Concluding Thoughts

As I conclude my many musings, contemplations, and meditations on Gurumayi’s words from the Siddha Yoga satsang in honor of Makara Sankranti, “The Light of the Sun,” I wish to express my thanks to all of you. Thank you for making time to read what I have written, and for sharing your own amazing contemplations on Gurumayi’s teachings, as well as the ways in which you have been implementing your learnings. Gurumayi teaches us to inspire and be inspired; through the practice of sharing, we are putting Gurumayi’s teaching into action.

I have called this my “Meditation on Gurumayi’s Words” because that’s exactly what my experience has been. As I have reflected on Gurumayi’s words, as I’ve let them gild my awareness, I have felt the energy of meditation. This energy resides, of course, in Gurumayi’s words. And the more I have contemplated these words, the more I have discovered that same energy within myself. I am immensely grateful to Gurumayi—for her wisdom, and for her request that I write about her teachings for the Siddha Yoga path website. It has given me the opportunity to be with my contemplations—to clarify my understanding of Gurumayi’s words, and to articulate what I have learned with as much precision as possible.

Although this is the last I will be writing about the satsang on Makara Sankranti, my contemplations won’t end here. I imagine yours won’t either. As I hope it has become clear over this past month, there is no limit to what we can uncover—about ourselves, about our world—when we study Gurumayi’s teachings. It’s a good thing, then, that we can keep revisiting the topics I’ve highlighted in “Meditation on Gurumayi’s Words.” I selected eight topics to write about here. I believe that if we make a concerted effort to really “get” these topics, to understand Gurumayi’s meaning and intention in speaking about them, then we can initiate tangible, positive change in our sadhana. And this has a ripple effect, uplifting other parts of our lives and even our surroundings.

I have begun to look back at these topics myself, and it’s been fun to jot down the new thoughts and ideas that I’ve had. To help remember the essence of what Gurumayi has taught, I’ve also come up with some acronyms. This is a study technique that I’ve really gained an appreciation for because of Gurumayi. Many of you will recall how Gurumayi has often used acronyms and acrostics when imparting her guidance. (A classic example is Gurumayi’s Message T*R*U*S*T from 2003.) I am sure that, like me, you have experienced firsthand just how useful these mnemonic devices are for learning and recall.

You may have already developed your own acronyms to remember what Gurumayi taught—in which case, please do share them in your Sadhana Circles and on the Siddha Yoga path website! In the meantime, in this conclusion to my “Meditation on Gurumayi’s Words,” I’d love to share with you the acronyms that I have created, along with some of my additional contemplations on Gurumayi’s words.

Acknowledgment, a Wondrous Exchange (AWE)

In the first installment of “Meditation on Gurumayi’s Words,” I reflected on Gurumayi’s acknowledgment of everyone for attending the satsang on short notice. I was moved by the naturalness with which Gurumayi made this acknowledgment. Gurumayi had clearly been thinking of all of us, of the effort that people in all different time zones were making to be in the Siddha Yoga Universal Hall. Her words of appreciation felt like such an organic expression of her thoughtfulness and care.

Gurumayi’s words were also, to me, so representative of what she has taught about acknowledgment over the years. Acknowledgment is not just about saying “Thank you.” It’s not enough to just go through the motions. Acknowledgment, as Gurumayi teaches it, is an attitude, an approach, a way of existing, a way of exchanging. In its essence, acknowledgment is about getting to know another person. It is about recognizing who they are, taking note of what they have done, and feeling empathy for them. When we come from this place of wanting to understand the other person, our outward expressions of gratitude possess the ring of truth. They land with their recipients.

And then, more often than not, the people we are acknowledging wish to acknowledge us in kind. They thank us for thanking them. They might also remember some other thing we’ve done that they have been wanting to thank us for! This is what I mean by acknowledgment being a wondrous exchange. When we make the effort to acknowledge someone, we open up a whole portal of gratitude, and this gratitude travels in all directions—to us, from us, and all around.

On that note, it’s good to remember that the influence of our acknowledgment extends even beyond ourselves and the person or people we are acknowledging. If, for example, there are children around, we are modeling for them what the practice of acknowledgment looks like. A lot of times, our acknowledgments can also function as being on behalf of others, whether or not we intended them to be. Some people might be shy or introverted, or they might otherwise have difficulty articulating their appreciation. So when they see us acknowledging the person they are grateful to, it’s as though we are giving voice to their feeling as well. In some cases, our example might embolden them to go up to that person themselves and extend their own “Thank you.”

In truth, a lot goes into making a specific, authentic, and meaningful acknowledgment, and a lot of good can come from it. I like to think of acknowledgment as something of an art form, requiring its own skill and finesse. What words will we use to express our acknowledgment? What is the right time to acknowledge someone? More than once I’ve found myself in a bit of a quandary. I’ve wondered, “Is now a good time to thank this person? Is this the best way to thank them? Will they think I’m saying this because I want something of them, or because I’m trying to placate them?”

