Almost 50 years ago I started my meditation practice and soon thereafter found my guru, Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas, a master of Kundalini Maha Yoga.

In simple language, I seek to bring the reader to the liberating understanding of the nature of our essential being—who we really are and how we can express the wisdom of that realization in the world which we inhabit.

Below I have copied my June 14 post, in which I describe a prior spiritual experience that was foundational for me:

"The name that I chose for my first book (“Pure One”) arose out of a spiritual experience that I had over twenty years ago. I had been reading a book about the renowned sage Ramakrishna, and was despondent because I felt this tremendous chasm between my state of consciousness and his. Specifically, I thought that I would never be able to achieve the purity of mind possessed by such a great being, and without such purity of mind how could I ever attain enlightenment? It seemed like a vast mountain lay out before me and that I would never make it to the summit.

All of a sudden waves of energy started flowing through me and I burst out with laughter, because a sense of knowing came over me that I was perfect and had always been so! I laughed at all of the spiritual practices that I had undertaken to purify myself!

Despite that experience, my ordinary human consciousness returned to me, and I found myself wondering what it was all about. Looking back now, I know that a huge crack had formed in my house of consciousness, and that it was only a matter of time before the old house would come tumbling down and I would fully understand the message that I had received.

The answer came to me when I was reading a short book entitled “Dissolve Into Infinity” by Swami Sarvapriyananda of the Vedanta Society of New York. In it, the Swami dives into just a few verses from Chapter 5 of the Ashtavakra Gita, which he praises:

Reading the Ashtavakra Gita is equal to meditating...It is the most profound thing that has ever been put into words. I have read the sacred literature of the East and the West, and there is nothing that quite compares to this text.

The first verse of Chapter 5 as translated by Swami struck me to the very core, and it felt like the answer to my questions:

You are never attached to anything in this universe. Oh pure one, what are you trying to give up?... The entire universe rises in you like bubbles in an ocean. Know this oneness of the self, the entire universe as one reality-You.

Reading this verse was a validation of my experience and I finally was able to accept its beautiful message. This is the absolute truth. Though we struggle in this human experience, in our essential nature we are pure beings."