Akiko Saito, Adit Ben Porat & Russell Monsurate
Russell Monsurate was born in Bombay, India. He was pre-occupied with seeking answers to the Big Questions very early in
life.
Yoga, Transactional Analysis, Vipassna, Reiki, Transcendental Meditation, Silva Mind Development and the Ultra Mind Course
were some of the many courses he studied and practiced. One day a friend gave him a video, The Avatar Experience. He knew at once that he had found a pearl of great price!
He is now an Avatar Master and Wizard and has been delivering the course in India, the Middle East and Canada.
AJ: How did you start on the spiritual path?
Russell:
My first spiritual teacher was a Siddha Yogi who practiced Kundalini Yoga. A couple of years later I trained as a Yoga Teacher under Sri Yogendraji and for a while ran a yoga center while attending university. I then joined a seminary where I spent two years studying philosophy and comparative religions. Several renowned Indian Masters such as Madhusudandasji Maharaj, Swami Parthasarthy, Baktharaj Maharaj, Papajii and Swami Chidananda inspired me and touched my life in very special ways. I toured India and stayed at different ashrams seeking out these enlightened beings. However, my hidden beliefs continued to sabotage my search for the truth!
Long days and nights were spent pouring over spiritual and metaphysical books, pursuing holy men and attending spiritual services with an urgency that sometimes left those around me concerned.
I was studying Vedanta with a group of close friends when I stumbled upon Avatar. I then discovered the monumental
difference between "studying what an apple tastes like and eating it." Oddly enough, most of my life until then was spent fearing the apple.
AJ: How would you compare/contrast your life before/after Avatar?
Russell: Before Avatar I was a desperate seeker. I was burdened by the belief that only a lifetime spent on rigorous spiritual practices would take me to Source. I was convinced that just one more book, one more practice, one more master, might finally produce the Eureka! that kept eluding me. Others sold me the belief that it would take several lifetimes of chopping wood and carrying water. Sound familiar? Maybe if I was lucky and had broad shoulders I would come back with the bucket and axe in the year 3010, to give it one more try. Hey, maybe in
lifetime #189 I might finally graduate.
Initially, I called up many Avatar Masters from various parts of the globe in order to get a feel for the subject. What I got was one big feel-it from the other end. WOW!! What a blast! Transmitting this energy through a telephone line from thousands of miles away? "Cool," I thought, "These guys are incredible."
Some organizations I spoke with prior to Avatar informed me that I would need to apprentice for up to five years before I could teach their course. Others said that even after I qualified, I would still need permission from pre-existing masters to teach in their territory On the contrary, the first Avatar Master I talked to said "We live in a world of abundance. More masters equals more students." These guys were talking Global Presence, no boundaries. Those thought-provoking words have stayed with me ever since.
After
Avatar, my whole life took on the quality of an adventure light, graceful, and
easy. The Avatar tools I gained as a Master were so empowering that they enabled
me to work by day and deliver Avatar by night. This helped me create Star Master
status in a couple of months, despite the fact that I lived in a country where
advertising anything even remotely connected to spirituality was taboo. That
short spell produced eight Masters and two Wizards. I also made new friends,
transferred my residence halfway around the world, and turned my work into a
labor of love. All of that happened from an intuitive level with such
synchronicity that it often left me smiling. Many Ancient Companions, surfaced,
and taught me some of life's most illuminating lessons. Most of them were my
Avatar students.
AJ: What do you feel is your role in
assisting in planetary transformation?
Russell: now see the Universe as a vast, inseparable web of flowing energy
and understand that we play a decisive part in constructing reality. We can all
live more creatively and deliberately if we choose to.
My
role is to awaken all fellow voyagers to the realization that we are spiritual
beings, having a human experience. And, also to help eradicate the strong
identification that we have with our physical bodies, replacing it with a more
expanded viewpoint of Higher Self. On a personal level, I wish to become a
Trainer and live more from the heart each day.
After all, the mind creates the abyss--the heart crosses it.
Akiko Saito is a Star Master/ Wizard who did The Master Course in December 1997.
Akiko has a degree in classical music. After she graduated from music academy, she gave performances on cruise
ships. This spring, she opened "Avatar Place" and delivers Avatar in Saitama, Tokyo, in Japan.
