In this particular blog, I want to put such an emphasis on the word Family and what it represents on many different levels for different people.

Family is initially associated with a group of persons related by descent or marriage, but for many people, family is more than that.

Defining one family for descendants feels very reductionistic, as if through our life we were determined to be associated only with those that had been imposed by blood connections. And although this statement holds a level of truth, it feels too short of the purpose.

In a holistic view of the world, as it is, we need to consider not only the material reality of this body but also the biological family associated with this body, in my case, the family associated with my name and surname and all their lineage. Within the idea of this materialistic body, I can also associate with others that, although not blood-related, I developed such a strong attachment or bond that are considered in my belief systems as part of my family, and they will hold the same status of privilege and physical and emotional entanglements. Examples of this might be friends that you hold dear because of the support, teachings, and love that connects you. On occasion, we feel that those ties are stronger than the blood ones because they were chosen consciously rather than imposed via heritage.

If you consider yourself a spiritual person, you might also have a spiritual family, people who share the same belief system and connect with your heart on a different level. In the Hindu tradition, the word sangha is used to define those connections. Sangha is defined as an association, “assembly,” “company,” or “community.” It can also be defined as your spiritual tribe—people with whom you share your devotion and love for the divine.

But still, we have not considered the reality of the soul family. If we propose the idea that our soul travels from body to body in the process of reincarnation, we assume that the soul will also have created connections throughout those lives. Some of those connections might be entangled with the soul purpose and mission, which creates a repetition on the matrix of connections with other souls that are like a cluster by which you learn from each other and help to complete your soul purposes in each one of the materialistic reincarnations. In the Hindu tradition (like in many other ancient wisdoms), this idea is taken very seriously, as it holds a level of responsibility in relation to the person's soul desires and karma, and it gives a wider framework to define the word “family”. With the assumption of this idea, suddenly, the family comprehends the network of other fellow humans in this world. As if in this play, that is life, all of us have the potential to be connected on the soul level, making us all part of a very big family, which is humanity.

Words like people are a continuous source of unfoldment and development.

Hari om tat sat.