Feeling ‘the Comforter,’ the shakti energy

 

In Sedona, Arizona USA, on his December 2006 tour, Swami Vishwananda provided an opportunity for me to ask a question I had wanted to ask him since I had met him almost a year earlier. I wanted to ask him what the source is of the shakti, or energy I feel frequently in the crown or head area. Often shakti energy also skims, like electricity, over portions, or over the entire surface of my skin. Throughout my life I have learned to trust this energy as an indicator of truth in whatever is occurring at the time that seems to manifest the energy.

 My understanding is that the shakti is divine or life energy. In addition, with my background of Christianity and my life-long love for the master Christ Jesus, I have felt that the shakti energy is the Comforter that Jesus promised he would send. At the Last Supper when Jesus was telling his disciples that he was to be crucified and would rise again and then leave them, he said:

If you love me keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit], whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeded from the Father, he shall testify of me. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send unto you. The Holy Bible, King James Version, John 14:15, 26; 15:26; 16:7.

Time revealed that I did not have to initiate the question I longed to ask Swami, because the omniscient, all-knowing Swami Vishwananda introduced the topic himself. During the tour, along with Swami, a small group of us visited one of the world-famous vortices, Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona. There in the serene, cathedral-like beauty carved out a long time ago by Mother Nature from red rocks and high, green, desert hills, Swami led us in devotional chants and songs. It was one of the most powerful and sacred times I have been blessed to have with Swami Vishwananda, and in one of the most splendid and beautiful places in nature on this planet.

On a subsequent day, Swami was speaking to me of the magnificence of Mother Nature in Sedona. He said as if in awe or amazement, “On the road to Cathedral Rock I felt the hair on my arms stand up.” And he emphasized, “On the road.” I thought, how humble — from someone who inside is in samadhi and in communication with God all the time. I took the opportunity he so obviously was providing me to ask my question: “Swami, when I feel the shakti energy like you just described you felt on the road to Cathedral Rock, I think it is Divine energy and also the Comforter that master Jesus promised to send. Is that right?” Swami replied, “Yes, it is Divine Life Energy, prana, and the Comforter Jesus promised to send.” I was comforted.

Utpalavati – Jean Morgan-Peterson – USA