This is for Barafundle (and of course anyone else who enjoys it!) The thread it originally was mentioned on has moved forward, so thought I'd bring it here. It would be great to hear of anyone else's similar experiences.
The precise details are a bit hazy. I was hoping that my friend who took Edward's funeral would have kept her notes, but anyway, here goes:
Edward was brought up in Burma. At the beginning of the war (WWII) his mother and sister were evacuated to India. Don't ask me where his father was! Edward was called up to fight the Japanese but became very ill with malaria, which kept repeating. After the war, he had lost touch with his mother and sister and was still very ill and weak, but decided to go to India to try to trace them.
He met a Sadhu. We think it was on a train. The Sadhu told him two things. First, that he was about to learn about something absolutely wonderful which would change his life and secondly that he was to go to a certain place at a certain time (I seem to recall it was two weeks later) where he would meet his mother and sister.
The predictions came true. Edward learnt about Christian Science, he was permanently cured of the malaria and it changed his whole life. Then he went to the town he was told to go to, to the exact spot, on the day, at the time and there were his mother and sister! Can you imagine the joyful reunion?
Isn't that wonderful?
Love and peace,
Judy
That is a great story, Judy. Over the years I've put together quite a collection of biographies of saints from all sorts of traditions and they never cease to amaze me.
As a teenager I had an interest in eastern philosophy, but I was particularly interested in Vedantic philosophy and all things Indian. Christianity as I understood it at that time didn't seem to have the answers I needed but I had the feeling that the answers were out there.
During college I was drawn to the philosophy of the Hare Krishna movement, I had a friend who was a follower of Rajneesh, and also at that time I looked into the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and had a go at TM, but it was when I was in my early twenties that I think I said the first really heartfelt prayer of my life, and I asked for guidance.
A short time later, after a series of strange events and 'chance' encounters I found myself sitting in front of a man called [url]Guru Sri Subramanium[/url]. I'd read of people who radiated Divine authority, but I'd never met one before.
On that first occasion I found myself sitting with a small group, and people were asking Guru questions. I felt much too self conscious to ask anything so just listened, and every answer he gave made me think 'Wow'. As I sat there the thought went through my head that finding a guru meant you were as good as enlightened, job done, and it seemed I'd found a real one and he'd sort me out!
I had that thought when Guru suddenly turned directly to me and said, with a big smile, "Don't think that you can just press a button and fly out of this window on angel's wings. There's work to be done."
That was about 22 years ago now and I couldn't begin to describe some of the amazing experiences I had with Guruji. I started to write them here, but they sound unbelievable, so I thought it best not to try.
One miracle for me though was that through contact with Guruji I came to truly appreciate the teachings of Jesus, and it was through Gurji's example, and the example of the monks that followed him, that I also developed a great respect and love for the example set by Saint Francis. For me, 22 years ago, God became a reality and the adventure began.
That was about 22 years ago now and I couldn't begin to describe some of the amazing experiences I had with Guruji. I started to write them here, but they sound unbelievable, so I thought it best not to try.
Thank you Barafundle, that was beautiful and so true about work needing to be done! 😉 Your Guruji has the most soul-filled, radiant face!
But please do share your experiences here. If you're not able to share spiritual experiences here, where can you? So what if there are skeptics - no-one can argue with your own personal experience. A deaf man can deny the ocean's roar and a blind man the rainbow, but what of it? One day they will know.
Love and peace,
Judy
But please do share your experiences here. If you're not able to share spiritual experiences here, where can you?
I'll give a bit of thought to what I can put down then. I got out of the habit a while ago of saying anything about Guruji to people who hadn't met him. In the early days of my experience with him I know I was a babbling enthusiast until I calmed myself down.
Dear Barafundle,
Just to echo Judy's wish to encourage you to try and relate your experiences with "Guriji" that are relatable in words at all. I have another friend in Oxford who loved him very much and goes to Skandavale every once in a while.
I do think that is beneficial for people to try to relate these kind of things; they happen all the time and so few do talk about them openly. Sometimes there is good reason for this of course and care should be taken not to open your heart to misunderstanding of others.
I don't know if you've ever come across Irena Tweedie's account of here experiences with here Guru in India, who was a Sufi. Her Guru instructed her to write a diary of here experiences for others to read. It's a very useful document.
I'll start the ball rolling here if you like. I have mentioned parts of this story before on HP:
I attended the Dala Lama's teaching in Glasgow six or seven years ago. For me this was a highly skilled delivery of Buddhist philosophy which brings insight combined with explanations about mediation practice and the development of positive qualities as the path. I was listening with full focus on each translated part of the argument often in a meditative state with my eyes closed, in full awareness. A day and a half into the teaching my breath stopped and I felt a sensation of light pressure in the middle of my forehead. The breathing stopped several more times during the teaching. After the teaching I spend a whole week in bed remaining in meditative concentration. There was intense heat down my left side and my breath would stop for what seemed like extended periods of time and there were the sensation of the forehead became more focussed and other sensations developed. My breath has never stopped since but the sensation on my forehead is still there and many more sensations that related to subtle body structures have developed in meditation since this time. These are the easier bits to describe. The things that really matter are coming closer and more familiar with an ever loving, knowing benevolence that is deeply embedded in reality, which is all, yet nowhere to be found.
I did meet the Dalai Lama briefly in another context some time later and didn't really feel anything at all apart from immense respect for a "human being" who is committed to his responsibilities and consistently practices what he preaches with grace, intelligence and humour. But this is a very great thing to be, is it not?
Norbu