{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_7452/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_7452","id":"gutenberg_7452","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7452","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Hinduism","Yogananda, Paramahansa, 1893-1952","Yogis -- India -- Biography"],"text":"About the online edition.\n\nItalics have been changed to ALLCAPS. Footnotes are collected at\nthe end of each chapter.\n\n\nNotes:\n\nThe \u201cContents\u201d and \u201cList of Illustrations\u201d have been moved before\nthe preface and acknowledgements. There are numerous nested quotes.\nIllustrations have been included in the zip file. Captions and\nreferences to illustrations are included. The index is not included.\nGUTCHECK.exe was run several times, but every footnote number gets\nreported.\n\n\n\n\n[Frontispiece: PARAMHANSA YOGANANDA\u2014see py.jpg]\n\n\n\n\nAUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI\n\n\nBy Paramhansa Yogananda\n\nWITH A PREFACE BY\nW. Y. Evans-Wentz, M.A., D.Litt., D.Sc.\n\n  \u201cEXCEPT YE SEE SIGNS AND WONDERS,\n  YE WILL NOT BELIEVE.\u201d-John 4:48.\n\nDEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF\nLUTHER BURBANK\nAn American Saint\n\n\n[Illustration: Map of India\u2014see map.gif]\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n\n  Preface, By W. Y. EVANS-WENTZ\n  List of Illustrations\n\n  Chapter\n\n   1. My Parents and Early Life\n   2. Mother\u2019s Death and the Amulet\n   3. The Saint with Two Bodies (Swami Pranabananda)\n   4. My Interrupted Flight Toward the Himalaya\n   5. A \u201cPerfume Saint\u201d Performs his Wonders\n   6. The Tiger Swami\n   7. The Levitating Saint (Nagendra Nath Bhaduri)\n   8. India\u2019s Great Scientist and Inventor, Jagadis Chandra Bose\n   9. The Blissful Devotee and his Cosmic Romance (Master Mahasaya)\n  10. I Meet my Master, Sri Yukteswar\n  11. Two Penniless Boys in Brindaban\n  12. Years in my Master\u2019s Hermitage\n  13. The Sleepless Saint (Ram Gopal Muzumdar)\n  14. An Experience in Cosmic Consciousness\n  15. The Cauliflower Robbery\n  16. Outwitting the Stars\n  17. Sasi and the Three Sapphires\n  18. A Mohammedan Wonder-Worker (Afzal Khan)\n  19. My Guru Appears Simultaneously in Calcutta and Serampore\n  20. We Do Not Visit Kashmir\n  21. We Visit Kashmir\n  22. The Heart of a Stone Image\n  23. My University Degree\n  24. I Become a Monk of the Swami Order\n  25. Brother Ananta and Sister Nalini\n  26. The Science of Kriya Yoga\n  27. Founding of a Yoga School at Ranchi\n  28. Kashi, Reborn and Rediscovered\n  29. Rabindranath Tagore and I Compare Schools\n  30. The Law of Miracles\n  31. An Interview with the Sacred Mother (Kashi Moni Lahiri)\n  32. Rama is Raised from the Dead\n  33. Babaji, the Yogi-Christ of Modern India\n  34. Materializing a Palace in the Himalayas\n  35. The Christlike Life of Lahiri Mahasaya\n  36. Babaji\u2019s Interest in the West\n  37. I Go to America\n  38. Luther Burbank\u2014An American Saint\n  39. Therese Neumann, the Catholic Stigmatist of Bavaria\n  40. I Return to India\n  41. An Idyl in South India\n  42. Last Days with my Guru\n  43. The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar\n  44. With Mahatma Gandhi at Wardha\n  45. The Bengali \u201cJoy-Permeated Mother\u201d (Ananda Moyi Ma)\n  46. The Woman Yogi who Never Eats (Giri Bala)\n  47. I Return to the West\n  48. At Encinitas in California\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n  Frontispiece\n  Map of India\n  My Father, Bhagabati Charan Ghosh\n  Myself at Age 6\n  My Mother\n  Swami Pranabananda, \u201cThe Saint With Two Bodies\u201d\n  My Elder Brother, Ananta\n  My Sister Uma\n  Nagendra Nath Bhaduri, \u201cThe Levitating Saint\u201d\n  Jagadis Chandra Bose, Famous Scientist\n  Master Mahasaya, the Blissful Devotee\n  Jitendra Mazumdar, my Companion on the \u201cPenniless Test\u201d at Brindaban\n  Sri Yukteswar, My Master\n  My Guru\u2019s Seaside Hermitage at Puri\n  The Lord in His Aspect as Shiva\n  Ranchi School, Main Building\n  Kashi, Reborn and Rediscovered\n  Rabindranath Tagore\n  A Guru and Disciple in an Ancient Hermitage\n  Babaji, the Yogi-Christ of Modern India\n  Himalayan Cave Occupied by Babaji\n  Lahiri Mahasaya\n  Group of Delegates to the International Congress of Religious\n    Liberals, Boston, 1920\n  Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles Headquarters\n  A Yoga Class in Washington, D.C.