Enlightenment as an Eraser. Notes from Sri Bhagavan's Oneness Temple.

One of the most intense things I’ve ever done is take an executive course at Sri Bhagavan’s university in southern India. I came here with the aim of getting close to enlightenment. In other words, I came here to paint the masterpiece of my soul.

I anticipated the campus offering thousands of shades of paint ranging from glorious to sparkling to emanating cosmic light or divine feeling. Indeed, when I arrived, the dasas, who are high-level monks, announced, “Here, you are going to paint the masterpiece of your soul.”

Then—instead of a paintbrush, they handed me an eraser. I looked around, confounded. Buckets and buckets of erasers surrounded me. That is the phenomenon called Oneness, the fastest growing spiritual movement in the world today reaching over 100 million devotees and seekers since its birth in 1989.