Wisdom’s Blossoms: Tales of the Saints of India by Doug Glenner and Sarat Komaragiri

Listening to one of Tara Brach’s podcasts, I heard her saysomething to the effect of, “for teachers, good stories are like gold”. She went on to say how she and her colleauges read and study trying to dig up the best stories for their classes. There is even a bit of lighthearted competition, to see who can find the best… (more…)

Karma, Shakti, and Mantra

I’ve wanted to learn this Ganesha Mantra from the Rig Veda for several years now, it has always struck me as being a chant that really conveys and connects with Ganesha Shakti.  For some reason, it has always escaped me.  I would try to learn it, and try as I might, it would slip through the cracks of my mind. … (more…)

Saraswati

Some Music by Wynne Paris Saraswati Bum Shiva Wynne’s Website

New Year, New Aquisitions

A few new books made their way into The Library recently, under some fairly auspicious circumstances.  The first two books, The Play of God: Visions of the Life of Krishna and There Are No Secrets: Professor Cheng Man Ch’ing and His T’ai Chi Chuan,  I found one fine morning strolling the streets of Brooklyn.  After a delightful breakfast with a… (more…)

A Single Man By Chris Isherwood

Most of us are primarily familiar with Christopher Isherwood’s Vedantic Works.  He produced some beautiful translations of The Yoga Sutras (How to Know God), The Bhagavad Gita (The Song of God), and Shankara’s Crest Jewel of Discrimination.  We might have also read his spiritual autobiorgraphy, My Guru and His Disciple.  This last book is perhaps the most accessible, as he… (more…)

Thirumandiram, post one

I discovered a new text recently.  Love it.  From the Tamil, Southern  India, The Thirumandiram has a slightly different vibe from the northern, Kashmiri literature that I am a little more used to.  These teachings of Siddhar Thirumoolar are said to be the seed that later blossomed into Saiva Siddhanta, a very heartfelt and devotional approach to the worship of… (more…)

The Radience Sutras: First Post

When I was at Bhakti Fest in Joshua Tree last month, i met a man named Lorin Roche.  He was a scholar and meditation teacher, and had spent several years working on a beautiful, poetic, practical, and accessible version of The Vijnana Bhairava tantra.  The vbt is a delightful text that outlines powerful meditation techniques that can be used both… (more…)

New Aquisitions

I really enjoy books. I’ve always accumulated them quite easily, read them voraciously, and collected them doggedly. My library reached a new level several years ago when Bhagavan Das asked me to look after a few boxes of his books. There was some good stuff in there, stuff I may not have come across otherwise, and other things that I… (more…)

Timothy Leary’s Tao Te Ching

Dearest Yogis and Yoginis, I am reading a fantastic book. They recently republished Timothy Leary’s version of the Tao Te Ching, “Psychedelic Prayers”. (Psychedelic Prayers: And Other Meditations (Leary, Timothy) ) I had an old version once, but I gave it to Paulie Zink. I was without one for a while, because I didn’t feel like spending $50 on a… (more…)

  • Read and Be Free