I should warn the reader that this blog is going to get weirder and weirder as I get more into the experiential side of things. At the moment I am simply laying the foundation and setting the context.
Having said that, I shall continue. My contracting of narcolepsy had greater ramifications for not just myself, but my parents as well. They had always been interested in spirituality. My father had been a personal friend of the sage Paul Brunton, whose early books 'A Search in Secret India' and 'A Search in Secret Egypt' inspired many to take up the spiritual path, and my mother for a long time wanted to enter a nunnery. Anyway, seeing me fall prey to such a debilitating disorder was very upsetting, and led them to some kind of spiritual soul searching. Consequently they ended up going to visit an Indian guru visiting the city. Inspired by this, they and soon myself started visiting the local ashram of this particular guru.
As part of this spiritual organisation there was a magazine, offering articles about various Hindu spiritual topics. One of these was about the shrine of the founder, located in the main ashram in India. In this article the healing properties of visiting this shrine were mentioned. This captured the attention of my parents, who hoped it might be what I needed. It wasn't long before the three of us were on our way to India.
Going to India and visiting an ashram was quite a novel experience for a ten year old. I had a great time. I don't really remember much about what happened when I went to sit in the shrine. My parents tell me that I fell asleep leaning against the wall, and reported that a bright light came to me. It is one of those early memories I will have to take their word for, as I can no longer recall it. Anyway, no miraculous healing took place. We ended up staying there for about two months during the monsoon season. It was a lucky time as we had daily contact with the guru and there were only a handful of people living there. (Now it is humungous). F
From this period onwards, I lived a kind of double life. On the one hand I was a semi-normal junior high school kid who attended top private schools in my city. Or I should say a kid who did his best to seem as normal as possible. Only the teachers knew about my sleep disorder. The meds which I gulped down during recess and lunch did a pretty good job of ensuring that I was functional. At the same time, I was a regular visitor to the ashram in my city, practicing meditation, chanting, yoga and studying the scriptures. The two worlds never crossed into one another.
About my academic abilities. I have always been good at the Arts. I used to love history, especially ancient history, and was good at English. Science and maths were my weak points, however. I never had a great mind for numbers. I think this may have something to do with difficulty concentrating and remembering. I was always happier writing essays than learning formulas. In high school, I managed to get out of maths, physics and chemistry altogether. The sciences I did like and engage in were the less numerical ones such as biology and geography. These I went well in.
So two or three times a week my parents and I would visit the ashram and participate in the evening programs. I had gotten used to the hypnagogic experiences and sleep attacks. We visited the ashram in India many times throughout my teenage years. When the rest of my school friends were going on summer camping trips and going to the beach, I was often in India working in the ashram, chanting, meditating etc. On one visit, the guru said to my parents about me that I should contact the Australian aborigines, and that they could heal me....
to be continued...
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