Being in Nature

Lessons Learnt: Tao te-Ching Like Dhammapada, Tao te-Ching is a treasury of spiritual teachings. Recently, as I re-read it. As I basked in the richness of its glorious path, I thought of sharing its life lessons with you. Inner Guide Tao te-Ching inspires us to access our sacred center within and listen to its guidance during the good times and the bad. The inner guide is no one but our original self, what we are capable of becoming-our potentiality, and what we were before we started to put on masks to interact with various people in our lives. When our gaze is turned within we see the world with a new light. Rather than trying to understand others, we make earnest attempts to understand ourselves. Time comes when we replace the...

A Step-by-Step Path to Spiritual Growth

Posted on May 28, 2009

A Step-by-Step Path to Spiritual Growth: Teachings of Dhammapada In May, we completed reading the Tao-te Ching. Decades ago, the Taoist scripture had cast a spell on me that was never quite undone. It had spoken to the deepest recesses of my heart and mind. I knew I would go back to it someday. And I did. Re-reading the incredibly effective book for 81 weeks has increased my sense of awe of nature and my capacity to progress emotionally and spiritually, albeit painstakingly slowly. How did it affect you? We will start reading Dhammapada from June 5. The word Dhammapada may be roughly translated as "The Righteous Path of Life." A collection of vivid Buddhist verses, it is the second book on our reading list of four Asian scriptures. The other two...

Happy 2009!

Posted on January 9, 2009

Dear Readers and Writers, Happy New Year! A good place to start the year 2009 is with the sixty-third chapter of Tao-te Ching. (See under "Readings") In this verse the sage Lao Tzu asks us to pay attention to the present moment, to the task at hand, and not worry about the next moment or the trillions of future moments that would follow it. It is only by doing little things that we can accomplish something great. I have planned a wonderful year of "Readings" and "Writings" to share with you. In May this year, we will finish reading Tao-te Ching and start Dhammapada, a collection of vivid verses based on the teachings of the Buddha that were preserved by his students. The topics in this collection of harmonious poetry are...

Discovering Virginia Woolf

Posted on October 20, 2008

Several winters ago on a frigid January morning, I was at my lowest writing ebb. By habit, I sat in front of my computer screen staring at a blank document. I could not think of anything to write, not even a word. Where had my muses gone? I got out of the study, put on my coat, muffler and gloves and left home in search of my lost creativity. I tried to imagine June blossoms in January-a spring scene superimposed on the uncreative winter landscape-and felt dislocated, ending up at the local library. A book sale was on. The first book that caught my attention was A Room of My Own by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941). I wondered what the book was about. The name of the author was familiar because...

Summer Sabbatical

Posted on September 5, 2008

I started 2008 by writing short stories. By the end of May I was working on my sixth. In June, as always, I shift my attention to reading. For me, June, July and August are focused reading months with only a smattering of writing. During spring/summer months I read on the back deck, sip my morning tea and breathe in the scent of morning glories, marigolds and mums. I read on the plane, on the beach, in bookstores and only sometimes in my study, when it rains. I drink a cup of coffee. I read and think about what I have read. I highlight the lines that teach and inspire. This spring I started with Doris Lessing’s Stories followed by Isabel Allende’s...

Eastern Scriptures: As I Understand Them

Posted on June 16, 2008

in Being in Nature, Reading

I have come to believe that there is so much practical wisdom in world scriptures (the ones I have studied) that they have answers for almost all of our present problems and dilemmas. There is, however, a deep-rooted male bias in these books (except Tao-te Ching which has almost none). The obvious example would be the Ultimate Reality or Supreme Being referred to as "He." Goddess is positioned either at a lower hierarchical level than God or is seemingly not significant. This hierarchy also reflects in traditional households where father is the authoritative figure and mother functions as a mediator between the father and children. I keep such biases in mind when I read the sacred books and glean the practical wisdom from them. I wish their points of view...

Introducing Goddesses

Posted on May 1, 2008

Dear Readers, The last month's Goddess Lecture Series at the Northland Public Library was well received. Thanks to all the participants for insightful questions and lively comments. When I started the series I did not realize that the participants would not be familiar with Hindu goddesses. Their religious background is Judeo-Christian. The Christian trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit are understood (for example in visual arts, poetry and literature) as males. There is no concept of goddess. The absence of goddesses has left an empty space in this religious worldview. The pious do hold the Virgin Mary in a place of high esteem but she doesn't have the same level of holiness as the trinity. Theologians have left that space empty. There is a serious need to fill that gap...

An Invitation to a Lecture Series

Posted on March 27, 2008

You are invited to attend a four-part series of my lectures “Awakening the Goddesses Within” sponsored by The Northland Public Library, North Hills, PA. The lectures will be held on Thursday evenings (3, 10, 17 & 24 April) from 7:00-9:00. The lectures are free. For registration call (412) 366-8100. We will discuss how major Hindu goddesses are outer reflections of the dormant powers within women, the powers Carl Jung called "archetypes." The knowledge of the behavior patterns and personality traits of these female divinities provide women tools to understand themselves and their relationship with other men and women. We will argue if women have such powerful inner forces why do they continue to follow stereotypes. We will attempt to take the goddesses out of their patriarchal...

Learning Tao Te Ching

Posted on September 20, 2007

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Lao Tzu, the Grand Old Master, wrote Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way and Its Power), during the sixth century B.C.E. This slim volume of eighty-one chapters is an inexhaustible vessel of inspiration. Lao Tzu wrote it when, wise with years, he retired from his job as the archivist of his native western state. He was dismayed with the way his fellow human beings lived. In search of solitude, he rode on a water buffalo towards the mountains of Tibet. At the Hankao Pass, a gatekeeper implored him to write his views for future generations. Obligingly, Lao Tzu squatted down for three days and composed the volume of about five thousand Chinese characters now known as Tao Te-Ching. To this day, it is the basic text of Taoism. The...

Spirituality

Posted on August 29, 2007