Full Circle

October 2006

Hilton's Story

Chapter 22  Mount Meru

The black Mercedes turned onto a long drive through what seemed like a park lined with tall trees ending at a large home overlooking the river. It stopped and when Natara opened the door a servant appeared to  usher them into the cool shade of the house. As their eyes became accustomed to the dark they found themselves in a large living room filled with antique and valuable furniture. Colorful wall paintings showed Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. In a corner a picture of the elephant headed Ganesha was grouped with another of Muruga, the sons of Shiva and Pavarti. Small statues of Hindu gods stood on tables and in wall cabinets. Natara explained that many of the works depicted Shiva and Shakti in various forms and she was particularly proud of a lovely statute about a metre high of Pavarti in her most beautiful form. Hilton was struck by the similarity of the appearance of Parmi to the features of the statue and he noticed she smiled graciously toward her husband when he talked about it.

    The servant brought tea and they sat on a veranda gazing over the garden toward the river. “I gather that you and Kay have studied the Tantric traditions to achieve enlightenment then,” said Natara.

    “We have had some very peculiar experiences on this trip,"  said Kay, " but I don’t know what enlightenment really is and so cannot say that we are using Tantra to achieve it. We are having a great deal of pleasure from it and it has brought us so close together that I feel I am Hilton sometimes.”

    “Perhaps you can describe enlightenment”, added Hilton.

    “It is difficult to define,” answered Natara. “Men have searched for it since time began and many gurus and yogis have tried to define it. The Buddha Sakyamuni thought he had found enlightenment and preached his sutras for many years. Buddhism has spread to many countries. It tells us that enlightenment is knowledge but a very special kind of knowledge called prajna wisdom, leading to liberation from all the problems of the human condition. Buddhists equate enlightenment with Nirvana or the extinction of suffering. Other religious orders have similar goals but approach it from other directions.”

    “We have been led to believe that Nirvana is the end of the samsara existence of birth, death and rebirth”, said Hilton. “Is reincarnation a reality or is it a myth?”

    Natara looked out on the garden for a long time before replying. “The human state is the apex of God’s creation up to this time. The human spirit longs for continuation and fears death. Since the beginning humans have believed that they continue in some form after the pain of death. They have created and worshipped gods to help them and give them hope that at sometime there will be a reward for the suffering of life. Only the gods know for sure what the fate of any human being will be and if they are reborn into another form after each death. I cannot give you an answer to that question. Sorry!”

    “We do know that enlightenment leads to tranquility and helps people to cope with the pain and stress of life. Usually it is a temporary state but highly sought after in many ways. Yogis and monks practice meditation and sacrifice to achieve it. Some monks live their lives in remote temples in constant meditation and discomfort to focus their minds in the hope of obtaining prajna wisdom.”

    “We have practiced Tantra to achieve enlightenment”, said Kay. “Is it a valid method? We have certainly achieved moments when we felt in harmony with all the world.”

    “Tantra is the method that Parmi and I use to achieve moments of enlightenment,” said Natara. “We are not the types who like to meditate or suffer unduly and we love to be with each other when we reach prajna. We share our experience as if we are one person.”

    Kay and Hilton spoke together saying it was what they do, too.

    Natara then said, “I thought I saw it in your hearts. Parmi and I have an exercise we use and perhaps you can join us after dinner. It will be a great honour to share it with you.”

    As the shadows lengthened into late evening the servant brought four white robes made of the finest silk and Parmi indicated that they were to be worn during the exercise. She said that it is important to wear loose fitting garments that do not restrict the body. Kay and Hilton were shown to a chamber and asked to prepare themselves by cleansing and changing into the new clothes. Parmi and Natara did the same in another room.

    They entered aanother room that seemed to be a shrine with pictures of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva placed on an alter lit by candles. Pictures of their consorts Saraswati, Lakshmi and Pavarti were placed nearby and several small statues of the gods in other forms were placed on stands around the room. Low benches, arranged in a tight circle where a large white lotus blossom floated in a bowl in the centre. Natara indicated that they were to sit on the benches facing the lotus blossom and when they were comfortable the servant brought in sweet smelling incense.

    Natara asked them to join hands and focus their minds on the lotus blossom to begin the meditation. Their heads were very close together and Hilton could sense Parmi’s steady breathing and felt her breath entering and leaving his body. Natara began to chant a mantra that consisted of a series of words spoken in a long rhythmic sequence. Parmi joined in the chant and then Kay felt impelled to say it. Hilton concentrated on the lotus blossom and soon found he was chanting Natara’s mantra. The atmosphere in the room became charged with energy as the candles flickered making the lotus blossom appear to move as if on waves in the bowl.