\n  Luther Burbank\n  Therese Neumann of Konnersreuth, Bavaria\n  Two Brothers of Therese Neumann, at Konnersreuth\n  Miss Bletch, Mr. Wright, and myself\u2014in Egypt\n  Bishnu, Motilal Mukherji, my Father, Mr. Wright, T.N. Bose, Swami\n    Satyananda\n  My Sisters\u2014Roma, Nalini, and Uma\n  My Father\n  My Guru and Myself\n  Ranchi Students\n  Yogoda Math, Hermitage at Dakshineswar\n  Festival Gathering in the Courtyard of my Guru\u2019s Hermitage in\n    Serampore\n  Group on the Dining Patio of my Guru\u2019s Serampore Hermitage\n  Shankari Mai Jiew, Only Living Disciple of the great Trailanga Swami\n  Krishnananda with his Tame Lioness\n  The Taj Mahal at Agra\n  Swami Keshabananda, at his Hermitage in Brindaban\n  Krishna, Ancient Prophet of India\n  Mahatma Gandhi, at Wardha\n  Ananda Moyi Ma, the \u201cJoy-Permeated Mother\u201d\n  Giri Bala, the Woman Yogi Who Never Eats\n  Mr. E. E. Dickinson\n  Encinitas\n  Self-Realization Church of All Religions, Hollywood\n  Self-Realization Church of All Religions, San Diego\n  Swami Premananda\n  Conference in San Francisco\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\n  By W. Y. EVANS-WENTZ, M.A., D.Litt., D.Sc.\n  Jesus College, Oxford; Author of\n  THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD,\n  TIBET\u2019S GREAT YOGI MILAREPA,\n  TIBETAN YOGA AND SECRET DOCTRINES, etc.\n\nThe value of Yogananda\u2019s AUTOBIOGRAPHYis greatly enhanced by the\nfact that it is one of the few books in English about the wise men\nof India which has been written, not by a journalist or foreigner,\nbut by one of their own race and training\u2014in short, a book ABOUT\nyogis BY a yogi.  As an eyewitness recountal of the extraordinary\nlives and powers of modern Hindu saints, the book has importance\nboth timely and timeless.  To its illustrious author, whom I have\nhad the pleasure of knowing both in India and America, may every\nreader render due appreciation and gratitude. His unusual life-document\nis certainly one of the most revealing of the depths of the Hindu\nmind and heart, and of the spiritual wealth of India, ever to be\npublished in the West.\n\nIt has been my privilege to have met one of the sages whose\nlife-history is herein narrated-Sri Yukteswar Giri. A likeness of\nthe venerable saint appeared as part of the frontispiece of my TIBETAN\nYOGA AND SECRET DOCTRINES. {FN1-1} It was at Puri, in Orissa, on\nthe Bay of Bengal, that I encountered Sri Yukteswar. He was then the\nhead of a quiet ashrama near the seashore there, and was chiefly\noccupied in the spiritual training of a group of youthful disciples.\nHe expressed keen interest in the welfare of the people of the\nUnited States and of all the Americas, and of England, too, and\nquestioned me concerning the distant activities, particularly those\nin California, of his chief disciple, Paramhansa Yogananda, whom\nhe dearly loved, and whom he had sent, in 1920, as his emissary to\nthe West.\n\nSri Yukteswar was of gentle mien and voice, of pleasing presence,\nand worthy of the veneration which his followers spontaneously\naccorded to him. Every person who knew him, whether of his own\ncommunity or not, held him in the highest esteem. I vividly recall\nhis tall, straight, ascetic figure, garbed in the saffron-colored\ngarb of one who has renounced worldly quests, as he stood at the\nentrance of the hermitage to give me welcome. His hair was long\nand somewhat curly, and his face bearded. His body was muscularly\nfirm, but slender and well-formed, and his step energetic. He had\nchosen as his place of earthly abode the holy city of Puri, whither\nmultitudes of pious Hindus, representative of every province of\nIndia, come daily on pilgrimage to the famed Temple of Jagannath,\n\u201cLord of the World.\u201d It was at Puri that Sri Yukteswar closed his\nmortal eyes, in 1936, to the scenes of this transitory state of\nbeing and passed on, knowing that his incarnation had been carried\nto a triumphant completion.  I am glad, indeed, to be able to record\nthis testimony to the high character and holiness of Sri Yukteswar.\nContent to remain afar from the multitude, he gave himself unreservedly\nand in tranquillity to that ideal life which Paramhansa Yogananda,\nhis disciple, has now described for the ages.  W. Y. EVANS-WENTZ\n\n{FN1-1} Oxford University Press, 1935.\n\n\n\n\nAUTHOR\u2019S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS\n\n\nI am deeply indebted to Miss L. V. Pratt for her long editorial\nlabors over the manuscript of this book. My thanks are due also\nto Miss Ruth Zahn for preparation of the index, to Mr. C. Richard\nWright for permission to use extracts from his Indian travel diary,\nand to Dr. W.  Y. Evans-Wentz for suggestions and encouragement.\n\n  PARAMHANSA YOGANANDA\nOCTOBER 28, 1945\nENCINITAS, CALIFORNIA\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 1\n\nMY PARENTS AND EARLY LIFE\n\n\nThe characteristic features of Indian culture have long been\na search for ultimate verities and the concomitant disciple-guru\n{FN1-2} relationship. My own path led me to a Christlike sage whose\nbeautiful life was chiseled for the ages. He was one of the great\nmasters who are India\u2019s sole remaining wealth. Emerging in every\ngeneration, they have bulwarked their land against the fate of\nBabylon and Egypt.\n\nI find my earliest memories covering the anachronistic features of\na previous incarnation. Clear recollections came to me of a distant\nlife, a yogi {FN1-3} amidst the Himalayan snows. These glimpses of\nthe past, by some dimensionless link, also afforded me a glimpse\nof the future.