Dena Merriam is an American author of several spiritual books such as My Journey Through Time, Untold Story of Sita, and To Dance with Dakinis, that detail her past life memories, from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries to the ancient times of Rama and Sita and even before that. A disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, she has been meditating and doing Kriya yoga faithfully for the last half-century, long before these practices became fashionable in the West. Born in the 1950s, Dena is also the founder of the GPIW (Global Peace Initiative of Women), which has worked with the UN and organized interfaith conferences globally.
Dena is particularly drawn to Eastern spirituality – with Hinduism, Japanese Buddhism, and the Bon tradition of Tibet featuring prominently in her past lives. She has the unique ability to recall her previous incarnations in vivid, cinematic detail – complete with people, conversations, and spiritual lessons. “Thanks to meditation,” she says, “my previous lives appear before me like on a movie screen.” Based in upstate New York, Dena travels to India about once a year. We met in Mumbai earlier this year and this interview followed over email. Extracts from the two-part interview:
Ashish Virmani: You were born around the time your guru Paramahansa Yogananda left his body in 1952. Can you tell us how you discovered him in your twenties and his role in your spiritual life?
Dena Merriam: I had been seeking for answers to life’s big questions before I went to college but as soon as I got to college in the Boston area, I was thrust into a world where wisdom from the East was readily available. During my first year, I was taken to a talk by Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) and immediately got his book Be Here Now, which had a great effect on me. A short time later a friend handed me a copy of Autobiography of a Yogi. As soon as I saw Yogananda’s picture on the cover, I recognized him, and when I started reading the book, I knew I was home. I had found my path.
I was only in my second year of college, but everything was set for me spiritually from then on. I wrote to the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), the organization established by Yogananda from California, and applied for lessons on meditation. Although some of my friends were going to India looking for teachers, my devotion and love for my guru was such that I couldn’t think of any other.
In ‘My Journey Through Time’ book, Dena Merriam reveals the soul-stirring moment when a brief encounter with Paramahansa Yogananda in a past life ignited a lifelong quest for spiritual truth. A profound testament to devotion, destiny, and the timeless bond between guru and disciple.
At the beginning, and since then, I have had dreams of my guru where he has imparted important teachings to me and given great guidance. Because I couldn’t run to him and seek outer instruction, I had to learn to contact him internally, and he never failed to respond. This taught me a great lesson. We don’t need to be with the guru in the body. Whenever we put our mind on the guru, that guru is there. My guru often said that he could help us much more when he is not in the body, because the relationship becomes more of an internal one and the focus is not on the guru’s personality but on the eternal nature.
Your book ‘My Journey Through Time’ talks about encountering Paramahansa Yogananda in your lifetime previous to this also (around 1935). Why was this so crucial to your soul journey then?
Dena Merriam: It is difficult for me to explain the depth of my devotion to my guru. When one has waited so long and has had to endure the pain of longing, there is tremendous appreciation and gratitude when one finally receives that for which one has been pining. I briefly encountered my guru in my previous birth, but that was not the first time. Many, many centuries earlier I had encountered him, but I was not ready at that time for spiritual discipline.
During my previous few births, I yearned for practices that would help me understand the purpose of life. I had books to read but no practice, and no transmission. With Yogananda, there was direct transmission, and this created a deep bond between us, which made him internally accessible to me. I had him as my own personal guide, not only to help me in my meditation but also to guide me on the path of life.
I view the brief encounter in my previous birth (Dena was taken to a lecture by Yogananda, in 1935, in her previous birth) as a turning point, because it stimulated the desire to find him and to find the answers to life’s questions. It set the path which I have followed in my current life.
You have been meditating and doing Kriya Yoga for over 50 years now. How have you managed to stick to this path with such unwavering loyalty? Do you advocate commitment to one path or guru as a means for spiritual realization?
Dena Merriam: I have been practicing Kriya Yoga for over five decades and have never practiced another meditation technique. There is no need. Kriya Yoga gives me everything I need. I also have not looked elsewhere for a teacher, for I have my own inner connection with my guru, and he responds to any questions and life situations I encounter.
Sometimes the responses are subtle and one has to be finely attuned to perceive and understand the guidance given. Through my work in the interfaith field, I have befriended numerous spiritual teachers, and this has been extremely rewarding. I treasure those friendships as they have given me much.
Dena is particularly drawn to Eastern spirituality – with Hinduism, Japanese Buddhism, and the Bon tradition of Tibet featuring prominently in her past lives. She carries karmic imprints that now manifest as spiritual affinities – revealing how past lives shape present inclinations.
I can’t really advise anyone else as everyone’s path is unique. It is said that one can have many teachers but only one guru. If that guru does not show up in one’s lifetime, then teachers can help one along the path. But I don’t think it is beneficial to flit from one teacher to another. It takes a lot of consistent practice and devotion to plumb the depths of any spiritual discipline, so I feel it is best to focus on the practice given rather than to keep seeking new techniques.
Some of your previous lives, as you have narrated in your books, have been in India and Tibet. Is that why you are so drawn to these countries? What do you think is the overall significance of your previous lives in these two countries?
Dena Merriam: In so many ways, karma from my lives in India and Tibet has impacted my current life. In terms of India, the devatas from that heritage are the most familiar to me and the most beloved, and my own spiritual lineage derives from the teachings of the rishis, so I am most at home in the yogic family.
In terms of Tibet, in my work life I am surrounded by Westerners deeply engaged in Tibetan Buddhism, so clearly I have an affinity. Many centuries ago, when I lived in Tibet, the Bon tradition was very strong in me, and I think that is one reason for my deep connection to the natural world.
I still retain the Bon knowledge of the elements, but I don’t have any of the superstitions that were prevalent when I lived in Tibet. I also have strong connections to both the Buddhist and Shinto traditions of Japan, and this has affected my current life, as much of the support for GPIW has come from Japan.
As we move from life to life, we take many of our affinities with us, but hopefully we develop a deeper understanding of beliefs and practices we once followed.
Starting with ‘My Journey Through Time: A Spiritual Memoir of Life, Death, and Rebirth’, Dena has published at least 8 books. Through her writing sadhana, she unravels karmic wounds from past incarnations – reminding us that spiritual evolution is a multi-life odyssey toward wholeness.
Your book ‘To Dance with Dakinis’ talks about multiple lifetimes where you were alternately a Buddhist, a follower of Bon, a Druid and a follower of Krishna and Shiva. How do you account for the fact that different forms of spirituality have invariably played an essential role in most of your previous lifetimes? And how important were your beliefs to your soul’s long-term evolution?
Dena Merriam: Our many lifetimes enable us to taste the breadth of human experience. To gain this depth of experience, each life brings us something new, and we are born in different places, different cultures, into a different status. In the book To Dance with Dakinis, the last birth I describe is in a very humble, impoverished, low caste but deeply spiritual family. Right after that, I take birth in a royal household, which I describe in my book My Journey through Time. How incredible is that!
For various reasons I have carried with me a block against Christianity, which was dissolved when I recalled and wrote about my life in medieval France in the book To Dance with Dakinis. I came to understand the resistance I was carrying, which derived from an old wound, and with this understanding, a healing took place.
Writing is my sadhana and I work through many karmic knots through writing. I think it is necessary to undergo many varied experiences and then when one is really ready to commit to a spiritual path, the guru, who will help us finally awaken, appears before us, and the search is over.
Contact: https://www.denamerriam.com; email: info@gpiw.org
For second Part of the interview, go to:
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