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a dream...
I looked up. The shadow of the earth covered the moon and there
was a deep silence. I saw stars falling through space - thousands of them - coming from the direction of Orion. They bounced
off the edge of the universe like a chain-reaction of fireworks, back and forth. A festival of lights in a coal-black sky.
It was if they were coming straight toward me, going through me, piercing my heart. I could hear the sound of stars hissing
as they passed through me, and echoes as they died away. There were meteors, quasars, pulsars...They were the very atoms that
make up our bodies, and for a moment I felt illumination and a river of energy flowing through me...through 82,000 meridians.
They unleashed tremendous forces, both dark and light, and I realized that all of the world's troubles come from a closed
heart. My face was warm and there were tears. I understood that to welcome all the sorrows of a lifetime will crack the heart
wide open. I bow to the masters who have walked this path before me, into the burning Sun. My mind was more still and fearless
than ever before. I was transported somewhere between heaven and earth, between galaxies, between universes, outside of time
and reality...
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A goddess appeared in the distance, her eyes half closed.
She was radiant! ...Radha?...Sita? I walked toward her but she remained ever in the distance. I walked and walked... I felt like
I had been visited by a Being and an experience that was beyond my comprehension. The night was still black and I could feel
my breath going in and out.
I came to a river with thousands of leaves floating downstream, shaped
like tiny boats heading toward the ocean - only to sink to the bottom of the sea. Each had a candle burning on it. The
air was heavy with summer heat and the river filled with light. I knew that this procession of boats had been continuous for
thousands of years...that the candles were for all of the souls that have ever lived. There were candles burning futilely
for children in the Hall of Remembrance... And candles burning hopefully for a better rebirth. They were the hope that burns
eternal and the hope that flickers out as a soul leaves the body.
I walked as a quiet rain fell on my head. Sound and color became
muted. Steam rose from the ground, fog settled in, and there were amber lights, soft and diffused, glowing faintly from somewhere
in the distance. I walked and walked. I looked out from behind my eyes. I looked down from above. It was as if I were walking
backwards, into another place and time...a place with many statues of the Buddha, large and small, among vines in the jungle,
following me with their eyes. It was as if I was asleep while I was walking. There were strange dreams of tidal waves and
breathing under water. Dreams like this are rare and auspicious...I walked til nearly dawn. The moon was setting and
whippoorwills called from somewhere far away. I live and die for moments like this.
The next morning I heard the rustling of birds and the sound
of a cricket as if for the first time. Clouds parted and the sunrise turned the hills to a golden hue. The grasses were still
wet from the rain and drops of water sparkled like diamonds and shone into my heart. I felt cleansed as if I had bathed in
the river Yamuna. I was at peace...
...Paresh
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