Picture by Carla: Sunset from Willard Bay: overlooking the Great Salt Lake

This writing is sent to you on the anniversary of the birthday of our treasured Lahiri Baba.

A Blood Moon one night and a full moon next to it helped mark the anniversary of the mahasamadhi of Lahiri Mahasaya. On each of these powerful nights the internal wakeup call comes in what I think of as Sri Yukteswarji’s hour, 2 a.m. I open myself to what God would have for me on these nocturnal events, always awake in eager anticipation for fulfilling His will.

My awareness moved out over a vast expanse, like light catapulting from a sun out into vast space. Only this “photon of light” expands and merges into the space into which it is moving, and this “photon” knows unparalleled joy in so doing.

Individuals known to me come to mind, a thousand thousand psychological patterns come into my awareness, clear and distinct. From the Vedas and from Master’s own lips comes the idea, “I am the wave, make me the sea.” In the past I have had a mental image of an ocean, waves rising and falling in natural rhythm, but now it comes as a visionary experience, the sea is a living consciousness. Waves as individual souls emerge from the vast sea of consciousness, each express their unique pattern, then they submerge once again into vastness of Spirit. This living sea has a number of qualities that defy description: it is full of life, it is smooth and all-powerful; the words are there but they somehow lack sufficient power to convey what it really is.

This great sea is the “I Am,” the great I Am. This I Am knows no qualification, it brooks no variance. Anything that needs qualification or change is not the I Am. Individual waves are always looking for qualifications to creation, not accepting the perfection of it all. Each one has access to the great I Am, even as the wave stems from the sea, but his or her insistence on qualifications keeps him from merging into the sea.

The perfectness of the great I Am cannot be compared to anything; for it is unique perfection itself. These are the writings of a madman; mad for God, mad of God-experience. I have had to break the tethers of the known in order to chart these waters of the unknown. Having done so, I am now commanded by the same Intelligence that guides this exploration to write down these notes from beyond the Beyond.

I can tell you beloved friend, the great I Am answers all of the heart’s desires, it fulfills the soul and its constant restless tides, and it is easily accessible by all. Oh my dear one, simply make no qualification upon God or His creation, humbly accept everything in its perfection, merge into the great I Am, and join Lahiri Baba and the great ones in knowing this fathomless Truth of your Being.

I am now emptied of what I held within from this experience, giving it all to you, and I merge into the great I Am, merging into what I never left and what will always be mine, even as it is yours.

Buddha @ Jerry and Lois’s home in Sunnyside

Greetings from our Dharmashala on wheels! Carla and I have begun our pilgrimage across this great land. It has been a busy time with events at the house, getting the house ready for our absence, and loading up our home on wheels for an extended voyage. With Ram keeping me in deep inner experiences, as well as a load of physical symptoms, much of the work has fallen on Carla (nothing unusual about that!). Bless her heart.

We ended up leaving on September 23 instead of the 22, and it turned out this was the actual Autumn Equinox date. This has always been a seminal time of year for me, and this year is no exception. This odyssey came about through God’s direction beginning only a month before. After a major change of having us purchase a home on Camano Island a little over a year ago, He has now set us off on this extended trip. I had often thought, “If He asked me to leave this beautiful home, I could easily walk out the door without a second thought,” and the Divine Creator has taken me at my word!

Our first destination was to Jerry and Lois in Sunnyside. They have served as Center Leaders for these many years, in addition to having some summer Group gatherings and Lois playing host for several of the children and mother’s for a crafts weekend each year. They too will be moving to Camano Island and a couple were coming to their house to possibly buy it the next day; a closing of a chapter for our spiritual group as well as the last of our family leaving the Yakima Valley after having arrived over a 120 years before.

Carla and I brought roses from Lois’s yard to my parent’s graveside in acknowledgement for all they have done to facilitate this incarnation and all their loving efforts for their family. Our hearts welled up with gratitude and love for who and what they are. We also spent time with Cathy Kelley, a faithful Kriyaban, and as she watched us depart she said I am the last one to wave goodbye! And so it is.

From there we have left the known and flew into the new territory. We crossed the mighty Columbia River, crossed Oregon and looked to find a place near the Snake River after a long day of travel. Our smart phone was giving us direction to a park to stay when it suddenly refused to give any further instructions. I pulled over after Carla tried repeatedly to get it to cooperate. I tried to renew the connection when a couple came jogging out of their house and asked if we were lost. After hearing our intended destination they said, “Oh, that is a scuzzy place, you will not want to stay there.” Suddenly she had a phone book in hand that seemed to just materialize, he was calling on his cell phone to check on availability, and with amazing alacrity directed us to a new destination. I was reminded of Steve Fisher’s “angels” from his motorcycle trip to Central America and I told them they were our angels come to our rescue. Just as mysteriously as our phone had ceased working minutes before, it now retook its functions with gusto and guided us to a beautiful little park for our stay. Ram, Ram!

The next day brought us to Boise, where we wanted to see the campus where Peter Schultz’s youngest daughter plans to go to college. We rode our bikes on the most beautiful bike trail we have ever been on, following a green belt that is next to a flowing river, crossing back and forth the river where ducks and geese and white water kayakers all share the water.

All the while we continue to organize our sparse 200 square feet of living space, God flows powerfully through this form, and my physical health continues to be difficult, but it allows me to do what is required, and even made me be able to take the 10 mile bike trip, with some breathers along the way.

You continue to be in our thoughts, and we feel as if we are taking you with us as we continue on this journey God has put us on for His own inscrutable reasons! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, as you will be in ours.