Saturday morning, the first day of Navaratri (a nine-day celebration of Devis - Goddess powers of Hinduism) I saw a high-ranking Ayurvedic pandit for pulse diagnosis, health prescriptions. The pandit was very impressive, he even said mantras, marked our foreheads (I went with my wife) and tied red ribbons on our wrists for an initiation. He seemed to be well-known in the TM tradition as he was recently one of the heads of Maharishi Ayurveda. He told me a lot about the vat, pitt and kaph energies and my current problems but what is more interesting, he seemed to be really and instantly in tune with what my life is about. He briefly glanced at my Hindu astrology chart too - it is one of the things I do and it seemed he did this for every patient. I got some pills made of herbs and aromatic nose drops which helped me instantly. What he said about my astro chart seemed to be rather a reading but deeply in tune with what I know about it and very much an Invisible College theme. I won't bore you with details of technical stuff but basically he conveyed the meaning that I am living for the sake of others, all I want for myself on a material level is denied by the Planet Shani (Saturn). This is similar to a theme SR or RR recounted about his life after the accident. Basically I am like a hermit or a monk in touch with powers and those have to take the upper hand not my ego. I had the feeling that if I step out of line I will get tough reminders. All in all, I think my Guides were very present and assenting - later I had to rest for a few hours because I had had little sleep and my health has some attacks. During that rest, I re-dreamed my meeting with the energetic pandit, from the above astrological detail down to the preparation of particular spice compounds and ghee to which Ayurveda accords a lot of healing power and his other practical advice from watching my digestion over 24 hour periods - so what I ate was showing up in a subtle way 24 hours later.
Another point he made - partly from pulse and observation, and partly by glancing at my Hindu chart - was that I am extraordinarily sensitive. "If it rains outside, you'll feel it inside your home. If the Sun comes up, you'll feel that too... There's no separation." I interpreted that to the collective atmosphere of my country and Earth as well.
I presented to him my book in Hungarian about Hindu astrology's lunar signs - the nakshatras, which are my favorite areas of research.
At the same time it made me feel that this guy was high up in some unseen peaceful hierarchy and that he openly accepted me and signaled me it was time to make these bonds openly visible. He was never trying to impress me with his titles etc. he just said he was practicing these things practically from when he was three years old and started to learn in earnest when he was eight. Later on the net I discovered that he was one of the most renowned Ayurvedic professors all around India, not just a poor village vaidya...
Characteristic of the reading was the psychic factor - he knew a lot of things and said innocently "now I talk and later you will ask questions." He briefly asked me about my meditation practices and when I answered honestly his assent was very accepting and lacked any theocratic style of direct intervention. I told him I did TM for 30 years but it seemed not to work any more after about 1999. He merely said TM is good. Then my next point was I do longer mantras now for meditation, such as Mahamrityunjaya (which I have written about on the previous board). He smiled and seemed to know and accept it all as good. He recommended more spices and Yoga and watching my energies but the entire communication was really non-Theocratic, though all pictures of Gurus - from TM's Guru Dev to Krishna people's Bhaktivedanta were all set out in a non-formal altar... What a nice initiation! I will rty to follow up on his spice device and other lifestyle advices, and I feel my mantra practice got an extra backing now.