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lateinthegame
USA
8 Posts |
 Posted - May 03 2011 : 05:09:11 AM
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Not long ago I met an unusual character, the husband of my wife’s friend. Like me, “C.” is an older person. (When I chose my screen-name “lateinthe game”, I had the thought: if my life was a baseball game, I’d now be enjoying the ‘seventh-inning stretch’ --an image I like.)
We were having dinner with our wives, my new friend and I, getting acquainted. I found myself drawn in by the man’s presence – “C.” is a good listener, in conversation with him it’s clear – he is genuinely interested in what the other has to say. When he speaks he chooses his words with care yet with ease; his voice falls easily on the ear. His eyes smile, and he is, all in all, just ‘good company’, nice to be with.
My friend told us that three years ago he’d had a near-death experience. “I had open-heart surgery – but I didn’t just have open-heart surgery. I had ‘open-heart-surgery with complications’. I was near death…I saw God, and God spoke to me.”
“Was it an ‘out-of-the-body’ sort of thing?” I asked. I had an image of him flying around the room, looking down on his body lying on the operating table.
“No, it wasn’t. I wasn’t aware of myself at all, but God spoke to me, though I didn’t hear a voice. It was something I knew, and I knew without question it was God, giving me a message.”
“What did He say?” my wife and I asked, simultaneously.
“He told me: ‘I’m going to leave you where you are for now, but I expect you to be good to people – to do good things. That’s how it’s going to be. I’m depending on you to do that’. Now, it wasn’t words I heard, just an understanding.”
“And did it change you? Are you doing good things?” my wife asked. Obviously, she is not bashful.
“C.” thought for a while, and then he explained. “I do, and I’ve found it is something I must be careful about. Not everyone wants help, or is ready to accept help – it isn’t always easy to know. So I’ve learned to ask God, and then I go ahead. But I do have five projects I’m working on right now.”
Later I found myself pondering what he had said, and how, in that ‘near-death’ experience, he had found what I myself, on a spiritual path, seek through prayer and meditation: Conscious contact with the God of my understanding, knowledge of his will for me, and the power to carry that out. If you are familiar with the 12 Steps of A.A., you will recognize the 11th Step. (As a person whose family member has a substance addiction, I’ve attended Al-Anon meetings for a lot of years).
For a long time in my efforts at meditation, I looked for a ‘higher level of consciousness’ – merely for the sake of a high, a pleasurable peak experience. I have come to realize there is a higher purpose for my meditative practice, and my life. I’ve come to understand, that for me, it isn’t about peak experiences as much as a total quality of life that cannot be better than when I am seeking the will of my God, and actually experiencing the power to carry out that will for me. At such times I become more than myself, living in the wonder of little miracles.
In reading the AYP lessons, and listening to Yogani’s interviews, it seems this is very much at the heart of his teaching. So I feel that I’m in very ‘friendly territory’ here. While there are terms I don’t fully grasp, and things people speak of that I will perhaps never experience, that really doesn’t matter to me. My spirit relates to the core of what is found here. I’m glad I found AYP.
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2011 : 05:32:43 AM
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Great post, thank you for writing and sharing
Believe it or not this topic relates a lot with something I've been going through for quite some time now. It's not the sound of God and I haven't been into a near death experience. It's just something which came out from my daily yoga practice. It's something like a sound yet it is a wave, don't know how to explain it and it always guides me towards what is best for me
Plus it has a location from where it comes outpouring, the inner space inside the right side of the chest from the point which Sri Ramana Maharshi calls Hridayam.
Maybe it's what Yoganiji calls: The guru in you
Love,
Ananda |
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mathurs
United Kingdom
197 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2011 : 07:14:42 AM
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| Nice post ! |
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lateinthegame
USA
8 Posts |
Posted - May 04 2011 : 6:53:05 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Ananda
[It's just something which came out from my daily yoga practice.]
Maybe it's what Yoganiji calls: The guru in you
Love,
Ananda
I don't know at this point if my friend has a practice of yoga, I don't think so. What it seems like to me (pure speculation) that his near-death experience was like a short-cut for him to an awareness level it might take a meditator quite a while to reach, and it changed him. If that's the case, he would not be the first person I've known who came away from a close-call with a transformed view of things.
Thanks for sharing about yourself.
Regards.
Lou |
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lateinthegame
USA
8 Posts |
Posted - May 04 2011 : 6:54:31 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by mathurs
Nice post !
Thank you, mathurs. I think I am going to like this man a lot.
Regards,
Lou |
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chit-ananda51
India
127 Posts |
Posted - May 05 2011 : 02:25:37 AM
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Hi Lou
Your post resonates with me as well. Meditation is more than experiencing elevated states of awareness for mins/days/weeks. It is about improving the quality of life during our worldly indulgence. It starts with being kind to those in need and maintaining the presence of 'i am' in all the ups and downs of earthly life! 
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BuddhiHermit
United Kingdom
84 Posts |
Posted - May 05 2011 : 7:07:26 PM
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Hi lateinthegame,
I had an almost identical experience, a very long time ago.
Two things differed: It came while undergoing an emotional upheaval, and, The message was simply that from now, until I returned, everything would be all right - in the deepest sense.
It certainly does help one's sense of equanimity.
Namaste |
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mikkiji
USA
219 Posts |
Posted - May 05 2011 : 8:26:30 PM
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Although a very drastic measure, an NDE (near death experience) IS, in fact, a shortcut to very vivid experiences of "higher states of consciousness" which can have lasting effects on behavior and personality. I have had TWO NDEs, one at age 13 when I went into a 3-day coma, and again at age 47, during a heart attack. In between these mirrored experiences lay a very spiritual path, the life of a yogi, in many ways. I became a disciple of the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and had the privilege of being with him for 2 years, ending as an initiator of TM. I also studied for a year with a Japanese zen Master. After around 30 years of daily meditation practices, I had a spontaneous kundalini awakening which was totally smooth and effortless. The path continues to open moment by moment, but I conclude by knowing how fortunate I've been in having these life-altering near-death experiences. Your friend may be 100% on the level, as bizarre as that sounds!
Michael |
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My friend said: "God spoke to me."
