Meeting with a Saint
By Tonya Foust Mead

October 5, 2007, I had my very first experience with meeting a Saint. H.H. Shri Dhekane Maharaj in Ashburn, Virginia has traveled throughout the world to expound the virtues of Siddha Yoga (Mahha Yoga) to its inhabitants.

After arriving to the proper address, our spiritual guide asked us to regard the setting as sacred, to be present in the here and now by purifying our minds, to open our hearts for a deeper understanding of message we were about the hear from the Saint.

Upon entering the home of the host, we were asked to take our shoes off (according to Hindu tradition, negative energies are collected in the soles of shoes). My spiritual guide also knelt down to say a prayer again. I followed her lead. 

Next, I noticed that my guide asked the host if she might stay in the background. What for? I pondered silently. My guide was experiencing menses (according to Hindu tradition, menses is a means by which the body is purified).

After the spiritual aspirants presented various gifts to the Saint (flowers, incense, and fruit), the host (a former partner of the largest management consulting firm in the world) the Saint begin to give a discourse on meditation, led us in a meditative session and entertained our questions.

Although, it seemed that there may have been a few skeptics in the audience, overall, everyone was reverent to the Saint showing respect for his presence and his message.

The Breath is Spirit

The primary message of the Saint was that Siddha Yoga is superior to other Yoga. The Saint presented a brief discourse on the advantages of Siddha Yoga path (it is the cheapest, simplest, and most natural). Additional reasons follow:

1.    It is universal. Anyone can follow it. It is the simplest and cheapest form of Yoga to practice.

To practice Siddha Yoga, one should (a) find a sacred place in one’s home, (b) practice meditation for 10-15 minutes per day, (c) meditate in the same space at the same time, (d) breath in a relaxed position, (e) the aspirant should engage in automatic, involuntary breathing, and (f) to focus on automatic breathing should the mind begin to wonder.

2.    It is based upon the principle of involuntary breathing.

3.    Once an aspirant has controlled his breath, he can control and obtain profound energy (Prana).
4.    Prana or life force is the religion of the entire world. Without breath, life would not be sustainable.

As a westerner, new to Eastern traditions, I needed further explanation of the statement of breath as spirit. Perhaps having predetermined the cynical nature of neophytes in the audience, the Saint presented the following example:

Once there was an argument among the organs within the body. They disagreed about who had the most preeminent power among them. The eyes claimed, ‘Man can not enjoy the beauty of the world without eyes. Without eyes life would be gloomy.’ The ears countered, ‘ If man can not hear the melodious chirping of birds and orchestral sound reverberating to one’s very soul, then one would greatly miss the charm of life.’ ‘No, no,’ shouted the skin, ‘Without the pleasant sensations experienced by the tough of the skin, life would be very dull indeed. The tongue hissed, ‘To relish the taste of different foods and wine, my presence is an absolute must.’ Not to be dismissed, the nose jeered, ‘I am the most important organ, without my help, man can not enjoy the fragrance of different perfumes and flowers.’

Finally the Prana (breath) interrupted them all. He thundered in an authoritative voice, ‘Hey you guys can carry on without end. While you continue your debate though, he said, I’m just going out for about half an hour.’ Once the Prana (Life Force) started to leave the body, all of the organs began to lose their strength. The eyes started to dim, the ears failed to hear, the skin could not feel the tough, the tongue lost its ability to taste and the nose, its sense of smelling. In a split second they realized their mistake and asked the Life Force (Prana) not to desert them.

From this story, the Saint indicated that it was evident that Prana is the only supreme principle in life.

5.    Chanting God’s name is the worship of the Prana.

To illustrate the potency of chanting, the Saint provided the following story:

One day, a person named John died. The whole family was viewing the body during the wake. All of a sudden, a toddler around 5 years old, went to his mom. ‘Hey mom,’ he said, ‘Why are you crying? John  is still here, he is lying right there, can’t you see him.’ No,’ replied his mother, ‘John is not now in his body, John has left us.’

This account describes the phenomena that man attaches to one’s name which equals Supreme Consciousness and/or Life Force. The name then is not attached to the body. For man’s true form is Consciousness, which resides in our bodies with different names. Hence, chanting a holy name is in essence the worship of God or Supreme Consciousness.

6.    As the aspirant becomes more comfortable with chanting, the Yoga’s mind and speech/chanting become merged into the Life Force.

As an example, the Saint pointed out that ‘Yoga’ means the cessation of the mind’s tendency to produce racing thoughts, erratic thoughts, and thoughts that lead to unintelligent behaviors.  As one’s breath becomes more controlled, the Saint posited that controlling the mind was no longer necessary. With slow breathing, the negative tendencies of the mind will stop naturally or automatically.

7.    The aspirant must submit totally to the will of the Supreme Consciousness. In so doing, he is less bound by the will of his body and his mind.

8.    Awakening the Spirit represents the most powerful weapon to thwart the negative imprints of past misdeeds and to reduce the pull of negative habits.

Finally, I could conclude that meeting with this Saint was very worthwhile. Approaching mid-life, this visit was the first and perhaps the last time I could expect to see a Saint face-to-face in such an intimate sitting. On the downside, at the close of the presentation, I expressed to the Saint’s consul, my enthusiasm and sincere desire to follow the Siddha Yoga’s path. He immediately referred me to a small pamphlet outlining the stringent rules (refrain from consumption of alcohol, meat, tobacco). As the only American in the room amidst aspirants of Indian descent, I couldn’t help but wonder why in all of the written materials and literature there was a constant statement that anyone could become an aspirant of Siddha Yoga,  irrespective of differences of race, religion, nationality, caste, creed, sex, age, rich or poor, etc…’

Dr. Mead, PhD, MBA, MA www.ishareknowledge.com is a consultant specializing in human behavior, school and social psychology. She can be contacted at: tonya@ishareknowledge.com