Before coming to the tradition that I now belong to, I had a dream. The dreamscape was entirely blank except for an elephant-headed deity sitting in the lotus posture. My first instinct was to identify him as Ganesh. However, this deity had five heads, so I second-guessed this assessment. I only recently discovered that this is an acknowledged and celebrated manifestation of Lord Ganesha: Panchamukhi Ganesha. Looking at him, I felt a very strong aura of peace radiating from him and, also, radiating out from me in response.
 |
| Panchamukhi Ganesha |
After having firmly decided to take a Guru, when I received mantra deeksha (initiation) from my swami teacher, I began to see tiny little lights exploding and disappearing. It was as if I was witnessing the birth of a microcosmic universe. At first I thought I was just seeing dust particles that were catching the light just right. But, in addition to just seeing them floating in the air, I would see them exploding out of the shower wall, I would see them in the dark, and I would see them exploding on peoples' faces. I started seeing them that day, and have continued seeing them ever since.
The day that I received this initiation, I went to a restaurant in Seattle that I like, called Chaco Canyon. I had already noticed a lot of number synchronicities with the numbers 1 and 7, just from looking at the clock before and after meditation, getting into and out of the car, etc. I don't remember the specifics. But when I got to Chaco Canyon and they gave me a number, I remember that it had been enough to make me stop and admire the patterning when they handed me the number 7 to put on my table.
 |
| Chaco Canyon Table # |
After that, I went to Pike Place Market in Seattle to buy a mala and some herbs from a cool little shop called Tenzing & Momo. The total on my receipt was $77.77. When I left that shop, I went to a little Indian import store and bought a tapestry featuring Lord Ganesha. I hung it on my wall that day. Eventually, I noticed light coming out of the thing. When I examined it more closely, I saw that it had little mirrors stitched into it. When the sunlight would catch it just right, it would flicker and look a lot like the little explosions that I had just started noticing the day that I bought this thing.
 |
| Ganesh Tapestry |
 |
| One of the mirrors pictured center |
Here's another number sync I found out about some time later. My Guru's birthday turned out to be 3/22/1948. Mine is 3/2/1984. Same month, same digits in the day except that my Guru's is multiplied by a factor of 11 (a number corresponding to Shiva and also known as a Master number in numerology), and all the digits in the year are the same. Clearly this conspiracy runs deep.
 |
| Sadgurunath Maharaj Ki Jay! |
