Good Morning, Babaji!

One of my morning routines is to open the window shades, which brings a connection with the greater world. One of the windows faces a small hillside, just across the driveway from the house. The hillside is forested, with weeds and brambles filling in the empty spaces, and if you look closely, you can see that, like the house itself, there is plentiful evidence of neglect and abandonment. Because, there are remnants of a lovely garden there, all along the drive.

I'm looking forward to being able to restore the old garden, uncover the structures and perennials that someone lovingly placed. This coming spring promises to be a time of discovery and renewal for this once-was garden.

One of the treasures we've already discovered is a series of large, natural-stone steps that lead up to a narrow ridge at the base of a large cedar. And low and behold, there's a stone slab right where the cedar's trunk buries itself into the leaf litter, a stone slab that might have been a bench at one time, a stone slab that might make a perfect altar.

So, of course, we put Babaji there.

Good morning, Babaji!

In case you haven't heard of Babaji before, he is the deathless saint who lives in the Himalayas and is in charge of the spiritual life of the East, just as Jesus is in charge of the spiritual life of the West. It was Babaji who set in motion a series of events that brought Paramhansa Yogananda to the United States in 1920, nurturing along the timely vision of bringing Eastern philosophy to the Western world. So, actually, every Ananda site exists not only because of Swami Kriyananda and Paramhansa Yoganada; they exist also because of Babaji.

Blessing and guiding us

So, every morning when I open the window shades, I connect with the greater world, and I connect with Babaji. Not the vague image of a deathless saint living on the other side of the planet, but Babaji who is here, gazing serenely, blessing continuously, guiding joyously.

It's a nice way to start a morning.