Thalheim

Thalheim is the village about an hour north of Limburg in the state of Hessen where Mother Meera lives. [Actually, a few years ago she moved to another village just outside of Limburg.] I had read about MM in an article published in "Yoga Journal" about a year before. Something about her fascinated me enough that I wanted to check out the scene personally. I had already planned this trip to Europe, so I tacked on a few days at the end of my itinerary to come up here.
As there are no accommodations in Thalheim itself, visitors must stay in the surrounding villages, or in Limburg (if one has a car -- the trains don't run very frequently on this line). Most of us stay in Dorndorf-Dornburg which is just a few miles away, a pleasant walk. As a result of MM's popularity in the past few years, D-D has experienced an economic boom. The surrounding area is nice enough, but it would attract few people for a holiday. MM gives darshan (a session in which visitors sit in her presence and receive, one by one, her personal blessing) four nights a week, Thursday-Sunday. Each darshan lasts less than two hours. I am in equal measures curious, wary and excited about the experience. Everything is well-organized. This ritual has been going on in Thalheim for years now and the organizers are very careful not to disrupt normal life in the village. One must make reservations by phone weeks beforehand. Only about 120 people can attend any given evening. Darshan happens in complete silence and, as I learn from subsequent visits, takes place in exactly the same manner every single time. I love the silence and the reverence. The energy is very powerful. I won't describe my experiences here except to add that I returned at least a half dozen times, traveling the distance form Kansas City to Thalheim just to sit in silence in a room full of strangers. [MM has made a few visits to the States in recent years and I have seen her here as well.] The picture is of the utterly unremarkable village of Thalheim. Well, I will share one experience I had: I think it was the second year I visited; I woke up in the middle of the night from a powerful, ecstatic dream in which MM appeared to me and took me to some celestial realm. She was wearing the same sari she had worn in darshan that evening. I could barely gaze upon her, so glorious was her presence. I felt myself re-enter my body and awoke in tears. From the window of my room in Dorndorf I could see Thalheim in the distance. Who are you?? I wondered. I still don't know the answer to that question. [There is a previous entry on this blog about Mother Meera on December 15, 2008.]