THE MOUNTAINS COME TO US
I became facinated with the 'concept' of higher consciousness.
Like my first contact with the surf-board I felt an affinity, I was drawn to know and experience more.
I started asking questions, and the Universe started generously responding.
First by directing me to books, and then some of the Great Teachers, 'Gurus' actually came to Australia and gave direct experience and teachings of this 'New/ ancient way of seeing/ being'
Sandra and Kathy connected me with Adrian Rawlings "Mr Poetry", an extremely colorful and loving eccentric who always spoke of, and praised Meher Baba, a living saint in India in the 30's who was the first to start introducing Eastern concepts to the West.
Adrian was always delightful and entertaining company and certainly certainly manifested Meher Baba's famous quote.
"Don't worry, be Happy".
A large bronze statue in the heart of Melbourne's alternate arts scene, celebrates Adrian's great spirit and contribution to the arts.
Adrian was also Bob Dylan's closest friend whenever he was in Australia.
Going by the book
Meher Baba:
"It is not so much that you are within the Cosmos
but that the Cosmos is within you."
As I read Meher Baba's books and saw films of him, he touched my heart with his living expression of unconditional love and service to others, feeding the poor and washing the feet of lepers.
His simple presence radiated unconditional love for all, he served the poor, pointing to the divinity within all, and while expressing respect and tolerance for religious practices, he had no regard for rites and rituals.
"Don't worry, be happy". Everyone says it, even sing it, few know its heritage: it was an essential part of Meher Baba's message to the world certainly carried a lot more in-depth meaning and energy when it came directly from the source.
'I have come to help people realise their ideals in daily life.
My work and aims are intensely practical.
It is not practical to emphasize the material at the cost of the spiritual.
It is not practical to have spiritual ideals without putting them into practice.
But to realise the ideal in daily life, to give beautiful and adequate form to the living spirit, to make Brotherhood a fact, not merely a theory, as at present - this is being practical in the truest sense of the word.
I have come to help people realise their ideals in daily life.
My work and aims are intensely practical.
Be pure and simple, love all."
Meher Baba wrote an amazing book,"God Speaks" on the evolution of consciousness, from 'no thing' to 'every thing'.
The 20th Century's first "Superstar Guru"
Los Angeles Times.
"Plain living and high thinking"
"The book that changed the lives of millions" resonated with me. Yogananda Paramahansa's autobiography gave great insights into the experience of the true goal of yoga while giving great and colorful insights on his path to 'enlightenment.'
Sent by his 'lineage' to the West to show the unity between Eastern and Western religions, and the benefits of a balance between material growth and Indian spirituality, he was the first major Indian teacher to settle in America .He originally introduced the ever increasing popular Kriya Yoga and Kundalini which aligned the energies within the body with pure consciousness to realize our full potential embracing love, creativity and our own innate wisdom.
Steve Jobs ordered 500 copies of the books to be given to each guest
at his own memorial.( Jobs had also previously journeyed to India in the hope of meeting Baba Ram Das's Guru, Nereem Kirola Baba but unfortunately, Baba had passed away and he did not make the connection
A 2014 documentary, "Awake: The Life of Yogananda" won multiple awards at film festivals around the world and still attracting many viewers
In the physical presence
of Masters
We had been reading a wide variety of books, from quantam physics, sufi poetry, philosophy, etc and now it was able to actually be in the company of some Masters.
"It is possible to achieve the blissful still depths of the Self, oneness with the infinite."
Almost disappearing under flower garlands with long hair a long beard and flowing white robes, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, visited Sydney on one of his world tours, an image that became the archetypical image of a Guru in the sixties.
Bathing in his presence I felt a delicious lightness of thought and 'being.'
His giggle was infectious. His message was deeply serious, 'tantalising' but expressed simply. He had evolved a simple technique to transcend the 'chatter of the mind' to gain access to the 'bliss' of our pure consciousness - with a minimum of inconvenience. It was called 'Transcendental Meditation'.
I felt inspired, motivated to know more of his new take on ancient teachings, a state of mind that had traditionally taken years of practice he had made easier to experience.
I went to one of his teachers to receive a mantra, a sound used in meditation whose 'vibration' repeated inwardly helped lead to peace of mind. It was personalized, a simple sound, my own secret mantra, and was to become a handy tool in calming and stilling my mind and thoughts, refreshing, clarifying my thinking. He became known as The Beatles Guru after they travelled to India to spend time with him
George Harrison called the mantra "a password to get through to the other world."
The Maharishi is reported to have trained more than 40,000 TM teachers, taught the technique to more than five million people and founded thousands of teaching centers and hundreds of colleges, universities and schools in several countries including India,
Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Australia.
One of the greatest thinkers and philosophy teachers of all time.
“How we get there will always be a personal choice and
I have the ultimate respect for those who pursue Truth,
no matter the path.
This is my way and I encourage those curious to investigate.”
JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI flew into town like the most beautiful delicate bird on the winds of change that were starting to blow through our culture and generation.
He was a highly regarded Indian philosopher, speaker and writer. He wore no robes or clothing that would show him to be a religious figure.
He spoke with a beautifully educated soft voice almost like a song that was sweet and melodious, and as we listened he lifted our hearts pointing my mind heavenwards, and in turn - inwards
Being in the presence of Krishnamurti sharing beautiful insights into a total understanding of man and the art of living again further enhanced how I was starting to see the 'world', both inside me and around me.
He reminded us we are all human beings, not Hindus, Muslims or Christians, we are no different from one another. He urged we tread lightly on this earth without destroying ourselves or the environment, and transmitted a deep love for nature seeing the unity of all.
You, in your own life of understanding, will come upon this strange energy which is incorruptible.
This energy is the highest form of intelligence.’
Krishnamurti, Santa Monica, 1972
Krishnamurti had been groomed to be the 'new World Teacher' by the Theosophical Society but rejected this, and withdrew from the organization. (I know how he feels about organizations!)
He stressed the need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being, and emphasized that such revolution cannot be brought about by any external entity, religious, political, or social.
I left with an appreciation of possibility.
OUR OWN LITTLE INDIA
If we couldn't visit India, we would make our own 'Little India', and India was actually starting to come to us.
My mother had gone to England to visit my sister who had been there for a couple of years.
At home, with just my father, things had deteriorated and so I packed my few possessions up moved in with Paul ‘Gibsing'. He’d found an old huge, rambling mansion with large overgrown gardens, near the harbor, a world unto itself in a beautiful leafy location.
It had been divided into a guest house and was managed by a teacher of Indian music and his family.
Paul was devoted to learning the sitar, I was hoping to learn the tablas.
As the sun rose over the harbor filling the sky with spectacular colors, Paul, the teacher, his wife and children would meet in the dining room where the floor was covered with colorful rugs and cushions, and would play a beautiful raga to the rising sun, it was a sublime start to the day. I would head off walking to work through a beautiful park feeling at peace and in love with the world.
At night everyone would play a raga to the setting sun, except me, I had come to accept Tabla playing was not within my skill set and would just lie back on the rugs, immerse in the music and be transported.
One evening, the Indian Navy was in town, a group of Indian musicians were invited around and gave a full concert performed in front of an enthralled audience of one!
This approach to music syncing with nature and time of day is a beautiful way to harmonize with the universe, like a film score to your day.
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