SATSANG

2 MEDITATION AND GURU’S GRACE 
by Swami Amar Jyoti
Purity of mind and heart and relaxation are the two golden wings needed for deep meditation. We can learn from books and pilgrimages, but for real spiritual growth we need a Master.

FEATURES

10 CHOOSING COMPASSION IN A WORLD THAT NEEDS OUR LOVE 
by Anam Thubten
There is a lot of pain in this human life. The path of compassion is a way to kindly and nonviolently evolve.

13 CONVERSATIONS WITH TREES, THE OFFERING OF DARKNESS
by Stephanie Kaza
In the saturated glow of evening, the bleached blond grasses have turned golden with the last light. It is time to go walking, time to enter the realm of the night trees.

16 THE MAHARAJJI BLANKET AND OTHER TEACHING STORIES
by Ram Dass, compiled & edited by Noah Markus
You and I have to dance in form. There’s no way we can meet on this plane other than through our forms.

18
 IF BUDDHA CAME TO A NURSING HOME
by Lori Erickson
Honestly confronting aging and death is largely absent from our culture. So maybe nursing facilities for the elderly are the closest we can get.

22 DRINKING FROM THE RIVER OF LIGHT
by Mark Nepo
Each of us is called to listen our way into the underlying truth that connects us all.

24 
SHAKTI RISING,
EMBRACING SHADOW AND LIGHT ON THE GODDESS PATH 
by Kavitha M. Chinnaiyan, M.D.
The primary purpose of the path of the Mahavidyas is to see the falseness of the I-self and to realize the Self.

28 A DAY OF FORGIVENESS
by Stephen Levine
Forgiveness is a powerful tool for letting go of our suffering 

30 THE ONLY ANSWER IS PEACE OF MIND
by David Hoffmeister
To say the words, “I want peace,” actually means nothing. But to mean them is everything.