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The beginning of Fall (autumn) always brings on a reflective mood as the change in season and colors may make us look back at the summer gone by and look forward to the winter coming ahead. Of course, for those of you reading this in the Southern hemisphere, spring is in the air and you may be reflecting ahead to summer. Regardless of the season(s) that we may be looking back on or forward to, and what they give to our lives, they seem to transition in and out of our lives with rapid frequency, don’t they?

However, there are perhaps some things which have a long-term impact, which are more long lasting and less transitory in nature. We can view these things as our inheritance – what we have received from our parents, which they received from theirs, and so on. Of course, our genetic imprint comes from our parents and influences a lot of our physical makeup and more. We may also inherit aspects of our parents’ (or those who raised us) culture – their tastes in food, clothing, music and more. The list goes on.

The stream of time sweeps away errors, and leaves the truth for the inheritance of humanity. ~
Georg Brandes

If we are affected mentally and physically by our parents (and ancestors), could our spirits be unaffected by their influence? Of course not. In a lot of instances, we are deeply affected by the spiritual (and mostly religious) practices and beliefs of our parents (or parental figures and influencers). Some of us carry these influences for most of our lives, and may even pass them on to our friends, family and communities.

So, I invite you this week to reflect on our spiritual inheritance – also known as samskaara in Sanskrit – which literally means “mental or spiritual imprint”. What aspect(s) of your inheritance do you still carry with you? What aspects of it have you let go of? Did your inheritance give you a good foundation for your spiritual growth? Or do you think that the beliefs that were given to you held you back in some way?

Join the #SpiritChat community on Sunday October 7th at 9am ET / 2pm UK / 6:30 India as we explore some of these questions. Bring your thoughts on inheritance as we kick off October with a look to the past, so we may live better in the present.

Kumud

P.S. You are welcome to share your thoughts on inheritance in the comments. Thank you!

Update: Here is the html Transcript for the chat. Here is the pdf version for download. Also see the questions asked during the live chat held Oct 7th 2012 at 9am ET. Feel free to answer in the comments or tweet with hashtag #spiritchat to share your answers with the community.

Q1. "Spiritual inheritance". What does that phrase mean to you? #SpiritChat

Q2. What are some cherished things you have inherited ~ spiritual or material...? #SpiritChat 

Q3. Are there aspects of your inheritance have you had to let go of? Can you share some of them? #SpiritChat 

Q4. Which spiritual beliefs and/or practices inherited by you empower you?  #SpiritChat

Q5. How does a desire to preserve parts of our spiritual inheritance impact our growth? Or does it? #SpiritChat

Q6. What actions can we take to dynamically add to what we have inherited? #SpiritChat 

Q7. Honor our inheritance or change to grow. Do we need to choose? How? #SpiritChat 

Q8. Three things from your spiritual inheritance that you would pass on are...? #SpiritChat