My meeting with Master and initiation came as an answer to a deep heartfelt prayer, and in a most unexpected way.

In my late 30's, I was at the lowest point of my life. A successful and exciting career had ended with a change in government policies, and at the same time my health crashed to a very low point. This crisis pushed me on to a spiritual discovery tour, for which I am eternally grateful.

Raised as a Catholic, then drifting to a life of agnostic and even atheistic beliefs, from this low point I started searching for that something missing in my life through A Course in Miracles, many different channeled teachings, and Christian churches. Mostly unsatisfied, I found myself in a charismatic Baptist church one Sunday morning, feeling I was at the lowest point I had ever been. There was a very emotional alter call that day, and while singing a hymn to Jesus to save us, I felt a powerful presence (the Holy Spirit), and started crying like a baby. I prayed from the depths of my heart, "God, I have tried it my way, and it doesn't work. PLEASE SHOW ME YOUR WAY. PLEASE LET ME BE YOUR INSTRUMENT, YOUR WORK TOOL. I will listen."

The following week, I was reading the local paper, when a picture caught and held my attention. It was a picture of Master in an advertisement of Her public lecture in Brisbane. I said to my wife, "I'm going to this lecture," and when she asked why, I said, "I don't know why, but I'm going!"

Through the lecture, I knew inside that this was what I was looking for, and knew my prayer had been answered! After the lecture, Master offered initiation that same night, and I gladly filled out the application. At that time I did not know what initiation was, but I knew I wanted it!

An Old Man

Three weeks before initiation, I had visited a highly regarded homeopathic doctor to get another opinion on my illness. This doctor used a sensitive German diagnostic machine called a Vega system, which found that I had a combination of three viruses known as M.E. and another virus that attacked the brain. On top of this, my body had many parasites, particularly in the blood. I was glad that what made me so ill was identified, and was not surprised to be told that the diagnosis gave me a health index of 76 (which means my body health was equivalent to that of an average 76 year old man!). I dutifully took the medicines prescribed, but did not feel much different.

Vision of my Soul Being Cleansed

At the time of initiation I did not get into a deep meditation - my mind was continually wandering. But late in the initiation, after Master touched my wisdom eye, I had a powerful vision of a huge whirlpool drawing murky, dirty brown matter away from me, disappearing in the eye of the whirlpool. I knew that this was cleansing me of my wrongdoings of the past. Later I realized that this was the true baptism, where all my previous sins were being forgiven and erased.

A New Life

After the initiation, although it was late at night, I was so elated and uplifted, and so full of energy. It was as though a heavy burden had been lifted from my shoulders. For the first time in many years I felt truly alive!

I went home that night and tried to explain to my wife what had happened, but my own lack of understanding of the significance of the initiation made explanation difficult. To her, I must have seemed very strange, bouncing home, waking her up, announcing that now I was a vegetarian, no longer smoking or drinking, had vowed to live life by the precepts, and was going to meditate daily.

Although my wife was very apprehensive of my new lifestyle, she was delighted to have this new husband - a person who actually had energy and life. She once jokingly remarked, "who is this new man - you'd better not tell my husband!"

Doctors Astounded

In the week following my initiation, I went back to the homeopathic doctor for the one-month check up. Once again, he went through the complex Vega diagnostic process, and to his amazement, the health index now showed a value of 1 - the health of a newborn baby! The doctor looked at his assistant and said, "This is impossible - this has never happened before!" He was delighted at such a dramatic recovery, but I knew that this was indeed a miraculous recovery. Curiously, a year following initiation I lost my (often bad) body odor! It returns slightly only if I don't keep up my practice!

We Must Grow Ourselves

Following such an incredible experience at initiation, I felt that Master was now taking care of my every need, and I became very casual in my meditation practice - which I justified by saying that I was very busy at work, and I didn't have the time for practice. Over a period of a year I felt myself drifting from the high of initiation back to the worldly level. The one thing that kept me going during this time was that I attended group meditations fairly regularly - the power of the group meditations gave me energy for each week.

It was when I was asked to do some contact person work that I decided to be more diligent in my meditation practice. After many months of mediocre but longer meditation, together with attending an international retreat, I began to see significant changes in my life. I found myself gaining in wisdom and understanding, and my difficult job changed to one that was much more rewarding and enjoyable. At the same time my relationship with my wife and children improved dramatically.

I began to see that taking charge of my spiritual practice had many benefits in daily life, and it was up to me to do the practice if I wanted the changes. I also realized that even if my meditation practice was not full of inspirational visions and experiences, it still had changed my life, and helped me in an ongoing way. I am very glad that I hung in there at the times when I was frustrated with the meditation, which I thought was boring and getting nowhere.

Attending international retreats, we get a taste of what life will be like in the Golden Age. It is such an incredible experience that every initiate should do it at least once. However, even if we don't live in this atmosphere, we can make a huge impact on our little corner of the world by practicing daily. Together we really can change the world into a paradise!