Spanish on one side; Hebrew on the other. Rishikesh a city once with just a few Ashrams, barely any foreign nor Indian traffic. Just a quiet place to go deep into God and quietly breathe in the vibrations of Mother Ganga. Now two bhavs (personalities); the God seeker and the sensory thrill seeker. You can hear the chants of the ashrams on megaphone at the same time as the drums of the Bob Marley fans. You can do a puja ceremony in the river to purify your soul or you can white water raft down the river to activate your senses. You can sit by the river and meditate or you can take the challenge of bungee jumping. You can guru hop or shop hop. Somehow the new energy feels to me in one way like it helps move the energy along; bringing Dwapara Yuga into your spiritual perception. There are the traditional Indian teachers or the modern Neo-Advaita (non-duality) teachers. My hope is that one does not detract from another. That the screaming of the white water rafters can be minimized. Or the rafting camps do not take over all the beaches like they have at Vasishta Guha; now a sacred cave for meditating and ashram others declared to be next to drunk volleyball players during white water rafting season.
We spent our days in Rishikesh going from one guru-like teacher to another, walking through the streets, eating at the many restaurants all with wifi, and finding a different place to meditate each morning. At the beginning people were talking about all the gurus I should visit. When Seema, my female hotel owner also suggested we check out some gurus, I responded to the sense of urgency some people feel to check out everything, "Sometimes I do not know about visiting so many other gurus. I have my guru." Seema, wise once again, responded, "We have many gurus. I am your guru. You are my guru. We all teach each other something." We can be clear about who our main guide is but appreciate the company of others.
If you sit back and watch, this city is filled with each others' gurus as so many people coming here are seekers. There were others in restaurants besides the guy with the diseased feet who could have been their companion's guru; spending the whole time sharing some sort of principles or teachings with their companion. Watching some of the gurus talk to larger audiences I really felt like they were all a team of agents sent by God to knock us on top of the head and wake us up. To help us see our potential in each moment to feel free, fully connected with God, and in unbounded love. The water bottles that kept falling at my feet today after being concerned about being out of bottled water last night are also my guru. "All will be provided by Divine Mother," as Shantidev explained.
ShantiMayi was very much herself and down to earth. She seemed to want to make sure she knew all of her disciples names and connected with them all. It felt a bit like we were sitting in a living room together. When she smiled I could see Hanuman in her face. She was very firm and direct. She would cut through people's energy and words to get to the point that is trying to be made. But she also wanted to hold everyone's hand until they are free. She broke down barriers of rules and what we really need to know (nothing), and opened the potential to be free in this moment.
One of the most unique insights she shared was if you give something up in a ceremony it belongs to the ceremony. You cannot take it back and give it away again. You gave it to the ceremony and it is not yours anymore. Here I was over and over again for years asking for the same thing in every purification ceremony. If we have truly offered it up in ceremony then it is surrendered to God's hands. She also made the analogy of it being like giving a kid a lollipop and then taking it back. What a relief it can be to let go and trust.
Another surrender she gave us was acceptance of all conditions. Accept that you do not accept something. If we can accept our current state of being then we do not battle the present. We can be clear of what we offer to God and put the timing of changing life in his hands. When I started to have health challenges ones of the best things I did to make my situation easier was to accept it. Then I could simply ask the question how can I best work with this? I could act in a way that seemed most supportive of my health without being taken out of the present by a desire for things to be different. And from there I did not need to be as self focused and could serve more.
The next morning we went to visit Mooji, from Jamaica. It felt like a pilgrimage with hundreds of people all heading in the same direction to the huge hall where Mooji would be speaking. We were met by a procession of westerners pranaming us. I have found India has become a place for Western Gurus to come and meet other Westerners. Maybe the birth place and color of skin changes, but the land of spiritual meeting stays the same.
Next we were met by hand held signs reminding us to be in silence and directing us to where there was still seating available. An announcer came on the mic spending a few minutes letting us know the ground rules of being an audience member. By this point I was getting worried what kind of person Mooji is by opening with all these rules and orderliness instead of love through chanting.
