The Magic Happens ...

I've just been to a great talk by my teacher Maharaji (Prem Rawat). It was a great few days of learning for me. For one thing the event was announced at very short notice so I had two days to get there or not.

My head kicked in with all the reasons why this was too little time for me to get there. The questions came up - How would I juggle things? Why was the notice period so short?
Then the moaning - It's not fair! This is just too much to expect. I don't like to be rushed And what about the guys pulling this together how will they do it in time.

My head decided that the whole thing was too much for it and settled into a sulky "I'm not going and that's that" stand off.

My heart moved my hands to the computer and reserved a seat just in case my mind changed. Then by chance I spoke to one of the guys organising it and was he concerned? NO! "Ah just let the magic happen and it will all come together", he said.

I thought about that and saw that I was so in my own way. The river was flowing and I was letting my thoughts strand me on the dry rock in the middle safely and miserably out of the flow. I decided to get out of my own way. The flow started. Another telephone call offering all sorts of easy solutions, travel with good friends, accommodation for all of us in another friend's house. We went and had a marvellous time.

As he spoke Maharaji talked about illusion and the tremendous power illusion has to seem so real. How does the illusionist pull off a stunt? With clever distraction. The illusions in life are no different and what stunts are we not noticing? What are we allowing to distract us?

So short notice or perfect timing? I can only love what is and in this case the timing couldn't have been better as it allowed me to shed another set of concepts. What a gift to have been given. I was only saying a few weeks ago that I was finding training for Byron Katie's The Work tough going as I was running out of issues to work on. Boy did I find a few issues when the comfort zone of planning, of thinking I could know for sure what the next week would bring, was removed. I found the illusion that life can be known beyond the moment was shattered and the distraction of diaries, plans and arrangements are just ideas of what might happen but might or might not have any bearing on the reality of what is happening.

It was even fun to see my mind run riot again. That hasn't happened for a long time and thankfully an ego based sulk couldn't hold up against a heart that has been fulfilled, strengthened, expanded and bathed in bliss by the simplicity of Maharaji's teaching time after time after time.

The whole experience reminded me too of something Maharaji said some time ago - the ability to be in touch with the heart is no different to eating. It has to be done every day. You can't eat and then say that's fine, I've eaten now I never have to eat again. No every day the food has to be ingested and every day connection has to be made with the heart. A day skipped is a day spent hungry.

I'm grateful now to have experienced the hunger and the filling in the space of yet another 24 hours on planet Earth.