In the ancient scriptures of India, it is taught that God, the Supreme, has five functions; the powers of creation, maintenance, dissolution, concealment, and the bestowal of Grace. It is this fifth power that is of the utmost importance at this time in the evolution of Consciousness, because without the inner flame being rekindled by the fire of God, the individual Soul would not be able to trace its steps back through lifetimes of karmic impressions and have even half a prayer of attaining a true state of enlightenment.
I have a spiritual Master. In Sanskrit, the word is Guru, which translates to “the power within that leads us from the darkness of ignorance to the light of Truth.”
I met my Guru in Tokyo in 1985 through a series of synchronistic events that culminated in my participating in a meditation intensive during which we were formally initiated through an utterly mysterious process called Shaktipat (lit: “the descent of Grace”) into the deepest levels of consciousness a human being is capable of experiencing and which heralded the first day of the rest of my life.
Prior to this date with divine destiny, to say that I had lived a nonconformist life would not have been an overstatement. But after receiving Shaktipat, the degree of unconditional surrender demanded of me in order to be able to surf rather than be tossed about by the tsunami of my life and higher purpose was unparalleled. No arena of worldly life was left unexamined or untouched by the ruthlessly alchemizing fires of purification, extending even to the most natural of biological events – childbirth. I had two children, each conceived within three weeks of my Guru’s two visits to Tokyo while I was living in Japan. Did my husband and I engage in the necessary baby-making activities? Absolutely. Was there more going on than met the eye as far as the timing and carrying to term of these pregnancies? Unquestionably. And each test, each challenge, and every subsequent breakthrough, has led me one step closer to my goal in this lifetime; fully embodied Self Realization and full empowerment to lead others to it.
“I will to will Thy Will” is the ultimate healer’s prayer and these few words actually sum up quite succinctly the essence of the spiritual journey; pointing both to the goal of all practice and to the means by which that goal is attained. Not until all traces of individuality have been obliterated and the wave of our egoic limited self-identity fully merged into the infinite Ocean of Consciousness, are we truly free to be open and clear vessels whose every word, thought and action channels healing and transformation. My own journey is still a work in progress. But my commitment, conviction, and devotion, are steadfast and intact. And I can truthfully say, to quote the last lines of a poem I penned in 1993, that:
“At the feet of my Guru
I That I Am
And at the feet of my Guru
that is enough.”
