समय के समक्ष
In the Presence of Time
~ Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
Reflecting upon the teaching “The odyssey of time,” I was immediately transported back to a moment in Gurudev Siddha Peeth.
One morning while reciting Shri Guru Gita, I suddenly felt myself rocketed out of the top of my head. My mind was a vast stillness, and I saw what looked like planets in deep space. Some were so close that I could only see a part of them. My mind was free of any thought or fluctuation. My primary experience was that I had a different temporal sense from any I had known before. I felt I was in an ancient time with far greater cycles.
Then, in a moment, I felt myself propelled back into my body. I was shocked to find I was still reciting Shri Guru Gita. What an “odyssey of time!” My body and mind had not lost their place while I had experienced being eons away!
One morning while reciting Shri Guru Gita, I suddenly felt myself rocketed out of the top of my head. My mind was a vast stillness, and I saw what looked like planets in deep space. Some were so close that I could only see a part of them. My mind was free of any thought or fluctuation. My primary experience was that I had a different temporal sense from any I had known before. I felt I was in an ancient time with far greater cycles.
Then, in a moment, I felt myself propelled back into my body. I was shocked to find I was still reciting Shri Guru Gita. What an “odyssey of time!” My body and mind had not lost their place while I had experienced being eons away!
Pennsylvania, United States
I understand the teaching “The odyssey of time” as my quest for the Self. As a little girl I believed that finding “the great love” and having children would make me happy. The day my daughter was born was the first happiest day of my life! But then, my romantic love disappointed me, and my quest for the Self began.
When I met Gurumayi, the first thing I learned from her teachings was that I had to turn inward to find love—that it was not “out there.” That day was the second happiest day of my life!
Since then, I feel Kundalini Shakti knitting the inner workings of the Guru’s grace within me—guiding me, comforting me, protecting me, shaking me up, gradually transforming me, and revealing to me what I really am: the Self. And when I offer dakshina to express my gratitude, my heart brims with shimmering Consciousness.
When I met Gurumayi, the first thing I learned from her teachings was that I had to turn inward to find love—that it was not “out there.” That day was the second happiest day of my life!
Since then, I feel Kundalini Shakti knitting the inner workings of the Guru’s grace within me—guiding me, comforting me, protecting me, shaking me up, gradually transforming me, and revealing to me what I really am: the Self. And when I offer dakshina to express my gratitude, my heart brims with shimmering Consciousness.
Plougonvelin, France
When I first read this teaching, I thought of Homer’s The Odyssey and the trials and tribulations Odysseus encountered on his ten-year journey back home to Ithaca after the Trojan War—a journey known as “Odysseus’ wanderings.”
I had not considered an odyssey as a time of wandering and had been critical of my own wandering—among bookshelves, through ripples at the shore, or kicking up dust on a trail—as a scatter of time, until my wandering eventually took me to the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Oakland. There I enrolled in a meditation course and saw a photo of Gurumayi in the foyer. I had no idea who Gurumayi was at the time. When I closed my eyes during meditation, I saw a tiny speck of white light zig-zagging up and down on the screen of my eyelids.
My journey may have not been as dramatic as that of Odysseus, but it was the start of the greatest journey of all: study with a great Siddha Yoga Master. I am thankful every day!
I had not considered an odyssey as a time of wandering and had been critical of my own wandering—among bookshelves, through ripples at the shore, or kicking up dust on a trail—as a scatter of time, until my wandering eventually took me to the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Oakland. There I enrolled in a meditation course and saw a photo of Gurumayi in the foyer. I had no idea who Gurumayi was at the time. When I closed my eyes during meditation, I saw a tiny speck of white light zig-zagging up and down on the screen of my eyelids.
My journey may have not been as dramatic as that of Odysseus, but it was the start of the greatest journey of all: study with a great Siddha Yoga Master. I am thankful every day!
California, United States
When I was in school, I loved the epic poem Odyssey, and I dreamed that my life too could be a long journey full of incredible adventures—just like the life of Ulysses.
What followed is that my adult years have perhaps not always been as joyful or as exciting as I had wished them to be—whether in my career or in my relationships. But then, when I contemplate deeper, I can see that the real adventure has been within, for it is the quest to reach the inner and spiritual goals which makes life a true odyssey.
At each stage of my life “the odyssey of time” has become a worthwhile continuous journey. Thanks to my Guru, the path she has shown me has given me the life I always wanted and has made me into the person I’d dreamed of becoming.
What followed is that my adult years have perhaps not always been as joyful or as exciting as I had wished them to be—whether in my career or in my relationships. But then, when I contemplate deeper, I can see that the real adventure has been within, for it is the quest to reach the inner and spiritual goals which makes life a true odyssey.
At each stage of my life “the odyssey of time” has become a worthwhile continuous journey. Thanks to my Guru, the path she has shown me has given me the life I always wanted and has made me into the person I’d dreamed of becoming.
Milan, Italy
Now that I am in my 60s, I can recognize that this lifetime has indeed been an “odyssey in time,” providing me with numerous experiences that have given me wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. I have been given the gift of life, and little by little, I have had the great good fortune to realize why I have been given the gift of time.
Within my “odyssey in time,” there was life before receiving shaktipat and life after receiving shaktipat. I have had many beautiful and challenging experiences, and with the grace and guidance of Gurumayi, they have all shaped me into a wiser, happier, and more conscious person.Willemstad, Curaçao
My mother named me after
The wife of Ulysses.
She told me of his odyssey
And of her loyalty,
Her faithful remembrance of him.
As a child I felt like I too
Was on a journey,
My task in this life
To recall something I’d forgotten ~
I was here to fulfill a promise
Made before I was born
Into this realm of time.
And on that destined day,
I met the Guru,
Divine grace descended,
I remembered my purpose!
And sadhana became
My very own “odyssey of time”
Back to the Self within
With my Guru guiding the way.The wife of Ulysses.
She told me of his odyssey
And of her loyalty,
Her faithful remembrance of him.
As a child I felt like I too
Was on a journey,
My task in this life
To recall something I’d forgotten ~
I was here to fulfill a promise
Made before I was born
Into this realm of time.
And on that destined day,
I met the Guru,
Divine grace descended,
I remembered my purpose!
And sadhana became
My very own “odyssey of time”
Back to the Self within
New York, United States
This powerful teaching, “The odyssey of time,” inspired me to look up definitions of the word odyssey. I found these three: (1) “A long adventurous voyage,” (2) “A long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortune,” and (3) “An intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest.” I would say that all three give an apt description of my sadhana through time.
Since receiving shaktipat, however, I’m not wandering any more. I have my Guru’s guidance and now I see the ups and downs of life as adventures I experience as I continue through “the odyssey of time.” And I know that, no matter how much time is necessary, I will make it home, just as Odysseus did.
Since receiving shaktipat, however, I’m not wandering any more. I have my Guru’s guidance and now I see the ups and downs of life as adventures I experience as I continue through “the odyssey of time.” And I know that, no matter how much time is necessary, I will make it home, just as Odysseus did.
Oregon, United States