“Look in the mirror. Look at yourself.” Our teacher, in sports-bra and hotpants, directs the sweating heap of bodies flushed red in the ultra-heated room. I don’t often practise hot yoga, but once a year (usually in winter) I get the idea that it will help my body loosen up and shake off its winter stiffness. I forget that this style of class is a draw for gym-junkie yoga obsessives. It’s something about the look on their face—the intensity of Continue reading Is that Yoga?
Mirror Reflections
I smile at my reflection in the mirror. Not too bad, still a bit of life in the old girl yet! I fluff my hair and pull a cheeky pout—just to prove I’ve still got what it takes. Then I chuckle at my vanity.
The cooling make-up remover I smear over my eyes makes blotches and smudges. The image looks zombielike. Again I laugh—it takes so little to destroy the mirage of attractiveness.
A rinse with water, a rub of a towel and the naked truth is revealed. Time is starting to take its Continue reading Mirror Reflections
Robocops Patrol Silicon Valley
Progress in Technological Development and Regress in Humanity
INTRO
I was born in 1975. As a child and through my teens I was exposed to a fair number of artistic expressions of a fear that many humans have, the fear of the machine-takeover. Novels, prose, theater, movies were a few of such media. Continue reading Robocops Patrol Silicon Valley
Mahat Tattva Dasa
The Problem of the Ego
About the Depths of Self-deception
In 2007 I attended a talk at Cornell University by Dr. Steve Weinberg, the 1979 Nobel Laureate in physics for his work on electromagnetic and weak forces, on the topic of “Science and Religion.” Dr. Weinberg did not mince any words when he categorically stated that religion is the cause of major problems in today’s world. Science, he stated, has proven to be objective in its outlook, and it only speaks the beneficial truth. Continue reading The Problem of the Ego
Rasanatha Das
Keeping It Real
When I was in high school I had a good friend for telling a great story. She was just the type of person who was always in the right spot at the right time to see the action. She would go away for the weekend and return with tales of police raids at her friend’s party, shark sightings in the waters off Victoria’s coastline, alcohol poisoning and drug overdoses. Continue reading Keeping It Real
Gauranga Prema
Why Bhakti?
Discovering a New Way of Life
I was crawling my way through a nine-hundred-and-sixty-nine page Mechanical Systems Modeling textbook, preparing for a final, when in a moment of weakness, I began pondering the college student’s quintessential concern, “is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life?” Continue reading Why Bhakti?
Abeer Saha
Am I Evil?
“Yes I am!” we pilgrims screamed at the top of our lungs. Time: early 1993. Place: Mount Smart Supertop, Auckland. Event: Metallica. The most famous heavy metal band in the world had finally graced God’s own.
I had never heard the original version of the Diamond Head song “Am I Evil?” which, although popular in metal circles in the United Kingdom upon its release there in 1980, only achieved international prominence after Metallica covered it as a B-side on their “Creeping Death” single in 1984. The chorus runs: Continue reading Am I Evil?
Mahavan
God has many Names
There was a time in my life when all I knew was Christianity as it was practiced in my church, a small church in a small, suburban, overwhelmingly white town. I knew only the God that was preached about to me at Sunday school, and I thought everyone celebrated Easter and Christmas as I did. But that all changed on 11 September 2001 when I was sitting with my mom watching the twin towers of the World Trade Center repeatedly crumble to the ground on TV and heard the words “Muslim” and “Islam” for the first time. My nine-year-old mind grew confused and angry, and I began to cry, screaming, “I hate them! I hate them!” I had no concept of what them was, except that they were different, believed in something different, and although only a few out of over a billion had perpetrated a terrible act of violence, it was somehow enough to qualify them as well as their God as worthy of my hatred.
Continue reading God has many Names
CYBERSPACE, OUTERSPACE, & INNERSPACE
“Human beings are social animals,” my grandfather used to say. He meant, “You can’t just keep to yourself all the time; go out there and play with kids your age!” Fast forward a few years and we find that the meaning of the term “social” has transformed into something much more intricate than just describing the basic human need for companionship. Rather, when paired with the word “media,” “social” has become a mega-entity, providing connection on local and global scales.
Continue reading CYBERSPACE, OUTERSPACE, & INNERSPACE
Career Advice From The Heart
Dear Soul,
I am writing to give you some friendly advice. I would never want to interfere with your plans, but I care for you and have been sending you hints for a long time about the direction of your life. So I just wanted to call on you to take up this wonderful opportunity to live a life less ordinary, as a bhakti-yoga specialist. In this new role, you can make real change in the world! Being a bhakti specialist is not something you learn about in school, so let me tell you more about it. Continue reading Career Advice From The Heart