    The evening became night. At some point Hilton felt an extremely pleasant sensation below his spine and his mind shifted from the lotus blossom to his spine at which moment the sensation stopped. He returned concentration to the lotus blossom and the sensation began again and suddenly with a roar like that of a waterfall a stream of liquid light entered his brain through his spinal chord. The illumination grew brighter and brighter and the roaring louder spreading outward from his body until he became conscious only of the light and he drifted into the immaterial world beyond the chamber or the house. His expanse of light encountered another and then two others and the four became one enveloping the consciousness of Kay, Parmi and Natara as they drifted among the spheres of the universe. A figure appeared and they knew somehow that it was Kama, the god of love. The lights that were Natara and Parmi separated from Kay and Hilton and flashed out of sight but Kama took them in his care and guided them on their journey.

    They drifted higher and higher until the earth appeared like a lotus flower floating in a shallow circular vessel. The seven petals spread out as seven divisions of the world and in the centre rising higher and higher appeared Mount Meru, the home of Brahma, the creator with Saraswati the goddess of learning and beauty. Mount Meru, its roots in hell, its summit is in heaven is surrounded by seven rings of golden mountains themselves each in a circular ocean. Northward they saw Mount Kailasa and the gold throne of Lord Shiva and westward Mount Suparswa, the paradise of Lord Vishnu. The source of the sacred Ganges gushed from a city known as Brahmaputra near the three horned mountains, Meru, Spuarswa and Kailasa deep in the Himalayas far from the world of ordinary mortals. As they drifted over the Ganges and the oceans below they saw teaming life forms furiously swimming in different directions, struggling to find something that could not be seen. Kama, sensing their confusion communicated that they were the living energies of sentient beings in the bardo state looking for Nirvana but most must return to the samsara world. He pointed to the land called Shambhala, shaped like an eight-petalled lotus flower that forms the gateway between the physical and spiritual realms, the goal of enlightened souls that are almost ready for Bhuddhahood.

    Kama led them to the foot of the golden throne of Lord Shiva and sitting on the throne was Natara and beside him Pavarti who they knew as Parmi. Somehow it did not seem strange to find their hosts in this place and they bowed their heads in recognition. Pavarti is also Shatki because there is no Shiva without Shatki. The spirit of Hilton sensed that there could be no him without Kay and the reverse was true. They were able to see far into the past and observed their spirits in different lives in which they somehow came together in one form or another. Kama would not let them look into the future although from the height of Mount Meru everything is visible; there is no beginning and no end. Time is a continuum moving back and forth like the pendulum of the clock whose hands move eternally round and round and back to the same place. The seven petals of the universal lotus continue to circle about Mount Meru under the polar star that does not move.

    All this took place while they were in the brilliant light of their kundalini energy and they marveled at the things that were shown to them. Eventually in the distant east a glow began to appear and Kama took them back to the world below. Their lights extinguished and they lay in their bed asleep.

    The sound of birds outside the window wakened Hilton and as he opened his eyes he saw Kay’s beautiful face with a strange look in her eyes. He sat, looked around, saw he was in their hotel room and the memory of the last evening flooded into his head. “How did we get here?” he asked Kay. “We were with the Indian couple at their home the last I remember.”

    “Yes, that is what I remember too,” said Kay groggily. “I had the most remarkable dream. We were together floating over a place called Mount Meru.”

    “I had a dream too,” Hilton said quickly and proceeded to describe it to Kay. She filled in details and it was apparent that they had the same dream. Hilton looked around for the clothes he knew he had worn yesterday and found them carefully hung in the closet. He also found a white silk robe, the robe he had worn at the house last night. Kay’s clothing and robe were also in the room hung carefully in the closet.

    “Could we have been drugged and brought here by the servant?” he asked. “I don’t feel anything like a hangover.” Kay concurred that she felt fine and refreshed after the nights sleep. They decided that first thing this morning they would drive to the home of Natara to return the silk robes and find out what had happened and how they got to the hotel.

    During breakfast they talked about the memories of their dreams and found that in every detail they had been in the same dream. This was more than Hilton could accept as a practical man of science. Kay was more accepting and wondered if it was an extension of the experience of the sacraments in the Kamakshi temple. India is a land of mystery and mysticism she said.

