Key religious instructions given to me around June 1962 by Swami Prabhavananda of the Ramakrishna Order of India.

…In this state of balance, harmony, and groundedness at the monastery, I pondered on some questions: How does one go about building a sound life? What do I do now in this state of mind? I searched for an understanding of my religious experience. I tried to comprehend the incredible greatness I had experienced. Even though I was in a high spiritual state, my mind was just baffled by the question of how I should proceed from here and what direction to take in my life.

At this critical stage of my budding religious life, the key direction was given to me by Swami Prabhavananda of the Ramakrishna Order of India. He was the charismatic head of the Southern California wing of the Order, which included this monastery. After I had stayed about 3 or 4 weeks at the monastery I requested the swami to tell me how I should proceed in my religious life. He told me to think of the Lord as residing at the deepest part of my heart and to meditate on that. I did not know what he meant by meditation and I shied away from asking him, because I didn't want the swami or anyone else to become my master. I wanted to remain free. Nevertheless, after PMU I realized that my heart was my treasure: The swami was on the right track. So, I have stayed with the essence of the advice he gave me, although I have adjusted certain aspects over the years. The swami, wisely, didn't tell me what to use as the image of the Lord. He didn't suggest Ramakrishna or Jesus or Buddha, etc. The blessed swami left that critical decision to me.

My immediate ancestors were culturally Jewish, but not particularly religious. However, because all four of my grandparents were Jewish, the essence of Judaism was somewhat ingrained in me. This essence is contained in the Shema. I had always interpreted the Shema - with the loving help of my father and mother - as follows: The Lord is One; The Lord is formless.

Thus, after the many years since the brief advice given to me by the swami in 1962, I have now settled down with the following kind of religious psychotherapy, as I 'work out my salvation with diligence.' I call this psychotherapy, sacred psychotherapy (SP).

  1. The Lord, residing at the deepest part of my heart, is formless. Stated another way, the very core of my heart is sacred.
  2. My sacred heart knows, step by step, what it will need during the process of healing, growth, rebuilding, and reintegration after PMU.
  3. My understanding of meditation is that it is an informal process. It is a process by which I learn to master the art of listening to the moment by moment promptings of my blessed and sacred heart.
  4. My task is to learn to follow my sacred heart, moment by moment, using the above kind of informal meditation; My sacred heart will lead me during the overcoming of my heart's arrested development. My two prayers are:
    1. Lord, teach me how to pray.
    2. Lord, guide me.
  5. Overcoming my arrested development occurs by a natural healing process. It is a process that will lead me to manhood (to be a mensch) and to the realization of my full potential. (I know about my full potential: It was experienced during mystical union.)
  6. The deepest part of my heart is the Lord of my life. My direction comes from there. The sacred, at the deepest part of my heart, is the center of my life. My brain, however powerful it is, is not the Lord of my life. The will or ego associated with my brain and senses need to be firmly brought into harmony with the promptings of my sacred heart. That is the road!
  7. Ideally, SP is a moment by moment adventure with the promptings of one's sacred heart.
After many years this is the way SP has evolved. Certainly, I am not at the end of the road. I am not a mensch. I have not attained my full potential, but this is the way I am now traveling on the road. I believe this approach is a good operational meditation and religious philosophy for a person like me. I am dealing with the blessed release of the effects of a childhood sexual trauma. Specifically, this means the release or abreaction of heart muscles that had been cramped/paralyzed from the age of 9 or 10 to the age of 30. After mystical union in 1962 I needed to attend to my blessed heart in a sacred way, as my heart began the process of healing itself and growing toward manhood. Despite my powerful will and ego, I have had to learn that my first priority is to serve the promptings of my sacred heart. I have had to become the servant of my sacred heart. I have failed so many times in this process, but I get right back up and try again. The blessed Lord forgives.

In 1962, a few months after Swami Prabhavananda had given me the advice on how to proceed, I slowly began to find the monastery was not a compatible environment for my particular religious life. After seven months in the monastery I left, eventually returning to Boston. However, I kept in touch with the Ramakrishna Order until about 1995. I found the insights of certain monks and devotees of the Ramakrishna Order to be helpful as the years went by. I admired the way one of the monks conducted himself. The Order kindly allowed me to roam somewhat freely throughout their system without requiring me to join or commit myself to the Order. This roaming within the Order included various locations in the US, a retreat near Paris, and a few locations in India.

Arlen Wolpert
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
http://theworld.com/~awolpert/gtr551.html
(Draft of February 7,2006)

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