After a few days in Bangalore, spent shopping for items that we'd need at the ashram, we were ready to head north to Penukonda. It's a three hour taxi ride and quite an experience. Driving in India is hair-raising...or I should say "riding in India" because I would never attempt to drive in India. The sheer amount of traffic, consisting of cars, buses, lorries, motorbikes and motor-rickshaws is amazing and everyone seems to be honking their horns constantly to keep from colliding. What's more amazing is how few accidents there are. It reminds me of how, when you're scuba diving, you see thousands of fish swimming in schools and navigating around obstacles in perfect harmony, without ever colliding with each other. It makes one marvel at the organizing power of intelligence that underlies all existence.
Once we got outside the Bangalore City limits, we were in rural India, traveling along a two-lane road lined with farms that passed though small villages full of cows, goats and occasionally camels. In the countryside, the driving experience becomes even scarier due to the Indian driver's habit of passing other vehicles and driving full speed ahead toward another vehicle that is also passing and approaching in the opposite direction. This game of "chicken" occurs hundreds, or thousands, of times during a three hour drive. At first, the near misses cause white knuckles but eventually you say a prayer, close your eyes and surrender to the inevitable. If I die today, at least I'll die meditating.
As we drove north toward the ashram, I pondered what had brought us to this point in our lives. I wouldn't exactly call it anxiety but there was definately a sense of curiosity mingled with anticipation regarding going to a place where we had never been (at least not in this life) and where we knew we'd be involved in an intensive spiritual program for the next year.
I asked myself what had made us choose to go on this great spiritual adventure.
I came up with two answers.
The first was that a few months after meeting Sri Sai Kaleshwar in San Francisco, in November of 2005, we met two of his close students, Alx and Jonathan Rosen. Alx and Jonathan had recently returned to the States, after spending nearly seven years living at Kaleshwar's ashram in India. They were now very actively teaching classes and workshops in the Santa Cruz area, in which they were teaching what they had learned from Kaleshwar during their years in India.
When a friend in LA first told us that a teacher from India called Sri Sai Kaleshwar was coming to San Francisco, I thought," No thanks. I have enough gurus." But then one night at Open Secret Bookstore in San Rafael, we discovered a book of Kaleshwar's called "The Divine Mystery Fort - Vol.1" which impressed us as being the most profound and practical spiritual wisdom that we had even read in a book. We decided to attend the evening with Kaleshwar at the Unitarian Church in San Francisco and then Gonga met Kaleshwar another time about a week later in a beautiful setting in Laytonville, California. At that event, Gonga learned from Kaleshwar a spiritual process, involving the use of a mantra, and over the next few months both of us practiced it daily with increasing results. All of this was fine and good but we've had many teachers, have read many inspiring books and have learned many wonderful practices during our years on the spiritual path. It all changed when we met Alx and Jonathan Rosen.
They say that the proof is in the pudding or, as Christ said, "By their fruits they shall be known." Well, by Sri Kaleshwar's students, he will be known. Kaleshwar himself says that his mission is to turn his students into masters who have miraculous healing ability and who can then go out into the world to assist humanity. When we met Alx and Jonathan Rosen, it was evident that they were shining examples of the power and effectiveness of Kaleshwar's teachings. Kaleshwar criticizes what he calls the "slavism" so prevalent with many spiritual teachers, who keep the higher techniques secret and keep their students locked into a dependent and subservient relationship. He wants his students to realize their full soul capacity and then to fulfill their unique spiritual mission in the world.
