In recognition of Nitya’s birthday(s), I wanted to write a bit about my experience with the Gurukula. I first learned about it in 2001, when I was on a school committee with Scott Teitsworth. One day, as we were leaving a meeting, I noticed Scott was carrying a thick and beautiful blue book under his arm. I could see that it was an autobiography and I asked him about it. He told me a bit about Nitya and I was intrigued enough to read it. That was the beginning of such an important part of my growth as a human being.

In my youth, I lived in a household that was loosely Christian. We went to the Episcopal Church for Christmas, Easter and perhaps one or two Sundays a month. I definitely had the idea that God was out there and that I was being judged. I also said prayers every night and when I was worried or stressed, talking to God about my gratitude as well as my fears. I was always interested in spirituality. I loved learning about different religions and definitely had a few episodes of diving more deeply into Christianity, especially the mystical aspects. When I read Love and Blessings, it was a mind blowing experience — the idea that God was within me and in everyone. Wow! I loved reading Nitya’s prose — so clear and eloquent. Scott and I worked through all of That Alone, one verse a week, for a few years and I also started attending classes with Scott and Debbie Buchanan. Over the years, we have studied many of Nitya’s works and the friends in those classes have become very dear to me.

Before I encountered Vedanta and Nitya’s teachings, I was weighed down by depression and anxiety. My life was good but I wasn’t as engaged or balanced as I would have liked. Thanks to Nitya and my studies with Scott and the class, my life has changed for the better. It has been like stepping into a beautiful and sane parallel universe that I never knew existed. I have learned so much — how to identify and accept the conditionings that shaped me and distorted my vision, how to recognize the Gunas, that send me in cycles, both beautiful and maddening, and how to live in the present so that I am not regretting the past or dreading the future. I am calmer, less self-deprecating, more able to allow life to unfold. I feel fortunate indeed to have been introduced to Nitya’s clarity of vision.

There are many, many lovely verses I would like to include here in my reverence for Nitya, but I’ll insert this one from That Alone, verse 3. This verse made a big impression on me, especially because I just happened to be visiting the coast when I first read it. I felt as though Nitya had arranged this merging of life and learning somehow, so that I would really understand.

"To see life as a series of waves rising up and merging back to the ocean of All fills one's mind with beauty, peace, and joy. If you do not know the world this way, then other people become symbols of threat or hostility. A unitive vision makes each of us the keeper of our brothers and sisters. Our hearts attract each other and souls merge with one another. In every person we meet, we see a new opportunity, a new possibility, and a fresh avenue of friendship. In this verse, the Guru leads us to a meditation that can free us of all sense of separation. There is no longer any boundary between the self and the other. Gleefully, we can jump and immerse ourselves in the oceanic treasury of wonder.” (That Alone, pp. 22-23)