| Article in Danish Magazine "Nyt Aspekt" I'm just ordinarily enlightened - says Anette Carlstrom from Helsingborg, who is also about to become wellknown in Denmark. - There has been a great change in my consciousness. I'm full of joy. There's no inner conflicts, no suffering, she tells us in this interview with Nyt Aspekt. by Carl Bloch The No Mind-festival in Angsbacka, Sweden, in July. I�m to satsang with Anette Carlstrom (satsang = a meeting with a spiritual teacher). Anette stand up and begins to look each and everyone in the eyes for a few seconds. When it�s my turn, I jump! What�s behind her eyes is so infinitely big and powerful, that it makes her body look like a doll or an empty tool without any personal soul or consciousness. I experience that Anette is gone, and that a divine power acts through her. When I look back I�ve seen something divine in other masters eyes before, but this time it�s so obvious, that I couldn�t possibly miss it. But something also happens to myself. I have some strong spiritual feelings. Of bliss and beauty, for instance. It�s not just feelings in my body; the bliss and the beauty is also in the space around me, but I feel them nevertheless. The effect on me is so strong, that I weep with tears rolling. By Kalki and Amma Anette Carlstrom had been a spiritual seeker for the most of her life. 2 � years ago she joined a Mukti-course (Mukti = liberation). She learned, among other things, to meet her inner suffering, to improve her relationships, to purify her body and � not the least � to contact her inner divinity or higher Self by giving it the form of a master. Behind the Mukti-course was the indian masters Kalki and Amma, and Anette now chose to invite these two inside. They gradually became a living part of her life. The course ended with ten days in India at Kalki and Amma�s place. First three days where she went deeper into herself and her suffering. After that homa, a vedic fire ritual, where Dasajis sacrified flowers and herbs and prayed for redemption of her karma by the force of grace. At last Kalki gave diksha (�initiation� or �transmission of divine power�) to everyone who wanted it. He explained that they, whose koshas (physical and spiritual bodies) were ready, would receive �the state�. Otherwise it would be put inside them as a seed and initiate the process of enlightenment. 150.000 people showed up � the rumour had spread widely. Kalki and Amma entered a stage, and dasajis (monks and nuns) walked around and put their hands on peoples heads. When it was Anette�s turn, she felt as if a liquid, golden ball was pressed down in her head. It expanded and moved stepwise down to her neck, breast, and stomach. It filled her stomach with an indescribable nourishing nectar, and she experienced a wonderful joy. When she came back to Sweden, she was so changed that people asked her what had happened to her. Shortly afterwards she began to hold satsangs. Many degrees of enlightenment Anette, you joined the Mukti-course in may 2002, and you had your transforming experience in august 2003. How come it was so easy for you? - Actually I felt a great resistance against it the day before the diksha. But I could hear Kalki�s voice inside me: �This is your destiny. It will happen even if you resist.� And I trusted these words. That�s the only answer I can give. I have no idea how I came here. Could it just as well have happened to you in another place, with other masters? Or are Kalki and Amma very special? - Yes, they are. I believe that the other masters I�ve had in my life have prepared me for this enlightenment, but they couldn�t pull me through the needles eye. They didn�t have that function or mission. How many people are said to have been enlightened in the ashram of Kalki and Amma? - Thousands, I suppose. But you have to distinguish between experiences of enlightenment and enlightenment as a permanent state. Have you reached the highest degree of enlightenment? � - Certainly not. There are many high states to reach. The lowest degree of enlightenment is when there�s no inner suffering, no inner conflicts, you are in a state of joy and love. - When you have been in this state for a while, then you can go deeper and deeper, and eventually attain oneness with the whole cosmos. I have been there now and then myself, but not as a permanent state. I�m just ordinarily enlightened, says Anette sweet, and laugh a little embarassed. Before and after So, how does it feel? - There has been a great change in my consciousness. I�m full of joy. It�s not a static feeling � sometimes it�s just a silent emptiness or peace, at other times ecstatic joy or bliss. But it�s there all the time, not dependent on outer circumstances, I don�t have to meditate to find it. There�s no inner conflicts, no suffering, everything has changed. How about the other feelings? - If a situation demand that I express a certain emotion, then it will happen. I can use anger, for instance. I don�t have to smile all the time. But it doesn�t create thoughts which torment me. And it�s also a joy to express anger. How is your relationship to other people? - Before I had my transforming experience I was very stressed, and I didn�t have enough time for my children. But I quickly came into a new rhythm of life (Or: But I quickly learned to take it easy). Also, my work as a holistic practitioner became much better. �Cause I could now feel people, and listen to them without being filled with my own thoughts. When I look at somebody, I become that person. - When my daughter go through difficult moments, for instance, then I don�t go up in my head and teach her how to fix it. I�m with her, experience her pain and know in the moment exactly how to react. - There�s no longer any teaching that is directing my life. There�s pure love and compassion. And that�s the beauty being in this state. You cannot run away from your relationships, �cause it�s there you experience life. How about your perception, did it change? - Absolutely! I came back to the same apartement, family and work, but I perceived everything differently. I didn�t have any need to change anything or anybody anymore, everything was perfect. There was no good or bad experiences, they just had different compositions. - I began to see the world as if I just was a wittnes to everything. And there was no wall between me and the others, me and the world, it was all the same, and I watched it. Who are you really? Who or what do you identify with? - There�s nothing to identify with. I am what I experience. Right now I�m the question �Who am I?