thanks steve
for your love and friendship.
I have a rather medium size list of gods and gurus which I try to remember twice daily.
I have found some of them in my life blessing me in some ways. One of them is Devraha baba a saint during 70s in northern India.
So one day I was returning from a place by car and suddenly my wife pointed to a unusual roadside temple. though it was raining quite a
bit we went inside found that it is built by a gurubhai (brother disciples of same guru) of Devraha baba called Macha swami. We got his blessings though he was very old. I went there twice or thrice.He passed away after sometime.
India seems like another world. Costs to get there, spend time, visit the holy sites and high beings would quite likely be expensive. Yet some day one of the Master's may bless some of us to do such a thing.
United States is a much different country-a conglomerate world. Most larger towns look quite similar with businesses that have 'taken over' our country. It takes away from the uniqueness of civilization and makes one want to live in the country. I owned two music stores in small towns where urban sprawl had not yet taken over. Perhaps someday it will happen again. Today it seems like most people have to work for huge corporations to make a sizable amount of money to create something unique on their own. We do not really have a culture but rather a growing metropolis encroaching nature at all angles.
We do not have saints like u do in India. This nation is more set up for making CEO's movie stars and rock stars rather than saints. Although if one goes to see one of the great ones that come from India one can experience the blessings and upliftment. There are also places like Los Angeles and San Diego where saintly people live and train and teach. Although it is expensive to live and be at these places for an extended amount of time. There are also other places where monasteries exist mostly in western United States.
Most people in the United States are insensitive or unaware of the presence of such great ones who can bless their lives and do not take the opportunity to experience the shower of grace that comes in the presence of such high beings. Even when they go many seem to see it as some kind of novelty or like they were going to be 'entertained' which is a typical conditioned response from watching T.V. or video games and socializing etc. so many years in the formative part of their lives. You see cultural conditioning can actually destroy spirituality. However i have noticed that there is a growing awareness of just how much we have been deluded possibly it is because of some of the great errors we have made as a nation in foreign policy.
Many times i have found inspiration in the vast outdoors in the United States. The countryside is filled with the beauty of nature and God's presence for those who have made the effort to quiet their mind momentarily and experience the wonders of the Great Spirit who resides among the mountains, streams, forests, deserts and oceans in this huge country.
Thank You for bringing a small part of your culture to us. We can gain so much by looking thru the eyes of other cultures and recognizing that our own ideas of progress and culture have not helped the human spirit in it's progress and ability to get along with the rest of humanity and creating an atmosphere conducive to the preservation of our Mother Earth.
In God's love and friendship which we try to keep ourselves open to....
Jitendra
