Diary of a Pilgrim
for Peace, episode 29
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Oct. 13th, 2002:
I left Marjorie’s house in Garden Grove and
returned
to San Diego with all my stuff on a Thursday evening, so we all went to
Prem's for satsang. As always, it was a delightful evening and my new host
was there
to pick me up. However, big surprise, she suddenly says she doesn't want any
teachings and I was only supposed to pop in for a couple of days, “if I was
in the neighborhood”. I
explained that I wouldn't have come if I had understood that that was
the
case. At this she accuses me of
laying a guilt trip on her and now wants me out! After we all calmed down a
little, it was agreed that I could stay up to the following Thursday. The next
day, she was out most of the day and in the evening I showed her how to begin
seeing the human aura and a person's past lives, which was working for
her
and pleased her. The next day, I went to Mexico for my one day out of the
country every 6 months, staying overnight near the ocean at Rosarito. I had
told her I would be back on the Monday afternoon, which is what happened.
Knocking on the door at 4.00 pm in the afternoon, I was greeted with a demand
for the keys and my stuff at the door!
"I've talked to someone and you have definitely
been laying a guilt trip on me and I want you out now", was what
greeted me.
So with some sadness and a reminder of why I became a
monk and was likely to stay as one, I left. I met the security guard for her
condo complex: A very nice guy, who was Apache Indian, who had come back from
Vietnam with three bullets in him. He is in training as a shaman and we
discovered that we have many interests in common. Little was I to know where I
would be in a week's time! I checked one more time that I was not
needed for
anything at Marjorie's or Desert Hot Springs and began to walk once
more.
I guess I have been living too long in houses again
and am reluctant to go back on the road. I have certainly grown soft! That
night I slept in a “park”, a canyon full of wild life. Didn’t see any
snakes, but heard rustlings all night long.J
October 16th:
After 2 days of being on the road, my feet have got
blisters as usual, my hips and calf muscles hurt and the kitchen sink is again
heavy. After walking all day, trying to find a way out of San Diego on foot
towards Arizona, I am ready to quit my pilgrimage again. This time for good! I
find myself back at the Fashion Valley trolley station and thought, "I
could
have got here by bus in 45 minutes (like 2 days before on my way to Mexico)
and for only one dollar".
This time, I didn’t even ask God for help or a sign!
I was really tired, de-hydrated (much more than I realized) and depressed.
Suddenly, a voice said to me, "Your feet must hurt. Mine hurt just
looking
at you! Would you like to have a coffee and some food? Have you
eaten?"
It was an angel named Delia. Born in Mexico, grew up
in New York, aged 71 years young who, in spite of having rheumatoid
arthritis, goes Salsa dancing 3 times a week! We went to a restaurant and ate
well. I drank about a gallon of water. She then invited me to stay over at her
place, which I gladly did.
I stayed with her for 3 days, during which time my
calf muscles repaired themselves. As I thought about returning to Canada, I
knew that I had to go to Sedona, Arizona, at the very least, before quitting.
I had asked a number of Gas station attendants with maps about how to walk
east out of Sedona and they had all said “You have to take the freeway”.
So suddenly the light went on in my head: “You have been gifted some
money, so use it.”
So I took a greyhound bus as close to Sedona as it
went, a place called Camp Verde, about 30 miles from Sedona. It was an all
night journey, taking me to Phoenix and then north from there.
Saturday, October 19th, 2002
Getting off the bus at 10:40 am, some 30 miles south
of Sedona, I began my walk. I asked a few people which way to Sedona and as I
began to walk, I wondered if someone might give me a ride to Sedona! I have
become sooo soft! I can feel that the blister on the third toe of my left foot
is not yet completely healed (healing takes so long these days!). Oh well,
great! So I visualized someone driving me there and just as I was asking a
tourist information center how to walk to Sedona, Rick said from behind, "I
can take you most of the way"
God, it seems, never abandons his children.
Thank you Lord!
He was helping another guy who had a tire problem and
so he took me 2/3rds of the way and left me at an on-ramp to the freeway.
"If you are still there when I come back, I’ll
take you all the way. Just ask whoever picks you up, to get off at the next
exit."