I always strive to be as genuine as possible when making an acknowledgment. It’s definitely something I want to keep thinking about and working on. It is important to me that people know I’m not thanking them out of self-indulgence; I’m not doing it to feel better about myself, to convince myself that I am a virtuous person. When I thank someone, I want them to see what I see in them. I want them to experience the goodness of their heart and the value of their efforts. I want them to know just how much I appreciate them.

Stay In Touch (SIT)

In the second installment, I wrote about the question Gurumayi asked of all of us: “What have you been doing lately, especially since January 1, 2026?” I explained how this question unspooled a whole bunch of contemplations for me—quite simply because I had not thought to ask it of myself! I was touched by how Gurumayi took such keen interest in what we had been doing since the start of the year. And I realized that I too could bring such attentiveness to how my sadhana is going—each day, each week, each month, each year.

As I consider Gurumayi’s question some more, I am inclined to think of Gurumayi’s Message for 2026. Specifically, the first line of her Message: “Renew! Reset your mind.” My experience has been that the act of “resetting the mind” is not a one-and-done thing. Our minds are not computers. We can’t just wipe them clean, or expect that they will start following a new script because we have suddenly decided they should. Resetting the mind is a matter of continual vigilance, inquiry, and recalibration. We have to keep learning about our minds, why they work the way they do—and then we adjust accordingly. Our progress might be more gradual than it is sweeping, but I believe it will be more lasting too.

I like the acronym SIT (short for “Stay In Touch”) for Gurumayi’s teachings on this topic because it suggests taking a pause. Sitting down for a moment, when you were previously in motion. Checking in with yourself. Being kind to yourself. Asking, “What have I been up to? How is it going? What refinements can I make to how I’ve been approaching my sadhana?”

There’s one more thing you can do to “stay in touch.” And that is to just be, to give yourself unstructured time with yourself, to abide in the beautiful silence of the heart and see what shows up. This is a teaching that I have received from Gurumayi on multiple occasions. I have a tendency of wanting to do more and more and more, no matter the situation, and this can sometimes be self-defeating. I remember one time, some years ago, I was offering seva supporting a darshan for many people. I was flitting about, doing this and that, moving very quickly—but in that moment, it wasn’t necessary for me to be doing quite so much. During a pause in the darshan, Gurumayi looked at me intently and said, “You know you can just be, right? Your presence is enough. Your being here is enough. You are wonderful as you are.”

So, yes: just be. Just be who you are. Just be what you are.

Just be loving. Just be kind. Just be great. Just be beautiful. Just be honorable.

Just be, just be, just be. 

Just be thoughtful. Just be wonderful. Just be sweet. Just be active. Just be peaceful.

Just be, just be, just be.

Just be generous. Just be magnanimous. Just be courageous. Just be lighthearted.
Just be full of devotion.

Just be, just be, just be.

You do know how special you are, don’t you? The qualities I have listed are not “extra” things you need to now cultivate. They are a sampling of the kinds of attributes you already possess within you—and that you display to others without necessarily realizing it. Can you even fathom how many people wish to be like you? They might not come up to you and say it, but they do. They see something extraordinary in you.

Elucidate and Propel the Overtone, Connect to its Horsepower (EPOCH)

In the third installment, I wrote about Gurumayi’s wonderfully evocative description of Makara Sankranti, of the unique spirit of this holiday in India. I was, and am, fascinated by how each holiday—in fact, each day—on the Siddha Yoga path has a specific energy to it. How do we discern what that energy is? How do we tap into the source of this energy? How do we see to it that we have the capacity to receive this energy in its fullness? We can think of each day as being like an accordion. We don’t know what surprises it contains until the day is expanding out before us. With that in mind, how will we show respect to what any given day holds in its folds? How will we meet its magnificence?

From asking such questions, I’ve come to understand that walking the Siddha Yoga path involves not just conversation with ourselves, but also with a certain ineffable something that seems (initially, at least) to exist outside ourselves. The light in our hearts must meet the light of the sun. And we just might find that they vibrate at the same frequency.

The acronym EPOCH (“Elucidate and Propel the Overtone, Connect to its Horsepower”) is meant to represent this truth. The “overtone” of something is its implied quality, energy, effect, or feeling. In music, this word has a more particular (though still related) meaning. It refers to a frequency of sound that exists within the main pitch being produced, is higher than that pitch, and can be heard above it. Each sound has its own overtones, and these impart a unique texture and richness to that sound.

