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Love Drives Creation

Seven years ago my wife and I bought a piece of land in a little beach village called Nosara in northwestern Costa Rica. The vision, which I had prior to leaving my life as a Hindu monastic, was to create a Hindu spiritual sanctuary.

We did not know where this place would be. We had a few criteria which we were clear about and were not willing to compromise on. The rest I was leaving up to inner guidance from my guru and the divine beings that I worship.

When we found the property, my wife and I intuitively felt that it was the right piece of land. A couple of special experiences on the land confirmed the decision. We bought the land and officially registered it as Subramuniya Sanctuary, naming it after my late guru. We lovingly call this place “Siva Ashram“. Siva literally translates to the Auspicious One, another name for God in the Sanskrit language. Ashram is a spiritual retreat or hermitage.

On December 1st, 2020, a little over seven years after purchasing the land we finally moved to Nosara to begin our life here. It has been and is an untold amount of hard work and a sacrifice of a great many things from my family to make this come true.

What drives such a pursuit? Love. Love does. Love is the sole driver.

I’m deeply grateful to my guru for all the teachings and tools he has shared with me. A fraction of what I have shared with you and I know a fraction of what he realized he had shared with me.

But the fraction that he shared with me was and is enough to transform my life and catapult me into a lifelong journey of continuous growth. It was enough to catapult me within myself to touch into the divinity within all of us. To experience that divine love which we all are in essence. A love my guru radiated so well as a result of his years of intense self-discipline and pursuit of mastery of himself. In the presence of such a mature soul, the experience of selfless, compassionate, and unconditional love is quite palpable.

It’s the kind of love once experienced never leaves you. You can’t, fortunately or unfortunately, “unexperience” what you have experienced. Such love, as the divine love within you, is the force that drives all of creation. My gratitude for all that he has given me and continues to give me drives me each day to build this sanctuary and define its 300-year plan and impact on humanity and the environment.

Love spans time. Love spans lifetimes. Some souls, a very few, follow each other from one life to another in unconditional love and selfless service to a higher cause. In each incarnation playing a different role but fulfilling the same purpose.

But in order to do so, one must have sufficient control over his mind. Only then can he dictate the next steps. Only then can he be in alignment with this higher purpose and remain devoted to it. In the years that I was blessed to live with my guru, I observed his unwavering devotion to his mission, which was passed down to him by his guru.

In our humble attempt to share the timeless teachings that he has shared with me we have built Siva Ashram in Costa Rica. The first cycle of 7 years has passed. I’m enthusiastic about the next 7 years. Now that we are here we can push this along more than we have in the past.

Life is a manifestation of where you invest your energy. Let love drive the focus of where you invest your energy, then and as my guru says, “proceed with confidence!”