\n\nThe helpless humiliations of infancy are not banished from my mind.\nI was resentfully conscious of not being able to walk or express\nmyself freely. Prayerful surges arose within me as I realized\nmy bodily impotence. My strong emotional life took silent form as\nwords in many languages. Among the inward confusion of tongues,\nmy ear gradually accustomed itself to the circumambient Bengali\nsyllables of my people.  The beguiling scope of an infant\u2019s mind!\nadultly considered limited to toys and toes.\n\nPsychological ferment and my unresponsive body brought me to many\nobstinate crying-spells. I recall the general family bewilderment\nat my distress. Happier memories, too, crowd in on me: my mother\u2019s\ncaresses, and my first attempts at lisping phrase and toddling\nstep.  These early triumphs, usually forgotten quickly, are yet a\nnatural basis of self-confidence.\n\nMy far-reaching memories are not unique. Many yogis are known\nto have retained their self-consciousness without interruption by\nthe dramatic transition to and from \u201clife\u201d and \u201cdeath.\u201d If man be\nsolely a body, its loss indeed places the final period to identity.\nBut if prophets down the millenniums spake with truth, man is\nessentially of incorporeal nature. The persistent core of human\negoity is only temporarily allied with sense perception.\n\nAlthough odd, clear memories of infancy are not extremely rare. During\ntravels in numerous lands, I have listened to early recollections\nfrom the lips of veracious men and women.\n\nI was born in the last decade of the nineteenth century, and passed\nmy first eight years at Gorakhpur. This was my birthplace in the\nUnited Provinces of northeastern India. We were eight children: four\nboys and four girls. I, Mukunda Lal Ghosh {FN1-4}, was the second\nson and the fourth child.\n\nFather and Mother were Bengalis, of the KSHATRIYA caste. {FN1-5} Both\nwere blessed with saintly nature. Their mutual love, tranquil and\ndignified, never expressed itself frivolously. A perfect parental\nharmony was the calm center for the revolving tumult of eight young\nlives.\n\nFather, Bhagabati Charan Ghosh, was kind, grave, at times stern.\nLoving him dearly, we children yet observed a certain reverential\ndistance. An outstanding mathematician and logician, he was guided\nprincipally by his intellect. But Mother was a queen of hearts,\nand taught us only through love. After her death, Father displayed\nmore of his inner tenderness. I noticed then that his gaze often\nmetamorphosed into my mother\u2019s.\n\nIn Mother\u2019s presence we tasted our earliest bitter-sweet acquaintance\nwith the scriptures. Tales from the MAHABHARATA and RAMAYANA {FN1-6}\nwere resourcefully summoned to meet the exigencies of discipline.\nInstruction and chastisement went hand in hand.\n\nA daily gesture of respect to Father was given by Mother\u2019s dressing us\ncarefully in the afternoons to welcome him home from the office.\nHis position was similar to that of a vice-president, in the\nBengal-Nagpur Railway, one of India\u2019s large companies. His work\ninvolved traveling, and our family lived in several cities during\nmy childhood.\n\nMother held an open hand toward the needy. Father was also kindly\ndisposed, but his respect for law and order extended to the budget.\nOne fortnight Mother spent, in feeding the poor, more than Father\u2019s\nmonthly income.\n\n\u201cAll I ask, please, is to keep your charities within a reasonable\nlimit.\u201d Even a gentle rebuke from her husband was grievous to Mother.\nShe ordered a hackney carriage, not hinting to the children at any\ndisagreement.\n\n\u201cGood-by; I am going away to my mother\u2019s home.\u201d Ancient ultimatum!\n\nWe broke into astounded lamentations. Our maternal uncle arrived\nopportunely; he whispered to Father some sage counsel, garnered\nno doubt from the ages. After Father had made a few conciliatory\nremarks, Mother happily dismissed the cab. Thus ended the only trouble\nI ever noticed between my parents. But I recall a characteristic\ndiscussion.\n\n\u201cPlease give me ten rupees for a hapless woman who has just arrived\nat the house.\u201d Mother\u2019s smile had its own persuasion.\n\n\u201cWhy ten rupees? One is enough.\u201d Father added a justification: \u201cWhen\nmy father and grandparents died suddenly, I had my first taste of\npoverty. My only breakfast, before walking miles to my school, was\na small banana. Later, at the university, I was in such need that\nI applied to a wealthy judge for aid of one rupee per month. He\ndeclined, remarking that even a rupee is important.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow bitterly you recall the denial of that rupee!\u201d Mother\u2019s heart\nhad an instant logic. \u201cDo you want this woman also to remember\npainfully your refusal of ten rupees which she needs urgently?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou win!