"Well, this is definitely different from
California", I thought. However, I was still there half an hour later and
he picked me up and drove me into Sedona. He has lived in the area
for 10
years and told me that Sedona has changed a lot in the last three years, with
a lot of people with money coming in and building gated communities like in
California. They also had forced some changes in the local by-laws that the
locals fought tooth and nail against. I was shocked to see the confirmation of
one of them when we passed a sign that said: "$150 fine
for
anyone caught camping". For my non-American friends, “camping” here
means
any sleeping out, with or without a tent. I had thought California was bad
with all its barbed wire and no camping signs on ground that was scrubland and
clearly used for nothing. But this was worse. The town was a lot bigger than I
had imagined and, so I am told, the spirituality has gone downhill a lot in
the last ten years. I have often noticed this. An area becomes known as very
spiritual and the moneyed people move in, forcing the very people out who gave
it its charm and spirituality. We humans are weird!
"So how do I meet the spiritually minded people
here?", was the obvious question.
"Start with the Earth Mother/Father Foundation
center where we are going and you can try the Unity Church", was the
reply.
The earth mother/father foundation (http://www.emff.org)
is a breath of fresh air, run by Mary-Margaret, a very nice kind person. It
seemed to me to be a combination of spiritualist church, psychic center,
new
age shop, garden, pyramid center, etc. etc. That day they were having free
readings given by about 6 people and I was encouraged to participate and
did.
After meeting three of the psychics, I came to Adam. He was using native
symbols and methodology for healings and instead of taking a healing, I talked
to him. After he understood that I was hoping to meet a native shaman and
maybe stay on a reservation for a while and learn their spiritual path, he
told me that there was an “Earth Dance” going on that weekend, that he
would drive me there later and that I could camp no problem! Guess where I was
around 6.00 pm?
Heading for a place called Cornville, where the Dance
was taking place. There I met Yellow Bird, who is in charge of the Earth Dance
and received his welcome and permission to stay. There were about 4 teepees
and a number of ordinary tents around and I was allocated a space in the large
teepee. The hills and ground in this area are very red, due to iron oxide it
seems.
The same evening, only half an hour after arriving, I
was sitting in my first sweat lodge getting hotter and hotter. I had met
Gregg, who filled me in as to the details about what happens. The sweat lodge,
which is round, is made of a network of flexible braches tied together over
which is thrown a covering like canvas.
One enters on all fours, stopping at the entrance to
ask permission to enter. Each person enters and circles around in a clockwise
manner, sitting in a circle around a central hole in the ground. Much chanting
of native songs is done during the sweat. Red hot rocks are brought in from a
fire outside, carried on antlers and placed into the central hole. One is
encouraged to think of our ancestors as being temporarily inside the rocks as
they are brought in and this is reflected in some of the chants. Various herbs
are offered onto the rocks and then water is poured over them, creating of
course much steam. After some time, the door is opened and more rocks are
brought in and the process repeated. Thus one does up to four "doos"
during the sweat. At any time, if a person feels the heat is too much, they
may request to leave and are allowed to do so with no implied criticism. I
have given only a few details of the sweat for my readers. It is by no means a
complete description. It must be done under the supervision of an experienced
practitioner and guide in order to learn all the details.
The next two days were spent doing native dances
appropriate to the Earth Dance, which is a dance for peace and universal
brotherhood and is totally positive in its goals and aims. It is different
from the Sun Dance, which has a quite different purpose. During these two
days, I did two more sweats and prayer dancing and on the fourth day we had a
closing ceremony and began to break camp. I stayed a total of 5 days, helping
Yellow Bird to clear everything up and realized I had made new friends and
brothers and sisters. Such a wonderful sense of sharing!
Also present were two native grandmothers, Angela, a
Navaho and Margarita from Mexico and a grandfather Martin, a Hopi. Interesting
spiritual people, but more about them soon. J
All the Hopis and Navahos that I have met are
wonderful, friendly people. At the Earth Dance, everyone hoped that the
location in Cornville would become a permanent location for such spiritual
celebrations and a place where Yellow Bird could live. However, all that
changed with the arrival of the police following complaints from the neighbors
about drumming noise after dark. So although apparently the neighbors had been
approached before hand, the actual reality proved to be too much. So now a
search is on for a new place. Everyone had to get out ASAP after the
event
finished, since the owner now wanted to sell the place and get somewhere else
also. The owners are two very nice people who had given permission for the
free event on their land.
Yellow Bird has the responsibility for most of the
stuff and has an old school bus and a van to transport it all. Three smaller
teepees at least, plus a big teepee and all the poles etc and equipment for
making sweat lodges, outdoor kitchens and a shower for visitors etc., makes a
big load. His wife (Carmen, originally from Mexico) and their little girl,
Zana completes a really wonderful and loving family. I have been praying
for him to
find some land and a permanent place to live and conduct his ceremonies. It
all reminds me of my old plans for a retreat center on Salt Spring Island in
Canada.
