I
had the opportunity to know and personally meet Mang Mike in the early 1990s.
He organized a class, in his Maria Clara residence in Banawe Quezon
City, to teach various esoteric arts and expounded on his concept of
the Servers of the UNICORN as a channel for nation building. The class met
every Saturday afternoon and it lasted for about 3 to 4 months. It was
composed of around 10 young people (including me!), predominantly
members of the Theosophical Youth Movement who were very active at that time.
It was really fun as Mang Mike revealed that all of the participants in the
class belonged to the same soul, personality and mind rays, and only the astral
body rays of each, differed. Gerard Victoria and Cynthia would occasionally
drop by to give some inputs. The depth of esoteric knowledge taught
was impressive. I immediately became aware of the stature of this man
from the evolutionary standpoint.
But
for me, more important than esoteric knowledge is the character. It
is the ultimate gauge- the alpha and omega of a teacher and a server.
For several weeks, I was observing the way he handled the class, his reactions
to us and visitors, and how he related to people. I was expecting
to see signs of a bloated ego or perhaps the usual superiority complex of
a “master” demanding obedience from “disciples”, or perhaps signs of commercialism;
but there was NONE! What I saw was a man of great compassion, humility
and a genuine dedication to serve and not to be served.
It
makes me blush to think now that during the classes, which were offered to
us without any fees, it was Mang Mike who would shoulder the free merienda
every meeting, instead of us buying our teacher some food as a sign of gratitude.
I
also observed how some inconsiderate people would sometimes visit him very
early in the morning requesting for a healing session. Though he was
not feeling well, he would take time to go out of his room and talk to them.
But walking out of his room to the reception area is not an easy task
for him.
Another
memory I had, showing his compassionate nature was when I attended a Wesak
full moon meditation meeting at Samat St., sometime in 1997. A
showbiz actor-comedian emceed the event and after the deep group meditation,
the actor cracked some very naughty jokes, perhaps to “break the ice” and
ground the people. But it was really untimely and reckless that many
felt offended and walked out of the meeting (a few even protested loudly because
accordingly it caused them a “consciousness crash-landing” just after a blissful
state). But I was observing Mang Mike’s reaction and he did not even
make a fuss out of it instead, he even laughed with the actor’s joke.
I
saw him emotionally upset only twice. One was when his persian cat poohed
on his beige living room couch :) and second, the last few meetings of the
class when only two of us (the other one is a lady who would be entering the
convent) were left attending regularly. I saw disappointment on his
face. I thought maybe the others became too busy in their schooling
or perhaps it’s the drawback of a course of instruction without a fee- some
people just don’t put much value to it simply because they did not invest a single penny
to it.
Lastly,
I cant forget the encouragement and advices he had given me during a counseling session
a few years ago. My mother had a serious sickness and my spirit was
really down. He encouraged me and promised to do distant healing on
her. I felt it worked. My mom has recovered.
Yeah…
maybe you’re right! A 300-word memoir on a few incidents is already
a brag- but I believe It feels good to brag about a kind of person you only meet
once in many lifetimes! But I guess it’s more of the guilt- I wish
I could have visited and brought him a glass of coke and ensaymada
for merienda for the last time before he finally left earth.
(See related article, "3 Remarkable Local 'Gurus' of the Ageless Wisdom")
