There is a saying that the family that prays together stays together. One of the gifts in our family, just Asha and I, is her dedication to prayer and her commitment to preserving an atmosphere of sacredness in our home.

The kitchen is a space she is particularly mindful of. As a result, I believe we have cultivated something of a holy life, especially after leaving the monastery. Asha and I met in the monastery when I was a monk, and she became very close to our mentor, Beat Griffiths.

Even after our marriage, we spent about six months in the ashram as a married couple. The sensitivity of the ashramic way of life has always influenced us. However, there is something more at play.

There is the essence of India itself and the Hindu tradition, which embodies a prevailing sense of the sacred. Bede Griffiths defined the spirituality of India as inseparable from its culture, using the exquisite term "a sense of the sacred."

Griffiths noted that when he first arrived in Mumbai, formerly ...

What if someone told you that your voice is the barometer of your Soul? Would you agree that every condition and quality present in your Soul is reflected in the sound of your voice?

The difference in life experience in an elderly person's voice and a teenager's voice immediately registers upon us, no matter what they say. An elderly person may say something frivolous, yet, we sense maturity in that voice. A teenage, on the other hand, may say something profound. However, we still hear the immaturity of life experience in that voice. Of course, there are always exceptions, moments when something profound comes through a person's voice, no matter what age.

When we examine these moments of profundity closely, we notice a quality of presence that accompanies the voice in these instances. We want to work towards such a quality of presence in ourselves that is a refinement of self. And we discover this more significant presence, this sense of Soul, through the expression of a voice that i...