Dena Merriam is dressed in yellow for our meeting. She says she loves the color as it reminds her of sunflowers. She has spent a large part of her time and energy working with interfaith peace groups to bring the values she has imbibed from India’s Vedic traditions to people around the globe. She is now busy writing books focused on divine avatars and the lessons their journeys hold for the world. She says she has been guided by the divine protagonists themselves to write My Journey Through Time, The Untold Story of Sita, When the Bright Moon Rises, Rukmini and the Turning of Time, and To Dance with Dakinis.
As we sit in her room at the Oberoi in Bangalore, I have many questions to ask her about her books, but also about her meditation practice and how she connects with the divine, especially the cosmic divine mother. She has alluded to these conversations and connections in several of her talks and interviews.
Dena says that her books were given to her to write by Sita Ma and Shri Ram themselves. They were stories of their love for each other and for the world, which have been told through Valmiki’s Ramayana, but require a retelling to reinforce the love they wrap around the world. I start by asking how she talks to our beloved Shri Ram and Ma Sita. She smiles, “I usually give two answers—I don’t know, and through meditation. Because I have had a long meditation practice, it opens up some channels. The issue with meditation is that it takes regularity and persistence. You begin to see effects over many, many years.”
Dena says that in this birth and lifetime, her main guru has been Paramahansa Yogananda, from the age of 20. Through him, she has also been able to communicate with Swami Yukteswar, Shri Rajasi Janakananda, and even Mahavatar Babaji. Yogananda has said that the guru helps one uncover the soul within and guide its upward climb to everlasting freedom in spirit—something Dena feels she has experienced through their grace.
The greatest contribution of this lineage is Kriya Yoga, and its practitioners have attested to its life-changing effects. Today, however, there are schools that talk about the pathless path, where awareness can occur spontaneously, seemingly without the practice of any formalized structure. Many exponents of Kashmir Shaivism and Non-Dual philosophy discuss this extensively.
Responding to my doubts about the ease of this path, Dena says the spiritual journey is very individualistic, and no two people have the same experience. “I have deep love for Kashmir Shaivism, and I write quite a bit about it in my most recent book. But my feeling is that some people awaken organically because of practices they have done in the past. So they have reached this stage where they have a natural awakening, but that doesn’t happen to most people. It all depends on what you have done that has led you to this moment. If you have done a lot of practice in the past, it may happen that you awaken without much practice. But I think discouraging people from meditation may not be good because even the great yogis meditate. They want to shut out the world and just be in that space. So I think that meditation is a centerpiece, regardless of what stage you are at in your practice.”
Some schools and modern-day meditation teachers talk about doing away with forms, rituals, and structures, which have been an integral part of Vedic dhyana traditions for millennia. Once again, Dena emphasizes that meditation is very individualistic, and while rejecting form may be alright for some people, it is definitely not for her. “For some people, that is the path. That is not my path. I, for example, have a profound love for Sri Ram. I am not about to eradicate Sri Ram from my mind. I will fill my mind more and absorb myself in Him. There are many routes up the mountain. If somebody wants to empty the mind, so be it. I want to fill my mind with Sri Ram. Then I’ll be absorbed into Him. I think you have to find the one that suits you. Many people like the Vipassana practice, which, in many ways, is stripped of the sacred elements to me.”
Meditation, Dena says, is a simple practice of observance, which one has to engage in no matter what one is doing. “I view meditation as being half the battle. The other half is how you are in life—whether you are reacting, whether you are judging, whether you are kind and compassionate. How you are moment to moment, that’s the other half, and for that, you need to have periods of reflection, observing yourself, really being mindful. There’s mindfulness and there’s heartfulness. I never liked the over-absorption in mindfulness, although I know what it means. It means observing yourself, and that means being the witness, which is in the Gita. That is universal, and while certain practices have claimed that now, that is an ancient practice. What it means is residing in your essence, the higher self, and watching the senses engage in the world—engaging with life and not overly identifying with it.”
There are many practices, including working with meditation and yantras, all pointing to a time where one is in union with the divine. Dena’s books give a sense of her having achieved this sacred union, but when asked, she talks of the yearning and the possibility of union. “I have had moments. I am working on two books now, Sita’s Yoga and Memories of a Future Life. When I write about the past, I am writing about a less awakened person or a less awakened part of myself. When I write about the future, I am writing about a more awakened part of myself. In Chapter Two of Memories of a Future Life, I am projecting myself into the future and talk about merging with different aspects of the Devi. The whole life experience is defined by the Devi within you. So, are these cosmic forces, which we identify with the Devi, outside or within ourselves? Actually, it is both. What is inside is expressed outside, and what is outside is internal. We are nothing but that. I have had moments, but I don’t reside in that awareness yet. But I see that in the future, I will. So I can identify myself with my future self and try to be that at moments, even though I am not there yet.”
I ask Dena if it is possible that others can spot the divinity in someone before they are aware of its presence. Are there recognizable signs? She says, “I think when the Guru looks at the devotee, he is not seeing the ego of the personality. He is seeing into that divine essence, even though we don’t see that part of ourselves. But I think of the whole journey, and in my books, it is recorded how slowly there is an awakening to that divine essence in oneself. The body is only a role that you are playing. One month you play one role, and another month you play another. You are not really identified with it.”
