08/15/2026
Hari Om.
This photo was taken in Ujjain, India, early in the morning on Mahashivaratri. Dr. Omanand Guruji led us through the village before sunrise, chanting, stopping at temples along the way. That is sacred ash on my forehead.
You may have seen it in other photos and wondered.
This morning in our year-long study of the Yoga Sutras with Guruji, I received a teaching that brought that morning back to me. We have entered the Vibhuti Pada, the third chapter of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, and Guruji opened with three rhyming Sanskrit concepts that together describe the entire inner journey.
Vibhuti, the extraordinary capacities that arise when the mind becomes completely still through deep meditation. Bhabhuti, the sacred ash worn on the brow, a daily reminder that everything material is temporary, including these powers. Anubhuti, the direct experience of the true self that lies beyond all of it.
What stayed with me most: Patanjali devotes an entire chapter to these inner powers, and then immediately cautions us not to grasp for them. They are signs along the road. Not the destination.
Guruji walking us through Ujjain before sunrise on the night of Shiva was one of those signs. I am still learning what it pointed to.
Still a student. Always.
Hari Om.
