MATTHEW HARA

Matthew’s Awakening journey

I grew up in Northern California, between Tahoe and Santa Cruz which bridged a deep connection to the mountains and sea. Nature kept me sane amidst a heavy internal world from the earliest days I can remember. I was extremely sensitive and empathic, but this sensitivity felt like a burden. I was tormented by a spirit incessantly at night in the first house I grew up in on Donner summit. As my mental capacity grew in its ability to perceive the world, I was haunted by the way we treated nature and the unquenching, insanity I saw in the trajectory of our society.

This all led to depression from a very young age and I was literally referred to as “Oscar the grouch” by my immediate family. By the age of 14, I turned to drugs and alcohol to escape my internal agony and found temporary freedom in being drunk or high or both. I severely abused drugs and alcohol, using before and during school, selling drugs to fuel my high, completely blacking out regularly.

At 20, while living in San Diego and spending my days surfing and partying, Grace found me. A book and a spontaneous expanded state during my very first yoga class on the beach awakened something profound within me. I had glimpsed a deep and true state of freedom while sober, and from that moment a fierce seeker was born.

This passion led me to travel the world, immersing myself in sacred places, studying within different traditions, rigorous spiritual practices, and incessant reading. At 23, I met my Guru in India. From the moment I laid my eyes on him, everything changed. He guided me through profound experiences that opened me to truths I’d only glimpsed or read about. These experiences were completely life-altering. Experiences of intense expansion, clairvoyance, encounters with divine beings, remote viewing etc, all extended even into my dreams, where for many years I was powerfully guided to cultivate inter-dimensional astral travel.

With these expansions came intense inner work. My Guru guided me to confront suffering at its core, not just in convenient moments, but in every aspect of my being and in every arena of my life. This journey took me deep into healing, even as far back as very conscious memories of my core wounds within the womb. At times, the process was so overwhelming I seriously considered suicide… But through it all, I grew stronger, facing myself fully, using it all to fuel Internal seeing.

Through these years of rigorous sadhana, yogic application, dark rooms, silence, retreats, and selfless service (seva) I continued to heal and transform, and serving others became a cornerstone of my journey. Very naturally my Guru’s mission “to awaken humanity” became my mission. I spent years working extremely long hours, supporting others on their paths, rejoicing in their breakthroughs, helping them in any way shape or form to support them on their internal journey. At the encouragement of my Guru and his monks I traveled extensively, sharing the principles and tools that had supported my growth. I was also guided to continue to serve peoples homes when in the West, through Carpentry/Building projects. The head monk taking me aside one day, urging me to continue to do my carpentry as “it is a very good form of yoga and will help keep you grounded”.

On February 11th, 2013, after 13 years of very focused, and relentless inner work, grace met me fully. I was liberated from the inner resistor, and shown the truth of who I am to such a degree that a permanent shift happened. This was not another awakened state or fleeting experience. The heavy internal resistance that had defined my life, and of which I had become so accustomed to feeling had dissolved. Along with it the seeker within me vanished. Everything was suddenly different, yet everything was the same. I went in and out of very heightened states for about 9 months afterwards until the state began to settle and integrate.

Since then, I’ve continued to walk a path of service, ever learning and growing, simply following my path, grounded in the understanding that freedom doesn’t depend on external circumstances or even the contents of one’s inner world, freedom ever resides in not resisting whats inside.. non resistance automatically Awakens our intrinsic energetic systems as we are then in alignment with truth. This is the path..

I share all this not to claim anything, or to teach anything, but to affirm that awakening is very real.. That Awakening is not a destination, nor is it an ending of one’s humanness, there are milestones, but there is no ending.. Awakening is not reserved for a select few, and it’s never the same for anyone. Awakening is the birthright of anyone willing to do the work to confront their inner world. This is the work that needs to be done, and is being done by the spiritual warriors of this planet. It is not an easy task, but it is the most rewarding and impactful for our shared external world.

To those who resonate, let’s continue to walk this path together, supporting and inspiring one and other, learning, evolving, and sharing life in truth and love.

Thanks for reading,
Hari Om