Chiang Mai, day 3 ( I think, I am not sure)

January 1893, Mukunda Lal Gosh was born. In 1952 Paramahansa Yogananda, died in America.
The name might mean nothing to most of you, especially the first one. In 1893 a child was born but in 1952 one of the greatest yogi died.

Those of you who learned Kriya Yoga and basic (and not only) meditation, certainly know this man and his famous book "Autobiography of a Yogi".

I copy from the web a sentence that he wrote in this book and that hit me:

We entered a oneness of silence; words seemed the rankest superfluities. Eloquence flowed in soundless chant from heart of master to disciple. With an antenna of irrefragable insight I sensed that my guru knew God, and would lead me to Him. The obscuration of this life disappeared in a fragile dawn of prenatal memories. Dramatic time! Past, present, and future are its cycling scenes. This was not the first sun to find me at these holy feet!

He was referring to his first meeting with Sri Yukteswa sent to him by Mahavatar Babaji for a special purpose (I hope the hyper links work, otherwise you have to search Wikipedia, as I did to get the right spelling of these difficult to remember names).

Here I stop with the history, and I go back to a more recent history, mine, 25 years ago, at 17.

I was, as most of my school friends know, a very bright kid and I never had problems in getting good marks studying very little. I used to have my techniques and I used to manage pretty well to get through a whole exam even knowing little. Despite being so smart I used to have a few problems. One was lack of self-confidence, this was due to my look that was not fashionable at the time amongst the girls my age, but it was particularly good for older women, second I was good at no sport and even if I did rowing for a few years, at 17 I had to give up and I started putting weight on. Another big problem I had was faith. Religion. I was constantly looking for a reason why we existed. I was too inquisitive and this brought me on the brink of madness. between 1984 and 1986 my life was set to change completely and not only in good but in bad too.

I was used by a religious sect of fanatics that were teaching me the mysteries of the world and of life and the afterlife. These days you call them Satanists, those days were underground and nobody used to talk about them.

My faith was weakening and not for the right reasons. I was a very complex guy with a fervid imagination and absolutely no trust in my qualities.

I cannot distinguish, now, the truth from the lies I used to say, so you have to take it all as truth or all as lie.

In those days of sufferance for the unanswered questions, these people seemed perfect. Were they giving me any answer? Of course not! But they were valuing me as someone with special capabilities and innate knowledge. I knew things I never read before, I could understand signs that I had never seen... I was becoming a monster. Someone I never wanted to be, as I have always been a good guy and never been able to harm anyone.

Dreams, visions, death predictions... all these things were happening and I was not telling it after they happened but even before. I started developing something that I thought didn't exist. I could smell someone's death, diseases and I could tell. Spooky? I stop here because I was much worse than this and I was becoming more and more a man of the devil.

I was 17 when someone, very special, that still now is in my heart even if I haven't seen her for nearly 25 years, gave me a book to read, actually two, but this orange book was the greatest present a person could do to me: Autobiography of a Yogi, by Yogananda.

I felt like Yogananda when I met her and her husband and friends. Some beautiful angels sent by God knows where to take me out of the dungeons I was and avoiding me to go any lower towards madness and a guaranteed death.

Those words the Yogi wrote, became my words and I started understanding how far from humanity I was, how far from this world I was, how far from my real me I was and how far from humans, Catholicism can be.

I found the courage to go to a church and I asked some questions to a monk I knew, I was sent away to confess. I went to a church I didn't know and I was ordered to be exorcised. I went to an Hare Krishna temple in Naples and they were there for me, explaining and answering my questions.

It was then that I started developing a spacial flair for Indian food ;) and for Oriental disciplines.

This friend with her book gave me freedom. That orange book changed my life completely and the time my life has not gone as well as I wanted or hoped has been when in my behaviours I have been too far from that.

You know that I am not a religious person anymore and I am fine with that, but the teachings of this Yogi have changed my life regardless of my beliefs.

I just decided last minute, in 2009, to go to take some classes of Traditional Thai Massage and, the school I am attending, follows the teachings of Yogananda! I could not believe it when I entered the centre. it is not mentioned anywhere on their website about the fact that they follow him. I felt that this journey was not something that would have gone without me changing a bit and I thought that Chiang Mai would have changed me.

I booked this course on Saturday, so really last minute... Unbelievable!

So, now that I bothered you a bit with some personal background, let's go back to less intimate things...

Today... Massage courses. The organisation of this school is absolutely impeccable. They think of everything, nothing is left to the case and they really take their job seriously and the massage is seen as a mission rather than a way to make money and a leaving. Never heard the word Patient or Client or Customer, the only word used is Giver and Receiver. Hygiene and respect are paramount and every session starts with the prayers to Lord Buddha, to the Teachers (that have made this technique survive and reach our days) and to King Rama V.

There are people from all over the world, all ages and more men than I expect, I must say, even if the ratio is still 4 to 1 for the ladies. The rooms are nice, spacious and the teachers are really good in explaining techniques and eager in answering questions.

I will be there for two weeks and, if I will have no job prospect, once I am back to Italy, I might come back for further courses.

Today was a glorious day up to a certain time and then the skies opened for a few hours before leaving full field to the sun again and transform all that rain into unbearable steam... Despite the heat (I had to change my massage clothes three times, they hate me there!) I managed to go and few 4 Kms run. I just feel full of energies and healthy here in Asia... What can I do?

Did I ever mention that Thai use a different calendar? The current year is 2552 but the days are the same as I see written 5/10/2552. It starts from the Buddhist Era, fair enough... But this create a little confusion... Try to imagine...

Today they wrote that I was born in 2467 instead of 1967 and I got congratulated for my young look... This is Asian politeness... They just didn't want to say that they didn't believe me being so old. When we agreed on the right date, they started laughing at it. It was funny.

Tonight I think I will take a break, I will just go to eat something locally and I will be ready for a second day of adventures tomorrow. This Friday I will go to a Thai Boxe match. I am not sure what or who I am going to see but i am sure it will be an experience, for sure better than the Chinese Opera one!

So long, guys... Catch you later.

Spent no money today, can you believe that? I will update tomorrow the dinner costs.