Here is my reflection to the poem by Leonard Cohen:
Love is like sunlight. It removes the self-created darkness and enlightens us. True love is unconditional. There is no 'if and then' in love. Freedom is the breath of love. As human beings we may have certain aspects of our lives that we may not be aware of. That is our hidden self. We may be ashamed of certain aspects of our life and consciously or unconsciously we may hide them from ourselves and from others. Love removes those veils so that we can truly see ourselves without any blinders. Love removes those blinders and that helps us to be true to ourselves. Like truth, love liberates us from the self-created bondage. Life is a journey with ups and downs. Love has helped me and guided me to go through ups and downs of my life. Being truthful to myself and having loving and caring hands in my life have helped me go through the long journey of my life. And I am very grateful to them.
Namaste!

Here is my reflection to the poem written by Jane Hirshfield :
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Life is like a river and it has two banks: joys and sorrows, tears and laughter, ups and downs, light and darkness. I have gone through many ups and downs in my life. When I was going down I tried to resist the flow of pain and suffering. It did not work. In fact, denial of the darkness that I was going through made the darkness thicker and heavier. As I accepted the truth of the reality my heart became lighter and softer. I started seeing the rays of joy and delight in my life. A new day dawned in my life and I welcomed it joyfully and gratefully.
Namaste!

Below is my reflection based on Mirabhai Starr's excerpt:
Who am I? This is a core question asked by philosophers, spiritual seekers, mystics and scientists. Do we have oneself or multiple self? Do we have oneness in manyness? Can we transcend the dualistic, either- or -mindset and realize the Oneness of Self? We need to keep our mind and heart open to realize the underlying oneness in manyness. Sadly we have been conditioned to believe that our spiritual path is the only true path or is superior to other spiritual paths. Sadly such a mindset has caused alienation and enmity and battles in the world we live in. It is time for humanity to transcend this divisiveness and appreciate unity in diversity; oneness in manyness. It is easy to talk about spiritual unity. Implementing it in our daily life is not that easy. I was born and raised in a family in which my friends from different religious traditions were welcome. As I grew up I studied and learned spirituality from spiritual books, spiritual teachers, spiritual mystics and from weekly spiritual discourses and by implementing spirituality in my daily life. Life is a journey with highs and lows, ups and downs. I have gone through the cycle of ups and downs and I have learned to accept them gracefully. When I am in the up-cycle I do not lose the balance and when I am in the down cycle I do not lose hope. I maintain equanimity that helps me continue my journey of life. May we all walk on our path compassionately and join each other's hands for getting support and for maintaining balance! I would like to conclude my reflections by quoting the last sentence written by Richard Rohr: "Set your intention to welcome everything you are and watch your life open like a fist, like a flower, like a gate.
Namaste! 

Based on the excerpt from Susan Bauer Wu's latest book, "Leaves Falling Gently", below is my reflection:

I love the illuminating message offered by Susan Bauer-Wu in this article Simple Was Satisfactory. Simple pleasures in small things such as going to bed with freshly clean sheets, drinking a cup of tea, watching the sun rising and setting, listening to the birds singing, children playing at the park, clouds floating across the sky- simple things of life giving joyful delight effortlessly.

What is needed to have such gifts is my mindful and undivided presence. I need to be fully present to cherish such gifts. A wandering mind is not a happy mind. A fully present mind is a joyful and delightful mind. I live a relatively simple life. I have things that I need such as a house to live in with things I need, people who love me unconditionally, and offer my teaching and counselling gifts. Such simple things create deep joyful gratification in my life. Giving is receiving. Life is a gift. Offering gifts of love to others unconditionally gives me a lot of joy and happiness.
​I would like to conclude my response in the following words: " The cultivation of mindfulness is a key to waking up and fully experiencing simple pleasures."-Susan Bauer Wu
Namaste!

