Anamika’s meditation continued to proceed in a regular manner. She had established a routine and was also emerging as a skilled instructor. Many practitioners who visited the Kendra showed an interest in practicing meditation under her only.

There were several instances when Anamika was able to intuit events and find the answers to unresolved questions by going deep into meditation. This was not a deliberate move and neither was this suggested to her; it was happening of its own accord.

Sometime around the month of July, in the course of her meditational practice, Anamika began to feel that she was perhaps visualizing a divine soul and she promptly came to discuss this with me.  According to her, this divine soul seemed gigantic and radiated immense brightness. She said that in the meditation hall of Yogkshem Bhawan, where Anamika practiced her meditation, she could only see the feet of the divine soul present on the stage up ahead.* The intense energy radiated by the divine soul made it impossible to raise one’s eyes and even look at it, implying that the visualization itself was divine, unique, and happiness-inducing.

Anamika had even started communicating with the divine soul. She would often meditate for two hours at a stretch and tears of happiness could be seen flowing down her eyes by others present in the room. On July 12, the divine soul indicated to her that she must meditate for 101 days continuously. I asked her to find out more in detail about the divine soul.

Anamika, was able to visualizes the divine soul almost every day and on the days that she could not visualize the divine soul, she would become sad. When she asked the divine soul for their name, they revealed it to her.

Anamika is not from the Jain community and neither does she have any knowledge of the Jain traditions. The name which was given to her by the divine soul was hence unknown to her. But if the name she had been given was the same as what she was telling us, then it would appear that the divine soul was someone who had already attained salvation and it is impossible to visualize such souls. Hence, it was somewhat difficult for us to believe her.

The next day, I again asked her to seek the credentials of the divine soul and to confirm that they were the renowned divine soul of Jain tradition. When Anamika asked the divine soul for a reconfirmation of her identity, she was again given the same name. In a somewhat vague and cryptic manner, the divine soul also said that if the need arose, she would even grant an audience. The divine soul then went on to tell Anamika that in a previous reincarnation, Anamika was a Jain acolyte and her name was the same.

While the entire event was astonishing, it was equally mysterious. It was perhaps only the precursor to an unknown path. It began to feel as if a lot more was yet to be revealed.

*The Meditation Hall of the Yogkshem Bhawan is designed such that there is a dais or stage in the front area of the hall which is at an elevated level as compared to the rest of the room.