...I was walking along the beach on a dark night without any moon or stars. The only light came from the white line of the breakers as they rolled out like parchment on the shore. The Ocean was on my left and a man was on my right. We walked in step, keeping time with one another. I never saw his face, but felt his height and his long dark hair. On the right there was also a row of houses bordering the beach, and each one was a restaurant. “No it’s not that one, no not yet”, I kept saying. Finally, I reached the last house where the beach ended and the piles of break-water rocks stretched out into the sea. It had golden orange cloths hanging in the two large windows on either side of the door, letting out a warm glow. They were covered with some sort of strange archaic writing, which I recognized, but could not name. “This is the one”, I said, and we stepped up to the house, went up the stairs, opened the door and went in. We were in a little dark room and someone was there to meet us. With a welcoming air he instructed us to remove our shoes, which we did, and then he led us through another, larger, dark room into a very special place indeed. It was a semi-long, softly lit room filled with candles, incense and a light that seemed to flow through the air.
There was a small crowd of people sitting on the floor, facing a rectangular platform that was covered in carpets and only about a foot off the ground. They were people of different nationalities, dressed in different types of ceremonial garb, some in white, some in darker colors. They held bells, small rattle like drums and other objects of musical and ceremonial devotion. They were chanting, a low resonant hum that vibrated throughout the room. Sitting like a mountain in the center of the platform was an old man, of Asian extraction, dressed in maroon and gold robes. “Lama”, I thought; I knew enough to say the word, recalled from some movie I had once seen about the king of lamas in a faraway Buddhist land- what was his title? Did they not have some problems there, some sort of struggle. Many people venerated this king, people I had known, they wanted to free his country- what was it called? But these were all dim memories, and at the moment they didn’t register at all. Right now I was awash with the sensation of what was happening. The lama exuded an aura of colored light, it filled the room and seemed to ripple out from him in long waves. A few people came forward and ushered me and my companion to the platform. We were seated on the platform, on either side of the lama, I to the right and he on the left. The lamas’ chant rose above and ran under the chanting crowd, it was as deep as could be, sonorous, resonant. It rose and fell with the waves of his aura. It penetrated everything, rearranging substance. The chanting grew louder, the intensity of the lama grew, exponentially raising the intensity of the crowd... the bells rang, the drums rattled, the room vibrated like an engine at full throttle. ...Wave upon wave of colored light flowed out from the lama, over them, through the crowd, mingling with the waves of the chanters own colors, mingling like ripples on a watercolor ocean.
Now the lamas’ energy focussed on my companion, although he appeared to be facing all directions at once. With the room vibrating at full power, it seemed as though the lama was transmitting some kind of energy to my companion. I swayed with the wave of it all... I knew my turn was next, and filled with anticipation. The lamas’ focus shifted to me, I looked into his eyes, saw the radiant smile upon his face, wrinkled and wisened.... And I felt, oh, I felt. I felt as a beam of color came forth from the lama and penetrated my root chakra, my sacrum. Later, I could not remember the colors, only the sensations. It felt like an utter penetrating warmth, a re-creation of every cell, an awakening that spread upwards as another color beamed forth from the lama, penetrating my lower abdomen. More warmth, more intense vibration, another beam, (golden?), filling my solar plexus, the seat of my two years of ill health. It swelled and swirled within me...changed me, vibrated me, became me, resonating me into its’ self, I turned into light, color, rainbow. Never had I felt such an exquisite sensation, I swayed with it, and as it reached my heart in some cool color, blue or green, I began to lose consciousness. I felt soft hands reach out to support me, and as the beams of light reached my throat and third eye I lost physical sight. I was dimly aware as they gently lowered me into a reclining position and then the white light subsumed me entirely. Bliss, pure bliss. Non-being, non-entity ...floating in white ...white ambrosia. I could not say how long it lasted, how long this deepness flowed in the light region. It was a place beyond time, beyond self. It could have been a few hours, five seconds, or an eternity. It does not matter. There was no awareness, only light that glowed with a translucent opalescence, and the light was everything. Slowly, slowly, I became aware of the light, and that awareness was consciousness, self. I floated up, out and awoke as if from sleep. I was in the room again, still lying on the platform. The lama and the crowd were gone, so was my companion- I had never seen his face! There were a few people left there, sweeping up rice and flowers from the floor. I raised myself and they came over to me. “What happened?”, I asked. “Oh don’t worry, it was only the ( )”, and they said some word I could not recognize, but I knew it referred to the energy transmission that had taken place.
The scene shifted. It was morning and I was walking up the steps to the front door of the house. I went inside, into the very same room. The platform was gone, light shone through windows along the right and far walls. The wood floor gleamed in the light, empty of furniture. But against the far left corner was a chest with an altar upon it. A woman was tending the altar, dusting a photograph, arranging flowers. She had light, mellow brown hair with a golden glow about her hair and her skin. I approached the woman. “Hello, I was here last night.... could you please tell me what happened to the lama, where is he?” “Oh, don’t you know?” The woman said with a twinkle in her eye, “He has left us.” I knew this meant he no longer was in the physical world.
Stunned, wondrous, I awoke to that which we call reality, the waking world. The wonderful sensation of the light still filled me completely, just as fully as the mystery. I had never experienced such a thing. Never felt so calm, so peacefull, so blessed. Yes, I was truly blessed. I felt as though I was made of light... and the amazing thing was, this feeling did not go away. For two weeks I danced on air, my feet scarcely touched the ground. Food could not pass between my lips, even a bite made me nautious. So, although this had never happened before, for two weeks I did not eat. I lost the twenty pounds I had gained during my illness and before. Finally, I felt the need to ground. I meditated, brought my mind to earthly things, drew up earth energy through my spine. At last I developed an appetite. But with it came a descent ...what goes up must come down, and even gods take human form.
Of course time passed in the physical world and I came to discover a few key words: Tibet, Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, Samsara. Having never felt myself to be a joiner, I did not rush out and “become a Buddhist”, but I did develop a personal interest- who could blame me? I dreamt once more that the lama came to me and had a few of his student monks teach me to fly, as he stood looking on approvingly. This was done in a shadowy maroon void, by raising ones arms and oneself in a feeling of lightness, then taking great leaps into the air...eventually you could fly- or levitate. I began to practice my own style of meditation, singing improvisationaly and chanting the one mantra I had learned: OHM AH HUNG BENZA GURU PEMA SIDDHI HUNG. Oh guru please grant me the blessings of your wisdom mind. While I chanted I visualized the lama giving me the empowerment. I began to realize that travel was a necessity to me, I needed to live for a long time in a faraway place and began to plan for it.