By Maureen Brennan Mercier: Gangaji is a modern day spiritual teacher who shares a simple yet profound message for humanity. “Silent awareness is alive in you.”
Gangaji travels all over the world sharing her message with seekers of truth. She is a teacher and author who speaks and writes about her personal experience of the teachings she received from Papaji, her teacher from India. Gangaji shares how to discover the truth of who you are and how to live that truth.
For awhile I have felt a connection with Gangaji. She came to speak in Woodstock, NY in September 2009 while I was living nearby. Following my intuition I went to the meeting hall to see her.
Meeting With Gangaji
Meeting with Gangaji was a very powerful experience for me. My path is the path of the mystic where I follow my intuition, the inner voice of the Divine.
At the Open Meeting with Gangaji we all sat meditating for about 15 minutes. Then she invited us to raise our hands if we wanted to sit on the stage with her and experience her work.
With butterflies in my stomach I raised my hand at the meeting with Gangaji. She called on me and up I went on stage. I shared how I was not familiar with her work and that I was following my intuition to be here with her.
Saying Good-Bye to My Brother
What came up for me while I sat with Gangaji on the stage was the story of my oldest brother dying in October of 2006 after being ill for some time. In August of that same year he was to walk me down the aisle, along with my two other brothers, at the wedding celebration for my husband and I. Instead, the day before our celebration, I drove with my family to the VA hospital to say good-bye to my brother.
Due to other health complications my brother had slipped into a coma and was getting ready to leave his body. It was a shocking turn of events and my heart was broken. At our wedding celebration the next day, I felt great joy and intense pain. Soon I would be saying good-bye to my brother. His death, less than two months later, was devastating to me. We were very close. He was fifteen years older than I, like a father to me, and he was my hero.
With a sweeping hand gesture toward the audience Gangaji said to look out at the people who are all here for me. I saw love and support in all the faces in the audience. Then she said that it was a very sad story and I have told it many times. In the telling of the story I don’t allow myself to feel the pain and now I was the time to feel it. The waves of pain rose up in me and I just was present with it. Tears filled my eyes as I stayed with my pain and sorrow. Minutes later I felt at peace.
For almost 3 years I had been telling the story of my brother dying, yet not allowing myself to feel it. I followed my intuition by going to see Gangaji. In that short time on the stage with her and a room full of loving souls I was able to feel my own grief in a new way. Then I understood Gangaji and her work. “Silent awareness is alive in you.”
