm of my time there.

But the real attraction of living in a cave and doing all that meditating, is what happens on the inside, and in this respect each day brought new treasures. One's appreciation for life, one's awe for this miraculous existence of ours, grows in a way that cannot be described. Here is a short excerpt from my daily journal (hopefully someday to become a book), to give a flavor of the upside of cave living, and why I went there in the first place:Doing asanas outside my cave, the giant boulder that is the roof of my cave caught my attention. The white and gold rock face gleamed in the sun. Moss covering much of it formed an inviting, warm, deep green carpet. A net of fine spider webs I had not noticed before shone in the sun. Every inch, every crevice, every glimmering facet and shadow cast by overhanging pine branches, was a glorious work of art. I could not take my eyes from it; the golden light of God beamed from the rock.How easy to see God in nature! We may spend hours watching sitcoms and videos, but to spend even half-an-hour a day in a garden, learning to lavishly appreciate its wonders, its fine details-this will open our eyes to the Divine.Continuing asanas, I noticed the pine rising above the boulder; it too shone with the light of God. My eyes then went to the deep blue mountain sky, the gleaming white sun, the billowing white clouds; they all shone with glorious divine presence. All is God's grace. We only need eyes that see.