In my last blog article, “Happy Teja,” I said that I would soon share the vegan recipes from that happy mountain picnic dinner. Today I will share the salad recipe, and then I will share the other recipes in the next few blogs.

For the salad, in a large bowl, combine the following:

juice of one lemon
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon Himalayan krystal salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

To that mixture, add the following:

1 heaping cup of purple cabbage, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup of Italian leaf parsley, chopped (include top half of stems; discard bottom half of stems)
3 green onion tops, chopped
1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Mix well, then add lettuce. I used about ½ head of red leaf lettuce, but you could substitute green leaf lettuce or romaine lettuce. If you are serving more than two people, use the whole head of lettuce. Chop or tear lettuce in strips, then mix well with the above ingredients.

I hope you enjoy this salad…. Let me know your experience of it!

And, as always, please buy organic food whenever possible. It is so much better for our bodies… and for our beloved Mother Earth. May all beings everywhere have the food that they need each day. May we vision ourselves into a world where “starvation” is a word devoid of meaning.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photos of vegan picnic dinner on Mt. Ashland by Teja Shankara.

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If a picture says a thousand words, then this photo of me on Mt. Ashland says “happy” over and over, at least a thousand times! It also says how grateful I was to get out of town and enjoy a little evening adventure. The vegan picnic dinner I packed was delicious. (I’ll post the recipes soon.) Food tastes so much better out in nature – it’s like our taste buds function better out there in the fresh air.

What if we lived closer to nature all the time? Imagine how wonderful everything would feel and look and smell and sound! Up on the mountain, I heard birds instead of lawn mowers, and I smelled fresh pine instead of exhaust fumes. This is nothing new; humans have been extolling the virtues of Nature in writing for ages… what was new for me this time was a deeper sense of Gratitude for Mother Earth. I think I felt that more profound sense of gratitude because this past year was so difficult for me. I feel like I’m being reborn now, out of the dark night of the soul, into the world of Light.

Sitting under the Milky Way, sipping organic hot cocoa, and delighting in shooting stars, I witnessed my mind opening to the vastness of the universes. How many galaxies and universes are out there? How many space beings exist in other realms? As my heart opened to the One Pure Love Energy that permeates ALL of Existence, I remembered my teacher often talking about the importance of stargazing: it opens us up to the Bigger Picture and helps us to understand our life stories in a much larger context.

In addition to all the other spiritual practices I do daily, like morning and evening meditation, chanting (singing), mantra repetition, and cultivating the witness, I have now added “facebook sadhana.” (Sadhana means spiritual practice.) I really enjoy meeting new people and reading all the inspiring quotes on Facebook, and occasionally I watch the videos linked by friends. A few days ago I watched this video by Nassim Haramein, in which he explains how the Solar System is moving in a spiraling circular motion around the Galaxy. It is less than 3 minutes, and it is very informative:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQk2Z-JSLLA

 
May we all choose to do daily practices that connect us to the Light: picnics in Nature, stargazing, facebook sadhana, silent meditation, singing… so many wonderful ways to open our minds and hearts!

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

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Teja Shankara Books

Photo of Happy Teja (in front of Rabbit Ears on Mt. Ashland), by Thomas Stekkinger.

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Last night I enjoyed the most delicious vegan dinner. While chanting the Hanuman Chalisa (a 40-verse prayer extolling the virtues of the Hindu monkey god) along with Krishna Das on CD, I cooked a pot of millet. Lately I have really been into millet – it is one of my very favorite grains. It tastes so earthy and leaves me feeling so satisfied. It is really grounding for the body.

I topped the millet with the following:

flax oil
nutritional yeast flakes
Himalayan krystal salt
ground black pepper
Bragg liquid aminos (similar to soy sauce)
pecans

Beside that yumminess, I put some escarole salad, which ended up all mixed into the millet, and that combination of flavors was an unexpected delight! You’ve got to try it to experience the bliss. I would say it rivals the experience of good dark organic chocolate.

Escarole is a slightly bitter green. If you can’t find it, then substitute romaine lettuce. Here’s the escarole recipe:

one head of escarole, chopped in fine shreds

toss escarole with the following:

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
juice of one lemon
¼ teaspoon Himalayan krystal salt (or sea salt – use more or less salt, depending on your tastes)
ground pepper to taste
1-2 (or more or less) cloves of garlic, minced

Let me know how you like it!

And as always, please, please, please buy organic food whenever possible. It is better for our bodies and it is better for the environment of this beloved Mother Earth.

May all beings everywhere have food to eat each day.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja’s millet dinner by Teja Shankara.

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Last week I joined a community market, the Jackson Wellsprings Sunday Market. I set up my books on a striking red, green, and gold sari that I bought at Threads thrift shop (at Ammachi’s California ashram). After sipping some hot black tea and enjoying the breezes wafting through the Casbah tent, a small group of us sat in a circle behind my table and chanted along with my harmonium. People were walking by, children were playing, and a work crew was busy preparing the tent for the Mukti kirtan that evening. It was such a great community feeling!

A couple of years ago I said, “I want to live inside the chant.” Today I am feeling very grateful because I am indeed living inside the chant. Chanting (singing) to God is the highest joy of my life. Most of the songs that I lead are Sanskrit mantras that praise various Hindu god and goddess forms, but I also lead a chant to Green Tara (Tibetan Buddhist Goddess of Compassion), and a peace chant that came to me one evening in meditation. The peace chant is a bit of a tongue-twister at first, but it has such a sweet vibration. Here are the words:

La Paz ~ Peace ~ Shalom ~ Salaam ~ Om Shanti

Om Shanti ~ Om Shanti ~ Om Shanti ~ Om Shanti

I only just started singing in front of others a few months ago. Before that, for 40 years I believed that I could not sing. I am pretty sure that I am now able to sing because I asked Amma to bless me to be able to sing and play harmonium. By Amma’s Grace, I’m taking the first few baby steps, and I love it all so much. I am filled with Gratitude.

It is my intention to shine Light out ~ through chanting, through writing, and through continuing my daily spiritual practices with much Love in my heart. To begin (or renew) daily spiritual practices yourself, read my pocket book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living, available on this website store in print and by e-book.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Please “like” (join) my new page on Facebook:
Teja Shankara Books

Photo of Teja’s book table by Teja Shankara.

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