Tara and I have been very active in several spiritual organizations, and observed many more, during five decades of our involvement with eastern spirituality being introduced to the West. Much has been achieved through the efforts of many dedicated teachers and the devotion of many inspired students. Much growth has occurred on many levels but one of the most disappointing aspects of this phenomenon has been the dearth of individuals who have attained the high spiritual states of enlightenment that inspired them to begin their spiritual quest. I remember how inspired I was in my youth to read about Cosmic Consciousness, or to read Paramahansa Yogananda's accounts of saints in his spiritual classic "Autobiography of a Yogi," or to read Swami Muktananda's vivid descriptions of his spiritual experiences in his wonderful autobiography, "The Play of Consciousness." These were the words that inspired us to learn to meditate, to practice yoga, to go on retreats, to sit at the feet of masters and eventually to dedicate our lives to attaining enlightenment and serving humanity but, after 40 plus years, where were the enlightened students of these masters? It was enough to get discouraged and we'd seen many of our closest friends become discouraged after years of sincere seeking and great dedication to their spiritual path. When we met Alx and Jonathan Rosen, they rekindled our hope. Here were two westerners who were highly advanced spiritually, who were effective communicators of the spiritual wisdom that they had gained and who could operate from that soul wisdom to assist beings who were in need of healing. This was truly inspiring. It made us realize that whatever had produced this degree of spiritual growth in them was what our soul's yearned for. When Alx and Jonathan told us that Sri Kaleshwar would be offering in one year at the University what he taught them over six to eight years, we knew we had to go. We feel that this year will be our spiritual finishing school, fully preparing to go out into the world and be effective spiritual teachers who can assist humanity in the troubled time.
Now, in the beginning, I said that when I asked myself during our drive to Penukonda what had brought us on this adventure, I came up with two answers. The first was meeting Alx and Jonathan, who proved to us, through their very being, that Sri Kaleshwar's teaching bore beautiful fruit. The second answer to my question was a bit different.
Shortly after meeting Sri Kaleshwar, a dear friend of ours suddenly became very ill and nearly died. After returning from India, he contracted a Type A Strep blood infection that brought him close to death and required intravenous antibiotics for five weeks in a hospital and then more weeks in rehabilitation. During this time, Tara and I were deeply concerned about our friend and worried that he might die. When we visited him the first time in the hospital, he had just been moved from the Intensive Care Unit and looked horrible. The blood infection had caused swelling of his joints and he was unable to walk. The doctors didn't know if the damage was permanent or if there may have been heart damage. Our friend was one of the kindest, sincere, and dedicated spiritual seekers that we knew. Tara and I wished that we had the power to heal our friend. My soul knew that it was surely possible to heal someone like this. Witnessing our friend's suffering first hand made me accutely aware of all the people suffering throughout the world and I longed deeply to be able to relieve their suffering.
When Tara and I read the information in Sri Kaleshwar's book, "The Divine Mystery Fort," we knew that he was offering a practical education in how to realize one's soul's full capacity and how develop the ability to miraculously heal others. Firstly, he demonstrates this ability himself. We already knew people who had received miraculous healings from Kaleshwar. Some had terminal cancer that disappeared totally after Kaleshwar's healings. Some had been injured in accidents and were faced with losing limbs or being permanently paralyzed. After Kaleshwar's healings, they fully recovered. But, secondly, we knew people who had received these same kinds of miraculous healings from Alx and Jonathan, and from other of Kaleshwar's advanced students. Although I had taught meditation since 1973 and both Tara and I had been urged to teach by several teachers, we felt that we needed to attain a higher degree of realization in order to be really effective in helping people. Sri KIaleshwar was offering the training in Advanced Spirituality that we needed.
So, actually the answer to the question of what brought us here is that it was our soul's yearning. It was the yearning for more wisdom and for greater ability to act from that wisdom to assist others. Here we were, racing through the south Indian countryside with white knuckles and closed eyes, as lorries bore down upon us, thanking our lucky stars that our soul's deepest yearnings for greater wisdom had been fulfilled and that soon we would arrive at the ashram of a renowned living miracle master of India.
While we are in India, we highly recommend to anyone who has an interest in learning more about Sri Kaleshwar's teachings to look at Alx and Jonathan Rosen's website www.karmatalk.com and to attend one of their classes or workshops. They are wonderful Divine Souls and truly great teachers who clearly convey the beauty and wisdom of their teacher. In addition, Sri Kaleshwar's website www.kaleshwar.org contains a wealth of Divine Knowdedge as well as information regarding his events around the world.