We can think of each day’s energy as its overtone, a kind of aura that colors the whole twenty-four-hour period, that exists on top of such objective realities as the calendrical date. We can start each day by elucidating for ourselves what exactly this overtone is. We can make the effort to recognize what is special about this day, what is golden about it, what is meaningful, what is important, and what we can do that will best serve the day. In this way, we are also propelling the overtone—we are making it more pronounced in our awareness. What may have seemed like just another day, indistinguishable from the seeming monotony that comes before or after, is transformed into what it was always meant to be.

And then—we are off to the races! Throughout the day, we can remember to connect with this energy, this overtone, and tune in to its innate power. In this Year of the Horse, we can think of it as the day’s horsepower. It’s a useful word to hold on to, not just because of the connection to the Chinese or Lunar New Year, but because it connotes great force, intensity, and momentum. The more we avail ourselves of this power, the more it powers us. We experience this power in our prana, in the vital force linking our inner world to the outer one. We have great power in our prana. We just need to breathe. Pause. And breathe again.

Each day is its own mini-epoch. At the end of the day, we can check in with ourselves just as we did in the morning. We can ask ourselves, “How did I experience the energy of the day? How did I harness it? How did I let it guide me? How did I act and react to its presence? How did my embodiment of this energy affect others? How did I make others feel today?”

To be clear, these questions aren’t about making a value judgment or finding more reason to criticize yourself. They are meant to support your self-inquiry. They can help you to become more aware of how you move through any given day, so that you can determine what adjustments to make for the next day. That’s how we make progress—in our sadhana, in our professions, in our relationships, in our lives. We become keen and compassionate observers of ourselves.

Satsang, Sadhana, Sangham (SSS)

In the fourth installment of “Meditation on Gurumayi’s Words,” we reflected on Gurumayi’s teachings about Kali Yuga, the current age we are living in, notorious as the backdrop for much distress. However, Gurumayi explained to us that the poet-saints of India interpreted Kali Yuga in a different way. They were emphatic that when the outer world feels like it’s devolving into chaos, we can find endless strength in doing our spiritual practices. We can take refuge in satsang, in sadhana, and in the sangham.

This is not to say that we should ignore what is happening around us or approach it with a kind of blind optimism. Gurumayi teaches that a moderate dose of skepticism—and even a measured cynicism, especially during hard times—can lead to constructive outcomes. This is because such an attitude indicates critical thinking. No, we should not accept everything at face value. We should not deceive ourselves that everyone has good intentions. It would be foolish to think that, and it only enables underhanded behavior.

What does have negative consequences is chronic cynicism—when doom and gloom become our modus operandi, when our whole demeanor turns caustic, when we demonstrate no flexibility whatsoever in our mental or emotional frameworks. The encouragement of hope requires work, an awareness of and resistance to any tendency to wallow in cynicism. The thing is, when we do this work—when we apply ourselves with consistency to our Siddha Yoga practices—it creates a virtuous cycle. The tendrils of hope within us start to blossom. And this just makes us want to do more sadhana—and our sadhana inspires other people to do sadhana, and soon it is hope and goodness and positive thinking that hold more sway in our minds, our hearts, our lives.

This brings me to another insight I’ve had about our role in Kali Yuga. Time and again, Gurumayi has taught us that we don’t do sadhana only for ourselves. Our work doesn’t stop once we feel like we are staying reasonably afloat amidst the waves of samsara. Our sadhana—especially our collective sadhana—and our satsang have power. When we trust in the value of our efforts, and when we hold fast to our belief in the miracles of grace, we experience the tremendous power generated by this combination of self-effort and grace. This power is great enough to calm the tumultuous waters of the world.

This acronym—SSS, for Satsang, Sadhana, Sangham—reinforces the point. When we say it letter by letter (“S, S, S”), it sounds like we are saying “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Yes, we can make a difference! Yes, we can be a positive force in the world! Yes, we can enrobe this world in our blessings! Yes, there is light to be found at the end of the dark tunnel!

Stay Engaged and Attentive (SEA)

In the fifth installment, we explored Gurumayi’s teaching about how we ought to think of the Message at a time when we should be thinking of the Message. I understood this to be about honoring the time we have set aside for study and practice of Gurumayi’s Message for 2026—whether that is five minutes in the morning or an hour in the evening. It is about befriending our time.

What does that mean? How do we “honor” the time we have designated for something? More generally, how do we make friends with time? I wrote about how essential it is to maintain focus, to stay engaged and attentive and not succumb to distraction. Sounds great in theory, doesn’t it? Unsurprisingly, perhaps, I have found this teaching to pose an intriguing challenge in practice. “What if,” I’ve thought on more than one occasion, “the supposed distraction is important? What if it’s something I really need to do?”

