How I became you

Five years ago, I sat down with my friend Tom Bergerson to one of those divine meals at the French Laundry in Yountville, California. The dinner, while long, was exquisite, but that wasn't why I was there. Although I have a passion for food and drink, my real passion is dancing -- and I don't mean just lap dancing. No, secretly I have always wanted to glide across the floor with Anastasia Murayeva.  Though Russian women have such inner sadness that it makes their palms sweaty, I am sure that Anastasia would never weep on me. No, I think dancing the waltz with Anastasia would be pure heaven.

It was during the long, slow drive up the Napa Valley on the Silverado Trail that Tom broached the subject of Dancing with the Stars. BBC World held the franchise on the show he was going to host in the American market. Would I care to join him one season? After all, I was a minor celebrity. Did I think I could handle the tango on four legs?

If I could wade my way through a dinner with confit, marmalade, carmelizations, poached stuff, trompettes, and sorbets, in other words enough French foods to make your nose collapse, I thought I could make it through the pasodoble on four legs.

Early on the morning of my first meeting with Anastasia, I fell into a mild stupor after eating left over Moulard Duck Fois Gras in Turin for breakfast (perhaps it was the full jam jar of pinot noir?). It was then that I had my vision.

I found myself dancing the samba in Lapa (Rio de Janeiro) the Monmartre of South America. My partner was the black, bisexual drag queen Madame Sata. I was dancing so vigorously, I was having some trouble keeping all four paws on the ground and not getting kicked by the riotous crowd. Madame Sata flashed her teeth at me and asked if I wanted to accompany her home. I felt things were getting out of hand as we had been drinking caipirinha all night long. Madame was beginning to look like Condoleez Rice and her front teeth were looming large. I was worried about predatory behavior and realized I was very far from home, when she whispered to me,

"Oh Cato, summon your entire power of attention and grasp this knowledge.
those who have entered into Me, the Eternal, share in my fullness."

Suddenly the street was emptied and I stood before The Great Cat, the golden being of light. His fur was the color of the sky and he held a bow and arrow. He drew the string back and shot the arrow into my heart. The heat of the arrow spread across my body and shot up my spine and out the top of my head. My feet were as quiet as my mind.

"Those who enter into my fullness are eternally joyful, filled with the truth, as I am and are not separate from Me."

His voice was the lightest whisper, but it thundered within my being and galvanized my cells.

"They are completely united with Me, just as the space in a pot is one with the surrounding space when the pot it broken."

I looked into his eyes and felt love, blissful, life-enhancing love. He danced in front of me and shot another arrow into the air.

"A fire may have many faces which appear to be one.
In that way, O Cato, when duality comes to an end, they and I live in one place with one name.
Those who have followed the path of union with me have transcended death."

My body became like an ear full of rapt attention.

"Now I will explain to you how I, the One Cat, have become ensnared in the nets of bodily life; trapped by hunters in the form of the three qualities. In a nutshell, I want to tell you, how I became you."

The world spun around me.

"These three qualities are called purity, passion and darkness. They are born of matter and reinforced as real by the mind.

"The enlightened perceive this, O Cato, just as a cat who awakes from sleep and realizes he had a dream of mice. The sky contains four seasons, yet it preserves its separate existence.

"Among them I remain the springtime in a forest, the cause of all the wealth of its beauty.

"The stars vanish, the sun-crystal flashes, the lotuses blossom, and darkness is dispelled.

"Yet the sun itself doesn't bring about all these changes. In the same way, I am present in the body, but not as the doer.

"Manifesting through Me, the three qualities become evident. They increase because because of Me, and when they pass away, I am what remains."

Then I was in his arms and we were dancing. The heady scent of gardenias filled the air. I felt like I had had too much catnip and yet my mind was clear. He held me in his arms. His fur was warm and soft beyond anything I had felt before. We glided across the floor with light quick, stalking steps. Our heads snapped back and forth so that our eyes never met. The dance was passionate and extreme at the same time my mind did not move. I could feel him purring in my arms to the husky melody of the bandoneon. We were beneath the spot light and the roar of the crowd was deafening.

I woke on the kitchen floor in a pool of sweat. The sweet smell of gardenias remained. My feet were sore and my heart was full to the brim. 

Cato's song to the great Cat:

Hail to you O Great Cat, greatest of all cats, rising sun of pure intellect, and dawn of happiness.

O refuge of all, delight of the realization of union with the Greatness of all that is Catty, you are the ocean on which the waves of the various worlds arise.

Hear me, O feline of the afflicted ocean of eternal compassion, and husband of the bride of pure knowledge.

The juggler may deceive the spectator, but the illusion by which you conceal yourself is wonderful.

From the Janeshwar's Gita, rendered by Swami Kripananda and the Great Cat.

 

Comments

[Aloysius]

Oh, Cato! You have truly become a paragon of felinity.

[Rocky]

Cato, my fine feline friend, I want to thank you for visiting me while I was feeling poorly. And a favor? Since you & The Great Cat are on dancing terms, think you could get Him to hurl a few thunderbolts at my human? She's putting me through hell dumping toxic waste down my throat and in my ears! Say, are you by any chance on dancing terms with Al Gore? I think he might have something to say about using my head as a toxic waste dump.

Rocky

[Aloysius]

Hi,

I tagged you for the "7 random things about me" meme. Hope you can come out and play!

[Wilhelmina]

I'm impressed! You've mnagaed the almost impossible.