\u201d With the immemorial gesture of vanquished husbands, he\nopened his wallet. \u201cHere is a ten-rupee note. Give it to her with\nmy good will.\u201d\n\nFather tended to first say \u201cNo\u201d to any new proposal. His attitude\ntoward the strange woman who so readily enlisted Mother\u2019s sympathy\nwas an example of his customary caution. Aversion to instant\nacceptance\u2014typical of the French mind in the West-is really only\nhonoring the principle of \u201cdue reflection.\u201d I always found Father\nreasonable and evenly balanced in his judgments. If I could bolster\nup my numerous requests with one or two good arguments, he invariably\nput the coveted goal within my reach, whether it were a vacation\ntrip or a new motorcycle.\n\n[Illustration: MY FATHER, Bhagabati Charan Ghosh, A Disciple of\nLahiri Mahasaya\u2014see father1.jpg]\n\nFather was a strict disciplinarian to his children in their early\nyears, but his attitude toward himself was truly Spartan. He\nnever visited the theater, for instance, but sought his recreation\nin various spiritual practices and in reading the BHAGAVAD GITA.\n{FN1-7} Shunning all luxuries, he would cling to one old pair of\nshoes until they were useless. His sons bought automobiles after\nthey came into popular use, but Father was always content with the\ntrolley car for his daily ride to the office. The accumulation of\nmoney for the sake of power was alien to his nature. Once, after\norganizing the Calcutta Urban Bank, he refused to benefit himself\nby holding any of its shares. He had simply wished to perform a\ncivic duty in his spare time.\n\nSeveral years after Father had retired on a pension, an English\naccountant arrived to examine the books of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway\nCompany. The amazed investigator discovered that Father had never\napplied for overdue bonuses.\n\n\u201cHe did the work of three men!\u201d the accountant told the company.\n\u201cHe has rupees 125,000 (about $41,250.) owing to him as back\ncompensation.\u201d The officials presented Father with a check for\nthis amount. He thought so little about it that he overlooked any\nmention to the family. Much later he was questioned by my youngest\nbrother Bishnu, who noticed the large deposit on a bank statement.\n\n\u201cWhy be elated by material profit?\u201d Father replied. \u201cThe one who\npursues a goal of evenmindedness is neither jubilant with gain\nnor depressed by loss. He knows that man arrives penniless in this\nworld, and departs without a single rupee.\u201d\n\nEarly in their married life, my parents became disciples of a\ngreat master, Lahiri Mahasaya of Benares. This contact strengthened\nFather\u2019s naturally ascetical temperament. Mother made a remarkable\nadmission to my eldest sister Roma: \u201cYour father and myself live\ntogether as man and wife only once a year, for the purpose of having\nchildren.\u201d\n\nFather first met Lahiri Mahasaya through Abinash Babu, {FN1-8}\nan employee in the Gorakhpur office of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway.\nAbinash instructed my young ears with engrossing tales of many Indian\nsaints.  He invariably concluded with a tribute to the superior\nglories of his own guru.\n\n\u201cDid you ever hear of the extraordinary circumstances under which\nyour father became a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya?\u201d\n\nIt was on a lazy summer afternoon, as Abinash and I sat together\nin the compound of my home, that he put this intriguing question.\nI shook my head with a smile of anticipation.\n\n\u201cYears ago, before you were born, I asked my superior officer-your\nfather-to give me a week\u2019s leave from my Gorakhpur duties in order\nto visit my guru in Benares. Your father ridiculed my plan.\n\n\u201c\u2018Are you going to become a religious fanatic?\u2019 he inquired.\n\u2018Concentrate on your office work if you want to forge ahead.\u2019\n\n\u201cSadly walking home along a woodland path that day, I met your\nfather in a palanquin. He dismissed his servants and conveyance,\nand fell into step beside me. Seeking to console me, he pointed\nout the advantages of striving for worldly success. But I heard\nhim listlessly. My heart was repeating: \u2018Lahiri Mahasaya! I cannot\nlive without seeing you!\u2019\n\n\u201cOur path took us to the edge of a tranquil field, where the rays\nof the late afternoon sun were still crowning the tall ripple of\nthe wild grass. We paused in admiration. There in the field, only\na few yards from us, the form of my great guru suddenly appeared!\n{FN1-9}\n\n\u201c\u2018Bhagabati, you are too hard on your employee!\u2019 His voice was\nresonant in our astounded ears. He vanished as mysteriously as he\nhad come. On my knees I was exclaiming, \u2018Lahiri Mahasaya! Lahiri\nMahasaya!\u2019 Your father was motionless with stupefaction for a few\nmoments.