Messenger of Enlightenment

“You are the messenger of enlightenment”, the Master wrote on my proffered book on the 16th of December, 2007. What a profound message! The full import of it is yet to sink in!!

How did I ever reach this exalted status? I, an ordinary human being of some forty odd years, who has lived life with all human frailties and failings! What did I do to deserve this honor? These questions would have plagued me if someone had pre-warned me about those words. But on that beautiful December afternoon of Hyderabad, the words rang as true in my heart as though they were a foregone conclusion. By then they had become my TRUTH.

Synchronicity is a beautiful celestial phenomenon, and it was such a synchronicity that led me to the doors of Life Research Academy at Hyderabad, all the way from my abode amidst the Himalayan splendor of Shimla. I didn’t know what to expect. I was responding to an inner call, and looking forward to the journey into the unknown. Dr Newton was just a name to me. Of course I had seen his picture on LRA website, but that was that.

I was the first one to reach the venue for the Basic Workshop, and to pass time started browsing through the first edition of ‘Life Times’. The testimonies and stories given there made me excitedly look forward to my own ‘as yet unrevealed’ experiences. Soon other participants poured in and the events took over. Dr Newton came across as a person one could trust, his wife Dr Lakshmi seemed like a perfect match to him.

Two days of Basic Workshop flew by. I did have some experiences but nothing dramatic. I was ‘so-oh’ looking forward to the Therapist’s Program to get to the bottom of my dramas. Well, let me tell you that I was drawn to this entire program basically on my quest for personal spiritual growth. I did not have any issues to resolve as such. But as you know, one always wants to unearth some great stories from the past to be able to justify the whole exercise.

We, ‘Future Therapists’ were an enthusiastic bunch and bonded like a family. Dr. Newton inaugurated the workshop with a deliberate hug to each one of us, which sort of set the mood for the next six days. I have not hugged people so spontaneously in my entire life as I did in those six days. In fact each one of us was forever hugging someone or the other. Age and gender were no barriers.

From day one, people started having exotic experiences. Unbelievable, yet so real! I did not experience any past life on that day, but well it was just the beginning. Day two dawned, this time I reached LBL (life between lives) stage and saw an ‘all knowing’ eye. This eye was peaceful, benevolent, and seemed to be every where. If I tried to enter the eye it would disappear, only to reappear a moment later. I felt calm in its presence. By the end of the third day, people had visited many, many lifetimes and drawn parallels with their current lives. I, on the other hand, had to be content with my ‘eye’. I was beginning to have doubts now. I requested Sridevi to let Dr. Newton or Dr. Lakshmi regress me. But no such luck for me. The only progress that I had made was that I felt one with the Earth, I felt its movements (I was moving with it), both on its axis, and around the Sun. I also received messages like, ‘Where do you want to go? There is nowhere to go to. This is all that there is.’ But all this did not satisfy me. I was restless.

On day four, we were to explore our ‘cellular memories’ and draw a picture. My picture had beautiful pink, golden, and violet colors; my (by now famous) eye, and these words (which had flashed in my mind), ‘Trust you are safe. Trust you are free. Trust you are God.’ During my regression, I was honored by Dr. Newton’s physical presence. He was guiding my therapist. I, on my part stubbornly refused to move beyond my ‘eye’ and my ‘oneness’ with Planet Earth. After the session, I thought in desperation, “People are having such great experiences while I am with my eye.” The moment this thought flashed in my mind it was followed by another one “The EYE is a metaphor for the ‘I AM’ presence.” I was stunned. It was like a revelation. From that moment on, my inner state was altered. When the time came for me to share my experience, my tears just wouldn’t stop. How could I be so blind? I was having the most incredible experience of my lifetime but I did not have the eyes to see it. I was receiving the most profound messages but I did not have the ears to hear them. I had a major TRUST issue.

Day five was finally my day. Dr. Newton had chosen Susheel for the ‘Re-birthing’ exercise. He had some incredible experiences and during the sharing of those experiences read out a prayer that he had written to Dr. Newton the night before. It had something to do with trust, and surrender. Suddenly something came over me; I walked up to Dr. Newton and said, “I have read that when a student is ready the Master appears. I guess I am ready now.” Saying this I bent down and touched his feet. For a fleeting moment even the Master was taken aback. I do not know if my spontaneous surrender made him choose me as the next subject, or I was already on his radar, but I was the next one on the centre-stage, and that was my hour of glory.

I was a puppet in the Master’s hand, following his every instruction, breathing fast in a continuum, and reaching the heights of my experience. I cried like I have never cried before, with my whole being. I laughed like I have never laughed before, with my whole being. I experienced the dazzle of a thousand suns, I moved with Mother Earth, and I reached the Source. The message was loud and clear, “I AM all THAT IS.” The love that I felt deep within me for my fellow beings was over-whelming, but the LOVE and Respect that I felt for my Master, my Spiritual Mother was beyond compare. I fell on his feet and sobbed the tears of love and joy. It felt as though the floodgates of love had opened inside me. When the Master proclaimed that it was the ‘flowering of a soul’, for the first time I BELIEVED.

Almost three months have elapsed since that day. Now the true meaning of the word enlightenment has dawned on me. “Enlightenment is the direct result of freedom from the illusion of a separate self.” I do not need to be in a trance now to feel the oneness with Mother Earth and all life forms on it. It is my SOUL TRUTH now. I live it in each moment. So far that has been my Dharma. My endeavor now is to fill myself with so much LOVE that it overflows effortlessly towards everyone. I KNOW now that I am on the right path, and am being guided to take the right step at the right time. Life has always been a song and a dance for me, today I wish to invite every passer by to sing and dance along with me.

My Master and his beautiful love-filled team are my STARS. They say that the stars are the most trustworthy navigators; with my ‘stars’ firmly in their place, I can cruise through this journey of my present life incarnation with great confidence and élan. My gratefulness pours forth along with my unconditional love. I bow in reverence, and in LOVE.