Based on the passage by Michael Ventura, here is my reflection:
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Empathy is a wonderful quality we have as human beings. To cultivate empathy for us and someone we need to be unconditional, non judgemental, open and receptive. There are two types of empathy: empathy for oneself and empathy for others in relationships. Empathy for others will not be understood and practiced without cultivating self-empathy. Empathy is a building bridge with others in our life. When I feel empathy for someone, I need to be aware of my own tendency to judge the other person. If I am judgemental of the other person's feelings then the bridge of relationships gets weaker and may eventually break down. If we want to rebuild our relationships, we need to be open-minded and open-hearted to rebuild the relationships. It requires a lot of courage and trust.
I have found that building relationships with others is not that difficult but maintaining and enriching the relationships is difficult. It requires a lot of courage, willingness, compassion, open mindedness and a non judgemental stance for building and sustaining such relationships. It requires a lot of patience, compassion and perseverance. Personally I will follow that path if and when such relationships are significant in my life. I would prefer to follow this path rather than quitting it. Sadly the percentage of divorces are increasing in our country. We need to accept the fact and use our resources to work on this problem which affects all of us. Only complaining about such a problem and doing nothing about it is counter productive and foolish. May we cultivate courage and compassion to build bridges of empathy, kindness and compassion! I have found daily practice of Mindfulness Meditation very helpful for cultivating empathic relationships in my life.

Namaste! 

​​This is a very interesting story authored by Ameeta Kaul. According to my understanding the dot represents the individual self and the circle represents the universal self. It is like an island in the ocean. Outwardly both the universal self and the individual self look different. But when we go beyond the individual self, we see the universal self. It's a matter of perspective. The limited and narrow perspective creates the world of several individual dots creating distance between one dot and other dots. It creates divisiveness and disintegration in the forms of race, religion, caste, class and political parties. When such differences create walls of ups and downs and mine and thine, such differences create fights, battles and wars.

We are seeing the impact of this mindset in our own country and in many other countries. Such walls could result in everyday stress and tension in relationships and it may result in fights, battles and wars. It is my conviction that we are going to go through a lot of stress and tension that will have a severe impact on our personal, interpersonal and universal life. There is still time to wake up to build bridges of unconditional love, kindness, compassion and consideration. I have witnessed and experienced the power of unconditional love and acceptance in my own life. Such experiences have enriched and blossomed my life. I am offering weekly zoom sessions in which people from different countries and races, of different religious orientations join hands and hearts to create harmony in spite of differences. Differences can create thick and big walls. We can overcome these self-created walls and create oneness in manyness, unity in diversity. This is a journey and I invite all of us to join our heads, hearts and hands and work for unity. And that way we create love, kindness and compassion in the world. This is my aspiration. This is my prayer!
​Namaste. 

Here is my reflection to the article written by Sumir Nagar:

It is indeed sad to see spirituality has become "Spiritual fast food." It is something I can buy from outside of me-like a commodity. I can purchase from outside and it becomes my food for fulfilling my spiritual hunger. If it is true, then rich and affluent people will go to heaven and poor people will go to hell. Unfortunately and sadly there are people who are looking for outside sources for their spiritual awakening and inner fulfillment. I remember my childhood days when by living a simple life we were contented and happy. I learned that happiness comes from within by helping someone who needs my undivided attention and my helping hand. I have learnt the paradoxical spiritual truth-by giving we receive; by offering my inner wealth of unconditional love I become worldly rich and happy. This inner wealth never gets diminished. It creates a flow of inner wealth and it is never dried.
​I am very grateful to my parents for enkindling the light of unconditional love and selfless service in me. That light doesn't get extinguished. It remains steady. Such a light of wisdom shines and keeps me awake. And it is a blessing. May we all walk on the spiritual path. This is my prayer: Let us love unconditionally. Serve selflessly. Keep the inner light shining.

Namaste!

