Last Monday night I got to do something I had never done before...meet a swami from India. For the last ten years I have been involved in exploring and following a Buddhist path - Zen, Vipassana, the words and practices of Thich Nhat Hahn, Pema Chodron, etc. But a good friend of mine invited me to meet his guru Swami G. (His Holiness Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswati Maharaj) and something unexpected happened.

Now, I have never been into the whole guru thing of India. I have always held myself as someone who avoids the worshipping of other human beings. And I was expecting a house full of people who were sacrificing themselves to throw themselves at the feet of a supposed enlightened being. Boy, was I full of projecting BS!

When I arrived I found lovely, fully intact intelligent people. None looked like zombies under the spell of a conman. I took a deep breath and thought hmmmm to myself. And then the swami entered and sat on a platform in front of us. I watched him, his eyes, his face, and saw THE definition of love and joy. I saw no ego, no BS, no nothing that would lead me to anyplace but my heart. And then my friend Jon encouraged me to go up, as others were doing, to speak to him. I had nothing to ask him, or want from him. I have found that I no longer long for answers from some wise being these days; I have discovered that answers always come when I need them these days. So I was a bit stumped at what to say to him, and so I just sat until something came to me. And finally it did.

What struck me was that this man, this beautiful being held something that was so familiar to me, he was someone and something that I have known forever. And so that is what I said to him, "I have known you forever, and so I have come to say hello again." He put his hand on his heart, smiled and said, "That is so nice to feel that way." And I looked deeply into his eyes and saw him, saw the Universe, saw myself and felt at home. Home sweet home. We exchanged more words, he placed his hand on my head and pulled some of my Karma from me, and we parted.

As I sat down, and settled into my chair, I felt absolute and pure bliss. There was nothing I needed, no one to cling to and no where to go. I was complete, connected and content.

Intellectually, I want to parse, analyze and make sense of it all. But in my heart I know that none of that matters. I met and saw pure love and pure joy. I thank ALL for inviting me in.

Blessings,
Kelly

Never let your mind decide what your heart knows for sure.