Quotes from Sarah Macdonald

The cycle of violence needs extreme love to break it.

India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true. It's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid. It's all the extremes.

I like your Jesus ... there's no doubt he was a great sadhu , most likely trained in India, but you know, he was wrong about God. God is not a judgemental giant sitting up in heaven, it's a force within us all - we are light bulbs in the electrical system of the universe.

In India I've slowly been learning that I'm not in complete control of my life...

Brahma is the Generator, Vishnu the Organizer and Shiva the Destroyer. Together they are G.O.D. or Brahman. All the millions of Hindu gods are just forms of the one Supreme Being.

India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true. It's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid. It's all the extremes. India defies understanding

There's millions of gods, beta, but all represent aspects of three, and all three are really one"...

I've weeded out some past conditioning that dictates my preferences and prejudices; right now these people are as beautiful as I make them, things are as scary as I allow them to be, and as ugly and nasty as I create them. The world's a beautiful place.

Well madam, I will tell you one thing. You must listen. You are back in India for a good shaking. Here you will dance with death and be reborn. You will be a chameleon of karma and there are many guides to show you the way. You will search India's land of gods and find faith

I've crashed into another bad wall of karma and in the process lost my lightness of being.

India is the land of the profound and the profane; a place where spirituality and sanctimoniousness sit miles apart. I

I must find peace in the only place possible in India. Within.

Mehmooda's faith and fatalism makes me realize how much I still cling to the belief that I have power over my destiny. Perhaps it's time to let that go. Back at the boat on the lake of lotuses I shiver with thoughts of surrender, for it seems such surrender requires sacrifices I could never make. I'm not sure I want that depth of faith and I can't imagine being capable of it.

God is not a judgemental giant sitting up in heaven, it's a force within us all - we are light bulbs in the electrical system of the universe.

I can look to Hanuman for energy, Varuna (the God of water) if I want rain, Lakshmi (Vishnu's consort, the goddess of wealth) if I need money and Saraswathi (Brahma's consort, the goddess of knowledge) ifI have an exam coming up. Ganesh the elephant god and the child of Shiva and Parvati) can be called on when starting a new journey or venture and Vishnu, Ram or Krishna if I want purity of spirit.

I figure that if I can find peace in death, then perhaps I can find peace and a sense of grace in life.

Do you have deep feelings for nature or do you year detachment? Do you prefer sex or self-control?

I am worried self analysis will lead to spiritual paralysis

After nearly two years of traveling India's spiritual supermarket I'm still a self-occupied, selfish, pathetic, pessimistic bitch who's dropped any faith at first sign that things aren't going well.

My Sikh-inspired spiritual strength is melting away and my brain is too fried to meditate.

in my small pocket of my own isolated country, I felt like I understood my world and myself, but now, I'm actually embracing not knowing and I'm questioning much of what I thought I did know. I kind of like being confused, wrestling with contradictions, and not having to wrap up issues in a minute before a commercial break.

Judaism or Islam or Sikhism. I can be a believer in something bigger than what I can touch. I can make a leap of faith to a higher power in a way that's appropriate to my culture but not be imprisoned by it.  

I realize I don't have to be a Christian who follows the church, or a Buddhist nun in robes, or a convert to Judaism