Interview

QUESTION: What inspired you to pursue the Yogic Path?

DANIEL: I was brought up christian – baptism, communion, confirmation and regular church visits and evening prayers were part of my religious piety. It soon dawned on me that behind all these rituals was a deeply spiritual wisdom, but also that I hadn't seen this wisdom embodied in anybody I had met so far.
My inner conflict between ritual, belief and lack of realization became unbearable and due to a complete disappointment I stopped praying and going to church. I didn't want to just "belief" in the Divine especially when hearing about the Divine from second, third of numerous second hand sources. I only wanted to belief what I could feel and experience myself.

QUESTION: I am guessing you tried a few things after that?

DANIEL: Yes, I tried a few things. I wanted to discover how I functioned. And the exploration of the connection between body and mind brought me some answers. But certain states, that were triggered by extreme sports and came accompanied by outer body experiences, I was not able to make sense of. When I could see myself from above on several occasions, doing some intense martial arts, I realised: There seem to be two "me s". The one that sees, the other one that fights. (laughs) But also states directly after waking up have concerned me. When I woke up one morning, after a painful break up with my then girlfriend, I was in a state of absolute bliss ... till the first thought: You are separated! And straight away the pain moved back into my body and that was it for the rest of the day. And then of course, I wanted to find out, who was that person that was lying in that bed in such bliss!

QUESTION: How did you find Yoga?

DANIEL: Terrible Back pain made me discover Yoga. After I had come home from a strenuous day at work with excruciating pain in the lumbar region, I layed down on the floor and could hardly move. First I tried some gentle small movements. But then my body brought me into further positions that I was not familiar with up to that point. My body taught me and I just watched. The pain disappeared completely throughout the night.
On the next day I wanted to buy a book on massage, but instead discovered one on yoga that pictured lots of the exercises that I did the day before. My enthusiasm for yoga was instantly awakened. From that moment on I regularly practised asanas and pranayama. I bought further books from various masters and practised according to their instructions. 3 to 7 hrs per day for several years.

QUESTION: You have practised many years without company or a master. Did you not have lots of respect for the inner process that accompany such intensive practice?

DANIEL: I felt so at home with my practice that I didn't worry about that ... I withdrew myself more and more from the world, hardly needed food and slept very little. Never was I aware that I was going through an intense cleansing process. I knew nothing about kundalini ... I did realise that yoga was "restructuring" me, but I somehow was not concerned with that ... and just kept on practising. I didn't talk about my experiences because they were so extraordinary and I was afraid that people would think I am crazy.

QUESTION: What was the reason that led you to seek a living master?

DANIEL: At some point I felt that I needed to seek out various teachers to deepen my practice to find answers to my many questions that arouse due to the developed fine tuning. But I didn't find any satisfying answer.
Only when I met Baker Roshi, I stopped my search for a physical master. I saw in him the embodiment of all that I had been searching for for so long. He taught me to deal with my enlightening experiences and visions of saints, the instructions and the divine revelations in my dreams and in nature and my ability to heal and other siddhi.
Through him and through the zen practise that he had developed, I was shown a path to realise my own insights and the door was opened (Sahasrara) to the transcendent perception.

QUESTION: You often talk about the transmission between teacher and pupil. How did you experience that?

DANIEL: When I fine tuned my intensive awareness through regular practise, I was able to receive teachings in meditations and meetings with my masters that exceeded the normal study of the teachings. The appearance of fully realized souls in my meditation (Darshan) transformed me deeply as I understood the teachings through what they radiated. But the transmissions in whatever form does not stop, neither does the learning here on earth.

QUESTION: Your pupils are being taught in very different ways. Why do you not choose exclusively the traditional form of a satsang?

DANIEL: When I realised that many of my pupils were not ready to receive the gift of a satsang fully and completely, I took on the role of a spiritual brother or friend, of a person that is just with others. And I discovered the beauty and happiness of being a normal human being.

QUESTION: You have enabled many people's awakening of the kundalini through shaktipat. Is that consecration the first step on the path to fulfillment?

DANIEL: The first step? ... no, the first and every other step to fulfillment are always now, no matter whether the kundalini has been awakened or not.
It is vertainly correct to talk about a path, but at the same time there is no path!