It was easy to break my 4-day rule in Shimla but I didn’t want to rush. I want to savour Shimla. Like Mussoorie, Shimla was also a hill station and the climate wonderful. This morning it rained for the first time and then it dawned on me. Monsoon has started. My imagination told me that Monsoon rain is a 3 month, non-stop, torrential rain that swept villages away but in reality it was different, if only slightly. As I was heading up North, where Monsoon’s impact is not that extreme I never really considered that I would be too affected by it and eased into beautiful Shimla and rested out for adventure further North.
The complimentary breakfast at the YMCA is only served until 9h00. At 8h20 I raced downstairs to eat and go back to bed with a good book (Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina) since it’s raining but an American guy, Robert, asked to join my table. Three hours later we were still talking about religion and the spiritual realm. He was a spiritual ‘seeker’ (aren’t we all?) and confessed that, as a rule, he never talks to Christians about anything spiritual because, he says, the conversation inevitably ends up going in the same direction, mostly ending with the exhausted and frustrated Christian telling him that he would pray for him. What he said was true. I’ve encountered countless Christians (even missionaries) that are hell bent on getting you converted, even if it kills them and I realized how that approach would actually repel somebody from the love of God.
We had a good talk, long and hard but good. I decided to keep it simple and just tell him what I believed. I would witness to what God has done in my life and how I’m changing everyday and that I believe it is faith in who Jesus is that makes the change possible at all. I told him that it took me years of searching and reading before I had a clear understanding but that the act of that head-knowledge sinking down into my heart had nothing to do with my intellect or anything I did but that, by grace, I received it because I asked to receive Jesus. I told him that my journey with God was a daily journey of stumbling and growing process and that my heart was being changed little by little. He seemed touched and conceded that, even though, he was middle-aged and felt spiritually very mature, he could not claim to be as joyful or centred in truth. As with most conversations about spirituality, I should have known better.
His attitude changed and he launched into an in-depth discussion about mysticism, spiritual encounters, yoga, gurus, chakras, the four dimensions of consciousness, angelical beings, demonic possession, universal energy, out of body experiences and so forth. What he said sounded very disorganized and even his speech seemed cluttered by a lot of random things that he claimed were all connected. He started to set out his ideas and theories and after a while he was doing all of the talking while I encouraged him to keep talking, hell bent on showing him the loving side of Christianity. So I kept listening.
After another 2 hours the conversation was getting pretty weird I knew that there’s simply no way of wrapping up a conversation about spirituality, it can go on for days. Around lunchtime I excused myself, explaining that I was exhausted and needed to sleep. We shook hands and said goodbye.
The next morning at breakfast Robert was not there but the waiter brought me a note. Robert had left early that morning and left a letter for me. It was a beautifully sincere letter saying that he was delighted to have met me and was very touched by everything that was said the day before. Attached to his letter was a thick bundle of literature, downloaded from the internet, about mysticism and spiritual seeking. I realized then that Robert had a huge amount of spiritual knowledge but it was still stuck in his head. Intellectually we would probably never find a common ground but I spoke to him from my heart and all I could hope for was that he heard with his.
Shimla is like a little heaven on earth and I’ve already broken my new rule. I’ve been here 5 days. But I don’t want to rush through Shimla. I want to savor it. Woke up this morning at 6h00 and it was raining (monsoon has started). I opened the windows and let the fresh mountain air into my bedroom and fell asleep again. Then I woke up at 8h20 and rushed downstairs to have breakfast. The complimentary breakfast at the YMCA is only served until 9h00. The plan was to just eat and go back to bed with a good book since it’s raining (reading Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina) but then an American guy, Robert, asked to join my table. Three hours later we were still talking about religion and the spiritual realm. He was a spiritual ‘seeker’ (aren’t we all?) and confessed that, as a rule, he never talks to Christians about anything spiritual because, he says, the conversation, inevitably, ends up going in the same direction. Mostly ending with the exhausted and frustrated Christian telling him that he would pray for him. What he said was true. I’ve encountered countless Christians (even missionaries) that are hell bent on getting you converted, even if it kills them and I realized how that approach would actually repel somebody from the love of God.
We had a very good talk, long, hard, intellectual and challenging but I decided that I would keep it simple and just tell him what I believed. I would witness to what God has done in my life and that I believe it is faith in who Jesus is that makes the change possible at all. I told him that it took me years of searching and reading before I had a clear understanding of it all but that the act of that head-knowledge sinking down into my heart had nothing to do with my intellect or anything I did but that , by grace, I received it because I asked to receive Jesus. I told him that my journey with God was a daily journey of stumbling, getting up and a growing process and that my heart was being changed little by little. He seemed blown away and conceded that, even though, he was middle-aged and felt spiritually very mature, he could not claim to be as joyful or centered in truth.
But then he launched into an in-depth discussion about mysticism, spiritual encounters, yoga, gurus, chakras, the four dimensions of consciousness, angelical beings, demonic possession, universal energy, out of body experiences and so forth. It was a very disorganized talk and his mind seemed cluttered by a lot of random things that he claimed was all connected. He seemed so lost in all these ideas and theories and after a while he was doing all of the talking but I encouraged him to keep talking, hell bent on showing him the loving side of Christianity. So I kept listening but it got very hard after a while because he was getting pretty weird and there’s simply no way of wrapping up a conversation about spirituality, it can go on for days. So around lunchtime I told him that I was exhausted and needed to sleep. We shook hands and said goodbye. I saw him again later that day and said a quick hello, in passing.
The next morning I was kind of hoping that I wouldn’t see him at breakfast but I also felt that I had planted a seed with him and felt stirred to fertilize the soil a bit. He wasn’t there but the waiter brought me a note. Robert had left early that morning and left a letter for me. It was a beautifully sincere letter saying that he was delighted to have met me and was very touched by everything that was said the day before. I realized then that intellectually we would probably never find a common ground but yesterday I spoke to him from my heart and his heart listened and responded.
Photo (The quality is bad, the light was gone) - Christ Church, Shimla
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