I just received a comment asking: "Do you want to stop posting clarifications and disclaimers and get down to the nitty-gritty of what you want to say?" Now, what do I really want to say? Am I just rambling atop my soapbox?

My current blog themes are a part of an ongoing commentary on diverse themes as they arise, and as such really for the greater part clarifications on issues that spring to the surface either from within or as prompted by the readers. I can't say that I would have a single message I'd want to convey to everyone, and that would be it. "The final message of Madhavananda, once and for all." There are, rather, diverse concurrent topics that bundle together in the adventure we call life in search of the higher truth.

There are countless "Why"-s I've had to face in the course of my wanderings and ponderings. These questions on the meaning of phenomena, both internal and external, I find to be among the valued treasures of a spiritual journey. They open the horizon to new insights. One of the factors in life that matters to me a great deal, on all fronteers, is the thirst for meaning. I detest superficialities and have developed a fair allergy to the "just because" approach to crucial matters.

Many haven't as of yet had to face, or otherwise haven't had the courage to face and to process, some of the themes I have brought up and am bringing up. The sheer amount of comments that have flown in, and their contents even more so, are a delightful testimony to that — even if a few among them have been a bit edgy and told more of the insecurities of the writer than anything else.

Were I to pin down a single undercurrent in all that's being said, it would be the perceptive balancing of reason and faith as a necessary survival skill, a prerequisite in the practical pursuit of those loftier goals. I could just write a single statement on a theme like that. That single statement, however, as true as it might be for me, might not be the approach of choice for all. Individualistic, I seem to have grown individualistic over the years. There are few out-of-the-box answers out there in practice, even if we all no doubt enjoy a good shloka aptly cited in the crux of the conversation.

I am rather hoping that my current style serves a purpose greater than just informing the readers of my conclusions; aside the "What", the more meandering approach I have taken — that no doubt also aids me in processing and compartmentalizing my experiences and reflections — glosses the "Why" and "How" of the "What", elements vital to the development of wisdom, as contrasted with mere knowledge. They provoke the reader to reflect on the factors that influence the conclusion and to draw parallels between the narrative and their own lives, hopefully providing new possibilities for spiritual growth through introspection, and subsequent individual application.