But this man came on the stage and you could immediately see the glow of joy on his face and deep inner peace within his body. He was both powerful and loving at the same time. Like ShantiMayi he could really cut through people's energy and transform them within a couple minutes. He made sure to keep people at the mic until they dove in deep enough to resolve their question. There also was an interesting phenomena of the men asking analytical questions where Mooji was trying to take them out of the mind and the women just approaching the mic to express their love and gratitude towards Mooji.
He shared that at some point we will stop learning and start experiencing. We would receive the darshan of our own real seeing. He advised people to observe more and identify less; watch without judgement.
The experience moved slowly because I believe he was taking the time to allow people's consciousness to shift. After a while it was boring to watch and listen. Instead I got trapped in closing my eyes, gazing slightly upwards, and being taken to another dimension. I believe there is always a higher element at work then what we can notice through our five senses.
It is that higher element that I may have more profoundly felt in Rani Ma's presence as every cell of my body tingled and I could feel a force of energy drawn up my spine to the point between the eyebrows. Rani Ma says she is the daughter of Lahiri Mahasaya and disciple of Babaji. Those connections may have transpired in an astral or cosmic plane, not actually in physical form. She is an old lady wrapped in shawls sitting on the ground outside her doorstep with five people around soaking up her vibes.
She spoke of kriya yoga and how we need the mind working for us in order to perform this meditation technique, yet the heart's desires can distract the mind. She affirmed Ananda's Kriya Yoga path is a great path for us. She believes a great avatar like Jesus or Krishna will come uniting the world under one religion.
She seemed to know her past and future. She seemed to not need to be in this world but was just a child playing along with some game. She even mentioned the yogi needs kriya to play with just as a child needs a toy.
Part of what happens when we hold onto something we have given up is that we can develop even more karma around the subject in the process. If in conflict with another, we can pray, ask for God's guidance, and then do our best in the situation. Continuing to be concerned over the situation does not actually deliver any new resolutions.
She also made another point about acceptance. It is only through accepting duality, both the negative and positive, that we can transcend it.
Finally we paid a visit to another old Ananda friend, Swami Gyanananda. He is a very jolly old man who leads the most energetc chanting in every visit. He entertains you with funny puns of the mind that remind you not to take life so seriously.
When he moved to India he decided he did not need a watch anymore. Instead he would keep watch. "Do you know what the origin of prasad (sweets gifted as a spiritual offering) is?" One of our biggest challenges in meditation is focusing the mind. When prasad is put on the altar we have a very strong one pointed focus of the mind. "You should not be too serious or you will get seriously ill. But when you take a photo make sure you seriously smile." One of my favorites from my previous visit, "If you cannot understand, then stand under."
About eight years ago he had a spiritual experience which left him in a permanent state of calmness. With this new self-realization he wanted to find a Master who he felt was self-realized and could guide him on how to live in this world. Roy Eugene Davis turned out to be that man. He said he did not talk much with Roy Eugene Davis but rather communicated through vibration. They both used to be the only two people up at 2am at Roy's center in Atlanta, either meditating or working. He always felt a lovely connection with Roy during that time even though they did not exchange the spoken word.
He really believes if you want to become self-realized you have to keep your energy very focused on that at all times. He lived most of his life alone keeping his conversations focused around what can uplift someone and what is really helpful on the path. It is only in the last two years that he discovered Facebook when his life shifted towards teaching. He showed us how he could move the energy in his body by the hairs on his arm standing up and then all heat rising to his head as we could see small sweat beads formulating on the bald part of his head. He took that sweat and rubbed it all over his face saying it is really good for one to spread it all over the body. And he has big wide open eyes that make him look different than any other person.
Through all these meetings there was one personal note that rang for me. As I mentioned earlier I did not care to dive into all these other gurus with having my own. As much as I appreciated all of these experiences, I always missed Swami Kriyananda. I missed being in his physical presence and having his main transmission of vibration that I felt being through sweet love. While not in the body or in the same physical place it is always the student or disciple's responsibility to tune into their guide's energy. Just as Rani Ma did not have her meetings on the physical plane, I believe we all have the potential to stay connected with our personal guru anytime and anywhere. We all have someone. I believe when we are ready, if we ask, they will come. And as Seema said, everything in life can act as our guru.
