My New Favorite Place

Yogacharya David

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Picture: Tonto Natural Bridge

“This is my new favorite place!” Carla said this as we were at the base of a Tonto Natural Bridge. The land bridge is the world’s largest travertine (400 feet long, 183 feet high, 150 feet wide), a formation that is created by a hot spring pouring over the sides, leaving a buildup of minerals over millenia.

The land bridge was first known by settlers when a miner was chased by Apaches and he hid in one of the caves nearby. Today it is a state park that requires a steep drive down and then a switchback trail that takes you to the base of the bridge.

It is when we arrive at the end of the trail that we are charmed by the red rock slabs surrounding pools of water under this natural bridge. There are many caves that captivate our interest, as it always intrigues me to be inside these caves.

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From time immemorial caves have been the natural habitat of yogis, monks and spiritual seekers. There are practical reasons for this, a cave will provide shelter, and with a little fire a cave can become a comfortable living site.

There are also more subtle reasons for an inwardly focused meditator to find a cave suitable. As you spiritually progress your psychic body becomes more sensitive, more open. Noise, light and mental disturbances by worldly people can become difficult, even painful for the ardent seeker. The refuge of the cave blocks out sound, light and is an excellent insulator from the psychic chaos of the world.

There are places upon the earth that are naturally attuned to more refined spiritual forces. An area or a cave can also become spiritually charged due to the influence of a highly advanced soul. The two can work together when a naturally charged area is frequented by a highly developed being; an ultimate combination of nature and nurture.

Under the land bridge there are a number of naturally formed caves. There is no evidence of any advanced soul having lived here, but there is a profound sense of peace and spiritual vibrancy that accompanies this natural setting. In our journey to the Southwest we had previously felt such a vibration at Kartchner Caverns State Park. Now, here, it is felt to be even more powerful.

God arranged it so that just as we arrive a group of hikers are leaving, giving the place all to ourselves. We explore around the pools of water and sit in the natural caves. It is a spiritual baptism for the soul; washing clean everything not of a higher vibration.

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It is inevitable that when we mix with the world we will pick up some of those lower influences. The advanced practitioner may rise above these influences; some may be divinely directed to purify such forces through their bodies; and the most advanced in consciousness will simply see these forces as aspects of God.

When Papa Ramdas had a vision of Krishna he said something to Krishna that was shocking to me when I first read it. Papa told Krishna to take this form of Krishna away and to make Papa see Krishna in His universal form; the all-pervading universal vision. There are many aspirants who seek all of their lives for the embodiment of Krishna to manifest even as he did to Papa; yet here was Papa sending him away! Papa was after the purist, most sublime vision of God; not a form that can come and go, but a permanent vision of God as everything that is!

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As I have said before, God is equally present everywhere, it is just that he seems more equally Present in some places than others! The spontaneous thought comes to me now, that you should feel the peace and spiritual purity of this sanctuary of God under that natural land bridge and that as we imbibe the deep Presence of the Divine in God’s natural cathedrals, you will be with us in Spirit and feel it as well.

God’s Cathedral

Yogacharya David

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Picture: morning near Sedona

Nature is God’s Cathedral. Looking out upon His vistas I sense the vast expansive Spirit that resides behind everything that is. Painting with light God dabbles reds here, greens over there, orange and many hues of earth tones resound from every corner of this Sedona area.

It is not just the visuals of the topography, but the feeling of the purity of Nature as well. Sedona takes top honors for visually stunning views of red rock formations. Kartchner Caverns area is our favorite spot for the feeling of peace; it is where we had Sunday Service Meditation with Rick and Judy.

We drove up a switchback highway out of a canyon from Sedona and at the top was a view point that was sponsored by the state of Arizona and the first Nations peoples. Many of the items for sale by the native people looked like it could have been imported from Japan. However there was one table with a wonderful woman standing behind it who quietly said, “good morning.” Carla and I walked to the vista point and returned. I told Carla I wanted to show her some clay pots I thought looked particularly nice. It just so happened it was at the table of the sweet soul, named Elsa, who had said good morning. So, inspired by Ram, I bought a lovely clay pot with an eagle engraved upon it.

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In Navajo tradition the eagle is the messenger between the spirit world and this earthly one and represents strength and freedom.The piece of turquoise is good luck. The white clay of the pot comes from Elsa’s Navajo home on the border of Utah and Arizona; the pot was made by her mother’s youngest brother. It will serve as a lovely remembrance of this time in northern Arizona and of Elsa.

An Observation: as a guest in someplace new, in particular one of nature’s cathedrals, there is a depth of experience that can be had to the sensitive soul. To get this depth you must have a certain attunement to the subtle world that resides just behind this gross material one.

I have observed that the majority of people who tour a new place are engaged in conversation with others about times and places other than where they are at. Such a preoccupation excludes the more subtle plane of inner experience. To feel the soul of a place, or the lack of it, to be aware of the spirit that may be present one must be focused in the present and open to this inner awareness.

