Dan’s update for the last 3 weeks

Hello dear one,

Firstly sorry this is a blog entry in a public setting – I would much prefer to connect one on one and in person with you … there has simply been so many things happen in the last 3 weeks, that it would take me weeks to tell all the news in this manner with all the people that seem to want to know more.

However, if you have found your way here, it’s likely it was no accident. So I shall attempt to serve you by at least writing with all the personal touch of a handwritten letter, which you may even like to imagine yourself finding in the letterbox, opening and holding in your hand as you sit in a comfortable chair. You should be forwarned that this entry contains the “S” word (spiritual), the “D” word (Divine), the “A” word (Ashram), and the “G” word (Guru), so if you have any problem with any of these words, do not read on.

As you may or may not know by now, last year I had a health shock: diagnosed with heavy-metal poisoning. And I don’t mean the type that happens when you listen to too much Led Zepplin as a teenager, though I was guilty of that too. The source of the poisoning is still a mystery – but my Lead levels were 20x higher than the upper extreme of the permissible range. I also had a lot of a metal called “Thallium”. I tried telling people this on the phone but after a couple of “What – you’re full of valium?” responses from people who had genuinely misheard over the imperfect telephone that makes all consonants sound the same – I thought better to write this one down.

In December, I was part of a performance called “Birds of Paradise”. The performance was a lot of fun, however it also took a further toll on my already depleted health. The combination of late nights, changed bio-rhythms and huge adrelinine infusions that happen each evening when you perform at night live left me completely exhausted. In fact my natropath – testing my body’s ability to absorb minerals again after the show – became sufficiently concerned that she suggested I get some checkups I don’t even want to mention here.

Nonetheless I was feeling grateful that I knew the likely root-cause of my low energy. I had been completely bamboozled – I mean, I was doing meditation and pranayamas and kriya every morning, eating lots of high-energy organic food, and raw juices – and I should have been feeling amazing (like I did about 5 years ago when I first started doing this regularly) – so I knew something wasn’t right.

I took 3 weeks off before and after Christmas to be with family at Bethells Beach – and didn’t touch a computer during that time. In fact the 2 occasions I tried to use one

1. it crashed and
2. the Internet connection failed instantly

I got the message – and didn’t try again.

After the natropaths assessment of me in late December, I also knew I had to go to India.

It was just the strongest intuition. It wasn’t a straightforward journey there. For starters, the only flight that was affordable went via Dubai – a 30 hour long haul journey). Secondly I didn’t get onto my Indian visa application quickly enough – and as a result on the Thursday I was due to fly out – I had no visa. I rang my travel agent to say he would need to rebook my tickets for another time. Turned out he knew someone at the Indian embassy and after a couple of phonecalls, my visa arrived from Wellington at 4pm, and I literally picked it up, went straight to the airport and got there just in time to grab my flight that left at 6.15pm.

On the plane I had plenty of time to write a simple one page in a 3B1 notebook. I wrote down 7 intentions for the year. That was it. Then I put it aside. 6 of the 7 intentions were about service it turned out. One was to teach a whole lot more as a volunteer Art of Living teacher than my energy levels had allowed. Another was to help organise a big Art of Living course from 22-28 Feb to share more of what the world needed with a broad range of people. 108 people came up as the number of people who should attend. Another was to use the knowledge of how to heal/bless people that I’d been taught over a year ago but wasn’t using. I decided I wanted to gift 108 people blessings during 2011.

Then I put the paper away and got some broken sleep.

Strange things started happening the minute I set foot in India. I somehow got to the Ashram through the Bangalore peak-hour traffic in only 1& 1/2 hrs and just in time for dinner. As I sat down, who should I see but Tata – who had done the October 2011 Part1 Art of Living Course with me – who I had been thinking “I need to contact him” immediately before getting on the plane.

“Shram” means “effort” and “a” means “without” – so an Ashram means a “place where you drop all effort”. That was already starting to prove the case. Guru simply means teacher. Sadguru means a teacher of the highest spiritual knowledge. And I knew as I sat in the Ashram next to Tata that I also needed to meet my Sadguru.

I had also come to do a course to learn to chant a very specific and powerful “pooja”. What is pooja ? Well, as my teacher puts it “Honouring is a sign of divine love, and that honouring is called Pooja. The ceremony of pooja indicates what nature is already doing for you The divine worships you in so many forms. In pooja you offer everything back to the Divine.”

I had always known that feeling grateful to God/nature was a good idea – but had never experienced what deep gratitude was to quite the degree I was to in the next few days. There was something magic in the pooja that took me very deep – and for the next week, there was not a day that went by that I wasn’t sobbing with profound gratitude for everything I had in my life – not the cathartic sobs of some process on a course – this was tears of pure gratitude and they didn’t stop. They are welling up right now as I write to you.

I wanted to share what had happened with my wife Claire, but calls cost a fortune from a NZ mobile. No sooner had I pondered this than I hear a familar voice say “Hey Daniel!” – I look up and for a second I do not recognise my friend Ankit with his shaven head. I met him in India one year ago when I was there with Mira and Claire. The next minute he offers “I have a spare Indian SIM card by the way – would that be of any use to you?” It got better … it occurred to me that I didn’t have the particular “pin” that apple design to remove a SIM card – and as I think that, I put my hands in my pocket and find that my Apple – Pin was right there. I still have no idea why it was there, or how it got there.

I was also to experience some discomfort – for truly opposite values are complimentary. It turned out that Phase II of the pooja course was not going to happen at the time I’d been assured by someone reliable that it almost certainly would. I felt disappointed that I’d be unable to complete my training and fulfil a big part of the reason for my trip. About 20 mins later my mood changed and I thought “there must obviously be something else I’m supposed to be doing in India”.

