Arpana

Who is Arpana?
I like to spend winters in Palm Springs California. I was there with my friend Maya in 1998 when we crossed paths with a long lost friend. Today his name is Arpana and he had just returned to the United States from an eight year stay in Australia.

The moment i saw him, i knew that i knew him. His eyes were big and glowing, and he had glitter on his face. He really didn't say anything at first, just looked at me with a knowing that pierced me. All i could say was "who are you?" I was struck. I am normally the one to see others struck by me. It was a complete reversal. To my knowledge, we had never met before, and we had come far across the planet from different directions (he from Australia, us from Minnesota) to meet here, in Palm Springs. This meeting was not by chance. It was time, i learned, to reacquaint myself with a very old friend.

We spent several days together after our initial meeting. It was like all of our lives up to that moment had only been a blink and it was all a matter of catching up. He was bright. He was powerful, and the things he said to me in passing conversation were so beyond my simple thinking that he often made me cry. Not in sadness, no no, in awe. He was full of wisdom and could seemingly answer my questions as i thought them. I was blown away. I have looked my entire life for teachers of this sort and had only luck in books and reading. Then there he was in front of me, and after a few days - i remembered something...

Before i left for California, my tarot cards had continually brought up a teacher, a guide or the 'hierophant' about to come forth somewhere along my California journey. My deck is the Osho Zen tarot, which i trust with anything. It has brought me much insight to life, so once i remembered the readings i knew that it was Arpana whom the deck had been telling me of.

Then Arpana began to speak of Osho. I was stunned. Arpana had lived in Tibet for five years before Australia, staying in a commune with Osho Zen. I learned in fact that it was Osho himself who had named my friend Arpana, which roughly means 'surrendering to the divine'. He spoke fondly of Osho and often made me feel as though Osho were speaking through him, to me. The wisdom was infinite.

Eventually a veil was lifted when i went into a trance one night. I began recalling past lives. Many past lives with Arpana. There was a consistent theme running throughout our nature, and it was to lay before each other the core of our very beliefs; to discuss them, appeal them, expand and share them. On nature, on god, on life itself... This was the course of our relation. There is one life time in particular that i kept coming back to. We were shepherds, he and i. Both male, both wanderers. We would meet on the fields in certain times and discuss the earth and the heavens above. It was a beautiful time long, long ago. As i came to, it was again 1998 and everything about us made sense to me. I was sad to leave my friend again, but i know we are always together, since we have never been apart.

The following was written September 17, 1998 CE, six months since our meeting. He had plans to travel all the US and find a possible place to rest. I do not know where he is now. If anyone, anywhere, should ever meet this man, please, let him know that he can find this here. He is the only guru that i have had to date.

Arpana-
    Where are you? I feel you with me. You are strong. One of the strongest ones i've ever met. I could see it in you, you could feel it in me. The kindred. The lifetimes.
We were shepherds once. We would meet every now and then and walk and share each other's company. We exchanged ideas and theories on God in the given trodden fields.
    My shepherd friend, now a guru of the Cali. kind. You are out there making a difference. You are out there making waves in the stimulation of mass awareness. Keep going - you are needed. Keep loving - you are loved. I love you. Maya loves you. You taught us so much in so little time.
    You studied under Osho Zen in a commune in Tibet. He taught you great things, now you teach great things. He named you Arpana...and it was the Osho Tarot which told me you were coming.   It told me i would meet you long before i did.

You said "in every fear there is a wish" and my brain exploded just that quick. I just want you to know that i am still missing you and your ponderings... yet, i know that i will see you again someday my guru, my friend. It is my wish. Be well and love kindly, or as you say-
BIG LOVE!!!!! Arpana and Me