This is a story about an actress, and a guru or spiritual teacher. Imagine a film actress just turning forty, finding herself without a film project to work on, perhaps for the first time in her life. Picture someone like Joanna Going or Sherilyn Fenn. With time on her hands, she follows the suggestion of a friend and begins to practice Hatha Yoga, and then she learns a meditation technique. She begins to read the Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, and gradually, completely by accident, she becomes a spiritual seeker. One evening she finds herself in a serenely beautiful private home in Laguna Beach, high up in the hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A white limousine slowly drives up the long driveway, and the door opens. Out of the car emerges a tall, dark-skinned, striking figure dressed in white, a spiritual teacher who calls himself Eros, and who resembles the actor Jeff Goldblum more than a little bit.
Eros glides through the wide front doorway, accepts some gifts of flowers, and is escorted to a large room where a sofa has been placed on a raised dais. In front of the sofa is a low table, and on the table have been placed a pitcher of water, a glass, and a small clock.
With no hesitation, as though the setting is completely familiar to him, Eros slips off his sandals and settles himself upon the sofa, drawing his long legs up and crossing them so he is sitting in a half-lotus position with his right heel tucked in the top of his left thigh, and his left heel hidden under his right thigh.
He rests easily, eyes closed, while the guests find seats, quickly and quietly. Someplace, in the background, a soft melodic chant is playing, and the soothing scent of sandalwood incense wafts through the room.
He begins speaking in a soft, modulated voice, with an accent that intrigues her but that she cannot place. You have come this evening because you are seeking something, he begins. Some of you are seeking fame, wealth, power, or pleasure. Some are seeking wisdom, some are seeking youth and beauty, and some are seeking enlightenment. Regardless, you are here seeking, as you have done in the past. Only the time and place are different. I would like to tell you a story that will help you understand why you have come and what you are really seeking.
Everything in Creation, everything that you can see around you, is all part of a grand plan for our growth and evolution. This plan was put into motion a long, long time ago, long before Jesus Christ walked the earth, long before the Pyramids were built in Egypt, long before the mythical civilization of Atlantis disappeared beneath the waves, over twelve thousand years ago. The plan existed in the time of the civilization of Lemuria, or Mu, a large continent in what is now the Pacific Ocean. Lemuria is gone now, but her legacy and traditions are still alive and vibrant.
Eros' voice is quietly soothing, almost hypnotic, and she can feel herself relax and settle down, along with the rest of the audience. She almost feels a little drowsy, which is odd because she hadn't felt at all tired when she arrived.
The people of Lemuria were quite spiritually evolved, and their homeland was wild and beautiful. Why it was destroyed is not clear, and perhaps we will never understand it fully. Suffice it to say that a deep and prolonged cleansing of the land was needed, and so the continent was sunk many thousands of years ago. All that remains of Lemuria across the vastness of the Pacific Ocean are some scattered islands, including the Hawaiian Islands, and that part of California that lies to the west of the San Andreas Fault.
However, the people of Lemuria have continued to reincarnate over the centuries, seeking spiritual environments through which they could continue their growth and evolution. One such environment was the Land of the Veda, that part of Asia that encompasses India, Tibet, and the Himalayas. This is the highest ground, the most rarified air, the most spiritual environment.
It was in this environment, that Padmasambhava, a Tibetan Buddhist prophet, was born and was nourished, over 1300 years ago. His best-known prophecy speaks directly to us, for it describes what has taken place here in California for the past century. His prophecy was:
When the iron bird flies, and horses run on wheels,
The Tibetans will be scattered over the earth like ants,
And the Dharma will go to the West,
Yea, even unto the land of the Red Man.
What this prophecy means is that, at the beginning of the 20th century, when the iron bird, the airplane, began to fly, the Tibetans, protectors of the Dharma, the sacred spiritual duty, would begin to incarnate in the West, especially in America. This is why, around the turn of the century, we began to see spiritual leaders coming to America.
The first to come was Swami Vivekananda, a disciple of Shri Ramakrishna. Swami represented India and Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions, held in Chicago in 1893, where he gave a series of lectures.
Following Swami Vivekananda, Swami Paramahansa Yogananda arrived in Boston in 1920 and founded the Self-Realization Fellowship. In 1925 he established an international center for SRF in Los Angeles which became the spiritual and administrative heart of his growing work.
