Homeward Bound

Teaching Vedic Meditation in Iowa this past week has been a re-connection for me and I hope a re-cognition by the students of their higher deserving power leading to renewal of self/Self.

In Los Angeles we have access to many avenues of evolution - so many roads that it's easy to lose our way, easy to sit in traffic, feeling at least we're pointed toward destination.  So sometimes when potential students show up for an Intro Talk, they see meditation as just another thing to try and, like other things, maybe it will have the surface affect of the "feel goods" for a little while.  Those people usually come up with a reason they can't do it "right now".

But those who are ready and understand, finally, that they're tired of reading books, attending workshops, saying affirmations and talking about the idea of "higher Self", make the commitment to learn Vedic Meditation. 

From the first meditation, the resonance, the recognition of unbounded leads to the realization that this is not a set of beliefs - this is not a school of thought.  

It is action.  

It is knowledge enlivened through experience.

Reunion

I have a high school reunion coming up this summer in Bismarck, North Dakota.  The deadline for registration is May 1.  I haven't registered yet as I'm still waiting to see what the spring will bring.   Recently, a classmate sent me a message, through the website created for the event, asking if I was the one who dated so-and-so.  I honestly couldn't remember having dated the person in question (gives a hint as to how long ago this was) and I answered that I remembered being friends with him but not dating him (and apologized to him if I had) and then gave a brief answer as to my activities in high school to help the emailer identify me.

He had the right person (and apparently my apology to so-and-so was merited) and then went on to ask me about my spiritual beliefs because in high school I was a self-professed "athiest".  Here, I should explain how I came to be an athiest at such a tender age, suffice it to say, it would take too long and the truth is I was at the beginning of my spiritual evolution.  First, we tear down, clear a space -- then Truth has somewhere to begin its growth.

In any event, that led to a series of emails between us where he assured me he wasn't judging me, then asked me about my spiritual beliefs now and told me I was "incorrect" years earlier.  Hmmm.   Basically, he has a Christian faith that he wishes everyone would adopt. 

Since all faiths are welcome to practice Vedic Meditation, I acknowledged his spiritual path and then asked the following question to illustrate my current spiritual understanding: 

God is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent - how can we not be wholly God?

He replied "Do you see yourself being omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent?"   A challenge that I answered so that he could understand.  

The simple answer can only be elicited by worthy inquiry.

The Martin Guitar & Miracles (Part II)

On March 27, just before noon, the doorbell rang.  I was in the bedroom in my meditation chair reading, waiting for potential meditation students to show up to my Intro Talk for Vedic Meditation.

I heard Carl answer the door and a woman's voice say "I have something for you" and then a silence and then Carl's stunned voice ask "Who are you?!?" and her voice answered but I didn't hear what she said.  Assuming a potential student had arrived, I went out to the living room to find Carl who looked at me and then pointed at something.  I followed his hand to find a case "Martin".  We sat on the floor next to each other and opened the guitar. It looked exactly like his - he said "I'm absolutely sure that it's mine." He pointed out familiar scars. 

The woman had said her name was Jules.  Carl didn't recognize her and I never saw her. 

Carl sat on the living room floor strumming his guitar.  I didn't have any students that day but we have music in the house again.

The Martin Guitar & Miracles

A little over a month ago my husband sold his Martin guitar to a music shop.  He did so because he wanted to surprise me with the ability to buy a plane ticket to Iowa because I had been invited there (for the second time) to teach Vedic Meditation but we didn't have the funds for me to go.  When he handed me the cash, I was surprised and immediately asked him "where did this come from".  He hesitated and then began to explain that because his thumb had been bothering him, he wasn't playing his guitar and .... at that point I burst into tears.  

That guitar had been part of our courtship.  That guitar was part of our "Shasta Circle Singers" early in our marriage when we would invite friends over on a Sunday afternoon for barbecue potluck and cheap entertainment of playing and singing.  That Martin guitar, for me, wasn't just a symbol of creativity, it was creative action.

I went to the shop, money in hand, but the owner said he had already promised it to a customer and refused to sell it back to me.  As he spoke, I was staring at the case, on a high shelf.  I left in tears.  Later that afternoon, our car broke down and the money was used to pay for the repairs.  So much for the plane ticket.

The next day I was in a better place about it and realized that of course, all things happen for all reasons.  I shared the story with fellow students in Adele Slaughter's Prosperity & Abundance workshop.  The response I got was overwhelming and sweet.  One student said "I wish you had said you needed a ticket, I can help you with that, I have tons of frequent miles from my days as a model."  Ting! I had a ticket to Iowa.  It was so amazing and in working with her on the logistics I felt that I also had a collaborator - she and I were both doing our part to teach Vedic Meditation. 

For me the whole experience was a lesson in allowing others to be instruments of abundance and a reminder that I am not the source.

While this lesson in source might be considered a small miracle or perhaps not one at all, there is a second part to this story that lives up to the title of the post.  I'll share that tomorrow.