We explore Arunachala frequently. We walk from ‘yenga veedu’ (our house) to the mountain. I wanted to live on the SW side of the mountain because the forested area at the base of the hill interested me, as does this side of Arunachala.
The pictures here are from a walk we took this week from our [...]

This is from my wife, Carol Johnson. This is from an email she sent her adult children.
Ho hum, just another ordinary day in Tiru. We got up really early, 5am, to walk to see Nanagaru, one of the spiritual teachers who maintains an ashram here and comes several times a year. We have a [...]

The ceremony – Shraddha
After a death in India, the body is cremated or buried usually within one day of the death. Then a few days later an elaborate ceremony is performed, called shraddha. The details of this vary by location and caste. In Tamil Nadu the number of days after the death that this is [...]

Last week in the village in which we live a woman died. She was the mother of a man we work with Ramesh, in the Quality of Life Trust. That afternoon we heard the drums, typical of such funerals, and Ramesh called us and asked us to join him. We walked about two hundred meters [...]

The night of March 6 – when there was no moon – was Mahasivaratri this year. This night honors Siva, seen in nonduality as Being-Consciousness absolute. It is the association with Siva that makes Arunachala such a holy mountain.
Instead of going into town to a temple, or doing pradakshina – walking around Arunachala – we [...]