Today we walked the trails of Walnut Canyon, near Flagstaff, and it was just such a place where there was much more than what met the eye. The attraction of the canyon is the cave-like structures that were used for a generation or two by the native Hopi Nation. However the place is ripe with spiritual meaning for the local tribes as they have used this area as a site for sacred ceremonies stretching back into time untold.

Climbing down the paths of the steep sided canyon the rustic dwellings spoke of a time of great need. A volcanic eruption (in what was later to become Flagstaff Arizona) sent the local inhabitants off to alternative locations for homes, fields for growing food and areas to hunt game. Thus the sacred site was used for this purpose, however over time it proved unsuitable to sustain the livelihood of the tribal members; they moved on. However, the hundreds and hundreds of years for using this site for sacred ceremonies and finding healing herbs makes for a tremendous radiation of peaceful vibration that is distinct and palpable.

At 6,000 feet above sea level Walnut Canyon sits at a similar altitude to Babaji’s Cave, and with pine trees, cactus, and a variety of healing herbs it has a familiar feel to it from our pilgrimages to Dronagiri. For Carla and I, the area spoke of a natural and human created place of peace.

It is a lesson for all in our journeys in life; for God is all and all in all. To become too commonplace in our thoughts is to miss the deeper meaning of our journey; an opportunity never to be captured again.

Sedona AZ

Yogacharya David

 

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Picture: Sunrise @ Lost Dutchman  State Park AZ

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God is taking us on a journey. Well, this is true in the little play even as it is in the grand Lila of life! Thanks to Rick and Judy we have flown to Arizona and have spent the last week in the Valley of the Sun. Karen Haag, a kriyaban who has lived in near Phoenix in Sun City provided us with delightful company as well as an abundance of grapefruit, lemons, and oranges that we picked freshly from her backyard trees! We have had an RV and explored the beautiful desert regions of the Southwest. In case the idea of a desert does not connote beauty to you, believe me that this desert has charming and even spectacular scenes and places of interest.

This is my first time in Arizona and I find that God is a consummate tour Guide. Travelling with Rick and Judy in their own RV we had reservations for Saturday night at a campground near the Kartchner Caverns, the reservations had the wrong date on them and we were ushered to the “overflow” area. The overflow area was vastly superior to the other spots in the campground; sans the noise that weekend travelers often make.

“Oh Ram, how sweetly you look after our smallest comforts, making sure we are surrounded by cactus, wild hares with white cotton tails, beautiful sunsets and a quiet meditation service on Sunday morning in Your natural cathedral. How sweet are Your manifold blessings.”

 

Inconspicuously hidden beneath the desert hills, covered by rock and sand, are the beautiful Kartchner Caverns. Undiscovered by man until 1974, the caverns have been in formation for the last million years. Two intrepid cavers crawled through an opening that was 10 inches high, 2 feet wide and 20 feet long! Encouraged by the amount of wind coming out of that small opening that was ripe with bat guano smell, they continued until they eventually emerged into vast series of huge caverns with small and delicate, and immense, stalactites, stalagmites, columns and other various types of underground formations that have beautiful colors, shapes and remarkable beauty. It is thrilling to see what nature produced in isolation, what marvels there were just beneath an unremarkable surface.

We have driven north from the Valley of the Sun to Sedona, at an altitude of 4,500 feet. It is cooler here but the sun is shining brightly. As we entered Sedona the red layers of columned rocks greeted us, making for breath taking sculptures. We now have internet coverage so I am happily able to send you these notes. Win and Kathy have once again generously given us a timeshare condominium where we will be staying a little later on.

Even while at this distance from you each day I am drawn deeply within, and in Spirit I feel no separation at all. In the Infinite omniscience there is no time, nor space; therefore no separateness. Love flows out spontaneously, Spirit embraces all there is.

In the all-embracing Spirit I send you all love and blessings, and may God’s Spirit accompany you in all your journey’s, whether close to home or far away.

Ever in God, Christ, Gurus,

David

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Reason Enough: Morning Thoughts April 1, 2014

Gratitude overflows the heart. Oh what gracious spiritual breezes waft through body mind and soul. The wealth of a yogi is in this Presence, this indescribable peace and joy. The world exists, certainly it does. With its ups and downs, pleasures and pains, yet all pales in comparison to this exquisite bliss. The larger God looms into the foreground the more insignificant becomes the variegated nature of the world. Now the joys of the world are pleasing reminders of God’s little gifts, and the pains are promptings to look to the Infinite for comfort and strength. All of these plays of opposites are but a small subset of the grand overarching Spirit. Ah, such awareness does bring gratitude into the life of the devotee; life, love, finding joy spontaneous in the soul are reasons enough.

Years

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