Memorial event on February 17

Dear friends, just a quick update to let you know that Mira and I are doing well. Radhika's brother Mukund, his wife Sangeeta and their daughter Dipali were here to support us until last night, and Mira had a great time playing with one of the many iPad's that were all of a sudden in our house. She was a bit unhappy about going to school this morning, but had a good day there in the end. Radhu and Venki are staying here until tomorrow morning, and after that Mira and I will make our first attempts at our new normal. With so many people offering their support I am sure we will be OK in the long run, and in the mean time we will keep ourselves busy.

Several people have asked about memorial services. Yesterday we paid our respects at the Shiva Vishnu temple in San Diego, and Mukund, Venki and I also went to the funeral home in Vista where Mukund read the following verses from the Bhagavad Gita at her casket:

The soul never takes birth and never dies at any time, nor does it come into being again when the body is created. The soul is birth-less, eternal, imperishable and timeless and is never destroyed when the body is destroyed.

Just as a man giving up old worn out garments accepts other new apparel, in the same way the embodied soul giving up old and worn out bodies verily accepts new bodies.

Having gained the realization of the Ultimate Truth, one is never again deluded and even at the moment of death, being situated in this state, liberation from the material existence and attainment of the Ultimate Consciousness is assured.

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 Radhika will be cremated, and I will spread her ashes off the coast of Encinitas or La Jolla. There will be no further religious services, since Radhika's father has performed all the necessary rites in India. However, to celebrate the life she just concluded and to wish her well in her next life we will have a secular memorial event at Cal State San Marcos on Friday, February 17 at around 4 PM. More information will be forthcoming about this event, but I just wanted to put it out there as soon as possible, so that people who plan to come from out of town have plenty of time to make travel arrangements. I hope that we will be able to help out with local transportation and accommodations, so that for now you may just want to look into plane tickets. There will also be a webcast of the event for those of you who can't be present, but want to witness it anyway.