It was time to get lunch, so I went down to get my food from the International Dining area and sat down at a free plastic table, as most of the people around me (in the middle of a silent retreat doing another course) said nothing. A young Danish chap sat next to me and started talking. As he was about to leave, he suddenly stopped, and looked me straight in the eye and said “Do you know how to bless people?”.

“Yes” I replied.

He nodded his head. “Good – because we have been asked to go into the city of Bangalore and bless people in the slums, colleges, schools and hospitals”. There are 3 of us, but we need one more – do you want to come?”

I didn’t need to be asked twice. The next day we went into the city and each of us blessed well over 200 people. The experience was humbling and profound. People who were initially skeptical, after receiving blessings suddenly beckoned to us to stay and raced inside to harry their entire family (sometimes extended families) to come and received blessings too. All around us was some of the scenes you normally only see on National Geographic – and we were in the thick of the sights, sounds and smells of the congested urban Bangalore poor areas. Goats, cows, sheep, dogs and people lying wherever there was space. A pig going through rubbish piles for food.

People and cows lying down asleep on busy street corners. Most 6 month-olds being held by 4-5 year olds. We encountered people with all sorts of ailments, we were invited into homes, we drank the tap-water they offered us (after blessing it), and we felt no hunger, thirst or discomfort throughout as we continued our journey through the streets. I remember on the first day one man after receiving a blessing rushed away – then 2 minutes later with tears in his eyes insisted that he give my 10 Rupees.

I refused, and when he shoved it into my hand after much jostling, I immediately put it into the pocket of his shirt and hugged him as he put his hands together and said something in Kannada (the local language) and I said something in English.

In the next 5 days, we each blessed thousands upon thousands of people. One time, we split up into different areas, and 2 of us blessed an entire school of 780 pupils standing in line waiting – and then blessed the teachers and principle.

Each time was exactly the same – the entire time – no discomfort, only a feeling of it being one long walking meditation, and on the long trip back each day we almost always sat in complete silence. I have heard it said that after blessing many people, other things start happening to the blesser themselves (good things) – and I started experiencing this firsthand also. This was too moving and too personal to write about here even – but I hope to share this with many of you when I see you in person next.

After the 5th day of blessing, I had a chuckle at my “intention” to bless 108 people in a year. Truly, our small mind is limited in the things it dreams to ask for – compared to the enormity of consciousness, and the enormity of what the Divine is able to manifest for us when we do the things that allow it to flow through us.

It between these blessed days of blessings, other little things continued to happen – daily and sometimes hourly. One anecdote of what has now become the norm, I meet a person who says that fresh coriander is good for removing heavy metals. Thinking no more of it I go to mealtime and see fresh coriander (those that know the ashram will know that this never happens – I have never any fresh herbs of any description in the 100s of ashram meals I’ve had). And yet coriander was there at breakfast, then again for lunch.

Later on, after the pooja course phase I finishes I start thinking about Bindi Chouhan – the wonderful soul from Titirangi back in New Zealand that inspired me to take the pooja course – and feel a sense of overwhelming gratitude towards her. That night at satsang I feel a tap on the shoulder. Who? Bindi of course and her brother Jaypal …who are stopping by for just a couple of hours in between a train trip from Gujarat and a return flight to NZ.

It turns out that the man himself – Sri Sri Ravishankar is there in person and gives knowledge every evening. Many times answering exactly the question I had in my mind – leaving me empty of questions and full of wonder. At last I feel I need to meet Sri Sri (Guruji as we call him) in person. It happens very easily and the next morning I find myself in front of him.

So are you well? – he asks. I am taken aback, those who have met him will know that he always asks “Are you happy” – not “Are you well”.

I had been all flustered thinking “How am I going to answer him when he says “Are you Happy” so as to let him know I’m happy without sounding like I’m complaining about my health?”

Well – as always, he cuts through all my small-mind thinking and shows it up yet again to be completely unnecessary.

I answer him by showing him the chart and saying that 2 months ago I was diagnosed with some heavy metal poisoning. He remarks “thallium high?” – then tells me what is and where thallium comes from – gasoline and also in aeroplane fuel. I chuckle to myself that I studied chemistry – but he is educating me about even this subject. We talk a little more about lead and thalium, and he recommends a very specific part of the banana tree as part of my treatment. Then he pauses and says “this will cleanse very quickly”.

With that, he gets a twinkle in his eye, and then reaches to his right where there is a large bunch of those delicious mini-sized Indian bananas. He carefully breaks just one off, looks at me, and spins in through the air in a spiral-pass that Justin Marshall would be proud of – and it comes to rest in the palm of my right hand.

I smile and he waves goodbye. “Aha – the Doctor has given some medicine” I reflect to myself. I savour every mouthful of that banana … once I have come back down to earth that is (no matter how grounded you are you tend to get completely spaced out after being in the same physical space as Sri Sri).

Ever since, something has changed and I have felt my energy-levels back at the level I have not experienced for a long time. Back where you would expect them to be for someone doing breathing exercises – kriya and meditation each morning.

There is much more grace to share, but I’ll convey the essence of an experience rather than a comprehensive almanac of the trips serendipities – which would require too many pages for a single sitting.

May your year be filled with many blessings, and of course if you ever want to receive a blessing from me (either in person or by phone) – just let me know.
I know I’ll be seeing many of you on the 22-27th Feb Art of Living course I’m teaching (first 6-day course in ages – can’t wait!) so please remind me, and I’ll share some more of the things that happened which are not so easily shared over email – then.

All my love – may the breath of the divine flow through you always, in this physical world, and in the worlds you move, work, love and play in.

Daniel