A warm welcome to Day 38 of our 40 Day Retreat 2009.
Today, the topic is Transition of Power. A transition of power from the one who was previously controlling completely into handing it over to the hands of the deserving knowing fully sure that, that transfer of power will be used responsibly and honourably.
During the Forty-Days of 1978 the entire first week of the Forty-Days was devoted to that kind of transfer of authority or power. Now I am only saying or sharing this with you, that you may appreciate your own journey. When that moment comes that you will be able to perhaps accept it and follow through with it in the best possible way because at some stage on the journey we need to experience that transfer of power.
As I told you for over two years on the journey I had been involved in practicing, bringing these qualities before me that I experienced during spiritual awakening in every possible way. In my daily life, in my meditations and in my prayer and doing so in the best way possible because my greatest interest was to experience the highest state possible for the human being. That was my desire. I wanted nothing less. Always, there was the forging on. What more can I experience, what more can I know?
I had really been blessed to be touched by a master whom I admired, loved, cherished, and felt supported by in every possible way. But in the beginning of the Forty-Days I was being asked to do something that I had to come to terms with. I told you that at the inception of the Forty-Days that the throat chakra began to be purified in a stronger way and then the voice manifested. When it came it began to tell me things that I really could not understand fully, nor to be able to accept as a result. It began to show me the secrets of the master. It began to show me, which of course I did not understand, only about a week after I could understand that being the master is what the journey is about.
Accept Master-Hood
The voice was telling me to accept master-hood, accept the idea that there is a master inside of me, of course for years I experienced some kind of power inside of me, supporting me, guiding me, loving me and taking care of me. I loved that. I was supported by a master inside for sure, but to tell me that I am that master that was very difficult to accept. It began to show me how to do the ritual of this and how I should think. I just could not understand. I struggled for an entire week with being told many things about accepting this and being told that is my destiny.
Assume the Qualities We Adore
At the end of the first week there was one point when a new awakening happened and that really made the difference and gave me the clue for the rest of these days. Of course, I loved the master very much and adored the master. And then this voice was telling me to find a quality of the master that I loved and to identify with and I did. The moment I began to assume that quality something magical happened. I can only say it is an act of grace. The moment I began to assume this quality I began to think, “Yes, I am like the master in doing this”. Suddenly I began to feel like the master. How can I ever describe that to you? That is a transition moment. I felt like I was like the master. It was not just repetition of a phrase any more, my consciousness shifted and I felt I am the master. It was sitting in a new seat. That was so magical.
All the confusion of the week went away and as I reviewed the experiences of that week I saw, “Oh my God this is what this voice was telling me!” The voice never appeared again. It was gone. It did its job, powerfully and wonderfully. I was in a different state. I did not need the voice any more. It did its job and then throughout the rest of the forty days that is how I meditated.
I chose the qualities of the master that I adored, that I loved and I started to feel like I had those qualities inside of me. I accepted the fact that I had them and I wanted to pursue them more and more. I wanted to be the master. I did not feel any kind of disrespect to the master. I felt a certain joy in doing it. I did not feel it was disservice to the master. I felt it was what the master was saying to me. As I read the words of the master I said, “My God, this is what the master is saying we should do.” I do believe that all true masters, genuine masters, want us to be like them. Not to adore them and worship them only but to be like them, to assume the qualities that we adore, to assume them and to identify with them. I do believe that there is a time when it will happen magically to us. We need to keep on seeking that moment.
Handing Over the Reins to the Assistant
I think of it like a chariot with horses where you have a driver with an assistant. The driver wants to hand over the reins to the assistant. Can you imagine the shift? Handing over the rope and the assistant a little timid because it is the first time that he or she is going to take over the ropes. Then the assistant begins to hold the rope but it is kind of strong so he or she holds the rope and when they feel that this is a little bit manageable says, “Yes I have a good grip on it”. Then the driver says, “Ok I am going to let it go. You hold very tightly.” As the assistant begins to hold a little tightly the driver lets go and suddenly the reins are in your hands.
Of course, the hands may be a little shaky at first. But when the new driver sees that it is possible to maneuver, having a few shaky experiences but ultimately holding tightly and then says, “Wow, I am holding the reins and this is beautiful!” Feeling that the main driver never left but is always there, feeling the joy of holding those reins and driving as the main driver drove. Always holding that ideal of how the main driver drove this chariot, keeping that vision ever before him or her. And finally being so masterful that there is no vision to keep but it becomes second nature. That is how the transition happens.
When we begin to assume these qualities inside and we begin to identify with them and we begin to feel them after a while there will be no need to hold the master before us all the time. These qualities are going to become second nature because they are our own. All the qualities of the masters are within us. We need to accept them and to assume them. Of course, this is a very difficult step in the beginning. I see how so many people struggle with it.
It is like being a beggar and that suddenly you are the heir of great fortune. You cannot imagine that, that could be possible; that you could have so much because you have been begging all your life. Even when they move you to a palace, you do not know how to dress, how to move and how to speak, because your life and attitude has been so much like a beggar. It takes time for you to become accustomed. It takes a lot of coaching and reminding. At some point that person who thought he or she was a beggar, suddenly begins to accept.
Of course, I have been giving you the lion story. The lion that grew up like the sheep and suddenly was awakened to his own consciousness by the bigger lion prodding and encouraging.
The Moment when we Begin to Accept our Divinity
This is where the transition of power comes. It comes in a moment in us when we have done so well and we are deserving that when we get it, we continue to discharge it honourably. It is a moment when we begin to accept, “Yes, we can be divine, we can be masterful, we can be free”. It is a time or moment that we all need to get to when you begin to feel in your spiritual practice that there is some kind of awakening of this quality; that I can be like the master, I could love like the master, my peace feels like the master, my words feel like the master, my look feels like the master and my voice sounds like the master. When we begin to identify like this and feel that it is a possibility for us, it will take us to a new domain.
Of course, this has to be practiced from a place of honour and integrity. We need to not only have the words; we need to display the true qualities that will help us to get there. The speaking, acting and thinking with integrity, all these are necessary before we can begin to feel that power within us, or being granted that power.
During the rest of the Forty-Days this is what happened. Every day I meditated on those qualities and I am so happy that I was protected from everything else. The voice told me not to look at any one. That was crucial at that point.
I said to you that these forty days happened because I did not have a master with me to explain what was happening to me. I said this was my destiny that I had to do it this way. I was protected so powerfully. I just had a few books with me and they described to me some of the things that were happening. Of course, I had the grace of the infinite. That has always been with me.
Coming out of that experience I was held completely in a place where it is impossible to use this power in any other way but for the good of humanity. It is impossible! I know when we are given the mantle of power and we are really given that mantle of power and it comes to us in fullness, that there is no other choice but to discharge it as the Universe bids. That is how all true masters are, when you look at them. They discharge this responsibility only at the will of the Universe. They have been so much in that attitude, that attitude becomes stable at the end. We will talk more about this in days to come.
My talk today was to help you to accept your divinity, help you to accept that you could be and that you are divine.
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