Individuals with no previous knowledge of Avatar Adi Da sometimes
have remarkable experiences upon first contact with His books, experiences that
bring them into profound relationship with Him, even before His Words are understood.
There are many testimonies to this — for example,
this story by Trish Mitchell, an Australian radio journalist who boughtThe
Dawn Horse Testamentone day, simply because she was "attracted" to the
cover.In 1991, shortly after the incidents she describes
in her story, Trish became a formal devotee of Adi Da Samraj.
After
I bought The Dawn Horse Testament, I brought it home, and placed it on
my bookshelf, but I never opened it at all.
Three
years later, I was sitting at home one night with nothing much to do, feeling
a little fed up, and I looked up at the bookshelf —
at the one book in it that I hadn't read. I sat down on the couch and finally
opened The Dawn Horse Testament.
The
most bizarre thing happened. I was sitting there reading this book, and suddenly
the words started to blur, and light started to come off the pages —
literally, there was a shimmering light flickering up, like something out of a
science fiction movie. I had been meditating for a few years, and my body used
to move slightly when I was meditating. I was looking at this book, light flickering
off the pages, and my body started to sway! I slammed the book shut and thought,
"I'm getting the flu!" But then I noticed that I felt happy! I cautiously opened
the book again at a different page, and the same thing happened —
light was streaming off the page now. I was seeing the words, and it was as if
I were reading Latin or Greek. It didn't mean anything to my mind —
but I knew what this book was saying! And I was getting happier and happier, and
my body was swaying, and the light continued emanating from the pages! I literally
ended up hugging the book to my chest and dancing around the room. I was ecstatic.
Two or three days later, I went to see a video of Beloved Adi Da. The minute
I heard His voice and saw His face, I was moved into an ecstatic state, and then
my peripheral vision disappeared. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before,
either! Everything went black, all sound disappeared. There was a roomful of people
and the video was loud, but I couldn't hear anything. There was only white light
emanating from the video, and, except for Beloved Adi Da's face, everything else
was just light, and my peripheral vision was black. Again, I felt very, very happy
— unreasonably
happy. And I knew I was receiving something extraordinary from an extraordinary
Being. I cried all the way home, out of sheer joy. I had vision-like dreams about
Beloved Adi Da all night, and I kept repeating one of His
Names— "Love-Ananda"
— which I had
never heard before.
At about four or five in the morning, I woke up fully.
I was lying there in an incredibly happy state. I looked at the bottom of my bed
and saw Beloved Adi Da standing there, surrounded by golden light, with His hands
on His hips, and an amused look on His face. He looked at me and said, "Well,
it's about time!" And then disappeared. I repeated to myself, "It's about time???"
I thought I must have imagined what had just occurred. Surely, no Spiritual Teacher
would spontaneously appear at the end of my bed and say, "Well, it's about time!"
But I knew He was telling the truth. I knew He was saying He had been waiting
for me for a long time, just as I had been waiting for Him.