“It’s not whether you’re paranoid, it’s whether you’re paranoid enough.”—Rama
About a month after Rama left the body, someone put a pistol to my shoulder (in a dream) and shot me. I woke up with a burning line through my shoulder. After it continued to bother me for a few months, I realized at a much deeper level just how much Rama cleared us out every time we met with him. If he’d still been in the body, the sorcery line in my shoulder would have been long gone. Instead, I had this line for years, and jokingly called it “Frodo’s shoulder” because it would burn whenever I encountered any kind of low vibe energy.
You might think that this dream is the one that made me ruthless about not letting the dream plane derail my path to enlightenment. It was such an obvious ploy to throw me off, and indeed it worked to some extent. I did really worry if I could ever become enlightened with a sorcery line in my body and Rama not around to clear it out (you can). But it wasn’t this dream that pushed me; it was another I had several months later.
The dream was with Rama. When I woke up from the dream, I had this lovely, fuzzy romantic feeling towards him. All that day at work I focused on that pleasant feeling. It was only that night, as I walked home from the subway, that I realized something was wrong. I could barely make it up the street to my apartment. I was so tired, it was like every drop of energy had been sucked out of my body. It was then it finally occurred to me that the dream had not been with Rama, but rather an impostor. While my relationship with Rama is the greatest romance of my life, it’s never felt fuzzy. It’s always been bright, sharp, precise, bathed in love, love itself, but not dully romantic. And (no duh) dreams with Rama are bright and empowering, not draining! I realized I’d been a total idiot, and in that moment (well actually after I recovered a bit), I became ruthlessly intent that no one can fucking have my energy and no one can fucking have my mind!
So I began practicing dream yoga. I focused on a ball of white light with an OM symbol in my heart as I fell asleep, and then woke up every couple of hours to reset my focus back to the light in my heart. I did this so I’d be in bright worlds while sleeping, which is lovely in and of itself, but it also makes you inaccessible to those who are not bright.
I remember telling another student about this practice, and she laughed at me—at my sincerity and my seriousness—but I didn’t care at all. It takes weirdness to wake up. If you do all the normal things humans do so no one laughs at you, you will not break through.
If you really want to wake up you have to get ruthless—not just in the dream plane, but in every situation that steals your mind and your energy, whether it’s your job, your family, your partner, or any other situation that’s hacked your mind or drained your energy. The seriousness of your intent will lead you to whatever is needed to awaken. Ask Rama/the Universe/all the enlightened ones for help, and you’ll be on your way!
“Anything or anyone who stands in the way of your spiritual progress should be ruthlessly abandoned. Simply take your foot and kick them out of your way!”—Anandamayi Ma
Enlightenment Fan Fiction 