\n\n\u201c\u2018Abinash, not only do I give YOU leave, but I give MYSELF leave to\nstart for Benares tomorrow. I must know this great Lahiri Mahasaya,\nwho is able to materialize himself at will in order to intercede\nfor you! I will take my wife and ask this master to initiate us in\nhis spiritual path. Will you guide us to him?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Of course.\u2019 Joy filled me at the miraculous answer to my prayer,\nand the quick, favorable turn of events.\n\n\u201cThe next evening your parents and I entrained for Benares. We\ntook a horse cart the following day, and then had to walk through\nnarrow lanes to my guru\u2019s secluded home. Entering his little parlor,\nwe bowed before the master, enlocked in his habitual lotus posture.\nHe blinked his piercing eyes and leveled them on your father.\n\n\u201c\u2018Bhagabati, you are too hard on your employee!\u2019 His words were the\nsame as those he had used two days before in the Gorakhpur field.\nHe added, \u2018I am glad that you have allowed Abinash to visit me,\nand that you and your wife have accompanied him.\u2019\n\n\u201cTo their joy, he initiated your parents in the spiritual practice\nof KRIYA YOGA. {FN1-10} Your father and I, as brother disciples,\nhave been close friends since the memorable day of the vision.\nLahiri Mahasaya took a definite interest in your own birth. Your\nlife shall surely be linked with his own: the master\u2019s blessing\nnever fails.\u201d\n\nLahiri Mahasaya left this world shortly after I had entered it.\nHis picture, in an ornate frame, always graced our family altar in\nthe various cities to which Father was transferred by his office.\nMany a morning and evening found Mother and me meditating before an\nimprovised shrine, offering flowers dipped in fragrant sandalwood\npaste. With frankincense and myrrh as well as our united devotions,\nwe honored the divinity which had found full expression in Lahiri\nMahasaya.\n\nHis picture had a surpassing influence over my life. As I grew,\nthe thought of the master grew with me. In meditation I would often\nsee his photographic image emerge from its small frame and, taking\na living form, sit before me. When I attempted to touch the feet\nof his luminous body, it would change and again become the picture.\nAs childhood slipped into boyhood, I found Lahiri Mahasaya transformed\nin my mind from a little image, cribbed in a frame, to a living,\nenlightening presence. I frequently prayed to him in moments of\ntrial or confusion, finding within me his solacing direction. At\nfirst I grieved because he was no longer physically living. As I\nbegan to discover his secret omnipresence, I lamented no more. He\nhad often written to those of his disciples who were over-anxious\nto see him: \u201cWhy come to view my bones and flesh, when I am ever\nwithin range of your KUTASTHA (spiritual sight)?\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Myself at Age six\u2014see atsix.jpg]\n\nI was blessed about the age of eight with a wonderful healing\nthrough the photograph of Lahiri Mahasaya. This experience gave\nintensification to my love. While at our family estate in Ichapur,\nBengal, I was stricken with Asiatic cholera. My life was despaired\nof; the doctors could do nothing. At my bedside, Mother frantically\nmotioned me to look at Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s picture on the wall above\nmy head.\n\n\u201cBow to him mentally!\u201d She knew I was too feeble even to lift my\nhands in salutation. \u201cIf you really show your devotion and inwardly\nkneel before him, your life will be spared!\u201d\n\nI gazed at his photograph and saw there a blinding light, enveloping\nmy body and the entire room. My nausea and other uncontrollable\nsymptoms disappeared; I was well. At once I felt strong enough to\nbend over and touch Mother\u2019s feet in appreciation of her immeasurable\nfaith in her guru. Mother pressed her head repeatedly against the\nlittle picture.\n\n\u201cO Omnipresent Master, I thank thee that thy light hath healed my\nson!\u201d\n\nI realized that she too had witnessed the luminous blaze through\nwhich I had instantly recovered from a usually fatal disease.\n\nOne of my most precious possessions is that same photograph. Given\nto Father by Lahiri Mahasaya himself, it carries a holy vibration.\nThe picture had a miraculous origin. I heard the story from Father\u2019s\nbrother disciple, Kali Kumar Roy.\n\nIt appears that the master had an aversion to being photographed.\nOver his protest, a group picture was once taken of him and\na cluster of devotees, including Kali Kumar Roy. It was an amazed\nphotographer who discovered that the plate which had clear images\nof all the disciples, revealed nothing more than a blank space in\nthe center where he had reasonably expected to find the outlines\nof Lahiri Mahasaya. The phenomenon was widely discussed.\n\nA certain student and expert photographer, Ganga Dhar Babu, boasted\nthat the fugitive figure would not escape him. The next morning,\nas the guru sat in lotus posture on a wooden bench with a screen\nbehind him, Ganga Dhar Babu arrived with his equipment. Taking every\nprecaution for success, he greedily exposed twelve plates. On each\none he soon found the imprint of the wooden bench and screen, but\nonce again the master\u2019s form was missing.