from Dawn
BYD:
Acharya said The Eternal Truth began creation with one sankalpa. I believe Acharya has done the same with BYD. Both have had their ups and downs, but with their perseverance, we have Nature and a wonderful new way of living. BYD, that brings a light to many.
The fact of Acharya having created a peaceful, retreat-like land, with schools, a big library, many halls for teaching and programs, beautiful greenery with nice shade trees all having a particular placement and good spots for meditation, all this has been a huge inspiration for me. It is especially inspirational because Acharya has done all this with pure intention. And what is amazing is that he has done so with no attachment. All that he teaches, he shows that it really bears fruit, and he is the ripest fruit on the tree.
I have been lucky to work at “The Land” a few times and see how happy the workers, the teachers, the students, and even the cows are. To see people working so nicely together shows that Acharyas’ love flows through it all and brings about a lovely brightness.
I always feel very happy there. This same happiness and love are brought to all that Acharya touches. He makes the world a good place—a place I like to be in. We need to be happy to have a good practice that lifts us higher toward the Eternal Truth.
Acharya and BYD have taught us that we must honor all in the natural world, or it cannot exist. Already, many things can not stay here. There are deities, also called energies, that make up our world, including our own system, and these all are to be honored for them to work properly and be pleased to shine and be happy to stay healthy and pure. There are so very many things we have learned to live correct, ideal lives, knowing how precious this life we are given is. The preciousness of life is beyond me many times, but thanks to BYD Acharya Teachers and fellow well-wishers for showing good examples, I will try to be better to one day reach the Eternal Truth.
Namaste, Dawn Merrill
Acharya:
I will begin the story of when I came to India to study with Acharya 28 years ago. It was my first time to India. Eric White asked me to write a letter to Acharya asking if I might come study with him, and he answered through Eric that it would be all right. The only western person I knew of the group that was in Mysore would be Annie Pace. It was mid-October, and being that I had a small gardening business in a Colorado ski town and the ground was now frozen, I could stay for two months. Annie met me at the train station and took me to the Cauvery Hotel, and the next day, she took me to Acharyas’ house, where the two of us would be having daily lessons. He explained the different aspects we would be studying. He then started telling us how very important it was to our practice to stick to a pure sattvic diet. I was thinking, “I think you can eat ice cream and such if you want as long as you keep pure thoughts”. Acharya stopped and said, “Oh, Dawn does not agree with this; is this correct? ”. I could not believe that he so clearly read my thoughts, and I blushed very pink, but at the same time was very impressed as he was a real yogi as I had read about. Then he had us sit quietly for the remainder, and birds were loudly singing, and a warm breeze was in the room, and I thought I was in heaven. Acharya asked me if there was a man in white in the back of my head. Again, he was exactly correct as I brought that man to my head whenever I was a little unsure of things, and this first day to meet Acharya was a very big day for me. Some days later, Acharya gave me a pranayama to do every day before the silent sitting and then sent Annie and me to different rooms to begin our practice. I was a little frightened as I did not think I would be very good at holding my breath, and I thought that was a big part of pranayama. I was a little dazed, just being in Acaryas house, and then I heard from the other room this really loud whistling- sound breath, and I thought, ‘I can never do it like this’. As I kept listening I discovered that the sound was instead Vijayas’ pressure cooker. What a relief. The pranayama was good, and Acharya was very easy with all these things. What a relief.
The next year, I stayed for 6 months and continued like this for the next 15 years. A lot of the time I was the only western person of the group to be there. Acharya had many classes throughout the year but he was teaching at the Sanskrit college at the time so after some years he decided to only teach for a short time when he had school holidays as he had so much other work. Then, at that time, many came, and a good group formed. Acharya allowed me for some years to come to his house at noon and do my practice in the ‘shed’. It was not really a shed, it was a room built on to the back and side of his house that could be entered through the house or the front which has its own pathway and gate. When I started to come to the ‘shed’ I sat for about one hour I guess and then Acharya and Vijaya would say they had to go somewhere and would be back shortly and I had to wait for them as I had no key to lock up. So then two hours later, they would return, and this went on like this for a while, and then it was three hours, and they always had some excuse. It was a good trick because it just showed me that sitting longer could be very good. All their tricks for my liberation, and they played many on me, were good. As Acharya has come into his fullness his tricks have become more subtle and more sophisticated. He seems to now live in the really big picture with everything he does and there appears to be an amazing clarity with which he sees everything.
Acharya also has a wonderful sense of humor. One time in the early days when I was alone there I was feeling a bit lonely and after my practice I told Acharya “I am feeling quite depressed”. I was expecting some kind words, but Acharya said, “oh, very good now you will know to really crave for liberation”, well I had to chuckle as he had a big smile and even at the same time, I saw much truth in what he joked, as there is much truth in all he says. Another time in the early days, I came to Acharya and said people are saying I look very bad as I have big darkness under my eyes and walk about so serious and I wake each morning at 2 am and am wide awake for the day, so Acharya said, “oh, very good the pranayama is working.”
Acharya was always so far ahead of us, and I thought one day maybe I will be closer to where he is, but he has taken off at such a rapid speed that there has never been a chance of that. With Acharya, I think he was always complete but had to fully open, and now he is beyond what I can imagine. I am glad he has become such a wonder that he can do so many things at once, like an expert juggler who never drops anything but does sometimes have to slow down. He makes me so happy to be near him, even to watch as so many come up to him to talk, he is only talking so much to help, otherwise he stays quiet. Just to look on him is so comforting and reassuring that such goodness do I know.
I feel so blessed that I came to meet Acharya and Vijaya and I hope I have some more years to appreciate them. I have from the very first loved Acharya so much and I know, as he often tells me, I am too attached. I am trying to love in a pure way but it looks a way off until then.
Thank you,
Namaste Dawn