    They carefully packed the white robes and called for a car. Hilton was sure he remembered the road to the house in the park and they set off to find it. As they passed the temples the sun was glistening off the highest tower and he turned down the road that the Mercedes had used. A few miles further they came to the gate and the driveway through the trees. The gate was open but an attendant stopped them to say the park was not open yet. Hilton insisted that they had to see the owner of the house on urgent business. The attendant looked at him strangely and said there is no house in the park but that he could drive in and see if he wished. Hilton started the car and drove down the lane, it looked familiar and the trees were the same as he had seen yesterday but when they came to a parking lot at the end of the lane there was no house.

    “I’m sure this is the place," he said. “What is going on? I’m going back, maybe we made a wrong turn somewhere.”

    They drove for another hour but didn’t find anything that looked familiar. In shocked silence parked at the ancient temples and walked to the place where they had met Natara and Parmi. “Maybe they will come back today and we can get to the truth of what happened”, commented Hilton. No one came and as the afternoon wore on Kay became discouraged and wanted to go back to the hotel. She was nervous, hungry and upset. Hilton held her tightly and they walked back to the car where the white robes lay on the back seat.

    During supper they talked more about the strange experiences. Kay was upset and ready to return to Delhi and fly home the next day but Hilton prevailed upon her to stay for the few days as they had planned. Perhaps they would find the answer at the Buddhist shrine near Varanasi, an important museum there has many artefacts that might hold a clue to what they had seen in their dream. She agreed reluctantly to stay with him, more out of love than out of interest in the mysticism of Hinduism or Buddhism.

    The trip to Varanasi was not easy as they travelled on a crowded train through many villages to Lucknow and then along the banks of the Ganges. The hotel provided welcome relief from the heat and dust of the journey and Kay was first into the shower. Hilton looked in and saw that the shower was big enough for two so and joined her. It was the first time since the strange dream they felt in the mood to be intimate and release their tensions. Kay was very happy to let Hilton soap her thoroughly and she returned the favour with particular attention to his swelling lingam.

    After supper they looked into the transportation needed to reach Sarnath, the holiest city in India from the Buddhist perspective. When Prince Siddhartha became a monk he was called Gautama. He received enlightenment under a Bhodi tree after suffering as a yogi for seven years. He became known as Sakyamuni Bhudda and his first sermon was delivered to five old yogi friends in the Deer Park at Sarnath before travelling throughout India to preach his gospel of the middle path and the cessation of suffering. Sarnath became the main centre of Buddhism in northern India with many monasteries, temples and monuments called ‘stupas’ to remember where the Bhudda had preached. Bhuddism became important in India and throughout the east until the Moslem invasion of northern India when it was virtually stamped out by the Turkish invaders. Sarnath returned to the jungle until it was found nearly eight hundred years later.

    “There is a Museum in Sarnath where I hope we can find some answers,” Hilton said as he poured through the brochures they had found in the hotel lobby. Kay hoped they would because she was still upset about the dream.

    The next morning they joined a tour to Sarnath and were soon at the site of the Chaukhandi Stupa. The huge stone tower was built near the beginning of the Bhuddist era over two thousand years ago. They walked around the extensive grounds and saw many stupas and temples before returning to the museum, which they entered with trepidation. Inside were statues and carving that were found during excavations of the Deer Park and around Sarnath. The great Lion that is now the symbol of India and once graced the Ashokan Pillar is on display in the museum. They looked over all the documents and cases but found nothing that represented the images they saw in their dream except a statue of the god Mara whom to Buddhists is the personification of evil but who is also Kara, the god of love, the one who had taken them in their dream to Mount Meru. Hilton found it strange how a god of love could also represent evil but found a reference in some Buddhist sutras that said love is a distraction from enlightenment and that Gautama, his name before he became Buddha, had been tempted by Mara to stop him achieving enlightenment. Anything that distracts Bhuddists from the Noble Eight Fold Path is evil.

    They returned with the tour to Varanasi and their hotel disappointed that they were no wiser although they did know much more about the origins, growth and demise of Buddhism in India. They agreed to go to Calcutta the next day.

    That evening they walked through the street of Varanasi to the edge of the Ganges River. They had become familiar with the crowds of people that jostled each other in the towns of India. Many of the people were pilgrims planning to bath in the holy waters of the river. For Hindus the river water has miraculous powers and Indians dream of bathing in the river at least once in their lives. Boat-wallahs were waiting like vultures along the rivers edge offering tours on the river and tourists are sold on the idea that it is special to watch the sun rise over the river. Hilton and Kay agreed to go early the next morning, as there was plenty time before the train left for Calcutta.  

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