Just Getting Started

I had never been to New York City before, or submitted a resume, or worked in an office, or wore a tie to work. I had never even lived away from home. But here I was a long way from home, across the continent. And how much further Rama was about to send my awareness was immeasurable and unpredictable. Fortunately I had a mentor, though I had had only talked to her on the phone a few times until I got off the Greyhound Bus in Manhattan, who did a lot to prepare me for the encounter with Rama. In retrospect I can now clearly see how fortunate I was to have had such an influential and caring mentor. Meeting Rama would not have been as life-changing as it was if my mentor did not take the time to clue me in on some of the basic preparation involving fashion, exercise, hygiene and meditation. One of the last things I remember Rama saying to all his students was, “If you haven’t learned anything else in this incarnation, at least you learned how to dress!”

It was hard at the time to see what was transforming within me because at the time so much was transforming all around me. It was challenging living on my own away from home, finding my way around New York, going to computer school, working full time and going to Rama’s final series of seminars. Looking back I can’t believe all that stuff actually happened to me. Looking back I am grateful to Rama and many of his students who saw me through the process that at the time I was not aware I was going through.

Before I got on the path I had no clue of the vast opportunities that existed both inwardly and externally. Becoming a student of Rama’s is literally like having light illuminate the darkness. And yet the challenge has just begun. Today I am starting on my journey wondering:

Who is Rama?
What is this meditation business?
What is this dharma I hear so much about?

And still at times it as if the entire earth is covered in darkness and I am a hopeless lost soul. But then Rama’s radiant light reveals the simple truth that enlightenment is doable if you work really hard at it. I cannot think of anything else that is more worthy of gratitude.

-- Dave H.