A Personal Reflection from The Rainmaker and Poems That Inspire 2

The Rainmaker is electric in its content. From the simplicity of the sharing that is Swami Vedananda’s account, which gives an everyday glimpse of Swamiji’s affairs, to (Caution: Spoilers ahead) Irene Om’s account which culminates with a magnificent vision of Shri Hari and Sri Devi in the form of Swamiji. What struck me most about the vision she experienced was how someone from a different culture who didn’t know about the Hindu cosmology as such, experienced what she did. We hear of cases of people who have experienced such visions, but its mostly a culmination of intense devotion to a particular form. Our scriptures are replete with such stories, however Irene’s case is rare. Its possible that most people out there, who haven’t heard about him would be skeptical of such a claim, for in the intellectually dominated world of today, whatever defies rational thought is bound to be laughed at and dismissed. In my mind, there is no doubt to the truth of the experience.
I had a similar experience, though it was in a dream, though a very vivid dream. I experienced a shaktipat initiation in that dream and also saw him in the form of Lord Rama. This was in 2018. Sometimes, even after such a deeply personal and moving experience, the conditioned mind comes up and wrecks havoc. Such is the play of tendencies of the mind. Such are the forces that lie underneath the conscious mind, ready to thwart every shoot of light and power that maybe beginning to awaken within. Why am I sharing this in a post now? Well let’s just say that there is a time for everything and I hope that this post will open up a hearts and minds to the beauty of what is still possible even in this day and age.

I would like to end with a poem by Gaby Compres:

Bravery doesn’t happen overnight
bravery has been living in your bones,
dormant, but alive,
waiting for you to see that it has
always been yours
waiting for you
to marvel when you see that you can do
what you’ve always
wanted to do
and be who
you’ve wanted to be.

I hope that we find such bravery in our life.