Dada was sent to Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, in 1987, where he initiated President Samuel Doe, several ministers and ambassadors of other countries. Later, in other African countries, Dada gave talks at high schools and colleges about how to improve memory and concentration with meditation.
He was transferred to Georetown Sector (South America) in the mid-1990s, and he worked in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for about 25 years. He traveled to many towns in Brazil, leading yoga and meditation retreats.
When I went to work in Africa, I often thought about Baba’s words. I quickly observed that African brothers and sisters are by nature very simple in a wonderful way. For example, they tend to laugh freely, spontaneously and loudly. By nature they are very spiritual.
ReplyDeleteYet I wondered why Baba told me to help elevate them economically and socially – why didn’t He advise me to help them spiritually? I even doubted whether I had heard Him properly. Yet as I witnessed the terrible poverty and social disintegration caused by colonialism and economic exploitation, I realized that this was the first priority of our work.
I was sent to Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, in 1987. The country had been founded in the early nineteenth century by freed African slaves from the United States. I met some Filipino doctors there, and later other Filipino contract workers who were attracted to the country because salaries were high and paid in American dollars.
The doctors helped me find and rent a second-floor apartment for a jagrti on the main road in front of the general hospital. Most of the embassies were on the same road to the left, and on the right was the presidential palace, in front of the university.
I met the Spanish Ambassador who had some health problems, so I started teaching him asanas privately. I also taught meditation to his three children. After sometime he showed me a pile of kidney stones that had successfully come out through his urine. He felt much better and was so inspired that he introduced me to his friends. Soon I was also teaching the ambassadors of Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Morocco. Because Africa is more informal than elsewhere, I was able to visit different government ministries and talk about yoga and meditation. I also taught three government ministers: of agriculture, telecommunication and budget.
Eventually two of the doctors were initiated: Sister Bhaeravii (Evangeline Villarica Marcelino) and her husband Arjuna (Arturo Marcelino). They and their two beautiful twin children, Arun and Jayantii, accompanied me to India in December 1989 to attend the New Year’s DMC and see Baba. There we heard the news that on Christmas Eve a rebel alliance called the National Patriotic Front of Liberia led by Charles Taylor invaded from the Ivory Coast and civil war broke out.
In the neighboring country of Burkina Faso, Dada Sumit Kumar from Maharlika had initiated the president and some of his ministers. And in Togo, the president was our sympathizer and had given us a house to use in Lome, the capital, to use as our jagrti. So this news inspired me to try to meet and initiate the Liberian President, Samuel Doe, when we returned there in mid January.
Sister Bhaeravii personally knew him and had a clinic in his hometown, but it took until the end of May to arrange a meeting. She got a handwritten letter from General Glay, the head of the Liberian Army, addressed to the chief of President's Doe's security force. It said, "Please allow the bearer of this note to see President Samuel Doe."
By this time, the fighting between the rebels and the military had become very intense and most of the government ministers had already left the country. On that day BBC Radio reported that the American Ambassador was trying unsuccessfully to meet the president.
I went to the palace with Doctor Bhaeravii. In his huge reception room, I sat alone with the president on the floor and initiated him. He was very respectful and really interested. We closed the door, but the president’s personal security guard, his cousin, was very suspicious and he disturbed us by knocking and then opening the door several times to check on us. Finally the President himself got up and locked the door after telling him not to disturb us anymore.
At the end, I gave him a pratik to wear and presented him a copy of the Prout in a Nutshell books. Then President Doe told me that he wanted to go to India to meet Baba. I told him I needed to get permission first. (continuted...)
(...cont.) For the next week or so, I tried to arrange this by calling the dadas in charge of Nairobi Sector and Central Office, but they were all in Ananda Nagar for the June DMC where there was no telephone. Eventually Baba gave the instruction that President Doe should not leave the presidential palace. I passed this message to him through his cousin, Minister Glay of Post and Telecommunication, whom I had also initiated.
ReplyDeleteAfter being initiated, President Doe called all the religious groups and tried to negotiate for peace. The rebels did not agree to a ceasefire, but the newspapers continually asked why for one month the rebels were unable to advance on the capital.
As the civil war intensified, military checkpoints were set up all over the city. It became more and more risky to move around because the government soldiers were extremely suspicious and jittery. The Margiis and sympathizers were terrified. After initiating the president, I looked again at the handwritten pass signed by the head of the army and discovered that there was no date on it. So I started visiting all the people I knew to give them moral courage. At each checkpoint I showed that letter, pretending that I was on my way again to meet the President. (cont...)
(...cont.)After a week of visits, at one checkpoint near the market, the soldiers suddenly became very angry and threatened to shoot me. They said that General Glay had recently left the country and that he was a traitor. With great difficulty I somehow managed to convince them that my purpose was to teach meditation to the president and told them that even if the head of their army had run away, my intention was good. They finally calmed down and let me leave, but they kept the letter.
ReplyDeleteI stayed in the jagrti with Brother Balaram, an LFT from Ghana. Gradually the rebel armies were approaching the capital from both sides. Food became very scarce. In the backyard of the jagrti we grew banana trees, but at night our neighbors cut down and stole those trees so they could eat the inner part of the trunk.
It was becoming more and more dangerous, especially at night. Even the government soldiers started robbing houses. All the houses turned off every light at night to avoid attracting thieves.
Our rented jagrti had four rooms and was on the second floor, above a small store. One night we decided to sleep inside the last room of the jagrti. We locked the front gate, the front door and the door of each room. Brother Balaram and I had only big sticks with us.(...cont.)
