Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Stories from the spiritual life - Volume 1

Stories from the spiritual life - Volume 1

Pettinger, Tejvan

Paperback

Religion General

ISBN10: 1911319213
ISBN13: 9781911319214
Publisher: Ganapati Press
Published: May 24 2018
Pages: 158
Weight: 0.44
Height: 0.37 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.25
Language: English

These are a few stories inspired by following the spiritual life under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy. Some events are loosely based on real life; sometimes the stories just try to capture the spirit of the spiritual life according to my own understanding and perception.
There is a well-known story of five blind men coming across an elephant. Each man gives a different description of the elephant - one describes a tail, one describes a long bending trunk, another describes a thick, impenetrable hide. Each man is right from his particular perspective, but at the same time, none of them can see the totality of the elephant - let alone understand the inner beliefs and thinking of the elephant.
As disciples, we are sailing in the same boat; we can describe an aspect of our Master, which is correct from our limited perspective and personal filter, but this is just a glimpse into the life of the spiritual Master who is dealing with many layers of consciousness - mostly invisible to our outer eyes.
If the stories have any value and wisdom, I would like to give credit to my spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy. If the stories give any misleading impression or limited perspective, bear in mind, they are just a work in progress.
I did not set out to write a book. I just found that writing stories was a rewarding way to reflect on certain issues and experiences. The stories were also not written in chronological order. I started off by writing the stories in Part 2, but over time, found a lot of joy in writing conversations between different imaginary disciples. Perhaps sometimes a young Tejvan is speaking to an old Tejvan - you can make up your own mind!
Sometimes, I was surprised at how the conversations developed, and this reflects how it is in real life. If you start speaking about mundane things, your memory can be triggered and a story of the Master from many years ago comes to mind. This is the beauty of the spiritual life - it is all pervasive, and even in the most mundane activities, we can learn to see from a different perspective, which gives us much greater satisfaction and joy.

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