Om Beach

Om Beach is on the west coast of India. One day, I was sitting alone on the beach and contemplating fear. I realized that I had not experienced fear in at least a few years or more. So, I asked myself, “Am I afraid of anything?” Which was the perfect question to ask considering where I was. “Great white sharks!” Aah yes! The movie , “Jaws” had instilled the fear of The Great White in me since the age of seven.

Having thus recognized this fear buried deep in me. I instantly knew what I had to do. When nightfall came and the ocean was black, I swam into the deep waters. With every stroke and every breath, I imagined great whites coming to feast on me. My adrenaline shot up through my body like a hurricane and my heart raced! I continued to imagine the great whites approaching in the dark waters all around me. And through the fear I was embracing them all with love. For intuitively, I knew this was my way to transform the fear into love(I had done it before in other ways. Such as transforming the pain of losing a loved one, by embracing the pain with love. When this heart shattering pain came over the heart and the whole chest cavity, I continued to embrace it with love moment after moment, day after day until it transformed back into love. For love is the foundation and source of all energy and emotion) but, this felt like an even greater test which I was inducing now.
I continued to stroke, to breath deep, to imagine them eating me… and loving them. Being love and loving all. But, the adrenaline kept on coming and the heart continued to race. So, after swimming out from shore about half a mile, I turned back.
I was determined to continue the process day after day until I was completely free of fear! The second night came and I repeated the process with the exact same results. The third night came and I began my swim. For the first couple minutes the bodily response was the same: adrenaline overload and racing heart. Then the heart began to slow down. The sensation of love started to overtake the sensation of fear and adrenaline. After a few more minutes of swimming further out, the fear completely transformed into love. Big love! So big! So big that I was only love, swimming in an ocean of love! I stopped stroking. And lay on my back in the deep black waters enjoying myself as love connected to the whole ocean of love. Love loving love. I rested. Knowing love had overcome fear!
The next night was even more spectacular. Mother Ocean celebrated this victory with me. Just before sunset, I climbed up to the top of the Parvathi Rocks. To me, this spot seemed to be the heart chakra of Om Beach, a peninsula extending out from the middle of the Om. The massive boulder I sat on top of reached up about 30 feet above the water. I gazed at the sun setting reciting Gayatri Mantra. After the sun was down, I sat meditating for another couple hours. When I opened my eyes it was pitch black all around. I stood up, walked to the edge of the cliff, took three deep loving breaths and jumped. I landed in light! Mother Ocean was phosphorescent. Every movement, every stroke created light. I laughed and laughed with joy. Feeling Mother celebrating and laughing with me! The whole swim back to shore was the pure shimmering joy of freedom!