Day 3 Bali

One of the best things that happened to me in Bali was getting in touch with Christina, a mutual friend of one of my close friends Darlene. The night before, I had gotten to meet her and her driver Deva (who later happened to take me around) along with another person from San Francisco, Loretta. That evening began my spiritual connection in Bali.

When I had spoken to Christina before I left, she was a little hesitant to take me to her contacts. After the movie and book "Eat, Pray, Love" came out, Ubud, the place where I stayed in Bali, got so much publicity that other great healers and medicine men didn't want to be surfaced. After our conversation that evening and reassuring her of my intentions, she opened the doorway to her connections and I ended up meeting one inspirational person to another.

In the morning, I received a call from Christina that her teacher was willing to see me. Around ten, I was greeted by a friendly smile and he was introduced to me as Dewa. . I rode with him on his bike as we proceeded towards a restaurant close by.


Dewa is a prominent figure in Bali. Whenever any spiritual teacher arrives in Bali, he gets a private audience with them. He and his mother have met up with many prominent figures including the Dalai Lama. I felt honored to be at his presence


After we settled in our conversation carried on for the next eight and half hours. Our topics ranged from spiritual, world religion, politics, the deeper meaning of yoga, medicine, nature and life in general. I was not able to record our conversations because it was a Saturday and he told us that any auspicious activity should not be done on Saturdays' and Tuesdays' because anything that is started that day is bound to fail. I asked him why and he said it was a part of a contract man made with God (I shall explain more later).

One of the prominent things that I remember from our conversation is the importance of continuously letting go of our possessions both external and internal so that we can make room for the new. By holding onto things we are just preventing the circulation of energy.

His thought about religion.
Any religion is good but the connection with God is better. Religion is a path that one can follow to reach God and it does not matter which path you take because it all leads to God.

What happens after death?
Death is not the end of the line but it is just another beginning. He also explained that there are another seven levels and yet another seven levels. Through the practice of meditation and yoga one could travel to these planes even before death. The destination between these planes is determined by the action of the individual.

Why are people so afraid of death?
Ignorance can bring a great deal of fear in one's life. When one does not know what he is doing and what his actions are leading to then he is in a constant state of fear. When one understands and accepts this process, fear is hence eliminated.

What is yoga?
Yoga is not merely the external physical exercise. Yoga is the means by which one disciplines the body. The physical actions are important but it is also necessary to pay importance to the happenings within the mind and keep it in balance.

Quest for wisdom.
In order to gain wisdom a person should pay attention to three factors:- the relationship between human being to human being, human being to the environment, and human being with God.

What is truth?
Truth is balance between the three factors and when one can hear things as they are either good or bad, that is the ultimate truth.

The importance of spirituality.
There are many intelligent people in the world but because of the lack of proper guidance, they have been creating many amazing inventions but that are not necessary for the good of the world. He says every institution should have spiritual lessons so as to guide the future inventors and intellectuals toward the right path - the path that serves everyone and hurts none.

There were so many topics we discussed. One of the last questions I asked him was what would he like to share with the world. He just smiled and said....

“It is important to do something beyond the self - selfless service is the highest service. Also it is important to forgive others and to ask for forgiveness when you are wrong.”

The evening ended with the Balinese traditional dance to the Gamalan music. It was a very interesting experience. The most interesting part was when you looked into the eyes of the dancers-they didn't look at you, they looked through you. It was definitely something.

Yet another wonderful day in Bali.