What is Essential

We are currently staying in an apartment in Delhi that we share with our dear friend Nayaswami Dhyana. She has recently taken up playing the esraj, a bowed Indian instrument. A person of great enthusiasm and energy, she personifies these three qualities. She has a strong desire to learn to play the esraj, partly for the sheer joy of playing music, but also so she can play the chants and songs of Paramhansa Yogananda and Swami Kriyananda as an aid to her attunement. Next, she practices two hours a day without fail. And, finally, she takes regular lessons from a teacher, Kashif, a master musician who himself started playing Indian classical music at age five and has practiced for hours each day for over forty years.
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Steps to Happiness

Devi and I gave a program this past weekend in Gurgaon, India. We were interviewed beforehand by a reporter who works for The Times of India, India’s largest newspaper, which has a reach of many millions of people. They then published an article of mine in a special section of the paper called The Speaking Tree, which gives wonderful spiritual teachings. It was a reprint of a blog I’d published back in April of 2016. Friends encouraged me to share it once again. I, too, thought you might enjoy seeing it, even if for a second time.
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