atural
disasters, and nearly everyone on the planet will be affected.
Spiritual seekers will suffer the most, because they are the ones who
are most sensitive to the pain and suffering of others. It will become
increasingly difficult to meditate, and seekers not grounded in the
dharma [Truth] will be in grave danger of being seduced by the Dark
Side."

Unaware of the effect Atmananda was having beneath the surface world of
my reason, I watched his demanding, doughy face and listened to his
soothing, arresting voice.

"But there is no reason for you to indulge in sadness. In times of
great darkness, spiritual warriors band together and fight the Forces.
This is their soul's work, and therefore their inner beings are
extremely happy! Despite enormous odds, they fight for Truth and Light
and, well, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but, let's just say that
the warriors are in for some pleasant surprises in this and in future
lives."

I assumed he meant that they would accrue good karma.

"And I would be willing to wager," he said, smiling warmly, "that they
are in for a heck of a good time.

"Until the warriors are close to attaining enlightenment, they will
need a genuine spiritual teacher. They will need a teacher who turns
out strong, free-thinking individuals, *not* spaced-out, dependent
disciples. They will need a teacher who is fully or partially
enlightened, and who has extensive experience in guiding souls to
self-realization. They will also need a teacher who has the power to
ward off hordes of Negative Forces."

Atmananda reminded us that the powers from his past lives had been
"cycling" through him and had been propelling him into basement samadhi
and beyond. He said that he had been carefully monitoring his progress
toward self-realization. He had not only asked the Infinite for advice,
he assured us, but had been reading detailed accounts of the
enlightenment process.

No one asked to review his source material.

He went on to describe the countless inner realms he had been slipping
in and out of lately. The realms, he explained, were so deep and
powerful that the man we had come to know as Atmananda had all but
disappeared inside the clear light of the void.

I was attempting to make sense of his claims, when he said that samadhi
was incomprehensible to the human mind. Then he paused, slowly scanned
the audience, and announced that he would be helping advanced, sincere
seekers in their