It was only when I met Sarita and Geho at the age of 26 that I could validate these earlier experiences as being of spiritual value. Diving into Tantric methods seemed to me like regaining my original face and innocence, as nature intended. The way Sarita and Geho worked could be challenging at times but the essence was always the same: re-discovering my true nature.

My interest in Tantra continued to deepen when reading the fascinating story of Saraha, a Buddhist scholar and consultant of the King who left everything behind to be initiated by a woman in the market place. They lived on a crematory ground, or burning “ghats”, where bodies were burnt. Only when you can celebrate life amidst death can you be truly happy! Those words really struck me as I was living in Varanasi, India, at the time, just few yards away from the “burning ghats”. I remember sitting in front of dead bodies burning and being enveloped by a deep, peaceful silence, as if time totally stopped!

A market in Mumbai, India

Living in India for almost 10 years allowed me to take my time and bring full awareness to my actions. My daily routine in the market place became my school. And shoe makers, rickshaw drivers, “chai walas” (tea stalls), silversmiths and so on, became my masters.

I could watch such people for hours, totally mesmerized by the enormous amount of love, devotion and totality they’d bring into their work. When I participated in my first Tantra courses later on, I would re-call the same qualities that I have experienced while living in India.

To me, the four key words to a sincere Tantric approach to life are: love, awareness, devotion and totality.

Bringing love into our actions immediately changes the quality and the final outcome. Love is like our “soul signature” carved onto every little thing we do in our daily life.

Awareness and totality are like two wings of the same bird, one leads inevitably to the other and vice versa.

To be total means not to be pre-occupied by the end result. Rather, one is so absorbed in the moment that no past, no future exists, only a crystal clear, pure, sense of awareness.

Devotion is like our intimate conversation with existence itself, allowing a sense of deep gratitude to be shared from our deepest core. And for no other reason other than the pure joy to be alive!

I’ve had the privilege to grow on the Tantric path with Sarita as my master. After 14 years of being by her side, imbibing from her wisdom, learning from her life experience and assisting her on numerous courses, I have witnessed a radical transformation within myself.

Lately, Sarita and I started to facilitate courses together within the School of Awakening. Leading groups is for me a deeper way to continue to learn about Tantra as well as having a platform to transmit my insights and life experience.

The beauty of witnessing participants embracing their process from pain/hurt to bliss/ecstasy is always very touching and it confirms one thing that has always been my inner mantra: “in the end, everyone wants to love and to be loved.”

With gratitude and growing happiness,

Niten x

Niten is sharing his Tantric path with his beloved Santoshi, (a Goddess of the highest calibre!) who embodies the essential, feminine principle.

Together, they are in the process of creating new groups that will be offered in China toward the end of 2010.

Niten is also a raw food adept and is currently conducting faw food workshops and retreats in Spain as well as the “Detox/Meditation retreat “with Sarita in the UK (which took place for the first time last month).

Picture of the Mumbai market copyright Isageum 2008

Being on a raw diet has given me many different and surprising benefits. For example, it has increased quite drastically my sensitivity on all levels, including a deeper respect for all living beings on earth.

Walking in nature has become a profound experience that one could describe as spiritual. Not that the yellow of the lemons hanging on the tree was not there before, but it would suddenly turn into a glowing, surreal fruit, as if to reveal its glory, its eternal joy to be alive! Its fragrance would be almost intoxicating,  and I could still smell it even from far away… Eating “Living Foods” meant, for me, re-connecting to the spirit of the earth….In a very tangible way……A direct experience of what can be described in books as esoteric or mystical.

In fact, at some stage, I realized that raw foods not only helped me to deepen my meditation but it brought a totally new perspective:  you don’t  meditate any more, you  simply ARE in a state of meditation: a peaceful, contented and insightful Being, allowing yourself to be carried away by Life… So in this way, Living Raw Foods are tremendously supportive for meditation because it harmonizes body, mind and spirit.

I’ve become less prone to physical sickness, emotional turmoils and mood swings, and there seems to be a subtle harmony that has settled within, just like the perfect equilibrium found in nature. It brings a new joy in your life, an enchanting process…Becoming a totally new person…Eating raw means: reclaiming  our natural state of being. In other words, a new birth. Your eyes see more, your ears hear more, your hands touch more, your body feels more, your heart loves more. Everything becomes “more”, not in the sense of quantity but in the sense of quality.

You can have a communion with Existence now, entering a very intimate conversation.

Life becomes colourful and you become a rainbow. Embracing the whole spectrum of Life.

Life becomes richer, multidimensional.

It has depth, heights, beautiful valleys and beautiful sunlit peaks.

You start expanding as you reclaim your Self.

This is the miracle of combining a Living Raw diet and meditation!