Quite a few of the Earth Dance participants are
Mexican, having driven all the way up from Mexico just for this dance.
24th Oct. 2002:
We have almost finished breaking camp and cleaning up.
Once again, I have no idea where to go! Let’s see what the Divine Mother has
in store for me next!
PS: Sleeping in a dusty teepee with acrid fumes from a
wood fire in the center has been a challenge at times, not the least of which
was a cold draft of air sucked past my head from the outside by the rising air
in the middle and exiting via a hole in the top of the teepee.
After midday, after a special closing ceremony for the
land, given by Grandmother Marguerita from Mexico, we all went to enjoy some
food at one of the participants’ houses nearby.
"You are welcome to stay in my RV tonight if
you
have nowhere to stay", was the offering from Theresa, a spunky lady
from
Florida, who has a big 4WD truck. She is guided by her spirit guides
constantly
and had been moved to make the offer.
"I am likely to accept the offer, are you
sure?”
was my reply, to which she answered in the
affirmative.
Sunday, 27th Oct. 2002:
I have been at Theresa's in an RV park for
three
days now. We have helped Yellow Bird and Carmen to move their stuff back to
the same location where they wintered last year near Cottonwood, which is my
current location about 20 miles from Sedona. Here I also met Rob. He is trying
to set up a new age community in the area and also sells some specially
charged
water which they claim has the formula H6O. I have drunk some and it tastes
fine, however I can't report on any effects on me yet.
Everyone here is a character! Rob used to be the 5th
best rodeo rider in the world and has many healed broken bones to prove it. So
he is a real cowboy and very nice too! Now he is mostly in touch with his
spirit guides, having been through a number of near death experiences. There
is a sense of urgency around here to get this idea of spiritually oriented
communities off the ground and running.
I also met Christina Isobel, called Isa by her
friends, originally from Montreal!!! She
even knows Marilyn Rossner, my old channeling and mediumship teacher there.
Theresa of course was blown away by all the memories we had in common. She
even used to work for CHOM-FM in Montreal at the time when I had my own radio
program on interpreting dreams spiritually! Today, we turn the clocks back an
hour, right? Not in Arizona! We got caught when we went to a Unity church and
arrived just at the end of the service! Last night, Theresa took me to a
Halloween party where I met my host Dan, who channels Elvis Presley, and John
SilverBirch, a local sculptor, whose works looks really very good to my
untrained eye. His bronze statues and busts include jobs for people like Billy
Graham and Robert Schuller. We ended up doing some Karaoke singing using Dan's
home based system and had a lot of fun. We still need to haul
some
more wood from the Earth Dance site to Yellow Bird’s new location, but put
it off till Monday so we could go and meditate in one of the vortexes. I did
get a voice speaking to me in a language I don’t know, but cold air and some
rain showers, combined with a setting sun, decided us to try again another
day.
29th Oct. 2002:
I just remembered last Tuesday we all went on
excursions to spiritual sites. Some went to some caves, which involved wading
across a river up to the waist and the other 5 people, myself included decided
to go to “Montezuma’s Well”, a misnamed deep depression in the ground,
enclosing a small lake and some very old cliff dwellings. The native people
used to use this site for spiritual ceremonies, although the signposts erected
by the National Park and Forest service, which controls the area now, indicate
only an ancient dwelling place. There are 5 of us. Grandmother Angela, a
medicine woman and elder of the Dineh tribe of the Navaho nation. She suffers
from Parkinson’s disease, but that doesn’t stop her from being a fun
person and most loving. The well is maybe 400 yards across and 200 yards deep,
with water at its base about 50 feet deep.
The rest of the party was myself and two ladies from Texas, who had
brought 2 Native American flutes with them, and Shana, the mother of Yellow
Bird and a great source of information to me. We left Angela at the top with
one lady with her flute and the rest of us went down to the lake. There we saw
the ruins of a very old dwelling, which, I was told also contained an
underground birthing bath of water, fed from the constant stream of water from
the well, which flows through the rock to the outside and used to irrigate the
ancient fields which fed the natives. However, we weren’t allowed to go in
to see for ourselves. Going beyond the end of the “official” concrete
path, we went to the edge of the water and performed a native ceremony and
chanted and then played the flutes, each one answering the other. Very nice!
