theseekingspirit

I recently attended a talk by Swami Sarvapriyananda in Sydney titled "Oneness in a Divided World." He covered a remarkable amount of ground — consciousness studies, neuroscience, references to philosophers like Karl Popper and David Chalmers — before finally arriving at the Advaita Vedantic view of oneness. It was a fascinating talk, and it left me thinking about the parallels between Advaita Vedānta and Yoga, and how each tradition arrives at its own view of oneness. Every contemplative tradition, it turns out, eventually arrives at the same question: who is doing the looking? Advaita Vedānta and Yoga both begin here, in the space between the seer and everything that is seen. But they arrive at different destinations — and understanding exactly where and why they part ways turns out to matter more for practice than for philosophy. The Advaita Vedantic Vision of Oneness Advaita Vedānta's method for approaching this question is called dṛg-dṛśya-viveka — discriminatio...

Four days on the Whitsundays - July3-6 2026 We saw it before we landed - a cloud-covered island floating on a sheet of emerald water, the Whitsundays scattered around it like something out of a dream too green to be real, ringed by water that kept changing shades depending on which cloud happened to be passing  Arrival and First Light Our room opened straight onto the Catseye beach and the hills beyond. Within the hour we were on our first buggy ride, the unofficial vehicle of the island, breathing in the wind and with no real plan except to look around. Late afternoon we ended up at One Tree Hill as the sun began its long slide toward evening, palms swaying overhead in a light breeze, and there, of all things, a solitary cork tree standing sentinel over the view. The evening sun laid down a long path of light across the water, and as it dipped lower the guitar player broke into a rendition of “Hallelujah” - the kind of moment that makes you stop mid-sentence and just watch. Later ...

  In January 2025, I set out to read 25 books in 2025 (It had a a good ring to it!). Now in December, after having read the last page of book number 25, I feel a elated. Reading is not an easy endeavor in 2025. You have to resist the call of YouTube, Streaming channels, Cinema halls, Sports and Social engagements to stay the course.  From a humble book from a Zen Monk in January, to a humbling one on the the Cosmos, my reading journey was interesting.  I have shared summaries for each of the 25 books (they are also in chronological order). I have tried to capture the 'big idea' of the book and why is it worth your time.  I have also added a Netflix style 3 point summary, for those who want to grab and go... Book readers are a dying breed, and I am not sure how long we will be reading in the age of AI. If any of these inspire you to pick up a book in 2026 (and not let AI summarize it for you), please leave a comment below. Alternatively if you have read something tran...

“Soak In Ecstasy of Enlightenment” was a day-long program with Sadhguru, held on 20th Jan 2024 at ICC Sydney. It was a  attended by over 6000 people.  This is a personal account of my experiences during the event. Photo Courtesy - Isha Australia Sadhguru’s event in Sydney was a roller coaster of emotions that can hardly be put into words. How can one describe silence, stillness, emptiness and bliss? Yet, the heart says, write it all down! So, here I am, recounting the sequence of events that led up to some amazing and inexpressible moments. I write with the hope that the reader will get a glimpse of what I experienced, and in the process re-living it all over again! The Walkabout Sadhguru’s much anticipated event in Sydney was announced over 8 months ago, and I had booked early to secure a spot close to the dais. On the day of the event, I woke up early and reached the venue at 8:30 AM. I felt 'light as air', having subsisted mostly on the recommended diet o...

December 30, 2022 – January 7, 2023 A distant memory of a poster of Santorini from high school. Whitewashed houses, blue domes, an impossibly blue sea. I remember looking at it and deciding I would see this place someday. A few years later watching a video of  Yanni's "Santorini," performed live at the Acropolis reminded me of that promise. Between the poster and that music, Greece became something I carried for years. The last week of December 2022, when we landed in Athens, it felt less like a vacation and more like manifestation of a distant memory. Athens: Warm Light, Long Walks, Ancient Stones The drive in from the airport came under a low, pale winter light, Greek Signboards passed by. Hotel Electra Palace put the Acropolis right outside our window — lit up at night, close enough that it felt like we were living next to it for a few days. The Greek salad at a rooftop cafe- tomatoes, cucumber and olives under a block of feta, bread crumbs baked locally and scatte...