9 June 2010
saying ‘Goodbye’ to Dr.Jasin Balbaky
Posted by Ray under: The Art of Dying .
On the 11th of July, 2009 I was invited to visit the legendary Sufi psychotherapist, Doctor Jasin Balbaky
who was preparing to leave this planet from a hospice out in the tranquil woods of Needham , Massachusetts.
My friend Caroline. who had met Doctor Balbaky back in the 1960’s in Cambridge
and who had also worked as a therapist with him @ a facility in Brookline in the early 1970’s
was going to sit with him to offer appreciation for his life and her blessings for his harmonious passage into the ‘Great Unknown’
I brought my beautiful Italian greyhound friend, Giorgio, who is a trained, licensed and insured therapy dog
and we headed out to Tippett House in Needham @ sunset.
We arrived well before Caroline and enjoyed strolling around and up and down the long circular driveway of the hospice in the cool Summer evening,
Giorgio smelling the plants and investigating this new place with curious delight,
there were fireflies blinking in the darkness, the cries of frogs from the woods, and @ one point a deer passed nearby.
Giorgio barked ferociously when this happened. I assured him that we were safe,
that he is a good watchdog and set him on the hood of my car until he calmed down.
Soon Caroline arrived and we went inside the hospice. No staff personnel were apparent,
except there was an elegant, beautiful woman sitting on a love seat in the parlour near the foyer.
We inquired of her where we might find Doctor Balbaky.
She introduced herself as his wife, Barbara and she led us into his room so we could All visit.
A portrait of Jasin as a handsome dashing young Persian man hung over a mantle.
The form of Doctor Balbaky lay on the bed. His body was contorted, a long man, his face resembled a cubist painting.
He wore a very cool multi-coloured fez.
Though he was ‘very present’ ~ I sensed that he was definitely not fully in his body.
I could feel that he was in the room with us as if he were floating nearby observing this scene
Yes, his essence, his soul seemed to be ‘on the way to another place’.
Giorgio requested to sit upon my lap and I held him tenderly as we made our vigil.
Giorgi is very much in his body by contrast ~ his slender muscular body pulsates with life and he embodies the perceptions of his finely attuned senses ~those we know of and can relate to
as well as those subtle senses just beyond our normal abilities. No wonder the ancient Egyptians regarded this breed of dog as sacred
It’s also noteworthy that the Egyptian god, Anubis who has the head of a greyhound, is associated with preparing the dead for the ‘Afterlife’.
We sat down in the soft light of the room on this beautiful mid-Summer night. Caroline produced a crystal, explaining that Dhyani Ywahoo( the Cherokee Indian priestess we had studied with in the 1970’s and ’80’s ) had explained to us that quartz crystals are recording devices, ‘like an mp3’; so if you hold a crystal close to your body, the crystal will record your feelings, perceptions, thoughts and energy. When another person holds the crystal he / she can receive that information from you though the crystal ~ which can often hold the information for 2 or more days. Smiling gently, she put it close to Jasin’s upper torso where his arm and face were resting.
Speaking softly in her humble yet erudite manner with unabashed honesty and a stream of consciousness that reminds me of Keith Richards speaking about his relationship with rock’n’roll guitarist Chuck Berry, Caroline spoke of how she witnessed over the years that Jasin had helped many of his patients who had been in very fragile frame of mind body and spirit,
Barbara , his wife was relaxed and accepting of the situation and seemed to be deligted with our company. Caroline told her that after Jasin had met her as a graduate student of psychology he admitted to her that ‘Barbara was the one ‘ for him. She was genuinely flattered to hear this.
She produced a copy of Thich Nhat Han s poetry about Love ~ ‘Not Caught in These Eyes’ that a friend had sent the couple just that morning. Caroline later rendered this into the graphic that is attached to this sharing
At one point she referred to her work with colour and light meditation and how she and I had studied with the Cambodian Buddhist monk, the Venerable Bhante Dharmanwara ~ who George Lucas had used as a role model for the character and persona of Yoda the Jedi master in the ‘Star Wars’ trilogy. Please take a look @ this spiritual master and healer by clicking on these links : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjTspJMJF3I Bhante Dharmawara
Also
thekai.com/Bhante_Lives.html
The air pressure and its texture began to shift as a gentle but pervasive wave of oxygen filled the room and we heard thunder roiling in the not too far distance. As Caroline began to prepare her drum to sing and play for Jasin and Barbara ~ Giorgi and I made our way downstairs into the foyer and with torrents of rain now pouring down all around us ~ we made a mad dash for my car.
By midnight we were home and preparing to sleep.
copyright Ray Iasiello, 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Ray Iasiello
Certified Hatha Yoga Teacher
Certified Resonance Repatterning™ Practitioner
http://www.RayIasiello.com
617-852-6479
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