BIOGRAPHY
Shawn Zemba was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on November 3rd, 1984. After birth he was witnessed in the viewing area holding a push-up position. 6 months later he spoke his first words in an adult voice, greeting his parents: “Hi Jeff, Hi Wendy.” After this he did not speak, even in infant tones for quite some time.
In his first few years he exhibited an extreme memory of events, and various oddities of life, such as getting trapped underwater in a pool and being able to breathe, and holding his bare skin to lit light bulbs for prolonged periods without getting burnt.
As he got a bit older he would often stop sand from falling in an hour glass, or play with the winter weather to get out of school early. It wasn’t long before these abilities vanished, because he believed that it was with his power that these things occurred.
When he started going to school he was physically weaker than girls two years younger than he was. This would in part lead to the conditioning that allowed many years of bullying and isolation. Despite the cruelty shown towards him, he never disliked his tormentors, or wished them harm. He understood from where their actions arose.
He was quite young when he observed that those around him, like himself weren’t very happy, and at best often lived with a sense of dissatisfaction. Everyone always seemed to be waiting for happiness. “I can be happy, after the bills were paid, after this test, after graduation, etc.” But that fulfillment never lasts, and often, never arrives.
He used this as inspiration to begin to search for a solution. From this point on he invested the majority of his time and resources towards finding an answer. It started through books and eventually he was able to find some material online as well. He had begun his search for fulfillment.
By the time he was 13 he had already been bullied for years, but much more stinging, had experienced the deaths of a number of relatives and pets. Being that he was always very emotionally sensitive, each loss was crushing. The day-to-day torments were all heart-breaking, but these losses were earth-shaking. This pain made him doubt God and he made it his goal to erase his emotions so that he would always see clearly, but most importantly, never suffer again. He entered the disenchantment of youth. By age 15 he became so skillful at distancing himself from life that he didn’t feel any suffering upon watching the years’ long death of his beloved grandfather.
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When he was 16 he had found his first spiritual teacher: a well-meaning and extremely powerful man, but immature, and immersed in suffering. Shawn gained a lot of valuable experience in the 4 years of study with his teacher. But several misunderstands became anchored in his heart. Concepts such as, the only experience in life is suffering, God is an enemy that must be destroyed, to exist is to struggle until you no longer can, the only wise thing to do in life is to gain enough power to not be pushed around, and other such ideas.
Shawn continued to study whatever he could. He began to attend seminars with people in many fields: athletics, martial arts, business, healing, self-help, spirituality, etc. He invested all of his money in courses and guidance from various teachers. However, no one ever demonstrated the level of supernatural power as his first teacher, so he was always somewhat skeptical of their teachings. Regardless, he continued to learn and developed a powerful understanding of human conditioning and universal mechanics.
It was during this time that he understood a basic truth. Every path leads to the same destination. The principles in different religions, occult philosophies, and systems of personal success were always the same. People wanted to be happy, they wanted fulfillment, and they wanted to ease or stop suffering. These different groups may have used different words, or their particular emphasis may have been different, but the experience behind it is the same.
It made sense. |
" If there are 5 witnesses to the same event, though they all saw the same thing, they will describe it from 5 different points of view. "
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Now, if each person had a different background, different culture, or language, imagine the diversity in those descriptions!
At this point Shawn hit his early 20’s. He had gained his first really serious student. This inspired him to study more intensely than he had before. To help his student Shawn went back to study with one of his previous teachers: Francois Lepine, was now going by his Dharma Name, Maha Vajra(Affectionately called Maha)
After one year of intense one-on-one guidance from Maha Shawn was able to release a lot of the denial he had developed from trying to erase his emotions, and the conditioning that he developed under his first teacher. He had to resolve all of the emotional pressure he was unwilling to face in his life.
At this point Shawn was experiencing constant states of ecstatic bliss and profound love for all beings. Having dissolved so much of the emotional weight and inner pressure he had carried with him, he began to feel the equivalent amount of satisfaction. But he was so used to being negative. To change this he moved to El Paso, Texas to change his conditioning, teach a bit more and to study with Maha and his top teachers on a regular basis.
After 8 months in El Paso Shawn had a profound experience as he had just finished a session of reading The Bhagavad Gita in his apartment. He saw the flow of Karma carrying all beings, pushing them to make this “choice” or that “choice.” He noticed that people were no freer than furniture. Everyone just reacted to circumstances, according to their conditioning, which arose from Karma, or dependent upon the Dharma they were facing at the time. As he looked about the room he observed the fan spinning and knew that it spun, at the spurring of electricity, not it’s own choice, much like a man.
Soon after that he was traveling out of the country, and spending the whole day in various planes and airports, he began to perceive the single stream of consciousness that flows through all things. This sensation lasted to a greater or lesser degree for the next four days. It would arise sporadically after that point.
Having moved back to Pennsylvania at this time Shawn was at a holiday picnic with his family. He then felt more powerfully than before that reality is a dream, and beneath that dream he observed the Self, operating experience of what were apparently “individuals.” He observed while each person carried their own weight of density and suffering, behind that dream reality existed the Supreme Presence, unaffected by the human drama.
It was at this time that Shawn decided to teach on a broader scale than before. It is his desire that each being discovers the freedom and power of knowing what they really are.
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