The Preacher Part 2

I finished my coffee and I was leaving as well. Having glanced at the table where the bearded stranger sat, I noticed he left behind a small book, which seemed to glow in the sunlight. As it was just a few moments since he had left the cafe, I thought I might as well return it to him. Taking the book I rushed out and looked on either side of the street hoping to catch sight of the stranger. I noticed him on the opposite side of the street walking towards Hyde Park. I crossed at the traffic light and called out to him. Of course he was not going to hear me but I thought I'd call out anyway. I ran up to him and showed him the book. He looked at it with the look of mild surprise on his face and thanked me. He had a very warm presence and I felt as if I had met him previously or known him before. He walked on and I followed him.

Not knowing what to say I introduced myself thanking him for what he had done in the cafe. I didn’t quite hear what his name was. He smiled broadly and said he did nothing in the cafe and that it was the collective will of everybody which sent the false preacher away. He then chuckled as if lost in thought- 'Everybody seems to know all the answers...and yet they are so desperate to make others validate those answers for them.'
I laughed along with him saying that I believed in what the man said but also that all other religions were equally valid as the teachers of those paths were as Divine like Jesus.He looked at me warmly and asked me 'Do you suppose young man that God's heart is big enough to love everybody equally, so much so that He would send His teachers again and again to this world to make the blind see and the deaf hear? I thought for a moment and replied 'Yes I do.' He seemed pleased with my answer and put his right arm around my shoulder 'Come then, walk with me a little further'.

We walked in silence, side by side. Upon entering Hyde Park we stopped beside a row of trees. 'This is such a beautiful day' he said ' such beautiful life.. such a beautiful world...' he stood beside me, eyes closed facing the sun, the sky, the trees, feeling the warm summers breeze silently for a few moments.

I knew by then that this was no ordinary man, he radiated a very genuine warmth and standing next to him I could feel a strong tug at my heart, a wave of love for all the people in my life, for all the experiences that I had and more importantly a strong wave of love for myself. I felt blessed. While I do not know the reasons for these beautiful and powerful emotions, I could not bring myself to reason with anything. I just wanted to soak in this moment and just exist in it like I had never done before. I opened my eyes and realised that in those few moments I had been crying to myself. He was standing before me, smiling and looked right into my eyes. I felt compelled to close my eyes for I did not know what was happening to me.

Love does this to us dear reader. It reconnects us with the innermost core of ourselves, bringing us back in touch with the very substance of who we essential are. In this space, neither the ego nor the materialistic world with its myriad social norms exist. We do not have to be anyone or anything else. We just are-purity, divinity, a unity with the soul and spirit of the universe. When you experience the truth coursing through your veins, what can you do but let it overflow through tears.

I felt wave upon wave of love, not the kind of love you feel for a person or for an object or any other kind of mundane love. This was an ancient love, the existence I suspected in the deepest parts of my being and yet never realised existed. If anyone wants to know what love is dear reader, this is what real, unadulterated, love is. It does not end and does not begin. It is beyond words or description. It just felt as if this love would engulf me or dissolve me into itself. I felt like a 10-watt bulb and a million watts of electricity was being passed through me. Could this have been the bliss, which mystics have experienced throughout the ages?

This bliss subsided gently and I opened my eyes.
'I have to go now, thank you for walking with me.' He smiled again.'Sir the Honour is mine, I don’t know what to say, you seem to know my very soul' I sobbed softly, it felt as if my dearest friend or brother was leaving me for good.
'Shhh my child'..he put his hand on my head gently ..' feel the grass beneath your feet..look at the trees around you, the sky above you...listen to the noises around you...feel the heartbeat inside you..do you not know..my beloved son...I am always with you..inside you..around you...
I hugged him like a young child not wanting him to let his father go but I felt deep gratitude for whoever he was and wherever He came from.

He gave me his little book and told me to compose the story of my life in its pages. I opened it and it was completely blank. We stood for a few moments in silence in the midst of a light summers breeze and I experienced a kindred connection with this man, something I had experienced many times before in perhaps another time, another place. He then began walking away from me towards the other end of the park. I stood at that spot watching this magnificent, divine, mystical stranger walk away, clutching his book to my heart.

A little distance away he turned around and looked at me.
He removed his gloves, touched his heart and waved. As he waved goodbye, even from that distance I noticed his right hand, and the sight of it mesmerised me, for right in the centre of his palm was a large hole left by a wound inflicted a very long time ago...