The Jewel in the Lotus

 "Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives that I mean to make bold withal" - Act 3, Scene 1, Romeo and Juliet

Our visitor was a banker from New York, a high-flying vice president at a Wall Street firm that is a household name.  In another life, metaphorically speaking, she had been a Reiki healer.  But that was in the past, and she was now busy juggling the demands of corporate life.  When I proposed a session of deep trance and shamanic journeying on our deck that morning, she readily agreed.  Despite the bright sunshine, there was a nip in the air.  We got a blaze going in the fire pit and settled in around it.  Aided by the soothing crackle of the flames, Gita was soon in a state of deep relaxation and extraordinary lucidity.  A giant pillar of white light, her Reiki light as she called it, manifested in her field of vision.  This was a conscious energy that would guide her for the entirety of the session.  For the first hour or so, Gita was flooded with insights on work and family issues of importance to her.  We then decided that she would attempt to retrieve memories of past lives, curious to see what would emerge.   

Image Credit: sparksofthedivine.com

Upon my cue, Gita closed her eyes and merged with her inner Reiki light.  After a few minutes of deep absorption, she looked up and in a matter-of-fact manner, began reporting what she'd seen to me.  One after the other, fragments of six lives tumbled out: Memories of a Native American youth running on a hillside with his friend, weapons hanging from his side;  a fleeting glimpse of a priest, lonely but unwavering and sincere in his devotions, high up in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church somewhere in Europe; a vision of a shaman or healer wearing a leopard skin over his head in a cave in Africa; recollections of a life as a young housemaid serving in a wealthy household in renaissance-era Italy; images of a worshipper gazing at the granite statue of a Hindu goddess in Indochina.  

In popular culture, we are most familiar with past-life regression from the work of Dr. Brian Weiss, as documented in his book Many Lives, Many Masters and other best-sellers.  However, it is Dr. Samuel Sagan who has drawn from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and other ancient Indian texts to provide an explanation for this phenomenon.   

Image Credit: vision8studio.com

As Sagan explains in his book Regression: Past-life Therapy for Here and Now Freedom, while your Karma* is responsible for the circumstances of your present life, it is your Samskaras** that are responsible for your subconscious fears, anxieties, biases and behavioral patterns.  When past-life memories do surface during regression, they are often samskaras, especially emotionally charged and frequently traumatic events, that were defining moments in that life.  For this reason, people often recollect the trauma of their own death or the loss of a loved one in regression sessions.  Such recollection is frequently cathartic and results in the healing of physical ailments or psychological issues in this life. It was interesting that in Gita's case, her recollections were mostly positive and empowering. 

Having tired of past-life memories, Gita decided to dive into her Reiki light for other insights.  After a few minutes we had the following exchange:

Gita: I see a giant lotus of glowing light. I am going towards it.

Me: What else do you see?  

Gita:  I see Brahma.  He is sitting cross-legged in the lotus.  He's inviting me to merge into the light...[after a pause] I am stepping into the light.

According to the Hindu myth of creation,  Brahma sits in a lotus that emerges from the navel of Vishnu, who is asleep, reclining on on his serpent Adisesha^.  As if in a dream, Vishnu watches Brahma create the entire material universe. By the very act of dreaming, Vishnu sustains the universe; for when Vishnu wakes from his dream, the current cycle of Creation must end. 

Was Gita now spectator to the very moment of Creation?

Image Credit: booksfact.com

A deep silence hung in the air.  It was a beautiful Pacific Northwest afternoon, with the sun casting a gentle warmth and puffy clouds grazing across the sky.   I gazed into the fire as it crackled and ate away at the logs, waiting for Gita to open her eyes.  

* karma [ˈkärmə] In Hinduism and Buddhism, the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences

** samskara [samˈskärə] According to various schools of Indian philosophy, samskaras are the subtle mental impressions left by emotionally charged thoughts, intentions and actions that an individual has experienced. Often likened to grooves in the mind, they can be considered as psychological or emotional imprints that contribute to the formation of behavioral patterns.

^ Adisesha is also known as Ananta and is said to represent Time without beginning or end