(...cont.)We were both very afraid, and were left with only our trust in Baba. Somehow that terrible night passed. The next morning we were shocked to find that the locks of the gate and every door had been destroyed. But we never heard anything. We didn’t know if we had slept soundly, or if somehow Baba had mysteriously prevented us from hearing the sounds to avoid terrifying us. But whatever the case, we knew that Baba really helped us and kept us safe.
ReplyDeleteAfter the break-in, I decided to move. I told Balaram that I would try to find food and return, but after I left it became impossible to move on the streets anymore. Sadly, I never saw Balaram again.
For a short time I stayed in the home of a Filipino veterinarian and his wife Arlene. At least three other Filipino families, mostly without children, were also staying there for safety, including Fredo (a mechanic) and his wife Flora (a nurse) who used to stay with us in the jagrti, and a former Marine officer. Every night we all slept near the walls to avoid being hit by stray bullets when fighting broke out. Although the rebels had not yet invaded the city, sometimes a few raided the capital and engaged the soldiers in gun battles.
One day when we were in the kitchen at the back of the house, the domestic helper ran in, gasping for breath. He said that there were two soldiers at the entrance who demanded to know whether anyone was home. He told them no, and now they wanted to come inside and rob everything. (cont...)
(cont...)Everyone was very scared, including the former Marine officer. The owner told me, "Dada, please talk to them and do whatever you can do." Although I was scared too, the others had faith in me because I was a monk, so I went out to face the soldiers.
ReplyDeleteWhen they saw me, they realized that the helper had lied to them. They aimed their rifles at me and came inside. They ordered everyone into the living room and to fall in line. I stood at the front. They were nervous and kept their fingers on their weapons aimed at us. They were angry and seemed to want to shoot all of us. The owner calmly told them that the misunderstanding was the fault of the helper boy. They said, "OK, then call the boy."
He had jumped over the back fence, but fortunately had not run away. When the owner called him, he jumped back. The soldiers seemed to pity him, but ordered him to do many pushups as punishment for lying. Then they left without harming us or taking anything from the house. Afterwards I was surprised that, despite standing in front of their rifles, my heart did not palpitate. Perhaps this was because of my long practice of yoga and meditation.
That same night, while we were sleeping, a very big man broke in. There was a commotion in the dark. One of us bit him and he ran away.
The next day we all decided to shift to the St. Joseph Catholic Hospital where some Filipino doctors lived. A few other Filipino contract workers were also there. We all stayed together in one of three quarters at the back of the hospital. We felt more secure staying together with many people, and in the hospital we could get enough food to eat. (cont...)
(...cont)We knew that the government soldiers were harassing hospital patients because some of them were rebels. Even the night before I initiated the president, government soldiers entered the general hospital in front of the jagrti and killed many people. We were nervous that they could also do this in the hospital where we were staying.
ReplyDeleteThat night before we slept, I drew a pratik on the ground a few meters in front of the entrance to our quarters. The next morning we found out that soldiers had threatened and harassed the occupants in both the other two quarters, but they had not entered where we were staying. This was the power of the pratik.
Finally the rebels came to the hospital on their way to the city center. It was very scary because rockets fired by the government troops were falling everywhere. The rebels looked very strange – most of them wore women's clothes! They said that these clothes belonged to their mothers or sisters or wives, and they had taken a vow to wear them until they could avenge their deaths at the hands of the government soldiers.
We were trying to get help, especially from the American Embassy, to get out of the country. But even the American Ambassador, who was coordinating helicopter and boat evacuation, could not help us.
Finally we had to leave by road. The Filipino doctors and other workers and I joined a caravan of at least 25 vehicles going to the neighboring country, Ivory Coast. Most of the people in the caravan were the staff from Medecins Sans Frontieres (“Doctors Without Borders”). I brought nothing with me out of Liberia except the clothes I was wearing. But I pinned Baba’s Barabhaya Mudra photo on the inside of my orange T-shirt over my heart.(cont...)
(...cont)The caravan was stopped halfway by rebels. They were very angry and said that it was because of us, foreigners, that they were being delayed in capturing the capital. They accused the doctors of supporting the government.
ReplyDeleteThey showed us two wells where they had thrown the bodies of the people they killed at that checkpoint. Then they separated the men in our group from the women and children. It seemed that they were going to kill all the men. The fear we felt was terrible.
To my surprise, although I have a short beard, I was mistakenly put with the women and children. The doctors kept insisting that they were working as NGO volunteers treating all the wounded people in the war, whether rebels or soldiers. Somehow, finally, the rebel officers became convinced that we were telling the truth. In the end they freed all of us and let us continue to the border on the condition that they would get all the vehicles there. I felt that Baba saved all of us from what seemed certain death.
In September, three months after President Samuel Doe’s initiation, out of his desire for peace, he left the palace to visit the headquarters of the peacekeeping force sent by the Economic Community of West African States. On that visit, rebels led by Prince Johnson captured and killed him. Of course initiation cannot save people from death, but I am sure that God blessed him for his change of heart and for trying to negotiate for peace.
Thank you Dada for sharing this terrible and deep experience.
DeleteVamos sentir muita falta do Dadinha ❤️muita gratidão à Consciência Suprema pela existência dele. Baba Nam Kevalam 🙏
ReplyDeleteSim 🙏 Baba💜
ReplyDelete