In 1923, Swami Prabhavananda journeyed to California to become the assistant minister of the Vedanta Society of San Francisco. In 1925 he established the Vedanta Society of Portland, and in 1930 the Vedanta Society of Southern California.
He was followed in time by many others. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi brought the Transcendental Meditation Movement in 1959. Baba Muktananda brought Siddha Yoga in the 1970s. Other great teachers who made the pilgrimage to the new world include Sathya Sai Baba, Jiddu Krishnamurti and Meher Baba. These great teachers came because souls were incarnating who were anxious to hear their message of spiritual growth.
But the Dharma came from the land of the Veda, from India and Tibet, and traditionally it was transmitted in the Vedic language, and later in Sanscrit. However, California was populated only by Native American aboriginal tribes. A common language was needed so the Dharma could be communicated. What happened was that, in the 1700s, India was colonized by the British, and the British Raj impressed the English language and culture upon the country, so that a veneer of English was laid over the Indian culture. The spiritual leaders in India learned English, and this allowed the scriptures to be translated into English.
At the same time, in California, the Spanish were securing their colony, and the Franciscan friars were moving up the coast, establishing a chain of 21 missions, each separated from the others by a day’s horseback ride. These missions became cities, so we now have a chain of cities over 600 miles long, all named for saints. This is the only place in the world where this has occurred. San Diego, San Pedro, San Fernando, San Buena Ventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and so on. The largest city, Los Angeles, was originally named "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora, La Reina de Los Angeles". In English, this meant "The City of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels" or another name for Mother Divine.
So now, in the 19th century, the spiritual leaders were preparing to come to the land of the Red Man to deliver the message in English, but California was a Spanish colony. So about 175 years ago a single event occurred, that instantly transformed California into the western edge of the American empire and layered an English-speaking culture on top of the Spanish. What was that event? It was the discovery of gold by James W. Marshall, on January 24, 1848, at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. After the discovery of gold, 300,000 miners came to California from the United States as well as abroad. On September 9, 1850, California became an English-speaking state, part of the United States; and thus the saints from the East could come to deliver their message.
The discovery of gold in California is very ironic because gold is a precious metal, symbolic of material wealth, and the object of the alchemist's quest. The conversion of lead into gold was symbolic of the growth from ignorance to enlightenment.
But how do the chakras fit into our story? Picture, if you will, a map of California. Now, superimpose on that map an image of a yogi, standing or seated in the lotus posture. The seven principal chakras of the human body are roughly aligned as follows:
7th....Crown...........Mount Shasta
6th....Brow.............Eureka/Humboldt & Lake Tahoe/Emerald Bay
5th....Throat...........San Francisco & Santa Clara Valley
4th....Heart............Big Sur, Esalen Institute, Tassajara Monastery
3rd....Solar Plexus...Lompoc, Vandenberg Air Force Base
2nd...Abdomen........Hollywood
1st....Base of Spine..San Diego/Tijuana
The chakras of California are like the chakras of the human body in many ways. Each chakra has a particular energy, color, and sound, as well as a particular function. The second chakra deals with our emotions, our fantasies, and the fulfillment of our desires. Interestingly, Hollywood is California's second chakra because motion pictures are really about allowing us to experience a full range of emotions and experiences, to live out our fantasies, and to fulfill our desires vicariously.
Eros pauses as he nears the end of his story, and the actress raises her hand and interrupts him to ask about the connection with the San Andreas Fault system. Eros looks at her gravely and then observes that the entire point of his presentation can be distilled down to her one question. Clearly, if everything he had described had been more than mere chance, it was part of a grand plan, a plan that had been in place for a very long time. A master planner is involved, whether we conceive of him or her as God, Mother Divine, Mother Nature, or Cosmic Creative Intelligence. The existence of a plan explains why we have all been drawn to California at this time, and it means that this plan for our growth and evolution has been in place for a very long time.
Any good plan has contingencies, in case something goes wrong. Human consciousness is evolving, there can be no doubt about that, Eros explains, but it can develop for good, or for evil. There is that capacity for polarization in humans. There are the sacred ashrams of the spiritual leaders who came to help us, and there are also groups and gatherings that are not so positive, and that are not desirous of the growth and evolution of humankind. It is not clear at this point whether the forces of Good will win the struggle. And so, Mother Nature has provided a kind of cosmic insurance policy. And that insurance policy is the San Andreas Fault system. Eros pauses to let his words sink in. Everyone in the audience understands his meaning.
To be continued ...
