This weekend I attended the recitation of a Sanskrit chant which I used to do with a group before the pandemic. It felt so nourishing to be able to do this again. This chant is special because it evokes the feeling of sacredness in me. I practice this chant daily but it has a special power when performed in a group. At the end of the chant I was immersed in the experience of the sacred. I felt so tender and just wanted to stay in that experience.

pṛthvī is a word in Sanskrit that refers to the earth element. This element encompasses the characteristics of solidity, density, resistance, and groundedness. It is a quality that we experience in varying degrees at many different levels.

A long while ago I was on a yoga retreat that lasted about two weeks. During that time we were asked to journal about what was going on in our minds at different times of the day and specially after meditation. After a week we were asked to read the entries in the journal and watch for any patterns.

Tonight the moon is only 1 percent full. It's just a sliver of a moon in the sky. Tomorrow at 4:27am EST we will have a new moon. This will mark the beginning of the Indian Year which is celebrated tonight as Deepavali. It is always curious to me how this celebration is about lighting lamps and candles just before the moon turns completely dark.

Today the Indian New Year, Deepavali, is celebrated. It is a celebration of lights. The triumph of Light over darkness. It is a good reminder of one of the greatest endeavors that a human can take: upholding the Light within. Specially during the times we are living it is a very important thing to do, not just for ourselves but for our surroundings and the whole world.

We have been exploring three of the five powers attributed to supreme Consciousness which are powers that each one of us have although in a more limited form. We started with icchā which is the "precognitive creative urge towards self expression"(1). Then came jnanā which is the knowledge born out of the observation of the deep structures of reality.