The Grace of the Guru

For those of us who are lucky enough to be able to find the Guru within the inner sanctum sanctorum of our Heart of Hearts, we understand that there is nothing like the Grace of the Guru.

The invisible Hand of the Guru guides the mind and the heart no matter. All that is needed by the ego is to step aside and allow the inner guiding Light - “Guru” - to take over.

Etymologically “Gu” and “Ru” in Sanskrit mean “darkness” and the “rue” in English potentially comes from the sound. “Ru” - remove. The great remover of darkness is the Guru.

Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati, my dearest SatGuru, the one who points the clearest path forward in my Heart, speaks through all wisdom teachers and plain ol’ kind human beings who are tremendous warehouses of kindness and compassion.

My love for Sanskrit has me chanting one ancient Sanskrit text or another everyday, perhaps every moment. The Guru Gita is a daily source of the reminder of the nectar of bliss that I have access to. My deepest wish for everyone to have access to their own Aanandamayakosha is part of the reason why I teach.

But I have been humbled again and again by minds all around clouded with so much darkness that they can’t seem to reach this long AaaH-nanda - Aananda - bliss beyond bliss. Sanskrit helps access this - for those on the Jnana and Bhakti paths of Yoga. But I have been shown again and again that very few people find chanting hours long in Sanskrit accessible.

I simply love it. Put me in a group of genuine devotees chanting for hours in Sanskrit and I am in it. Put me anywhere with Vedic chanting in Sanskrit, and I am reminded of who I am.

I’ve been lucky enough to have been brought up by a loving Diplomat of a Dad from the Philippines to the USA and a pathologist medical doctor mom who introduced me to my first Sanskrit texts because of our extensive libraries and global travels.

But as a kid - I did not appreciate all the travel. I hardly appreciated being on a plane. I also was not happy about moving to the United States from the Philippines. It all makes me laugh now as I love all of these things. But I do remember having to fly around for work in my early twenties and soothing myself on the flights by writing Devanagari in Sanskrit in my journals on the plane.

Ah the joys! Of a Yogini - “what do you do for fun?”

I practice writing in Sanskrit.

And I also love comedy, dance, theater, music and travel.

To all those whose minds are clouded with darkness, may the Light of your Inner Guru awaken you to everlasting, non-stop bliss: bliss is your birthright and mine.

Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu

May all beings be happy and free.

Om shanti om,

Sumukhi