LIBERATION BY LISTENING

Kalu Rinpoche was the first Buddhist teacher Lama Ole Nydahl had after he met Karmapa. He was very well known in Europe and he was loved by all who knew him. He founded centers in France and wrote many books.

In 1993, we obtained a cassette called “Liberation by Listening”, which came from France. That meant that if you listened to it you could get liberated. It had him reciting Bardo Thodol, what Tibetans say to a dying person so that he finds his way to a better rebirth. It also had some pujas or prayers.
As soon as we put the cassette on and started to listen to the lama reciting the text in Tibetan, we had a great experience. I could feel my Chakras, Nadis, all the nerve centers in my body activating. It was unforgettable to listen to his husky voice (he was an old man by then).

A couple of years went by and suddenly there was a chance to put the cassette to good use. The father of a member of the Sangha , a lady we’ll call Sandra, passed away. But he was not happy with this, and had no intention to follow the bardo. So he stayed on in the house and made a lot of noise. Doors and windows would slam by themselves. The glass panes of windows would make creaking noises, objects would fall: all the things that a playful ghost would do. Sandra and her mother were scared stiff, because no matter how much they had loved the deceased, from then on since he had left his body; they preferred he would follow the path of no return.

Sandra was telling me this while she looked at some pictures of lamas I had in the room. Then she said: "How cute he looks, he seems to belong to another world”. It was a picture of Kalu Rinpoche in his old age with some pigeons. You could tell he was a spiritual being. I then associated him with the cassette and talked to her about it. She decided then and there to take it home and play it, since she was ready to do anything to get rid of those unwanted noises.

After a week I met her in Meditation and she told me: “I can’t believe it, but the first time we played the cassette, the strange noises ceased.” Either the mantras transcended language and acted on their own; or when you died you became polyglot and understood all languages. The Lama in Bardo Thodol gave instructions to the deceased, telling them what they would find in the path they had to follow.

Sandra continued to play the cassette for several days, and later she gave it back to me. She was relieved there were strange noises no more. Her father had listened to Bardo Thodol and had gone through in search for the light.

As gossip is the best means of advertising, there were a few others afflicted with the same problem: close relatives who after sudden death refused to go and manifested themselves as best they could terrorizing the living.

The most important case was that of Alice’s ex-husband, a poet who had died in a plane crash. After his death he had gone on writing. His daughter had moved in to his apartment near Larco street and his old typewriter would click every afternoon, the keys moving by themselves. The daughter later bought a computer for her children and got rid of the typewriter. Then the computer would get started when nobody was there. But our great national poet had died twenty years ago, so he didn’t know a thing about computers. So our friendly ghost would manage to start the computer, but didn’t know how to store information, and even less to print it. Had he had the knowledge, it would have been very fortunate for the heirs, to go on publishing posthumous work.

There was no doubt it was him because the grandchildren were able to see him, and the eldest granddaughter would feel good in her granddad’s company if she was left alone in the house. He would be seen in a leather jacket and checkered scarf. “He looks just the same, grandma.”, they would tell Alice. They were proud of their grandfather’s presence. “He takes care of us”, the grandchildren would say.

But he was not a quiet ghost, and following his bohemian habits, one New Year’s Eve when everyone was out, he had a party with other ghosts. The neighbors complained and called the caretaker and the police, but there was nobody home. There were many, but could not be seen.

Alice consulted a medium, and she advised her to have masses said for him, not a few, but like one hundred, and to say one thousand prayers. Alice started the task, but got tired along the way. Finally she confided in me and I lent her the cassette. I then forgot all about it.

I met her some time later and she was distraught. “Albert has already left”, she told me sadly. “We do not hear or see him anymore”. Our poet had left and had gone somewhere else to keep on writing. He was never seen or heard again.
Needless to say, our cassette was used as many times as it was needed, always with good results. With present technology, my friend Juan made a CD with Kalu Rinpoche’s recitation of Bardo Thodol. There it is, ready to help any confused spirit who resists the idea he is dead, or who ignores he has to abandon persons or things he is attached to because he has a long way to go for his own good.

As to Kalu Rinpoche, he left this world, but he is already back from Bardo, which is the state after death which lasts forty-nine days in most cases. As any Boddhisattva of enlightened mind who returns to help all sentient beings; his Tulku is already in Siliguri and was officially recognized by Dalai Lama. They say he is a beautiful boy. He already passed the Tulku test and identified personal objects from his previous life from among many objects.

For one thing is certain: great Buddhist teachers always come back to help sentient beings. That is the Bosshisattva vow.