Diane Sagan   
Irvine, California

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My name is Diane Sagan. Several synchronistic events led me to Vedanta. In my sophomore year in college, I took a Comparative Religions course, which opened my mind to thought beyond the Catholicism to which I had previously been drawn. That summer, 1963, I was beginning what I thought was the free life of an artist, about to enter the San Francisco Art Institute.  I spent that summer on the beach in Santa Barbara, where I met the nuns from Sarada Convent.  I visited the convent, and we had long talks. Vedanta made so much sense to me and I began reading Vedanta for Modern Man. That Fall, as an art student, I met my future husband, and in the glove compartment of his car I found he also had a copy of Vedanta for Modern Man.  That seemed to be a sign, and by the end of that year, I visited Santa Barbara, had an appointment with Swami Prabhavananda, and was initiated in 1966. (My husband, before his death in 2016, was fortunate to receive initiation from Swami Sarvadevananda)

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As an artist I find Hinduism and its sacred ritual, deep philosophy, music, and freedom from dogma highly compelling.  I was privileged to be able to sculpt the Kali Murti for Kali Puja in Hollywood for three years, and that had a tremendous personal effect on me.

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Over the years, no matter where I lived, going through inevitable difficulties, I found that I always had the steadiness of a base of holy company to keep me on track. I was fortunate to have the grace of many swamis: Prabhavananda in Hollywood, Ashokananda and Prabhudhananda in San Francisco, and Swahananda, Sarvadevananda and Satyamayananda in Hollywood and Trabuco.