Brother Zachary

  St Peter, holding the keys to the kingdom In the various stories associated with Jesus’ disciple Simon-Peter, we observe a most sincere disciple, imperfectly growing towards perfect Faith, and the herculean challenge which accompanies growing into that Faith.  What is faith? As an idea, faith often remains abstract or hard to fathom if we don't already possess at least a little. As an experience, it is the simple realization of God’s presence in our life. Yogananda said that “ Faith means total trust - intuitive knowing, from the soul, that God is real and that his help is ever ready to flow into man’s life.”  Peter's life reveals a universal template for growing in faith: in the first meeting of Master and Disciple at the Sea of Galilee, in the loyalty and sincerity of two Souls uniting in true friendship, in the colossal challenges and frequent shortcomings along the way, and in the ultimate transcendence of one who no longer doubts nor thwarts God's presence and wil...

  Jesus entering the desert As the world and its various faiths and peoples move towards greater familiarity and ultimate integration, so too do our google calendars have a much more international and diverse flavor of celebrations. This last week has been a full calendar when it comes to holidays - the celebration of those days which are indeed holy, when we treat them as such. First, beginning one week ago Saturday, was Valentine's day: a day for opening the heart and celebrating love and relationships, with its tradition tracing back to the martyred Saint, Valentine. Then, followed on Sunday by Maha Shivaratri, or the great night of Shiva, which celebrates Shiva on the 14th night of the lunar cycle, right before the new moon, for a full night of fasting, chanting and devotion to Lord Shiva. Tuesday was the official Lunar New Year, the first new moon, which is celebrated in many eastern cultures, like China, and gives way to longer festivals and celebrations for the remainder of ...

Yogananda made the statement “God is simple, everything else is complex.”  The Master’s simple aphorism provides us with timely and indispensable context for navigating life in a highly energetic modern world of increasing complexity.   The rapidity of man's movement alone, appears to be accelerating at previously unimaginable speed - what to mention, the speed of his thoughts! Just to be here, now, the average citizen is daily tasked with the balancing of worlds and the compartmentalizing of myriad perspectives.  In addition to our own personal, social, and familial realities, there are political, economic and religious wars waged across the globe; duality expressing itself in incredible and often drastic extremes. Like those engaged in fighting for a righteous cause for the benefit of others, and those invested in a kind of blatant oppression of the rights of others, existing side by side, without any kind of standardized agreement as to which is which. Or, the pil...