I once enjoyed attending the meetings of a spiritual guru who called herself Maha Lakshmi.
She was a beautiful Hawaiian, a former US consultant called Pamela. She had been invited to our country by a Dutch man to our country and he supported her as secretary. She was the bearer of the energy of Maha Lakshmi. A walk-in it was called. Maha Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of prosperity, happiness, prosperity and abundance, a feminine quality. And I liked that too.
I learnt a lot from her. But there were also things that bothered me. For instance, Maha Lakshmi let herself be worshipped extensively. All those devotees kneeling before her and feasting on gifts and flowers. I had nothing to do with that. It shook me.
Soon I had a personal consultation with her at the luxurious ‘De Hoefslag’ in Bosch and Duin (The Netherlands). The first thing she asked was: ‘What did you come here to do?’ Without my noticing, my personality blurted out, ‘This is a point of no return’.
Was it me who said that? Or was it my Higher Self that briefly took over the steering?
Nevertheless. It was true. In its wake, I was catapulted into the spiritual world. The turning point presented itself. I took a seven-day course with her. After three course days, I received a phone call telling me that the next meeting would be in London. Maha Lakshmi had been deported from the Netherlands because she had no residence permit. I was expected at the prestigious Raffles hotel in London.
I joined the resistance. My Frisian-sober nature played up. Ridiculous that I had to come to London and still in such an expensive hotel. Could there be no other way? I said to her secretary: ‘I’ll give you a chance. Tonight I will ask my divine source if I should come. Then the next morning I will have the answer. All I heard in my sleep at night was: ‘London, London, London!’ ‘Ok. I’m coming!’
And yes, of course Maha Lakshmi was worshipped in the heart of London. And I too was invited to kneel before her.
Apparently, I had to cross the North Sea to do so. I threw all my blockages and beliefs overboard and knelt before her. It was a liberating action. A sigh of relief went through the room. Maha Lakshmi complimented me and my message was, ‘Congratulations! You have overcome a piece of your ego and let go. You may have knelt before me, but in essence you have knelt before yourself, before Mother Earth and for the feminine!’ Oops, that came in!
Kneeling occurs in ancient traditions and is a sign of respect, reverence and gratitude. Although there are still benches are in Catholic churches to kneel before God, we have lost kneeling and the idea behind it. Indeed, kneeling is ‘not done’ in this day and age. You are not going to cut yourself off and make yourself submissive, are you? Kneeling is most strongly when a man asks a woman to marry him. So kneeling for the feminine!
I was rewarded for my kneeling. Because on that day in London, I met my current wife Gabriela.
And of course I later knelt for her too. When Gabriela and I give workshops on male-female interaction, we divide the men and women into two groups. Then we ask them to write down and pronounce compliments for the opposite sex. I then lead the men’s group.
The women are giggly, happy and grateful when we verbally honour who they are and have been to us men, as grandmothers, aunts, mothers, daughters, partners and lovers. We applaud their shapes, hips, buttocks and breasts, their sophistication, good manners and wisdom, their beautiful clothes and sweet smells. At the end of this proclamation of love, all the men then kneel before the women. A ritual that surprises the women surprised and in a euphoric mood and makes the men feel humble and proud.
Ask yourself who you would want to kneel for and why. And what it might take for you to step out of your ‘comfort zone’ to get to the point of showing someone else such respect. If you dare, I will take a deep bow for you!
Reint Gaastra