I am just an american of English, Scot, a litlle Geman and Powhatan ancestry by mother, and Italian by my father. I was raised in Quaker ways, as has been the tradition of my mothers family since coming to America in 1685. My father was raised Roman Catholic, which he renounced, but remained a Christain by all meaning of the word.
I was taught how to meditate at age 15 by my mother, whom had read of the technique and had practiced somewhat herself, from the books she read and collected into a library on Edgar Cayce, a well respected early 20th century American clairvoyant.
She gave me instuction on the meditation/yogic practice of focusing on the Ajna and told me of the Word, the Logos, the bijmantra, OM.
She had no idea that I would achieve samadhi with it, that same night.
That was in August of 1968 and it was not until late 2003 or early 2004 that I read what Swami Sivananda had to say about this particular path I am on. I never had a clue as to a path in existence so strange. I di have darshan, in a most vivid dream, with Sivananda, in 1974, although I did not know who He was utnil I saw his photo on the back cover dust jacket of Swami Satchitananda's book in a store a year later when Satchitananda was in California giving lectures and giving darshan. I immediately recognized Sivananda as the manin saffron robes from my dream...which was a VERY vivid dream.
I am told that my most previous life was one in India and that I was an associate of Mohandas Gandhi. The naturqal affinity I have always had since I was a child for the way of the Sanatan Dharm led me to ask a well respected clairvoyant, whom I had worked with on a number of occasions in the past and proven her abilities to 'See' what is or was, completely to my satisfaction, and she told me that I was of India and that I was a 'Hindu" with many rings, gold rings, on all my fingers.
When I saw the birth chart of Mohandas for the first tie, about 9 or 10 years ago, I was struck by the uncanny similarity to my own, Over the course of the ensuing years it led me ot eventually have suspicion that i may have known him in the previous life. Iposted my chart alon with Gandhi's, in the 'Reincarnation/Pas Life sub-forum here with the request that anyone familar with Gandhi astrologically to make an assessment as to whether I knew him or not. The one reply I got from a member practiced in Jotish was that they thought that, not only did I know him, but that I knew Him rather intimately as well. My sussequent inquiry to my clairvoyant associate, was given the response that we were well associated with one another through a woman we both knew is some manner , that was not at all in any way "improper', but she couldn't give me anymore than that, other than that experience was to help me in these time as for reason that I might be a voice of reason in the times ahead for the United States. At first, by Her description and for the reason she gave as to my possible destiny, I suspected that I may have been the Jain monk that was spiritual advisor to Mohandas' mother, but a couple of weeks later I recalled what the clairvoyant had said about my fingers being occupied by many gold rings and that she had siad , "'definitely 'Hindu' ".
This literally does sound like some sort of recriprocating action on the part of the Guruampara in some way.
...as for another good reason...
I have a few threads and posts in the forum as to how I met a fellow American yogi, Suryakant, who is 70 years old and has been a chela of Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas, of the Maha Kundalini Order, since 1979, when Dhyanyogi came here to the United States. Suryaknt was one of the first American disciples of the Maharishi Mahesh yogi that brought TM to the Occidental world. The way Suryakant appeared and at the particular time of my life with what he had, [exactly what I had been praying for} along with his own natal chart and horoscope done by a friend of his in 1979 and in a way that advanced my understanding and abilities in the use of Sabian Symbols as presented by the late Dane Rudhyar, has been astonishingly mind and life altering for myself...and also turned out to be exactly the tools I would need to know how to use in the amount of time that it took to be capable of it.
I've written a bok and it is published and in it I give thanks and hig praise to the guruampara of the Himalaya's and India. I had two more experiences with deepp meditation following the first. It is Sri Rama that interceeded on my behalf, in answer to my plea, in one of those experiences.
Although I did comed to understand that only the bijmantra itself is my Guru and Sadguru as well from what Sivananda claimed. I did ask to be a protectorate of the Sadhan Order of Yoga of India, through someone I met at another astrology forum in 2008, and was accepted and given a mantra to Sri Prabhu Ram Lal to recite daily and I do Japa with various mantras, many over many years now. I don't meditate much anymore, as I'm not in serch of anything outside of myself at the time as these times demand so much of my attention...as it was destined to be. I do Surya Pujas daily, almost always at dawn... I'll even do them at night if that's the only time i can get to do them. Two rather long complex mantras in Sanskrit, that I've psoted somewhere in the forum in complete translation to English for the best pronunciation, which is all important as you pointed out, as I recorded from the photocopies of the pages from the book they came from... a 'gift' from Suryakant in early 2007. Prior to that I had beendoing Avery brief namaskar [I bleive the word is.} to Surya, for a minute or five, depending, each day sinced the summer of 2001, very religiously since early 2003 for reasons I won't got into here...but I did mention my serch for knowledge of the Hanuman Chalisa, earlier. I found out for myself, during that time, that the physical Sun and the Light that is One with the bijmantra to be quite a bit alike as the Yogis have insisted they are for eons and do indeed improve ones constitution and many abilities as well as provide a new one or two.
To Christains i say that i am a Quaker mystic and a yogi. To those of the Sanatan Dharm i say that I am a Yogi and a chela of the bijmantra. As a Quaker of the waiting worship variety, and as such being raised to bleieve in and listen to the "Inner Voice" and recognize it as the Christ/Krishna conciousness to speak for God to your self is the same as being a chela of the bijmantra in so many, many ways, I bow to Krishna, Rama, Yeshu'a/Jesusa, Hanuman, the Durga, Bhrama, Vishnu, Siva, Ishwara/Yaweh and, or, the El Ohim, to Sat Nam, to Prema Nam, To Surya and the elevenother names that I know him by, to Tawa whom is the Indigenous American tribe of the Hopi and the Zunis incarnation of the Sun as it flet the natural thing to do for the Indigenous ancestry I have and which was confirmed for me as the right thing to do in a vision I had and I also bow to a few others of the Vedic pantheon as well.
All "True Paths" to God are One, ultimately, as you well know, probably better than I, Sakti, and certainly you must be all the more concious of it as it is not a too popular concept here in the United States...in theory, maybe...but certainly not in practice.
I have to constantly remind myself of it and often need to.
I hope I wan't too long winded. It's not often i get to speak of such things to someone that actually may understand it.
It's been an exceptional pleasure meeting you.
Namaste, Hare Krishna Hare Rama, and If I may? Hare Yeshu'a, as well.
OM Tat Sat OM
ptv aka David, aka Devananda