One of my co-workers mentioned in late December how the 31st hadn’t even come and gone and already the local stores were putting up their Valentine’s Day displays. No one had time to recover emotionally, let alone financially, from holiday sticker shock, before being reminded that yet again, they had to buy their friends’, family’s and paramours’ love with gifts of wine, chocolate and roses.

With each passing year, I hear the dread in those around me grow at Valentine’s Day and all that it entails. A day that is, in theory, supposed to be all about love, seems to be about nothing but stress. Where to get dinner, what to order, what to wear, what gifts to buy, and so on and so forth. It becomes a production with a questionable return on investment.

I have noticed an interesting phenomenon surrounding Halloween. 364.25 days a year, cobwebs are no good and eyesores. For some of us, they are downright scary (because where there’s a web, there’s a spider). Yet on October 31st, cobwebs are considered decoration and ‘cool’, as opposed to a sign that we’ve gotten lax in our domestic duties.

In fact, Halloween is sort of a get-out-of-jail-free card for many people. The one day a year where women (and men) can get away with cavorting around in their undergarments without getting arrested, when toilet papering houses, throwing eggs, vandalism and violence is almost acceptable. Police are out in force to deter any criminal mischief-making, and often shrug off otherwise reprehensible behavior as ‘Halloween always brings out the crazies’.

Add to this, haunted houses, conducting seances or use of ouija boards in fun and jest, to (pun intended) “get into the spirit of things”.

For as long as I have lived in the ashram I have wondered why the kitchen, which feeds 250 to 300 seekers daily, has only one kitchen sink. But I maintained an attitude of learning and tried not to comment on what I felt could have been done more logically…. but the question never went away from my mind.
How could it? Every time one was at the sink and trying to wash the dishes for a span of two hours or so, someone or the other would gently intervene and request to either fill a small container of water to clean the counter with, or rinse their hands between cooking, or they needed the sink as they felt like a cup of tea, the seeker about to chop cilantro would bring her colander to rinse the leaves and the one who wanted to churn buttermilk would require the sink as well …

Having gratitude for what has been given to us by God is an important aspect in the development of spiritual emotion. A few days ago, I witnessed one such example of gratitude.

Living in an āshram (hermitage) where SSRF has its research centre in Goa is not like living at home. It is a very spartan lifestyle and the frills and luxuries that are available to us at home are not available in the āshram. However seekers of God transcend their need for these luxuries as for them, the benefits of living in an āshram, far outweigh worldly luxuries with respect to the āshram providing a conducive environment for spiritual development.

I recently came across an article on luxury homes in the US, and it made me wonder if the people who are extremely wealthy were truly happy. Lasting happiness is the underlying reason why we would want to be rich right?
I have some very close family friends who would be considered extremely wealthy. Of the many families I know that fall into this category, one stands out in particular, as they own several aircrafts for personal use. In fact, when their daughter got married, they spent over $3000 per guest …

I would like to share with you an experience that has etched an indelible impression in my mind that the Guru teaches us through all situations in life if we are willing to learn from it.

The following incident happened in 2002 on one of my trips to India for spiritual research. Surburban trains are the fastest way to get from South Mumbai to North Mumbai but they are also unbelievably crowded…