\n\nWith tears and shattered pride, Ganga Dhar Babu sought out his\nguru.  It was many hours before Lahiri Mahasaya broke his silence\nwith a pregnant comment:\n\n\u201cI am Spirit. Can your camera reflect the omnipresent Invisible?\u201d\n\n\u201cI see it cannot! But, Holy Sir, I lovingly desire a picture of\nthe bodily temple where alone, to my narrow vision, that Spirit\nappears fully to dwell.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome, then, tomorrow morning. I will pose for you.\u201d\n\nAgain the photographer focused his camera. This time the sacred\nfigure, not cloaked with mysterious imperceptibility, was sharp on\nthe plate. The master never posed for another picture; at least,\nI have seen none.\n\nThe photograph is reproduced in this book. Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s fair\nfeatures, of a universal cast, hardly suggest to what race he\nbelonged. His intense joy of God-communion is slightly revealed in\na somewhat enigmatic smile. His eyes, half open to denote a nominal\ndirection on the outer world, are half closed also. Completely\noblivious to the poor lures of the earth, he was fully awake at\nall times to the spiritual problems of seekers who approached for\nhis bounty.\n\nShortly after my healing through the potency of the guru\u2019s picture,\nI had an influential spiritual vision. Sitting on my bed one morning,\nI fell into a deep reverie.\n\n\u201cWhat is behind the darkness of closed eyes?\u201d This probing thought\ncame powerfully into my mind. An immense flash of light at once\nmanifested to my inward gaze. Divine shapes of saints, sitting in\nmeditation posture in mountain caves, formed like miniature cinema\npictures on the large screen of radiance within my forehead.\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d I spoke aloud.\n\n\u201cWe are the Himalayan yogis.\u201d The celestial response is difficult\nto describe; my heart was thrilled.\n\n\u201cAh, I long to go to the Himalayas and become like you!\u201d The vision\nvanished, but the silvery beams expanded in ever-widening circles\nto infinity.\n\n\u201cWhat is this wondrous glow?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am Iswara.{FN1-11} I am Light.\u201d The voice was as murmuring\nclouds.\n\n\u201cI want to be one with Thee!\u201d\n\nOut of the slow dwindling of my divine ecstasy, I salvaged a permanent\nlegacy of inspiration to seek God. \u201cHe is eternal, ever-new Joy!\u201d\nThis memory persisted long after the day of rapture.\n\nAnother early recollection is outstanding; and literally so, for\nI bear the scar to this day. My elder sister Uma and I were seated\nin the early morning under a NEEM tree in our Gorakhpur compound.\nShe was helping me with a Bengali primer, what time I could spare\nmy gaze from the near-by parrots eating ripe margosa fruit. Uma\ncomplained of a boil on her leg, and fetched a jar of ointment. I\nsmeared a bit of the salve on my forearm.\n\n\u201cWhy do you use medicine on a healthy arm?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, Sis, I feel I am going to have a boil tomorrow. I am testing\nyour ointment on the spot where the boil will appear.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou little liar!\u201d\n\n\u201cSis, don\u2019t call me a liar until you see what happens in the\nmorning.\u201d Indignation filled me.\n\nUma was unimpressed, and thrice repeated her taunt. An adamant\nresolution sounded in my voice as I made slow reply.\n\n\u201cBy the power of will in me, I say that tomorrow I shall have\na fairly large boil in this exact place on my arm; and YOUR boil\nshall swell to twice its present size!\u201d\n\nMorning found me with a stalwart boil on the indicated spot; the\ndimensions of Uma\u2019s boil had doubled. With a shriek, my sister\nrushed to Mother. \u201cMukunda has become a necromancer!\u201d Gravely,\nMother instructed me never to use the power of words for doing\nharm. I have always remembered her counsel, and followed it.\n\nMy boil was surgically treated. A noticeable scar, left by\nthe doctor\u2019s incision, is present today. On my right forearm is a\nconstant reminder of the power in man\u2019s sheer word.\n\nThose simple and apparently harmless phrases to Uma, spoken\nwith deep concentration, had possessed sufficient hidden force to\nexplode like bombs and produce definite, though injurious, effects.\nI understood, later, that the explosive vibratory power in speech\ncould be wisely directed to free one\u2019s life from difficulties, and\nthus operate without scar or rebuke. {FN1-12}\n\nOur family moved to Lahore in the Punjab. There I acquired a picture\nof the Divine Mother in the form of the Goddess Kali. {FN1-13} It\nsanctified a small informal shrine on the balcony of our home. An\nunequivocal conviction came over me that fulfillment would crown any\nof my prayers uttered in that sacred spot. Standing there with Uma\none day, I watched two kites flying over the roofs of the buildings\non the opposite side of the very narrow lane.