Page 25 - Layout 1

FEATURE:
perspective. Retrospectively, being with him for all of his doctor’s
visits and sharing my thoughts was one of the sensible things I did.
A thorough neurological exam was normal. An MRI was re-
quested and the appointment would take two weeks. Thanks to a
resourceful connection, we had it done that afternoon. An array of
blood tests were done including checking vitamin B12 levels that
were all normal. An inventory of multiple medications was taken;
medicine to keep cholesterol low, to control blood pressure, to ad-
dress an elevated A1C hemoglobin (predicts risk of Diabetes) to pre-
vent enlargement of prostrate, vitamins, some medication prescribed
by the dermatologist for what was described by N as acne, medicine
for acid reflux, and another two to three herbal medicines were
listed. Melatonin that N takes for jet lag was stopped. N remem-
bered the names of the medicines and the doses to the point. He
did not share with the neurologist the fact that he took something
called Red Ginseng for several days when he was in Seoul, Korea.
N was suffering, I felt it. He slept fitfully at night. He woke up
with frightening dreams. He tried to sit and meditate when he
couldn’t sleep. I can’t tell if he could meditate. He felt that he has
reached a point in his meditation where he is one with the Supreme
Being, that he is a realized person. In the last year, he has been read- ficult ways than one can imagine. I will return to this a little later.
ing a lot about Buddhism and has been trying to practice what is
IN REAL TIME
called mindful meditation. He talked non-stop about this to every-
one he met. He would say, “Do you want to become a Buddha, I
can make you a Buddha in three days.” It was obvious even to a
child that he was not well. From his vantage point, N was not suf-
fering. All around him those who loved him suffered.
N was not religious, however he was very well read on the topic
of religion. By birth he is a Brahmin and he had to study the Hindu
scriptures to have the ‘Upanayanam’ and was given the holy thread
to wear at age 9. He has told me many times that he asked the reli-
gious men who came to his house difficult questions trying to un-
derstand the complex philosophies of Hinduism and was very
disillusioned with their answers. For a very long time he followed
the teachings of Swami ‘Yogananda’ and has spent time in the 1980’s
and 90’s in the ‘Yogananda Ashram’ in Los Angeles. N was very
quickly influenced by religious leaders who seemed to be well read
and were excellent orators. He once did research work with one of
them who claimed to have healing powers through touch. After that
he completely stopped meditation for several years. He started med-
itating again in the past year and a half after reading about Bud-
dhism and when he was having difficulty sleeping. The overlay of
meditation and its effects complicated matters for me in more dif-
continued on page 26
visit us at www.bcms.org 25