Naropa had a carefree youth, light, free and full of zest for life. He comes from a progressive background and consequently did not develop the common ‘afflictions’ that many of us did. He got, in short, a healthy foundation without any notable damage.
Around the age of thirteen, Naropa spontaneously had an enlightenment experience.
This ‘consummation’ was pregnant with silence and magic. With ecstasy. The imprint left a deep trace in his consciousness and later became a drive to bring this underlying reality back to life.
Around the age of twenty, Naropa began coming into contact with people who reawakened this imprint. This kindled the heart’s longing to permanently arrive at this freedom and to live it fully. Moreover, through training and work within mental health care, human suffering became increasingly visible to him. He did not yet realise that the deepest suffering arises from not living from our natural state. Eliminating this ignorance is the greatest challenge for humanity, and also the very medicine against all ‘war’ on an individual and global level.
In 1985 he came into contact with the mystic Osho and resonated immediately with his loving and silent presence. There he received the name Gyan Saahaba, with the inscription.
For nine years Naropa was devoted to Osho’s vision and steadily underwent a transformation. Meditation took him ever deeper into reality, and satoris, as before at age thirteen, revealed themselves again. The denials regarding the true nature of existence gradually melted away. Meditation became natural. Daily he practised Vipassana meditation; sitting in awareness in connection with Osho. In addition, he immersed himself in Advaita Vedanta and attended gatherings from this tradition.
The apparently separate self-awareness first dissolved into Self-realisation. The awareness ‘I am’ became the centre of existence. Naropa continued visiting Poona in India until 1994 and integrated meditation into daily life.
After the body had left Osho, without seeking a spiritual master, ShantiMayi of the Sacha tradition unexpectedly crossed Naropa’s path.
It was intuitively realised that the Realisation was not yet complete and that ShantiMayi could be the vehicle for the great transformation. The path from the Self to the not-Self (surrender) had not yet been completed. In a life with Tara, raising children and working in a trauma clinic, the dismantling continued beneath the surface and in silence. Through the inner merging with the spirit of the Sacha tradition, this fire of love stayed alight. In the night of 28-29 January 2002 in Laxman Jhula, the Self dissolved into the All. This was experienced as a sudden and intense dying process. In this revelation, Sacha Baba of the Sacha tradition confirmed the irreversible transformation. Naropa was crowned. No one returned to the stage to claim or proclaim anything at all.
A more extensive description of this can be found in the article Presence and Absorbing Love.
The effect of this shift on body and mind continued almost imperceptibly. The body needed time to be ‘reset’ and to come fully into the service of Selflessness. Sleep in particular proved unfamiliar within this force of love. The enlightened consciousness had to incarnate into humanness. The Heart matured for years in silence before making itself known.
ShantiMayi confirmed this transformation and encouraged Naropa to hold gatherings. Although he himself felt no ambition for this whatsoever, these repeated ‘encouragements’ resulted in Naropa organising satsangs and retreats from 2008 onwards. Hundreds of people have since come to the gatherings, and many experience their natural state. Although a large sangha has formed over the years that keeps returning, many people are also frightened to death by the effectiveness of this and make their escape. The solidified life is irrevocably turned upside down when the true nature, which never matches your distorted view, presents itself.
Naropa is not a guru; he proclaims no teaching, dogma, or lifestyle. He is your friend and initiates no one. Initiation happens of its own accord.
What Naropa shares with us cannot be categorised within any spiritual movement; it is life. It is spontaneous and free. He does not conform to the collective mind’s idea of how a liberated soul ought to be.
One of his trademarks is friction. Without friction, no one awakens. If there is trust, the crisis that results from this can be made fruitful. Giving up resistance is surrender.
Seen from the persona, it is an operation. Seen from consciousness, a relief. Simply by being together with Naropa in receptivity, the armour of personality melts and the Heart awakens.
Naropa is an expression of the current age; what Buddhists call the Maitreya energy. He is a friend, not an authority to be followed. Naropa also has no role. He is unrolled.
Naropa encourages everyone to come to inner and outer flourishing. To live your full potential, and to come out of your seed-consciousness to realise the connection with the universal force in an original way.
ShantiMayi From our first meeting in 1994, I remember the lightness, joy and above all the love and radiance that ShantiMayi poured out upon us. I received her presence and love, and it carried me from our first encounter. I was not seeking a master and was content with life.
Somehow, in most spiritual schools—and consequently within people themselves—sensuality and spirituality have become separated. In Life itself, this is impossible. It is a human, mental invention to tear apart and isolate what is inherently connected—to see division where none exists. The result is either a cold, abstract spirituality or a
A time has come in which humanity and the planet can no longer endure remaining in ignorance and suffering. The energy of the present epoch ensures that self-consciousness is left behind and universal consciousness is realised. Remaining trapped in the prison of thought and the past will become ever more