\n\n\u201cWhy are you so quiet?\u201d Uma pushed me playfully.\n\n\u201cI am just thinking how wonderful it is that Divine Mother gives\nme whatever I ask.\u201d\n\n\u201cI suppose She would give you those two kites!\u201d My sister laughed\nderisively.\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d I began silent prayers for their possession.\n\nMatches are played in India with kites whose strings are covered\nwith glue and ground glass. Each player attempts to sever the string\nof his opponent. A freed kite sails over the roofs; there is great\nfun in catching it. Inasmuch as Uma and I were on the balcony, it\nseemed impossible that any loosed kite could come into our hands;\nits string would naturally dangle over the roofs.\n\nThe players across the lane began their match. One string was cut;\nimmediately the kite floated in my direction. It was stationary\nfor a moment, through sudden abatement of breeze, which sufficed\nto firmly entangle the string with a cactus plant on top of the\nopposite house.  A perfect loop was formed for my seizure. I handed\nthe prize to Uma.\n\n\u201cIt was just an extraordinary accident, and not an answer to your\nprayer. If the other kite comes to you, then I shall believe.\u201d\nSister\u2019s dark eyes conveyed more amazement than her words.\n\nI continued my prayers with a crescendo intensity. A forcible tug\nby the other player resulted in the abrupt loss of his kite. It\nheaded toward me, dancing in the wind. My helpful assistant, the\ncactus plant, again secured the kite string in the necessary loop\nby which I could grasp it. I presented my second trophy to Uma.\n\n\u201cIndeed, Divine Mother listens to you! This is all too uncanny for\nme!\u201d Sister bolted away like a frightened fawn.\n\n{FN1-2} Spiritual teacher; from Sanskrit root GUR, to raise, to\nuplift.\n\n{FN1-3} A practitioner of yoga, \u201cunion,\u201d ancient Indian science of\nmeditation on God.\n\n{FN1-4} My name was changed to Yogananda when I entered the ancient\nmonastic Swami Order in 1914. My guru bestowed the religious title\nof PARAMHANSA on me in 1935 (see ../chapters 24 and 42).\n\n{FN1-5} Traditionally, the second caste of warriors and rulers.\n\n{FN1-6} These ancient epics are the hoard of India\u2019s history,\nmythology, and philosophy. An \u201cEveryman\u2019s Library\u201d volume, RAMAYANA\nAND MAHABHARATA, is a condensation in English verse by Romesh Dutt\n(New York: E. P. Dutton).\n\n{FN1-7} This noble Sanskrit poem, which occurs as part of the\nMAHABHARATA epic, is the Hindu Bible. The most poetical English\ntranslation is Edwin Arnold\u2019s THE SONG CELESTIAL (Philadelphia:\nDavid McKay, 75 cents). One of the best translations with detailed\ncommentary is Sri Aurobindo\u2019s MESSAGE OF THE GITA (Jupiter Press,\n16 Semudoss St., Madras, India, $3.50).\n\n{FN1-8} BABU (Mister) is placed in Bengali names at the end.\n\n{FN1-9} The phenomenal powers possessed by great masters are\nexplained in chapter 30, \u201cThe Law of Miracles.\u201d\n\n{FN1-10} A yogic technique whereby the sensory tumult is stilled,\npermitting man to achieve an ever-increasing identity with cosmic\nconsciousness. (See p. 243.)\n\n{FN1-11} A Sanskrit name for God as Ruler of the universe; from\nthe root IS, to rule. There are 108 names for God in the Hindu\nscriptures, each one carrying a different shade of philosophical\nmeaning.\n\n{FN1-12} The infinite potencies of sound derive from the Creative\nWord, AUM, the cosmic vibratory power behind all atomic energies.\nAny word spoken with clear realization and deep concentration\nhas a materializing value. Loud or silent repetition of inspiring\nwords has been found effective in Coueism and similar systems of\npsychotherapy; the secret lies in the stepping-up of the mind\u2019s\nvibratory rate. The poet Tennyson has left us, in his MEMOIRS, an\naccount of his repetitious device for passing beyond the conscious\nmind into superconsciousness:\n\n\u201cA kind of waking trance-this for lack of a better word-I have\nfrequently had, quite up from boyhood, when I have been all alone,\u201d\nTennyson wrote. \u201cThis has come upon me through REPEATING my own\nname to myself silently, till all at once, as it were out of the\nintensity of the consciousness of individuality, individuality itself\nseemed to dissolve and fade away into boundless being, and this not\na confused state but the clearest, the surest of the surest, utterly\nbeyond words-where death was an almost laughable impossibility-the\nloss of personality (if so it were) seeming no extinction, but the\nonly true life.\u201d He wrote further: \u201cIt is no nebulous ecstasy, but\na state of transcendent wonder, associated with absolute clearness\nof mind.\u201d\n\n{FN1-13} Kali is a symbol of God in the aspect of eternal Mother\nNature.