Often, we meet people and experience synchronicities. What are we to make of it? “There is no such thing as coincidence. Everything has a cause and an effect, both in the physical world and the spiritual world. There’s a cause to everything; there’s some connection to before. Some people come into your life temporarily, maybe for a year or so, and then they move out. There are people we know from childhood or growing-up years. There could be a marriage, and suddenly there is a dissolution, and then you have nothing to do with each other. There had to be a little karma that had to be worked out. It’s important to have relationships where things are left to be done together and circumstances bring you together for that purpose.”
How do we know if we are on the right track? How do we ensure we are not deluding ourselves?
"Earlier on, I had my doubts. I was married to a psychiatrist for several years, and after my divorce, I had to find my grounding. Fortunately, I had the guidance of a guru who repeatedly showed me how I was progressing. That, I never doubted. He would appear in my dreams with very specific messages. How does one understand such dreams? It’s not wrong to question oneself. In fact, questioning is essential—it helps us ensure we are on the right path. But questioning must also be followed by awareness. Signs are always around us. We may not always recognize them, and sometimes we ignore the messages we receive. But staying awake to these signs is crucial. Even now, I continue to question myself. Is this real? Am I on the right track? And again and again, I find that the universe provides answers. The key is to remain open—to look within, to observe, and to trust the guidance that comes our way."
And what of the deities? Do they have a project they want us to carry out and complete?
Dena says that when she was writing To Dance with Dakinis, she was deeply in love with Shiva. "But I saw no contradiction. What did Ram do before he went to Lanka? He worshipped Shiva. Something interesting has happened to me. While writing Memories of a Future Life, I suddenly had an encounter with Ganapati in the future. Until then, I had no relationship with him. Suddenly now, he is in my mind. I am in a relationship with Ganapati because of something I saw in the future. He comes at an important stage in my life, removing obstacles. Now, I have been meditating on the relationship between the present and the future. Because Ganapati is in my mind now, I am sowing the seeds for the future that will unfold. It has been an interesting experience for me to see that relationship. Something in the future made me turn to him now."
How does one interpret the information given by the divine? Why and how are certain people chosen to do this work?
Dena, who has served the Dharmic cause for decades, says, "I feel like I am in service. However I can be used, may I be used. It inspires me. When I first started writing, it was really for my own understanding—to piece together the puzzle. I thought it was important for people to understand the law of cause and effect, to see how the past shapes the present, and how one can consciously shape the future. These were my motivations. Then, I felt the need to tell Sita’s story. I very much felt her presence in my life. It was time for her presence to come forward, and one book led to another."
"The other incentive for me to write these books is to convey the consciousness of the Treta Yuga. You get to see a glimpse of that society through her eyes and understand where we have gone off track. We need to correct our course. As I was writing each chapter, I found that the teachings applied directly to my life today. There were things I needed to pay attention to, and I was receiving these teachings through the writing process. Perhaps I needed these teachings myself—to help me in my life and to share them through the story. Some days, the writing flows; some days, it doesn’t. I have to align myself so that it flows again."
How does this relationship with the divine manifest, and how does one interpret these conversations to shape a book?
Dena says she never knows what is going to come next. "Often, it begins with a dream. Now I am writing Sita’s Yoga. That book began with a dream. Sometime last year, I was given a specific message. I had returned after launching The Untold Story of Sita in India. I have had some experiences of Ram, which I record in my books. At the beginning of The Untold Story of Sita, I talk about Ram. But I remember thinking it was strange that I had never had a clear dream or vision of Sita, even though I was so absorbed in her. When I was writing a book about the future, I started looking for her in my future. I began to miss her. Will I find her again? Am I going to see her in the astral world? Will she appear in my future life? Both of these questions were in my mind. When I returned to the U.S., I immediately had a dream of Sita. She instructed me to go into a garden where Soma (one of the characters) was sitting. Soma laid out the outline for this book. When I woke up, I knew I had to stop writing my other book and instead write this one. I take these instructions seriously. I had no idea how to begin, but then it started coming to me. For the first time, it is not my story. It is another person’s story—someone who lived in one of the villages where Sita retreated, a deeply spiritual woman."
Regarding Sita’s Yoga, Dena says we must look at Sita’s story with fresh eyes. "I try to see it through the perspective of a Treta Yuga person to truly understand it. In writing this second book, I am seeing all the different dimensions of the battle in Lanka. It is an ongoing battle, playing out in different parts of the world today. What can we learn from it? How can we apply these lessons to our world today? That is what I am trying to explore in this book."
What does the future hold?
Dena has previously stated that the future of the planet depends on communities that meditate and cultivate peace. However, she adds, "Right now, much of mindfulness is focused on stress reduction. That’s just a baby step—a way to tiptoe into the practice. To create a deeper impact, we need a truly successful spiritual movement. Interestingly, quantum physics now speaks about the non-locality of consciousness—something always known in our traditions. Science is beginning to recognize the multidimensionality of reality, what we might call the celestial world. Eventually, it will acknowledge the existence of higher beings—conscious, awakened forces we call Devatas. For younger generations, religion often doesn’t resonate—it has disappointed them. But can we bring together the wisdom of the Rishis and the insights of modern physicists? When science and spirituality converge, we may witness a true awakening."
