Jonathan Cainer

I GOT GIVEN A COMPASS

Broadcaster and writer Jonathan Cainer is a co-founder of this site [enjoyinglife.org]. He tells how Knowledge has helped him in both his private and professional lives.

I shall do my best to be brief but that's not going to be easy. I have had 40 amazing years on this planet so far, and I reckon each of these could make a full length, high-adventure novel. Here, though, aresome edited highlights from my favourite section, the last 20 years. The first 20 had their moments too, but most of those moments were spent searching for something I just couldn't seem to find. I'm still hacking my way through the jungle of existence but, in 1978, I got given a compass. From then till now, it has never once let me down.

CONSCIOUS CHOICE

I work as an author, writer and broadcaster. If you know my work, you probably won't think of me in quite such terms. You'll see me as 'that astrologer' whose daily column of prediction is taken so seriously by so many people. I take it seriously too.

I'm very proud of what I do. My career was a conscious choice. I actively wanted to speak about esoteric material to a large audience so I worked out what I'd have to do to make this happen. Then I set out slowly, to pull together the building blocks. I studied astrology, long and hard, for years. I also made a serious, conscious effort to sharpen my communication skills.

Frankly, I can't imagine how I would have ever gotten this together without Maharaji's Knowledge. Patience is not exactly my strongest natural personality trait. Knowledge though, seems to do something for your ability to let time pass. It calms the anxious, irritated heart and lets you develop a greater sense of faith in the future. In my line of work. that's a very useful thing to have!

TOO PAINFUL

In private, I am the father of five children who I bring up alone. My wife died, in 1992, in a car crash. It was sudden, unexpected and all too painfully, vividly real. My wife, too, had Knowledge. She was deeply fond of Maharaji and I was deeply in love with her. Our shared enthusiasm was strong but it was not the only thing we had in common. It felt very tempting, at the time, to ask: "Why?" I started to question profoundly, all the things that I had previously had faith in. I felt confused and grief stricken. I didn't want to hear any platitudes or to be told anything vaguely cosmic. I just needed something to lean on, and I needed it to be something real and powerful. Looking back, I don't quite know how I managed to do this but, on the very day of her death, I sat down to practice Knowledge.

I felt, as you can imagine, in absolutely no mood to tune in to an inner experience but I did have a very desperate hunger to feel re-assured and protected in some way.

NO BLINDING LIGHT

Here's what happened. There was no blinding light, no stunning revelation. Just a soft, soothing sense of tranquility. A gentle feeling of being 'held in the caring hand of the infinite'. For a vital hour, I was transported, away from my pain, away from my sadness and into, somehow, a world beyond this one. Over the traumatic weeks and months that followed, I kept on practicing Knowledge, every single day. I kept on feeling uplifted, protected, looked after and somehow re-assured. Of course, I went through a great deal. But I didn't lose it. I found, in Knowledge, enough real experience to keep me going. And for me, if I ever needed complete proof that Knowledge was something extra special, this was it.

It was during this period that I also began to understand something else. The more you put into Knowledge, the more you get out of it. Prior to this point, I had only really been paying lip service to my practice of Knowledge. I had (more often than not) put in my hour a day. I had watched videos, attended events and felt generally pleased about having Maharaji in my life. But I had never really given the experience all my concentration, all my focus, all my heart. Now, as I begin to give it more, I realised just how much more it had always been waiting to give back to me.

Finally, here's a funny tale. Guess how I first heard about Maharaji? It was in 1972, in a tent, at a pop festival. I was sheltering from the rain with some friends when in came this stranger. A noisy kind of guy, he started talking. "Have you heard," he asked "about the 13 year old boy who teaches inner Knowledge?" We shook our heads. "He has four techniques for self discovery" our storyteller carried on. "Would you like me to show you them?" And, without waiting for an answer, he did!

AN OBJECTIVE LOOK

I didn't think much of it at the time, though later, when meditation became a topic of interest to me, I have to confess that I gave those techniques a try. They worked, sort of, in a not especially overwhelming kind of way. Fortunately, I didn't let this put me off completely when, under different circumstances, I was invited to take a more objective look at Maharaji.

I did spend quite some time making cynical appraisals. It took me two years of careful questioning before I felt ready to trust that he was on the level. When I did finally receive Knowledge, the techniques were much as I recalled them. The experience however, was decidedly different. I was shown something that I just hadn't been able to see before. It made me feel sweetly, safely, strongly at home.

And to this day, whenever I need to feel at home, that's where I go!