They arrived a little over an hour later, and the event took place in a large, beautiful park in a natural valley with mountains in the distance. The park had a roadway that wound throughout, so in the course of finding a place to park, they had a chance to spy on the festivities and get a layout of what was where.
To the kids’ relief, It looked more like a festival than a seminar, with a loosely related series of Eastern faith groups all represented.
‘Interfaith Gathering for Enlightenment’ was the actual name of the event. Paul could see stalls set up selling books.
Anne fixed in upon a group of people, mostly ladies, lined up on the lawn doing yoga led by a very serious-looking Yogi with a long beard and no shirt on.
Maggie saw some monks levitating, while some walked over hot coals, and others were laying down on a bed of nails.
Danny couldn’t take his eyes off a group demonstrating martial arts.
Collectively, they were glad that they came.
There were sounds of strange, exotic, yet pleasant music from different park areas. There were wafting through the air aromas of incense and spicy foods. The first impression of the event was, for all of them, surreal and overwhelming.
They were drawn to a crowd encircling a group of monks in robes. One spoke with a preternaturally loud voice that seemed to call out to everyone in attendance. As the crowd grew in a circle around them, three monks began to dig up what appeared to be recently disturbed ground.
“To demonstrate the depth of meditation, and the transcendence achieved over what many believe to be normal bodily functions, one of our brothers has been sealed underground,” the Monk with the voice said. “We will open up his tomb in front of you so that you may witness that there are no tricks.”
The monks dug down about four feet.
They stopped when a white cloth became visible under the soil. They set aside their shovels and lifted an enshrouded human body from the hole.
The crowd of onlookers was shocked to see this wrapped body come out and were even more surprised to watch the monks unwrap this man.
“Behold our brother, risen from the earth after two weeks without food, water, or even air to breathe.”
The monks attended to the recently buried man.
After unwrapping him, they unplugged his nostrils and ears with what appeared to be wax and gently massaged his extremities and torso.
Miraculously, the man began to stir. The crowd reacted with shock and wonder.
This was the nearest thing to a miracle they had ever seen. Paul was in disbelief and tried to move closer to get a better look.
“The human spirit is so much more than merely what is experienced by the body in the physical world. As you can see, our brother has entered a state of trance so deep that even his heart has slowed to the point where oxygen is unnecessary, much less food or drink. This is the power of the mind and spirit. To live is to overcome physical necessity’s demands — not to simply satisfy these desires.”
The buried monk was now sitting upright, eyes open, and very much alive.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.