It is believed that the original occupants were Nagawa and Anastazi Indians
about 1000 years ago.
When we got back to the top, Grandmother Angela had a
big smile on her face. We had suggested before descending into the well, that
maybe they would like to put a hat on the ground and play the flute. Well,
there was money in the hat! Angela really looked the part and very Navaho and
some tourists had asked to take her picture and donated into the hat. J
Then we all descended the outside trail to where the
water exits from the rock into a channel for irrigation and went to where an
official sign incorrectly indicates “End of Trail” J
We tasted the water, which was really good, filled our water bottles and
played our flutes to a constant flow of tourists. I suggested to Grandmother
Angela that we once again put out the hat and play our flutes, while she
chanted something in Navaho for the tourists, such as a shopping list! J
However, we thought what if some University professor tapes it and then after
returning to the university and having it translated, discovers what we had
been singing. J
This made Grandmother Angela laugh so much that she couldn’t keep a straight
face from then on and so we abandoned “stalking” the tourists (a la Carlos
Castenada’s books).
Suddenly, I smelled a beautiful scent in the air;
clear and very subtle. It was very real to me, but not sensed by the others.
The natives know that the well was used for spiritual purposes, not just as a
place to live (as tourists are told) and now I know. It is a place of power
and really shouldn’t be used as a tourist attraction in my humble opinion.
Instead it should be reserved for serious spiritual practices only, at
least the part where we were. After our visit was over, we drove to the
Yavapai-Apache casino for a meal. This is my first visit to any casino, but I
noticed that there were no roulette wheels or croupiers, just machines like
one arm bandits. In California and Arizona, at least, native American Indians
are generating significant amounts of money with these casinos, which are on
their land and at least in this area, so I am told, the money is being put to
very good use by them.
Wed. Oct 30th, 2002:
I have been at Theresa’s RV now for 5 days. Everyone
I meet seems to be well informed on many aspects of spirituality. As one
person put it, everyone is a teacher and there are no students. J
Last night, at Dee’s place in Sedona, we did a Tuesday night meditation for
World Peace and Healing with Mary, Dee, Theresa and myself, which was very
nice. Dee is talking about projects that go on after Christmas! Next week
there will be more people, which is encouraging to a monk who has failed
dismally in the area of setting up new groups! I am writing this at a Roman
Catholic chapel at “Chapel Rock”. Later we will meditate at one of the
vortexes. This chapel is very small and the tourists make it impossible to do
any meditation here. J
Thu. 31st Oct, 2002:
Yesterday I walked with Theresa up to the airport
mesa, which is supposed to be a vortex also. I had not realized that they
actually have the airport up there! Sedona is at 4000 feet above sea level, so
the airport is at least another 500 feet higher. I tried to meditate deeply
but the aircraft just overhead combined with my interest in aircraft and
flying pretty much nixed that. J
Going to another Halloween party tonight! At least I don’t have to put on a
costume and am now quite used to being called a pumpkin. J
Also just received an e-mail from my Doctor friend in LA, who reminded me of
an invitation to stay for a few days and meet his friend in mid November.
Well, I guess God moves too fast for such long term planning. Certainly, I am
now used to planning no more than one day ahead, if that even.
Nov. 3rd, Sunday:
Yesterday, I went by car with Sakhina, a long time
resident of Sedona and part Choctaw-Cherokee and her friend Gina to visit the
Hopi tribe about 180 miles north of here. It took about 4 hours to get there,
driving through part of the vast Navaho reservation to get to the Hopi one.
Sakhina has a very large collection of memorabilia including dolls from many
TV shows and other collectibles. I feel that she too is a medicine woman,
although they are reluctant apparently to admit it. We went to visit with
Roanna and Lewis, Hopi friends of Theresa and many others and also to see
Grandfather Martin, a well-known Hopi elder who I saw at the Earth Dance.
Roanna doesn’t live high on the Mesa like many do,
but has a medium-sized single story house made of cinder blocks, heated by a
wood stove. It is cozy and warm and has that welcoming feeling to it. She is
about 5 feet nothing and very nice, gentle and kind. Their family often make
Kachina dolls for sale to support the family. These dolls represent spirits to
the Hopi and each (of very many) is well known to children as well as adults.
These Kachina are part of their religious beliefs and are very beautifully and
carefully made, carved in wood and painted. (Photos to follow). The Navaho
also make them, but my preference is the Hopi ones.