If I were to play out this dialogue with myself (since that seems to be a running theme of my contemplations!), I would counter this question with another. “Is what I am going to interrupt my task for truly that important? So important that I can’t do it afterward?” Nine times out of ten, the answer will be no.

And for that one time when the answer might be yes, I’m reminded of something I’ve learned from being in Gurumayi’s presence while offering seva in Shree Muktananda Ashram. This is that life isn’t meant to be approached in a rigid manner. There will be occasions when the time we think we should be doing something is not, in fact, the time to be doing it. In these instances, deviating from our original plan does not mean we are falling prey to distraction. Actually, we are staying engaged with the moment we are in. We are being attentive to the needs of that moment, and we are responding in kind.

Flowing In Time (FIT)

Gurumayi memorably spoke about the phrase “Old is gold,” and I shared my thoughts on her teachings in the sixth installment. I had a lot to say on this topic (I still do!)—and if I could distill those thoughts down to one overarching description, it would be this: flowing in time (FIT). Instead of worrying about the passage of time, instead of ruminating on the past or fretting over the future, we can choose to move with time. One of the few certainties we have in life is this moment, the present moment. So why not make the most of it? This is the moment to act, to fulfill our dharma, to do our sadhana, to do what it is we are here to do.

I understood Gurumayi’s reference to the phrase “Old is gold” as being both an acknowledgment of the elder generations, as well as a reminder of the responsibility we all have as we get older. On the Siddha Yoga path, we must pass on the knowledge we have acquired to those who are younger than us or newer to the path. We must see to it that the wisdom we have gained lives on in those who come after us.

I think this is an awareness that we can cultivate at any age. I was in my twenties when Gurumayi first asked me to mentor some of my fellow Siddha Yogis. Many of these people have been children, teens, and college-aged students, but sometimes Gurumayi has asked me to mentor people who are older than me too. It has instilled in me the understanding that I have some knowledge, some measure of life and sadhana experience, that might be useful for others.

I have also come to understand that I bear some responsibility for the learning and development of others on the Siddha Yoga path. As a child and young adult on this path, I received so much. I have learned so much, first and foremost from Gurumayi, and also from my own mentors. It is only natural, only fitting, that I do my part as well.

What’s more, while I may think that I am educating others, I’ve discovered that I, in fact, am getting so much from my mentees—perhaps even more than they are getting from me! My brain is stimulated. My mind is opened to greater possibilities. I am able to perceive, with the eye of my heart, new and more expansive horizons. In my elaboration on this topic, I wrote about how it’s a win-win endeavor for younger and older people to come together. Without a shadow of a doubt, this has been my experience.

Make a Plan (MAP)

In the seventh installment, we reflected on what Gurumayi taught about preparing for Siddha Yoga satsang. I wrote about making a plan before participating in satsang—that is to say, identifying ahead of time the specific aspects of the satsang that we wish to give particular attention to. We can make this fun for ourselves, formatting our plan in whatever way we like—whether that’s as a list, a drawing, a mind map. However we do this exercise, the idea is that it will prime us to be even more attentive to the different elements of the satsang.

Now, when is it that satsang truly begins? This is a question that I have been mulling over since revisiting Gurumayi’s teachings about preparation. We might receive an invitation to participate in a satsang, and that invitation will tell us at what time the satsang is scheduled to begin. But on a more, I suppose, atmospheric level, I feel as though we are already in the satsang once we’ve started our preparation. Our minds are attuning to the themes of the satsang, to its particular spirit and energy. Our body is readying itself to be in the Siddha Yoga Universal Hall.

When we are speaking about a scheduled event, then yes, a satsang has defined beginning and end times. In a broader sense, however, when we are speaking about satsang with our Guru—that is a continuous experience. Truly speaking, it never starts and it never ends. When you think of the Guru, you are in satsang with the Guru. You are experiencing darshan of the Guru. Satsang has no walls, no windows, no doors. It transcends space. It is beyond time.

Radiant as Yourself (RAY)

In the eighth installment of “Meditation on Gurumayi’s Words,” we recalled Gurumayi’s teaching that we are each meant to be the light of God. That we are the light of God. I somehow gathered myself up from the puddle I had become after hearing these words, and I shared with you how Gurumayi has frequently likened each person to a kiran, or ray, of God’s light.

Thinking about this again, I’m reminded of another iconic teaching from Gurumayi. At the conclusion of many satsangs and Shaktipat Intensives, Gurumayi would tell everyone to bring the light they had experienced back home to the communities where they lived. I think it’s just the right note to end on for now, as I bring this “Meditation on Gurumayi’s Words” to a close. It is with a happy heart that I do so, knowing that what I have written may have served as a stepping stone for you in your sadhana, and that it may encourage you to carry on with your own meditation on Gurumayi’s words. I extend to you, again and again, my wholehearted thanks for your engagement with my writing.