Introduction

[Giri]

         I am posting an introduction about my spiritual background as
suggested by shrii Vidyasankar Sundaresan.

        I came to US in Fall 1991 to do a doctorate in chemical engineering,
at Texas A&M University, which I completed in late 1993. Now, I am
employed as a research associate in University of California at Davis.
        My family (except for my maternal grandfather) has had no contact
with philosophy, except the usual celebration of festivals etc, though
they were never against me pursuing 'weird' notions like Atman.
        My first meeting was in my early teens when I met a teacher,
who gave me a simple mantra and asked me to repeat it mentally daily. I
never questioned the purpose, and used to repeat it continuously whenever
I had nothing else to do.
        This went on for 4 years, when I first met my Guru, Yogiraj, who
gave shaktipat and initiated me into Kundalini Yoga. I realized His grace
and the powerfulness of Kundalini Shakti when I found that I could still
my mind (for sometime), and attachments to sensory pleasures kept
dropping.  Daily meetings with my chinnaGuru, Easvara, and frequent
pilgrimages to various temples encouraged the practice. They taught me to
aspire for Truth, and were emphatic in practise and discouraged too much
reading. Coupled with my poor background in vedanta, I neither started
reading any spiritual books nor talked about yoga, Hinduism etc even with
friends till a couple of years back.
        Thus whatever little knowledge I have of spirituality, yoga, is
due to the Grace of my teachers and God -- to them I offer my profound
salutations.

praNaam.