Love Niten x

If you’d like to experience some of what Niten is talking about, then join him, Sarita and Ekant on the Silent Meditation and Live Food Detox Retreat from 19-23 May. Eat delicious raw food, go deeply into silent meditation and Mantra chanting and detox your body, mind and soul, all in the beautiful surrounds of Exmoor, at Croydon Hall – a perfect way to Spring clean! See: www.schoolofawakening.com/detox-meditation.php

Aisho Retreat:  Mahabaleshwar, India

With Uzeu-San and Sarita

Three months before the retreat started, I wrote an email to Sarita saying that I couldn’t afford to come as I didn’t have enough money to cover the costs. I received an answer few days later: “To me, money is energy, so, I read that you don’t have enough energy to come….Is that the case?”

It suddenly occurred to me that, yes, I had plenty of energy and good will to be part of that retreat and money couldn’t be a valid reason not to be there. Although my mind was trying to convince me that my finances were too low, something in me decided to Trust and move accordingly…

The retreat started on 3 February. We were 60 people from 11 different countries. In my position as DJ I had organised all my music selection and felt very fortunate to be sitting right beside master Uezu-San. Just like the previous retreat in France, the quality of silence that I experienced defies any description. Perhaps, even more so this time as I could feel his physical presence so close to my body.

There was, however, one thing that my mind was busy with, a chronic bronchitis that had started three months before. I was still coughing a lot of mucus, and my chest was congested, which made it hard to breathe fully.

One afternoon, as participants were having a pause, Master Uezu-San placed his hands on my chest, exactly in the area where I was having trouble breathing. After a short time, I started to feel heat and a very unusual sensation, as if all of my mucus, was being sucked away by his hands.  When he removed his hands, I immediately coughed, sneezed, and blew my nose, releasing all the mucus left in my body. I could breathe again, it really felt like a re-birth and the bronchitis hasn’t returned to this day.

During the retreat, we had various sessions, all very powerful and healing. Besides the usual “Dhamma Ball” and “Heart Chakra” meditations, we also had wonderful “live music” events led by Shivananda, a Bhajan and Heart songs master…I found those musical gatherings so special in bringing participants together in playfulness and simplicity.

Fergus in Satori

Also, very much loved and appreciated was the walk to the top of the cliffs, a short distance from the resort. We gathered there a couple of times at dawn, in silence as the sun was rising. What a stunning sight! One participant later shared he had a profound experience, known as “Satori” or glimpse of the “No-Mind” state, dissolving for a moment in universal consciousness…

Then, we were all blessed with sacred moments like “Shaktipat” which traditionally refers to offering all our suffering and misery to the master who Himself transforms it and releases it back to us in the form of universal, unconditional love…In this case, both Sarita and Uezu-San were offering Shaktipat. To me, they symbolised in a very real way the embodiment of pure Yin and Yang energy, dancing in unison, in unwavering balance.

Another powerful moment was the “Energy Darshan” where participants received a direct transmission from both Sarita and Uezu-San. A special Aisho balm was created, carrying Uezu-San and Sarita’s blessing. Uezu-San spiralled around the third eye (or Ajna chakra) whereas Sarita was stroking upward from the third eye in a vertical motion. It was obvious that everyone was profoundly touched by this unique transmission. The impact was awesome. I was witnessing Sarita and Uezu-San as two empty beings, channelling Divine Source Energy.

Monkeys join Francis for morning meditation

Perhaps it is because the retreat was being held in India that the whole group could so easily receive this immense energetic offering – India is well known to carry the fragrance of mysticism and spiritual experiences of all kinds. Or perhaps it is the ability of Sarita and Uezu-San to “channel” any past masters that have lived and contributed to expand people’s consciousness.  The energy field created during that retreat was incredibly vibrant, full of love, compassion, dance and laughter…Full…Yet one could also experience the deep Void, the vast emptiness, the magnificent stillness in moments of silence. I believe those moments have nurtured all of us participants to the very core of our hearts and spirits…

I am so grateful that I found in Sarita and Uezu-San, the masters that I have been longing for, perhaps, for lives altogether…Or shall I say, I am so grateful that they finally found me!…

This retreat was, for me, a rare opportunity to experience the unconditional love, total understanding and immense compassion of two individuals who have come to realise who they are, in the deepest sense…It was a rare blend of humour, devotion, godliness, silence and meditation. It was a unique combination of two different flavours, giving us the most exquisite, divine taste of how life can be lived in constant celebration.

Aisho was much more than a week long retreat. It was the manifestation of all the wisdom that has ever existed on Earth and still vibrates today. The wisdom of the East and the wisdom of the West. The wisdom of Male principle and the wisdom of Feminine energy.

Buddha statue at retreat centre in Mahabaleshwar

Many people have been transformed coming into contact with Sarita and Uezu-San…I see the Aisho project being another dawn of a wider, collective awakening that the Earth, and we human beings have been longing for…

Namaste…

Dhyan Niten