Foreword by Rev. Dr. Charlene Proct


piritual growth, says Sri Bhagavan, always begins where you are, not where you want to be. This is his favorite advice, which he gives spiritual seekers who travel to India and want to shed their past traumas so they can move forward in life with strength and dignity. His goal is to show people who seek a relationship with the Divine the joy of a life that is free from pain. I’ve been there. I know it is entirely possible to empty our bodily containers of fear, regret, worry, self-doubt, and old emotional programming and conditioning and live in the present moment. But we must make a conscious decision to stop clinging to our old stories and reliving them. If we want to experience true freedom, we must be willing to give up our suffering and let go of fear. There is no room for personal or spiritual growth when our lives are polluted by the agonies of the past.


S xi One of our greatest tasks is to be willing to experience uncertainty.


Will we have enough? Will we be alone? What happens when we give up our old relationships? Old jobs? The uncertainty of making sudden and drastic change in our lives might look like we are choosing to run adrift, but that is only an outward appearance. It’s an illusion, and not the truth of what is. There is no separation from our Source, which sustains us completely. Adopting a new attitude, achieving financial independence, choosing emotional self-reliance—these are only human rites of passage that help us release our worries so we can find the essence of what constitutes us as individuals. What is underneath is gorgeous and strong. How can this not be true when each of us is an individual spark of Divine creation? Clearly, our individual and collective narratives are how Spirit experiences life through us. Contemplating our stories is where


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