For thousands of years, India has been home to saints and sages who have plummed the inner depths of the soul and attained the heights of human consciousness. The spiritual history of India contained in the Vedas, the oldest known record of human experience on earth, contains a wealth of information regarding the mechanics of … [Read More]

When I was a teenager in the early 1960’s, growing up in the American mid-West, I would go to my neighborhood bookstore and search for books containing the Wisdom of the East. At that time, all that I could find were three books; the “I-Ching,” “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones,” and “The Way of the Compassionate … [Read More]

My new job at the ashram is Seva Manager. Seva is selfless service. It’s a tradition at ashrams that everyone performs seva. It’s how ashrams function. I wasn’t appointed to the position of Seva Manager. I volunteered. A lot of people said it was the hardest job in the ashram and congratulated me for becoming … [Read More]

For us, probably our most memorable experience in Bangkok was dining at Mai Kaidee’s vegetarian restaurant. Seriously, we’ve come to the conclusion that Thai food is our number one favorite of all the food in the world. Thanks again to the Lonely Planet city guide to Bangkok, we discovered that Mai Kaidee’s was literally no … [Read More]

Back in India, when we were studying the Lonely Planet City Guide, looking for low-priced things to do in Bangkok, we learned about the Amulet Market. After enjoying our first, of several, delicious meals in Thailand, we decided to find the Amulet Market and check it out. We took the water taxi, which only cost … [Read More]

One of the best things about going to Bangkok is visiting the Buddhist temples. The word for “temple” in the Thai language is “wat.” The Thai temples are incredibly beautiful and there are hundreds of them. As you travel around the city, you see their gleaming gold pagodas shining above the surrounding walls. Some are … [Read More]

Within a few hours of waking up, on our first morning in Bangkok, we had an experience that we’ll never forget. We woke up hungry, having skipped dinner the night before. Our first thought was to find one of the vegetarian restaurants that we’d seen recommended in The Lonely Planet City Guide to Bangkok. It … [Read More]

One of the challenges of spending time in India for an extended duration is how to fulfill the requirement of the Indian government that tourists do not stay in the country for longer than six months. The solution is to take a vacation to somewhere nearby like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore or Thailand and then … [Read More]