The teaching “The etchings of time” reminds me of recurring facial expressions such as smile and frown lines etched on one’s face. I am also reminded of how water flowing in streams and rivers over time etches canyons in the earth. And for me, the repetition of the mantra over time has etched in my consciousness the awareness that I am the Self; I am the Witness.
Hawaii, United States
When I first read today’s teaching, I immediately thought of the lines on my face as “etchings of time.” As I continued to contemplate this, I felt a deep appreciation for my body, for all that it has encountered and all that it has given me over the years. I sent love and compassion to my body from the space of my heart. With this, I could sense my body quietly lighting up and sweet love and contentment rising from within me.
I am thankful for this teaching, which has helped me to more deeply love and respect my body—a holy temple of the Self.
Massachusetts, United States
The teaching “The etchings of time” reminds me of recurring facial expressions such as smile and frown lines etched on one’s face. I am also reminded of how water flowing in streams and rivers over time etches canyons in the earth. And for me, the repetition of the mantra over time has etched in my consciousness the awareness that I am the Self; I am the Witness.
Hawaii, United States
When I first read today’s teaching, I immediately thought of the lines on my face as “etchings of time.” As I continued to contemplate this, I felt a deep appreciation for my body, for all that it has encountered and all that it has given me over the years. I sent love and compassion to my body from the space of my heart. With this, I could sense my body quietly lighting up and sweet love and contentment rising from within me.
I am thankful for this teaching, which has helped me to more deeply love and respect my body—a holy temple of the Self.
Massachusetts, United States
If I consider an etching as a piece of art, then I can see that the inner workings of the Guru’s grace over thirty-seven years have been “etchings of time,” revealing God’s essence to me in so many ways.
My beloved Guru is the artist revealing to me who this “me” really is through her “etching”—engraving new understandings, revealing new inner landscapes, polishing a new inner radiance, and little by little establishing that “me” in the awareness of the Self, where all that remains is the sweet vibration of love, God’s presence, and the feeling of deep gratitude.
Plougonvelin, France
Reflecting on Gurumayi’s teaching, “The etchings of time,” I immediately thought of my Siddha Yoga sadhana. I have been following this spiritual path for about thirty-six years and there is not a single year that has not left “the etchings of time” in my life, thanks to meditation, chanting, and contemplation of the teachings.
Even when I went through dark and difficult periods, when I think back, I realize that Gurumayi has always been there to remind me that I am not alone, and that no self-effort is in vain. The Siddha Yoga teachings and practices guide me and bring me back to my true nature, leaving indelible “etchings of time.”
San Giorgio a Cremano, Italy
We often speak of a remarkable experience as being “etched in memory” to express its indelible quality. But I recently realized that “the etchings of time” can disappear temporarily—only to re-emerge later.
A friend was fondly recalling the stark beauty surrounding the desert kibbutz where she’d once lived. I immediately thought, “How can a desert be so beautiful?” Then suddenly, I remembered that I myself had experienced the beauty of two Middle Eastern deserts! At nineteen, on an archaeological excavation on a hilltop in the Judaean Desert, I had weeks of spectacular views of the desert grandeur all around us. Some years later, I had the chance to visit the Sinai Desert, where again I loved the unique beauty of its landscape.
Having totally forgotten these experiences from over fifty years ago, I was moved to discover that these “etchings in time” had been there all along, just waiting for me to blow away the sands of time and recover their magnificence.
Illinois, United States
“The Etchings of Time”
My body is etched by time:
wrinkles, wounds, scars,
marks from over seventy years of living.
Except for moments of sassy pride
in my twenties, I have been mostly critical of it.
Today in the mirror, I fall in love.
My body is beautiful, radiant,
possessed of an astonishing ability to heal.
It persists. It has taken me to holy places,
through desert spaces whose testimonies
wind their way around me:
railroad tracks down my spine, a smile across the belly,
gnarled tendrils around an ankle, across an arm.
They tell a story:
mysteries nestled in the temple of my heart—
how joys, sorrows, pain, and healing come to beauty.
Discovery and lessons learned,
my body holds these memories for me,
a ready wisdom that inspires me
moment by moment now
to trust in, to be moved by this love.
California, United States
This teaching is very profound for me. I see that “the etchings of time” can be understood as related to the heart (whether as sweet nostalgia or a bitter scar from the past) or they can be related to the mind (as in learning from history). This teaching encourages me to examine the etchings or the footprints of time mindfully, so that I can best decide which etchings I would like to retain and revisit in the future—and why—and which I should erase, by getting rid of past baggage. This would make my life more beautiful.
Ghaziabad, India
Etchings incised, engraved by my habits, tendencies, behaviors good and bad. Recorded in time. A record of my karmas. And getting fainter as sadhana polishes, wears them away—until, one day, completely clear.
New Mexico, United States
The teaching “The etchings of time” immediately brought to mind the Colorado River water that took five to six million years to carve out the Grand Canyon in the state of Arizona, or the Northern California wildfires in September 2024 that took only a few days to reduce forest, scrub brush and houses to ash in a sweep of over 150,000 acres. It also reminded me of “the etchings of time” revealed in anthropological discoveries, and in the writing of ancient texts of, say, Hinduism, Kashmir Shaivism, or Buddhism, which continue to move with time into the future as guides for seekers.
It seems that throughout history time has been leaving its etchings—and not always delicate ones—reminding us of its passage, even on our own faces and graying hair.
California, United States