Hello.
This D'Mello podcast is part of a six-part series.
Each podcast consists of three parts.
The first part is a talk given by Anthony D'Mello that's roughly five minutes long.
The second part invites you to do a five-minute meditation at the end of his talk.
And the third part is a spiritual story of one to two minutes that relates back to the talk that D'Mello just gave.
The mantra or the recitation of a holy word or phrase is a source of strength and peace to many.
If you are one of these,
You will find profit in this exercise called the volcano.
People who set out to find meaning in their lives,
People in search of love and peace and joy,
Frequently turn to gurus and books and friends for help.
If you are one of these people,
You must know that no external source can give you what you are looking for.
You must go within yourself to find it.
Here is one way to do it.
Imagine that you make a journey to the deepest level of your being.
Everything inside is dark and quiet.
You find no trace of that interior light that the mystics speak of.
When you reach the very center,
You seem to see an upward spurting flame,
The symbol of a holy fire of which you are generally quite unconscious.
And there is a rhythm to the spurting of that flame.
Then you seem to hear a word or a mantra being chanted to that rhythm,
A word like the name of Jesus or a mantra like my God and my all power,
Abba,
Father,
Or come Holy Spirit or whatever.
Listen attentively till you can hear the chant.
If you have heard the mantra on some formal inward journey,
Then imagine that you hear it again or that you hear some other word or sentence at this time.
Once you have heard the mantra,
Chant it in your heart.
Imagine that with each recitation,
A deep mysterious peace comes from the very center of your being and spreads till it invades the whole of you.
The peace spreads through every part of your body,
Your stomach,
Your head and neck,
Your arms and legs,
Till no part of your body remains untouched by it.
Now every time you say the Holy Word,
The peace begins to deepen.
It is as if with every recitation you let go,
You relax your being into the hands of God.
Now a quiet strength begins to take hold of you each time you say the mantra,
An energy that spreads all over you together with a sense of confidence,
A sense of I can do all things in Him who strengthens you.
And gradually all anxieties begin to fade.
You see yourself in situations that you formally avoided from timidity and fear.
The mantra makes you confident and strong.
To end the exercise,
Imagine you go down once again to the very center of your being,
To seek the warmth that comes from that interior fire and to rest in the holy strength that your mantra gives you.
Here's a story from Anthony D'Mello about what it means to be a Christian.
The village priest was a holy man,
So each time the people were in trouble,
They had recourse to him.
He would then withdraw to a special place in the forest and say a special prayer.
God would always hear his prayer and the village would be helped.
When he died and the people were in trouble,
They had recourse to his successor who was not a holy man but knew the secret of the special place in the forest and the special prayer.
So he said,
Lord,
You know I am not a holy man,
But surely you are not going to hold that against my people.
So listen to my prayer and come to our assistance.
And God would hear his prayer and the village would be helped.
When he died and the people were in trouble,
They had recourse to his successor who knew the special prayer but not the place in the forest.
So he said,
What do you care for places,
Lord?
Is not every place made holy by your presence?
So listen to my prayer and come to our assistance.
And once again,
God would hear his prayer and the village would be helped.
After this man died,
When the people were in trouble,
They had recourse to his successor.
Now this priest had more use for money than for prayer.
So he would say to God,
What sort of God are you that while you are perfectly capable of solving problems that you yourself have caused,
You still refuse to lift a finger until you have us cringe and beg and plead?
Well,
You can do as you please with the people.
Then he would go right back to whatever business he had in hand and once again,
God would hear his prayer and the village would be helped.