Later, Gina and I went up a very steep road to the top
of the Mesa, where an old Hopi village is and there they were having a
“Basket” dance. We had to climb up a ladder onto the roofs of the houses
in order to see the activities in a square below. Here about 60 women were
slowly dancing in a circle. Around them and on the roofs everywhere were many
Hopis, all happy and clearly enjoying themselves. I could not take photos,
because we had signs everywhere saying “No Pictures”. I assumed that some
tourists had been obnoxious or something in the past, but when checking with
those in the know, I was told that it was far worse than that. Some tourist
had taken pictures of some Kachina dolls and turned them into a comic strip!
Ughh! What some people will do.
The women were wearing black dresses and tops, with a
kind of thick shawl in beige with a red band, top and bottom. As the dancers
circled, several other women wearing some feathers, perhaps representing birds
and looking more like warriors, threw lots of items from big baskets into the
crowd.
The people scrambled to catch them, but once a person
had one and said “mine”, the others let go and went back to waiting for
the next one. I even saw a person, who had caught several items, stacking them
up behind himself and turning back to the center. Such honesty and trust!
Yeah! It seemed to me that the dance was not a religious one exactly, but was
more to do with the abundance of the Divine Mother. The prizes I saw included
washing baskets, toilet paper and all kinds of things for the house.
While we were watching the dance (the 6th
and final one for that day apparently), we met several Hopis, one of whom
introduced himself as a poet who had been published in Readers Digest.
I was impressed with how friendly and relaxed the
people are and naturally so it seemed. I also noticed that the dogs never
barked at us and when I petted them, they attached themselves to me with great
enthusiasm. I later verified that the Hopi keep their dogs outside but never
pet them like the whites do. Hence their enthusiasm. We were so late leaving
Roanna’s that our visit with Grandfather Martin was limited by us to 30
minutes only out of respect and given the hour. The drive back was long but
uneventful. We arrived back around 12.30 am and guess who slept like a log!
Nov 4th, 2002:
Last Friday evening, I visited an ashram near Sedona,
run by a woman Guru, in her late fifties I would guess. There were 4 female
residents and one visiting male who were given diksha or initiation into
Sannyas that night. This means he took vows and became a monk in the Hindu
tradition. They all use English spiritual names and although there appears to
be limited knowledge of the Hindu traditions and practices, their goals are
very high, aiming for God consciousness, as is the goal of all who practice
truly any kind of Yoga. Their studies include those of Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj, the Swami Venkatesananda’s Yoga Vashista translation and others,
which are very advanced texts. The Guru insisted on Donating some money, a
t-shirt and an orange backpack with wheels, which item I had thought about
whilst on the road 2 weeks before! She invited me to stay for a couple of
weeks and we discussed my helping the ashram with some carpentry and
electronic repairs to their amplifier.
The newly initiated Swami will soon leave for his old
home soon and I wondered what they would feel about having 5 women and one
male visiting swami in the same house together, since we had just met and my
order is different from theirs. Since I couldn’t go over immediately due to
obligations elsewhere, I had to wait until today, Monday, to verify my
availability. So I wasn’t too surprised when during a call to confirm our
arrangements, excuses were made about their being a contemplative order and
that during a meeting over the weekend, “they” had decided I had talked
more than they were used to during the “channeling” period of the previous
visit. However, later during our conversation, their guru touched on what I
feel is closed to the real reason. Although I am known for talking a lot,
believing in communication, she mentioned that some people talk when there is
a lot of energy present and this can lead to the energy translating to sexual
energy. So here it is, cloistered people, unable or afraid to deal with what
may and would eventually arise naturally, especially with intensive meditation
and movement of the Kundalini energy.
Note to students on the path: Expect it to happen,
deal with it and go through it. Eventually it becomes a non-issue as ones
interests turn exclusively to God consciousness and the realization that
nothing in this world leads to real happiness or is permanent.
So after our Tuesday evening meditation tomorrow, I
head out on Wednesday morning into God’s future once again. Yesterday, I had
an interesting experience whilst walking around a labyrinth made of stones at
the Sedona Unity Church. I had asked God if my intentions were correct, etc.
and the image I surprisedly received was one of Saint Francis of Assisi giving
me several thumbs-up signs with both hands! Go figure. J
God bless us all and may we all find the joy,
Happiness and Peace of the Divine light and the Divine Life.
Swami NadaBrahmananda Saraswati.