Light in Darkness

Light meditation is a meditation technique that helps you connect with your inner spirit—your essence or core self. It uses the light that is already within you as an object of focus. It’s a fairly simple meditation, but is powerful and potentially very deep. As is clear in the article, the author, Indra Devi, chooses to consciously suppress her ego by using the letter “I” in the lower case when referring to herself.  

The idea of starting a Meditation Crusade for “Light in Darkness” was born on the dark day of 22nd November, 1963, when President Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas. i happened to be there at that time. i was scheduled to be introduced to him to present my books on yoga and suggest that asanas [postures in yoga] and deep breathing exercises would enrich his physical fitness program and add to its efficacy.

At the shocking news of his assassination, i remained in my hotel room pondering as to what could be done to prevent or lessen crime that is so prevalent in many big cities in the United States. It seemed to me that we must all make an added effort for our immediate surroundings to become a happier and friendlier place to live in. I felt compelled to start a crusade by conducting meditations on the light in one’s own heart, and by teaching that it is a part of the eternal Divine light.

I hoped it would lead people to  realize that it is important to act, think, and live in a different manner. Sharing a kind word and a smile, treating all living creatures with compassion would make daily living so much more enjoyable and productive. Every evening after meditation, one should ask oneself, “What did i do today to make the light a little brighter and the darkness a little less dark?” This, i hoped, might bring an illuminating and practical message to the fear-ridden, mentally disturbed, and spiritually forlorn world of today.

To carry out this plan, i decided to dedicate the rest of my life to it and to give up teaching yoga, which i had been doing for the past 28 years when i had to leave India for Shanghai.  There i opened the first yoga school, according to the wishes of my teacher Sri Krishnamacharya. I had been living for 12 years in Bombay, where i got married to a foreign diplomat. I am a Russian-born American citizen with an Indian name duly registered in my passport. My plans were noble but the only trouble was that i did not know how to go about starting the crusade. Conducting meditations at our Yoga Center in Tecate on the border between California and Mexico and speaking to various people about my idea did not get me too far, in spite of every one’s interest and support.

Finally, i decided to start the crusade in my spiritual motherland, India. This seemed especially relevant after Clara Schuff, a clairvoyant in Los Angeles told me that i would be going to India shortly, where i would fulfill my destiny by taking the first step toward my life’s mission. She added that i would meet in India “an unusual Swami of a very high order who will play a prominent part in my life and help me convey a spiritual message to the world.”

Two months later, i was in India, and on March 4, 1966, i presented to the Prime Minister, the Perpetual Flame which we had carried all the way from Tecate. This gave me an opportunity to conduct meditations on light for hundreds and hundreds of people, both in Delhi and Bombay. I was scheduled to leave for Saigon after visiting my old friends, the Yuvarani of Mysore and Dr. Sivakamu in Adyar, near Madras.

It was there that i first heard of Sai Baba from an Australian writer, Howard Murphet, and his wife Iris. They were very surprised that i did not know anything about the Sai Baba of Shirdi and His Avatar, Sri Sathya Sai Baba. They immediately showed me His photos and a ring with an image of the late Shirdi Sai Baba, produced by the present Sai Baba and told me many a story about His incredible and miraculous powers to which they were witnesses. However, my prior commitments in Saigon made it impossible for me to stay, and i subsequently left for Vietnam.

Shortly before my departure, my host, the Indian Consul General, suggested that i open a center in India and offered to me his palace in Kathiawar (he is the Thakore Saheb of Kotda Sanghani). I seized this idea as an opportunity of returning to India—to look at his palace was only a pretext. So, i advised our Director, Mr. Candia, who was accompanying me, to return to Tecate, and he gladly agreed.

From Calcutta, i immediately headed for Madras instead of Kathiawar, as the desire to see Sai Baba became very intense. On the way to Puttaparthi [the village in Andhra Pradesh, India, where Sai Baba was born and has His ashram], we met another car from the same company returning from Prasanthi Nilayam [abode of peace, ashram in Puttaparthi] with Dr. Sen, Vice-Chancellor of the Jadavpur University. We greeted each other, and upon learning that this was my first visit to Baba, Dr. Sen warned, “You may never want to leave the place once you get there.” “But, you are doing so,” i answered, “i shall have to do the same.”

A charming Swiss school teacher, Gabriella Steyer, gently took me under her wing. My plane was departing the next day, and so i had to leave fairly soon. Baba was gracious enough to grant me an interview. To describe everything that happened during that hour would make a story in itself, and i may relate it at some other time. It will suffice to say that what i saw and heard made an indelible impression upon me—it was more than kindness, more than goodness, more than grace. It was something i could not even name. “Call me whenever you need me,” He said at parting. “I shall be with you.”

Happy to have come to see Him, i left for Bangalore the next morning, feeling fresh and rested. But soon i was seized by a feeling of great longing and i remembered Dr Sen’s phrase, “You may never want to leave the place once you get there.” This nostalgia dulled my senses. I didn’t care to speak to the driver, to distribute sweets to the children, or to feed the monkeys, dogs, and bullocks. In fact, i didn’t care for anything—all i wanted was to be back in the Nilayam and to listen to the powerful chant of Om [the primodial sound] coming from hundreds of throats and to lose myself in the beauty of the Sanskrit Suprabhatham [Morning Prayer].

Back in my room in the Bangalore Palace, i closed the suitcases without thinking, forgetting to pack the rest of my belongings—something that has never happened to me in all my travels. In Bombay, four other places were offered to me for establishing our centers, but my thoughts were still in Puttaparthi. The day before my departure, i wrote a letter to Sri Sathya Sai Baba saying how glad i was to have returned from Saigon to meet Him, but that i felt miserable now, which is foreign to my nature. I asked Him to help me to get over this feeling. That same afternoon, waiting for a taxi on a busy street corner with Enakshi Bhavnani, a long-time friend, i suddenly felt a stream of brilliant light pouring on me and giving me a tremendous sense of _.joy. Happiness was filling my entire being. “Thank you, Baba,” i whispered in gratitude.

Carrying this radiant light within me, i left for Hong Kong to conduct meditations and address meetings, before i returned to Los Angeles and Tecate.

Now that i was ready to begin the Crusade for Light in Darkness in April, in San Diego, California, with the co-operation of its mayor, council of Churches and civic leaders, i knew i had to go to Puttaparthi to get blessings from Bhagavan. Without His help i did not want to undertake this mission of awakening the light in the hearts of people so that it may shine on now and for ever.

From the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality.
Om shanti, shanti, shanti [peace, peace, peace]

~Indra Devi
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, March 1967