Next series of blogs that I write will be posted from India where I am presently staying at an ashram.
Location: Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Chinmaya Mission – Mumbai
Returning to a land where I was once a very different personality, I find that this time I am prepared in a way that I not once was. Gurudev has taught me that spirituality is not meant to live in seclusion but meant to prepare one to go out into the world and be like a lotus—completely untouched.
So here I come back to practice spiritual untouchability, to develop a mind that cannot come under the influence of anything other than a purified intellect. To develop a mind that does not come under the persuasion of insult or injury, pleasure or pain, or success and failure.
However, this journey is one that is easier said than done. Upon arriving I have been faced with many obstacles. There is a book written by the devotees of Swami Chinmayanandaji entitled At Every Breath a Teaching. Here now at His ashram I am finding at every breath He is truly teaching me a lesson.
The well known saying, “Man proposes, God disposes” is becoming my reality and the only thing keeping me grounded is a feeling of effervescent surrender. For me the most difficult challenge has been letting go of my need for control. Sometimes our own egos create a plan and think it can be executed better than God’s plan. So I have decided that I am going to stop trying to do God’s job and practice surrender.
Though obstacles have come my way, I am experiencing even more blessings. The sheer joy of returning to the ashram where I did my Vedanta philosophy studies is unimaginable. Each morning I wake up at 4:30am and get ready for 5:30am Vedic chanting at the temple. I stay here for an hour and then prepare for Vedanta class at 7:00am followed by breakfast. There is a short break between classes where I do some writing and studying. Then it’s off to Sanskrit class, followed by Chanting class then lunch. After lunch I usually go for a walk and take time to converse with the other brahmacharis. Then at 4:00pm the next Vedanta class begins, followed by Jagadiswara Arati at 6:30pm and evening satsang on the Bhagavat Puran. Afer dinner and I retire to bed getting ready for another full day of activities.
To me it often seems that time here moves so slow as if it’s allowing me the grace to savor my surroundings and soak in the teachings. Life here is so simple and pure, where my only job is to enrich my sadhana.
