SIGNS & MIRACLES - Russian Lama's body defies time

In 1927, in Siberia, a spiritual leader of Russia's Buddhists gathered his students and announced his plans to die. Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov, the 12th
Pandito Hambo Lama, then 75 and retired, instructed those gathered around him to "visit and look at my body" in 30 years. He crossed his legs into the lotus position, began to meditate and, chanting a prayer for the dead, died.

When about 30 years had passed, Itigilov's followers did what he had asked, exhuming his remains from a cemetery. What they reportedly found was Itigilov's body, still in the lotus position, perfectly intact, not decayed. The Buddhists reburied Itigilov in an unmarked grave. "Nobody could talk
about it then," said Damba Ayusheyev, the current (25th) Pandito Hambo Lama. "To bring him back to the temple - it was forbidden, impossible. So
he was put back."

The story might have ended with the reburial had not a young lama, Bimba Dorzhiyev, recently sought to resolve the mystery of Itigilov. He found an 88-year-old believer whose father-in-law had been there when the coffin had been opened and who himself had seen Itigilov. He led them to the grave. On 11 September 2002, 75 years after Itigilov's death, the body was once again lifted from the earth. This time there was a record of the event: a dozen witnesses, including two forensic experts and a photographer.

The lamas who opened the coffin wore surgical masks, but they were not necessary; Itigilov's body remained preserved. The current Hambo Lama ordered the body brought to Ivolginsk, where it was greeted with fanfare, ringing bells and chants. He ordered the body to be placed on the second floor of one of the monastery's four temples, where it remains today, secreted behind heavy curtains and locked doors.

The monastery's 150 students keep a vigil on the first floor, praying around the clock, though generally only the lamas are permitted see the body. "To me it is the greatest miracle in life," said Hambo Lama Ayusheyev, the spiritual leader since 1995. "It turns out there are things on which time
has no power."

A New York Times reporter whom Ayusheyev led into the temple, wrote that Itigilov's body "sits atop a simple table, surrounded by candles and
metal bowls holding oils. The lamas have dressed his body in a golden robe, with a blue sash laid across his lap. His eyes are closed, his features blurred, though the shape of his face and his nose certainly resemble the 1913 photograph [taken of Itigilov]. His hands remain flexible, his nails perfectly trimmed. His skin is leathery but soft. His head is still covered in shorttrimmed hair." "Many people don't see what's obvious," Hambo Lama
Ayusheyev said. "Many people won't understand even if they see him."
(Source: The New York Times, USA)

Editorial note

Benjamin Creme's Master confirms that Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov was a 3rd degree initiate who had studied an ancient science which maintains the incorruptability of the body. Sometimes this is conferred on the disciple's body, but in his case it was self-induced.

According to Benjamin Creme, editor of Share International magazine, all the miracles are signs of the imminent emergence of Maitreya, the World Teacher, and his group, the Masters of Wisdom. They are the custodians of the Divine Plan for this planet and are returning now to show us the way out of our current difficulties and bring the new teachings which will guide humanity towards its next evolutionary step. Soon we will see Maitreya on television, interviewed on a major American network and hear his call for sharing and justice, as the only way to peace.

Benjamin Creme writes: "Over many years Maitreya and his group of Masters have saturated the world with miracles. All religious groups look for signs. It is through the signs that they know the teacher is in the world or is coming into the world. You only have to keep awake and you will see that signs are everywhere. In every country in the world, in every religious setting, there are signs of one kind or another."

His telepathic contact with a Master of Wisdom allows Benjamin Creme to receive up-to-date information on the Maitreya's emergence and to expand on the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. Through this contact Benjamin Creme's Master regularly confirms whether a phenomenon is a miracle that was manifested by one or other of the Masters. Most the miracles are manifested by Maitreya Himself, the Master Jesus or the Master Who was the Madonna.