These are some of the lives and encounters that shaped my own inquiry and understanding over many years.
Ramana Maharshi
I first became aware of Ramana Maharshi in 1989. For many years, I carried a small photograph of him in my wallet.
In the summer of 2018, I discovered a series of talks by David Godman that brought Ramana’s presence vividly to life. Around that time, I began having dreams in which I felt held in a profound warmth and stillness — a falling away into something wordless and intimate.
In January 2020, I was drawn to Sri Ramanasramam in Tiruvannamalai, India. The moment I sat to meditate at Ramana’s bed, a quiet, tender voice arose from within: “You must learn to be content with a quiet mind.”
I laughed and replied inwardly, “You assume I have a quiet mind to be content with.”
Laughter moved through my whole being. In that moment, something surrenedered completely. Asking, “How will I learn? Who will teach me?” felt unnecessary. What was given and taken was the same — an offering and a receiving, indistinguishable from Love.
Arunachala
At the age of 16, after a spontaneous awakening that left him speechless for the next 11 years, Ramana Maharshi was drawn to the sacred hill, Arunachala, where he spent the rest of his life.
During my visit to Sri Ramanashramam in 2020, I walked the paths of Arunachala, following Ramana’s footsteps along the mountain he loved. Moving slowly along its trails, something essential settled. Arunachala was not experienced as a place apart, but as a living presence — intimate, wordless, and still.
Gangaji
When I met Gangaji, something essential came to rest.
I arrived at our meeting in the spring of 2018 in a place of deep disillusionment and despair. Years of effort — trying to be better, more awakened, more fulfilled — had come to nothing.
In a simple, wordless gesture, I felt met without condition. Nothing was excluded. Nothing was asked to change. In that moment, what had been sought fell away, and what remained was unmistakable — a recognition of myself as I am.
There was no sense of teacher or student, no separation, nothing to attain. Only presence, whole and sufficient. I am deeply grateful for Gangaji’s permission to acknowledge her as a teacher in my life, and for the clarity that emerged through our meeting.
H. W. L. Poonja - “Papaji”
Soon after meeting Gangaji, I met her teacher, Papaji, in a dream. The reality of his presence was unmistakable.
Pressing his forehead to mine, we burst into laughter. In that meeting, all sense of separation dissolved, replaced by a simple and irreducible joy. What remained was not an experience to interpret, but a recognition — intimate, direct, and beyond question.
The words that arose, “You belong to me now!”, did not land as possession, but as the end of seeking. What was recognized was love itself — complete, immediate and sufficient.
Eli Jaxon-Bear
I was introduced to Eli Jaxon-Bear’s Enneagram of Freedom and the Leela School of Awakening in March 2020. In our meeting, Eli met my fear without hesitation or distance. Feeling fully welcomed in the terror annihilation, something let go completely, and what remained was undeniable and unmistakable.
That encounter — and the years of study that followed — were life-changing. I am deeply grateful for Eli’s clarity, love, and permission to acknowledge him as a teacher in my life, and for the way truth was consistently brought back to what is simple and real.
Listen here as Eli speaks about staying true in the face of everything.
Much of my inquiry unfolded through years of devotion, meditation, and self-inquiry within living spiritual communities, alongside more than four decades of study and teaching of A Course in Miracles. These influences live on quietly, woven into how I meet life now.