At an early age of around 3-5 my grandmother said prayers with me each night. She made sure that each day I attended catechism at my Catholic school. From this early age I was aware of the importance of prayer, and of leading a God-centered life. In the second grade I received my first communion. That was a very 'rich' spiritual moment for me. I was aware of a spiritual consciousness that day! In the 5th grade I became an altar boy. I took this responsibility very seriously and felt lifted up from serving in this way. I even thought about becoming a priest some day, and thought about it for quite some time.

My grandmother was very religious. We travelled by train twice a year to Tampa to 'purchase' novenas for relatives who had died, or were in distant parts of Ireland. She said the rosary every night and encouraged me to be a better Catholic.

At the end of my first year in college I began to feel an emptiness that spurred me on to read metaphysical material. Gina Cerminara's Many Mansions: The Edgar Cayce Story on Reincarnation, and Jess Stearn's Yoga, Youth, & Reincarnation were two of those books which led me to enroll in a course in comparative religion the fall of my second year of college.

I joined an Edgar Cayce discussion and meditation group where I met some older people. One was the minister at the Unity Church. They were all good role models and noble souls. I worked for the owner of a lumber yard who also left an impression on me as to how to live as a virtuous person in the business environment.

The Edgar Cayce material and organization provided a variety of perspectives on the occult, spiritual life, Christianity, and karma and reincarnation. My interaction with their work continued for about 5 years. My mother and I went together to many of their seminars and to Virginia Beach, as well as to the Cayce Camp in Rural Retreat Virginia. The comparative religion class introduced me to Buddhism and Hinduism, which was especially appealing. I read the Autobiography of a Yogi during that period. I also read Be Here Now by Ram Das, and heard him speak on campus, which left a lasting impression on me. I also began to read the Bible, the Old and New testaments, and I started to study the Tao Te Ching. I took Transcendental Meditation in the fall of 1971 and began to meditate regularly at that point, from around the age of 19 going forward.

Later after finishing my first year of medical school, I felt a deep need for something more. In fact, I felt a yearning for a Guru. I was still attending an Edgar Cayce group and meditating regularly but desperately wanted techniques of meditation to take me further on my spiritual journey. I made a trip to Virginia Beach to visit the Cayce metaphysical library. There I discovered Man's Eternal Quest, by Paramahansa Yogananda. Right then, I knew instantly that it had been he all along who was my Guru.

Before finding my spiritual path, and Self-Realization Fellowship, my life was much more unrestrained, undisciplined, and without definite purpose. With these teachings, however, I came to understand the importance of meditation and the scientific techniques. This was very appealing.

The Guru is an aspect of God. The Guru is also a friend, companion, and confidant!

My goals are to strive to become a better person and to realize my oneness with God, and to put my life in harmony with God's purpose.

I follow a regular routine of twice a day meditation and think that in general I have been able to have a much healthier lifestyle. I am absolutely a happier person. I know it is important to have an earnest devotion, because without it the spiritual effort can become dry and routine. I also enjoy work and hobbies. At one time I really was enjoying a new hobby of riding a motorcycle.

When I first moved to Phoenix, the minister put me in touch with another devotee who also rode motorcycles. We used to ride out to the Lake Bartlett area, a beautiful ride which took about an hour one way to traverse. This particular Saturday we left much later in the afternoon for our adventure.

I was not familiar with how the temperatures fall in the desert as the sun starts its descent in the sky so I had not dressed warmly enough for the dropping temps. We enjoyed riding fast and my friend had a radar detector so we took full advantage of speeding through traffic.

Being new to motorcycle riding, I only had a pair of sunglasses with Croakies, no goggles, and of course, no helmet. I was not a particularly proficient rider.

When we began our trip back to Phoenix, we decided to take the freeway since it was getting late. I would have usually avoided this because of the traffic. I was freezing on the ride back, and suddenly aware that I was not feeling my lower extremities as the temperature had suddenly dropped dramatically. My friend had taken the lead, but the headlights from approaching traffic caused a vision problem for me. I had on sunglasses and the glare from oncoming traffic was intense. My friend was going much faster than I would have liked, but in order to keep up with him weaving in and out of traffic I had to drive at a very fast pace.

I was praying that we would not have to stop once off the freeway since I wasn't sure my legs would support me in order to hold up the 700 lb motorcycle. Suddenly, I noticed a light above my head like a full moon and actually thought maybe there was a full moon. As my eyes were on the road, I could not look up but was aware of an amazing glow above my forehead. It remained there until we reached my driveway. When I was able to look up, I saw there was not a full moon and in fact, there was no moon at all!

This reconfirmed what I already knew: I was pretty sure when I became aware of the light above my head that I might be in trouble. I had seen that light once before when in a serious life-threatening situation.

Fortunately, we did not have a stop light on the drive home, so I never had to put my legs down for the entire 30 miles to home. When we did reach my drive way, my legs were able to support the weight of the bike and all was well.

My take away from this experience is that we do not always know what lies ahead for us. I could not have predicted finding myself driving a motorcycle (as a beginner) on an interstate highway speeding through traffic with blinding headlights, and having only sunglasses on my eyes which made my vision very poor, at best. I could not have predicted that the temperatures would become freezing to the extent that I could not feel my extremities. I certainly would not have predicted that the shining and glowing Light above my head would come instantly to my rescue and stay with me until I arrived home safely.

Nor could I have predicted that because of a previous spiritual experience I would intuitively realize that I was actually in very deep trouble.

But at the end of the ride, I did know that it was my Guru who came to my rescue, and he was there for me even though I did not know at the time how really serious was the situation.

I have to give thanks to my Guru for then, and all the times in life since, that my Guru has watched over me!

The Guru within and in holy personages is real and I encourage others to discover this for themselves. Your life will change for the better, forever.