Dear Friends...

Dear Friends:

Thanks to all for your interest in the blog. I've done my best to keep it going. We're reached more than 35,000 page-views; not exactly viral, when the average cat photo gets 1 million views, but respectable enough for an obscure site on Mahabharata. I had originally planned to make this  a space for personal revelation and reflection. Somehow, I shifted gears along the way. I hope you've enjoyed my take on Mahabharata; I haven't finished. In a sense, it's a lifelong project. But publishing commitments require that I do  not make certain aspects of the book public. I have retold some interesting stories. The story of the Pandavas  will be retold separately. At the same time,  other projects are making demands on my time.

Here's a little video of some of my paintings I'm putting in a show next week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKmoZIRkUu4

I thank you for your prayers. Many of you have asked about my health. None of us knows what the future holds. The doctors tell me I should no longer put work first. It's time for me to do the things that I put off until the end of life. It's good advice. Our days are numbered, and it's important to understand that life is a miracle. The values exalted in the Mahabharata  are worth remembering: chastity, the simple life, generosity, honesty and openness, compassion for others. It's time for me to practice these.

I've written over 500  posts to this blog. Among the most popular are some of my  memories from the 1960s. That was a raucous time of revolution, of new ideas and principled debate. We were sincere truth seekers who believed  in such unusual things as peace and love. I've been asked to revisit those memories. It is sometimes painful  to be honest about our past.  And yet confession is cathartic;  my past has been colourful.  My friends may profit by learning from my own mistakes.  Please excuse me if I have offended you with all these revelations, but something moved me towards confession. I am the only one left in my family who can tell the story  and perhaps it is time I did.

 The search for truth is always personal. We may take help from others along the way; we may learn from our teachers, our parents, our friends. We may take shelter  at the feet of great spiritual masters. They may do their best to guide us. But in the end each of us must find his own path. I invite you to join with me for a while. Let us walk on the path together. Let us walk together on the path in our journey to surrender.

Humbly,
Michael Dolan, B.V. Mahāyogi