�. I�m everything. It�s difficult, I can�t answer that. I am that which experiences. That�s the nearest I can come to an answer. To give diksha In february 2004 Anette visited Kalki and Amma again, and this time she received an initation which gave her the power to give dikshas herself. They made a special homa for this purpose. Anette experienced that Kalki entered her as a golden being. Amma was in the fire, and she said: �Come!� With her inner eye Anette moved into the fire together with Kalki, and they melted into her. That deepened her state, and the two masters are now very alive and constantly present inside her. Are Kalki and Amma guiding you when you give diksha? - It�s Kalki and Amma who give the diksha! I don�t do anything. And it�s only a matter of how much of their grace and power a person can receive. Are you in a trance? - I bath in this love and ecstatic energy, that runs through me almost like an electric current, but there�s a wittnes, who perceives everything that is going on. But aren�t you in another state of consciousness when you give diksha? - Yes. It�s deeper. In my normal consciousness I have a personality and different emotions. You can talk to me now. When I am in diksha-mode, then they are in the background and very weak. Do you know anybody who has become enlightened by receiving diksha from you? - I have heard of some, and many people have reached a state of no-suffering. I�m cautious calling it this or that, I just know that they don�t suffer and are full of joy. Could it happen to anybody? - Yes. You don�t have to be spiritually mature? - Actually I think it�s better if you�re not! It�s better to be open like a child instead of having a lot of concepts about it. What would you advise people to do, apart from receiving diksha from you? - To heal their relationships, �cause that�s what most often is hindering people from reaching the state. Accept the relationship as it is, without trying to change it. After that, you begin to experience the other person. - Forget all about spiritual practices. There�s one thing you can do, though, and that is to pray. Is it necessary to have a certain attitude? - The most important thing is that you are honest to yourself, �cause then it will be easier for the grace to reach you. Is there any dangers? Can it go wrong if you�re not ready for it? - If you�re not ready for it, nothing will happen. Laughter and weeping Anette held six satsangs during the No Mind-festival, and they culminated in the diksha: The tent was stuffed with several hundred people. We chanted, and a skilfull guitarist was playing. Anette sat in a sofa together with her former spiritual teacher, danish-born Freddy Nielsen, who came to help her. The evening-sun shined through the tent-window behind them, and reminded us of the spiritual energy that flowed through them. Now and then they had fits of ecstatic laughter. Each and everyone kneeled in front of Anette and looked her into the eyes. After approximately half a minute Anette closed her eyes, put her hands on the head of the participant and moved it a little around for another half a minute. Then she opened her eyes again, and looked lovingly and motherly at the person in front of her. After that he or she was up for another turn by Freddy. Quite a few people showed clear signs of being moved by it. Some was leaving the diksha crawling and with the same ecstatic and infectious laughter as Anette and Freddy. They were instantly brought to a laughter-corner, where they laid down. Others were shaking so severely, that they needed two assistents to support them. A few cried releasingly. It lasted all through the night, until next morning, when next day�s yoga-class was to begin. Non-stop! Anette and Freddy only got juice to drink, and after nine hours Anette collapsed of exhaustion, so an assistant had to take over. - I only want to continue when it�s going on. There�s a huge passion, and a burning desire to transmit this state to everyone. To have a break would be useless. I don�t even think about it. It feels like only a moment has passed, there�s only here and now, she explains. When Anette was about to finish her last satsang on the festival, she got tears in her eyes, and her gentle voice broke several times: - I want to say truly thank you to each and everyone of you. You have really touched my heart. All the eyes I have been looking into when I have passed you by. There�s so many beautiful souls here � I have no words to express the love I feel for you � Thank you, you�re in my heart � Carl Bloch is webmaster on Nyt Aspekt. App.: Anette Carlstrom, mobile +46 704 38 43 51, [email protected], http://www.alternativmedicin.nu. Danish representative: Helle Joan Hansen, tlf. 40 78 24 09, [email protected] (not home in nov.). Kalki and Amma: http://www.livinginjoy.com. Meet Anette Carlstrom on a Nyt Aspekt members-meeting in Copenhagen february 10 . More about that in our next issue. ----------------------------------------------------- Pictures: (portrait) Since august 2003 Anette Carlstrom has worked as a spiritual teacher beside being a holistic practitioner. In addition she�s a single mother of two children, 9 and 17 years of age. (Kalki and Amma) Anette�s Indian masters, the married couple Kalki and Amma. They have founded the ashram Golden City in southern India, and is behind the movements Living in Joy and Oneness University. - It�s better being open like a child instead of having a lot of concepts about what enlightenment is all about, says Anette Carlstrom. (series with three diksha-photos) Hundreds were standing in a line on the No Mind-festival, to receive the diksha of Anette Carlstrom and Freddy Nielsen. Each and everyone first looked into Anette�s eyes for about half a minute. After that she put her hands on the head of the participant for another half a minute. And then he or she was up for another turn by Freddy. Some had fits of ecstatic laughter, which instantly spread to everybody in the tent. Others were shaking severely. A few cried releasingly. Photos: Carl Bloch |
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