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Luis Pizarro

I was born in Mérida (Spain), an ancient city founded by the Roman Empire in 25 BC, in the time of Caesar Augustus. Mérida is located in the south west of Spain. The city became the capital of Lusitania province, and one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire. Mérida preserves more important ancient Roman monuments than any other city in Spain. Currently I am based in Seville (Spain), a very beautiful southern city full of History. 

I received my Ph.D. degree in Mathematics from the University of Seville, where I am a Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics. Currently, I am teaching Numerical Analysis, making use of MATLAB, a high-level technical computing language.

Spiritual search has been one of my most important characteristics throughout my life. The core of my spiritual life lies on the center of an equilateral triangle whose vertices are Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism. When, years ago, I read in a book written by the Jesuit priest and Zen master Arul M. Arokiasamy that the author feels Christian, Hindu and Buddhist, I evoked something very familiar, because I have felt the same way throughout most of my existence.

 

Regarding Christian tradition, Saint Ignatius of Loyola reveals to us very valuable keys for a right discernment of God’s will; contemplative masters, such as Trappist monks Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating, teach us silent and immersive ways of prayer; and the mystical tradition of prayer in Eastern Christianity known as Hesychasm shows us the Jesus Prayer as a way to pray without ceasing. Thich Nhat Hanh, who belongs to the Buddhist lineage, teaches us how to meditate to establish connection with reality. And Paramahansa Yogananda, who came from a background rooted in Hinduism, though actually is a universal Master, reveals to us the unfathomable Absoluteness and Infinitude of God.

After decades of searching, my steps led me to finally meet the aforementioned spiritual masters and teachings. The jewel of Yogananda’s teachings, Kriya Yoga, together with Christian contemplative prayer, as taught by Thomas Keating through Centering Prayer, and the Jesus Prayer, constitute the three main pillars of my sadhana or spiritual path. These three fundamental pillars complement each other and, in fact, are parallel paths that lead to a single objective. This common goal is communion with God.

One of my logos contains the word Gurudevananda. This word is the contraction of two Sanskrit terms, gurudeva and ananda. Gurudeva is in turn the union of two words, guru (master) and deva (divine). Gurudeva therefore means divine master, and it is the way in which a disciple addresses or refers to his own guru-preceptor. An adept may have many gurus or masters, but his guru-preceptor is unique. Ananda means happiness or joy.

Therefore Gurudevananda expresses the idea that happiness can be achieved through our own master or guru-preceptor. My logo is a tribute in honor of my Gurudeva, Paramahansa Yogananda, because I am convinced that by faithfully following his teachings one can achieve a high state of bliss.

 

I believe that religion born in India, known as Hinduism, or more properly as Sanatana Dharma (the Eternal Way), expresses and articulates in an extraordinary manner the relationship between man and the Supreme Being. Using software versioning as an analogy, one could say that whereas the concept of God in most of religions is 1.0, in Hinduism it is 2.0 (maybe even 3.0 or higher). I am convinced that the idea of God in the Christian contemplative tradition closely resembles the highest concept of God in Hinduism. I think both traditions would agree to think of God as an Infinite Ocean of Joy (or Light, or Bliss, or Love). In the end, all religions are but different paths leading to the same goal.

I conceive photography as a form of contemplative prayer, as stated in Project page.

My website contains only black & white pictures. Currently, Adobe Lightroom Classic is my favorite raw converter. It renders impressive and natural color images. For creating black and white photographies, I use Nik Software’s conversion plug-in Silver Efex Pro, that delivers outstanding conversions to black and white.

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