AJ: How did you come to find Avatar?
Akiko: After graduating from college I became a pianist to per form and teach. At the same time, I started my spiritual explorations by studying Steiner, visiting Sathya Sai Baba in India, etc., which finally led me to find Avatar.
AJ: How would you compare/contrast your
life before/after Avatar?
Akiko: At the age of 3, I lost my hair for an ailment of unknown cause, and I had been struggling in that creation ever since. My life felt so void, as I was wearing a wig to look the same as others and thus trying to be somebody else,
not me. Various spiritual explorations helped me achieve intellectual understanding that my mind was creating that ailment, but I was nonetheless still disappointed as I did not have the actual means to change the mind. Then I found Avatar. One of the exercises in Section II made me realize that "I am ugly without hair" was just a belief, and my perception of the world suddenly changed when I threw away that belief. If there is such a thing as a parallel world, I switched from the world of abyss to the world with the bright and shiny future. The society which had once felt like an enemy to me, now became a comfortable home wherever I go. I am now even grateful for my ailment, because this persistent filter acted as a wake-u p call for me. And I cannot forget the first time I played piano after becoming an Avatar- "I" was indeed creating everything right here and now! It opened my eyes to really appreciate myself, and the impact of this experience made it possible for me to enjoy music at a much deeper level.
AJ: What do you feel is your role in assisting in planetary transformation?
Akiko:
Avatar helped me to remember that I came to this world to play "me," so perhaps my role is to enjoy and experience "me" to the max! In the context of the current era and today's world, I also feel that every one of us is playing the game of waking up. We each need to take full owner ship of our own lives to change anything in life. Since I became a Master, I have an increasing sense that all is well, and I am excited about our possible future as I continue with my role as a Master.
Adit Ben Porat Lives in Israel. She has been delivering Avatar since 1995 in Israel and Europe. Adit has a degree in social work, a field which she worked in for
a few years and then became a journalist, editor and translator for a large
daily newspaper
in Israel. Today she combines writing as a freelance for two newspapers, translating books in the field of self development (including the ReSurfacing® book and part of The Avatar Materials in Hebrew), giving lectures and delivering Avatar.
AJ: What brought you to Avatar?
Adit:
I think the idea that we somehow create our reality and that there has to be something more to life than what was there was not new to me when I first heard this funny word: Avatar. But the more I read about it, the more I realized I had no idea how to do
it. Then a friend asked me if I had heard about Avatar, adding that this was the course where you really learn how to do it. I think that was all I knew about Avatar, but I had this hunch that, "I've got to have it." It took me a few months to overcome my secondaries (I did not know then that this is what they are called,
nevertheless I had quite a few) about money, taking a week off work and so on. Eventually that feeling of, "I've got to have it" was bigger than anything else, so there I was, going to learn how you really do it. And by the way, it took me a whole year to sell the course back to that woman who told me how wonderful it was without doing it. But eventually she became a student of mine, and is now a Master herself.
AJ: How would you compare your life before and after Avatar?
Adit: From the outside, I made some changes that seemed impossible. For a long time I wanted to change my career, because journal ism never really brought me any enthusiasm. So after doing Avatar I quit my job and stopped all the extra little jobs that I really did not like, but I did them because they paid well. I also left my apartment, which I hated, and rented another one, and I started traveling a lot, which I always wanted to do and never could afford. But these things were not the main thing. The main point was a huge feeling of freedom and much less fear. I met a colleague the day I returned to work after the course, and the poor guy was standing there staring at me and trying to figure out what had changed: Did you lose weight? Did you change your make-up? Did you dye your hair? He was sure something had changed but was not able to tell what it was. I think that was the moment where I realized that something had changed big time.
AJ: What do you feel your role is in assisting planetary transformation?
Adit:
When I look at the big picture, my role seems to be very small. How many
people can I deliver Avatar to in one lifetime? A few hundred? A few thousand,
if I become very good? But when ever I wait in line in the supermarket, or the
public clinic, or when I just look at the faces of people who pass by, I have
this feeling that if each one of us would do just a little more to bring these
beautiful materials to as many people as possible, the world could be a much
more wonderful place to live.