Based on the article on Awaki.org, here is my reflection:
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Narcism is considered a mental health problem. I have come across a few narcissists who would hold on to the name and fame at the cost of the people who believe in them. Such narcissistic people use others for their selfish gain, power, money and position. How do I deal with such narcissistic people especially when they use their power to exploit people for their benefits? First of all I try to avoid them not to be trapped by the net of selfishness they spread for attaining their selfish goals. Secondly, I make people aware of such persons' intention so that they do not become victims of such selfish and self-centered people. I have seen such narcissistic people even in the spiritual realms. They take advantage of their followers' childlike innocence and faith for fulfilling their hunger for sexual satisfaction and power hunger. Sadly and unfortunately I have seen such "spiritual gurus" exploiting such innocent and naive folks. I have seen little innocent children sharing their toys with other children and offering them as gifts from their hearts with no expectations in return. They teach adults like us the joy and happiness in sharing their things willingly and joyfully. This way we become citizens of the world. It is a movement from 'Me To, 'We' or 'Mewe'. It is like by giving we receive As adults it is our responsibility to teach our children the value and significance of offering our services for the goodness and wellbeing of others who need our unconditional help and support.

Namaste.

I have always admired reading J. Krishnamurti's talks and writings. He asks us not to close our mind and heart when it comes to reading or listening to something beyond right or wrong by keeping our mind and heart open. Sadly we get caught up in either-or mindset. Like it, then get it, accept it. If we do not like it, throw it away, reject it. We tend to divide the world into right or wrong, either or mindset. However, there is a Middle Path called Madhyama Marga by the Compassionate Gautama Buddha. We have been experiencing divisiveness in the world on the ground of races, genders, religions, beliefs, cultures and ideologies, forgetting that we all are children of God. God treats us equally without any distinctions. Sadly lots of fights and wars have been created by such divisiveness. When we go beyond such harmful divisiveness we experience Oneness in all. If we keep our mind and heart open we experience Divine Oneness in all.
Anger is one of the most difficult emotions to regulate. Anger breaks up relationships. It is compared to poison. It breaks up relationships and destroys our potential to sustain and blossom our human relationships within ourselves intrapersonally, extrapersonally and universally. What sad news! There is a way to cross the bridge of our life amicably, compassionately and lovingly. It is in our hands. I do not believe in creating walls of misunderstandings and relating to oneself and others with these walls. This way we create the Divine Union. May we all sincerely and steadily work on the path of Divinity. How do I relate to this divisiveness and overcome the walls of divisiveness and build the bridge of uni on? I find practicing Mindfulness Meditation regularly very helpful in building and sustaining the bridge of uniting. It is not that easy when the bridge of relationships has become weak or sadly broken. I learned from my parents and other spiritual teachers to work on my mind and heart to build and enrich bridges of relationships. I believe we can do it as I have done it in my life by practicing Mindfulness Meditation daily.
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Namaste. 

Based on the article by Mauro Bergonzi, below is my reflection:

Mystery is to be experienced and not to be solved. Mystery is a holistic experience and it cannot be divided into fragments. It is like love. Authentic and pure love cannot be fragmented and divided. It is like an ocean. It has its wholeness. We may think about love and try to analyze it. When we try to do it, we lose the holistic experience of love. I love to listen to classical Indian music. When I listen to a melodious song my experience is holistic. I listen to a song with my full and undivided attention. I get deeply get absorbed in it. I become music and music becomes me. It becomes a spiritual and mystical experience to me. It becomes a devotional experience, being united with Divinity. My "I-ness" melts away and I become ONE. When I meditate, I also experience wholeness of the soul. All dividing lines go away and I experience oneness. There is a natural state of consciousness. "There is a Sanskrit word for nonviolence Ahimsa. "It means "not'' or " without"; himsa, without violence. This may sound negative, but in Sanskrit a word constructed in this way stands for both perfect and positive. Ahimsa implies that when every trace of violence is removed from the mind, what is left is our natural state of consciousness: pure love. Unfortunately, that love has been buried under layer upon layer of ill will and selfish conditioning. To have love bubble up to the surface of our life, all we have to do is systematically remove all those layers." -Eknath Easwaran Namaste! I bow to the Divinity within you. We become ONE.