“A soldier I saw weeping Beside a dying friend. My officers had said I must hate him till the end. But seeing his grief, I knew we were brothers.” Dear Friend, December, 1914: Five months into the 52 months of the first world war, more than a million young men had died. The Western Front stretched from the Franco-Swiss border … Read More
“Those whose hearts are torn with anguish Lack the pow’r Your name to call! Heal their wounds, Ma, soothe their sorrows— You, the Mother of us all.” In Ananda’s early days, still in the midst of the Cold War, we often thought of those who served heroically as God’s hands and feet, as Divine Mother’s secret agents in the Cosmic … Read More
“High in the Himalaya, eyes filled with divine love, Jesus appeared to the great master, Babaji. “ ‘The lights on the high altar of my church,’ he said, ‘have been growing dim. Though still lit on lower altars of good works, the noble taper of inner communion with the Lord burns low, and is ill attended. Let us together, united … Read More
Leo Tolstoy, in the last decades of his life, went through a time of intense introspection that led to his mature spiritual vision: a simple life lived close to nature; love and service to mankind; kindness and forgiveness in the face of cruelty and injustice—attitudes that profoundly influenced the spiritual life of Mahatma Gandhi. Out of Tolstoy’s spiritual awakening came … Read More
In 1913, as world anxiety mounted with the rising international tensions that were to explode into the Great War, a children’s book was published, and so seized the public imagination that a million copies soon sold and social clubs dedicated to practicing the book’s simple teaching sprang up. The human heart, confronted by darkness on so vast a scale, turned … Read More
In this time of necessary quarantine, how we have missed coming together for the Purification Ceremony—a practice so personal, so intimate that no way to share it on-line has been found. While the strictures of physical distancing remain in place, we practice inwardly and alone, perhaps with even greater intensity of self-offering for lack of a formal channel. The ceremony … Read More
When the boy was four years old, his uncle would go daily for a long walk with him, moving as the boy wished, seeing the world through those clear and unclouded eyes. On their return, they would watch Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and together absorb the truth of kindness, friendship, goodness, the innate value of every soul in God’s creation. It … Read More
Two third-century physicians—Damien and Cosmas—were brothers by birth as well as in their service to mankind. Following in the footsteps of their master, Jesus Christ, they practiced their healing arts without charge, seeing all people as equally God’s children—all equally deserving of compassion and comfort. Refusing to renounce their faith during Diocletian’s persecution, the brothers went joyfully to their martyrdom—their … Read More
Just after the end of World War II and a month before Easter, five young friends met on a street corner in Paris. For five years they had often been together in the air raid shelter below the street whose name translates as The-Cat-Who-Goes-Fishing. It was only natural that the children named themselves The Gang of The Cat-Who-Goes-Fishing. These young … Read More
Born into a pious family in Dere, Bengal, at about the time of the American Revolution, Ksudiram grew up devoted to Sri Ramachandra and blessed with the noble qualities of a true Brahmin—truthfulness, contentment, forgiveness, renunciation—all of which his life was to test again and again. Each day he began by gathering flowers for his worship of Ramachandra. All day … Read More