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 2\n\nMY MOTHER\u2019S DEATH AND THE MYSTIC AMULET\n\n\nMy mother\u2019s greatest desire was the marriage of my elder brother.\n\u201cAh, when I behold the face of Ananta\u2019s wife, I shall find heaven\non this earth!\u201d I frequently heard Mother express in these words\nher strong Indian sentiment for family continuity.\n\nI was about eleven years old at the time of Ananta\u2019s betrothal.\nMother was in Calcutta, joyously supervising the wedding preparations.\nFather and I alone remained at our home in Bareilly in northern\nIndia, whence Father had been transferred after two years at Lahore.\n\nI had previously witnessed the splendor of nuptial rites for my\ntwo elder sisters, Roma and Uma; but for Ananta, as the eldest son,\nplans were truly elaborate. Mother was welcoming numerous relatives,\ndaily arriving in Calcutta from distant homes. She lodged them\ncomfortably in a large, newly acquired house at 50 Amherst Street.\nEverything was in readiness-the banquet delicacies, the gay throne\non which Brother was to be carried to the home of the bride-to-be,\nthe rows of colorful lights, the mammoth cardboard elephants and\ncamels, the English, Scottish and Indian orchestras, the professional\nentertainers, the priests for the ancient rituals.\n\nFather and I, in gala spirits, were planning to join the family\nin time for the ceremony. Shortly before the great day, however,\nI had an ominous vision.\n\nIt was in Bareilly on a midnight. As I slept beside Father on the\npiazza of our bungalow, I was awakened by a peculiar flutter of\nthe mosquito netting over the bed. The flimsy curtains parted and\nI saw the beloved form of my mother.\n\n\u201cAwaken your father!\u201d Her voice was only a whisper. \u201cTake the first\navailable train, at four o\u2019clock this morning. Rush to Calcutta if\nyou would see me!\u201d The wraithlike figure vanished.\n\n\u201cFather, Father! Mother is dying!\u201d The terror in my tone aroused\nhim instantly. I sobbed out the fatal tidings.\n\n\u201cNever mind that hallucination of yours.\u201d Father gave his characteristic\nnegation to a new situation. \u201cYour mother is in excellent health.\nIf we get any bad news, we shall leave tomorrow.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou shall never forgive yourself for not starting now!\u201d Anguish\ncaused me to add bitterly, \u201cNor shall I ever forgive you!\u201d\n\nThe melancholy morning came with explicit words: \u201cMother dangerously\nill; marriage postponed; come at once.\u201d\n\nFather and I left distractedly. One of my uncles met us en route\nat a transfer point. A train thundered toward us, looming with\ntelescopic increase. From my inner tumult, an abrupt determination\narose to hurl myself on the railroad tracks. Already bereft, I\nfelt, of my mother, I could not endure a world suddenly barren to\nthe bone. I loved Mother as my dearest friend on earth. Her solacing\nblack eyes had been my surest refuge in the trifling tragedies of\nchildhood.\n\n\u201cDoes she yet live?\u201d I stopped for one last question to my uncle.\n\n\u201cOf course she is alive!\u201d He was not slow to interpret the desperation\nin my face. But I scarcely believed him.\n\nWhen we reached our Calcutta home, it was only to confront the\nstunning mystery of death. I collapsed into an almost lifeless\nstate.  Years passed before any reconciliation entered my heart.\nStorming the very gates of heaven, my cries at last summoned the\nDivine Mother. Her words brought final healing to my suppurating\nwounds:\n\n\u201cIt is I who have watched over thee, life after life, in the\ntenderness of many mothers! See in My gaze the two black eyes, the\nlost beautiful eyes, thou seekest!\u201d\n\nFather and I returned to Bareilly soon after the crematory\nrites for the well-beloved. Early every morning I made a pathetic\nmemorial\u2014pilgrimage to a large SHEOLI tree which shaded the\nsmooth, green-gold lawn before our bungalow. In poetical moments,\nI thought that the white SHEOLI flowers were strewing themselves\nwith a willing devotion over the grassy altar. Mingling tears with\nthe dew, I often observed a strange other-worldly light emerging\nfrom the dawn. Intense pangs of longing for God assailed me. I felt\npowerfully drawn to the Himalayas.\n\nOne of my cousins, fresh from a period of travel in the holy hills,\nvisited us in Bareilly. I listened eagerly to his tales about the\nhigh mountain abode of yogis and swamis. {FN2-1}\n\n\u201cLet us run away to the Himalayas.\u201d My suggestion one day to\nDwarka Prasad, the young son of our landlord in Bareilly, fell on\nunsympathetic ears. He revealed my plan to my elder brother, who\nhad just arrived to see Father. Instead of laughing lightly over\nthis impractical scheme of a small boy, Ananta made it a definite\npoint to ridicule me.\n\n\u201cWhere is your orange robe? You can\u2019t be a swami without that!\u201d\n\nBut I was inexplicably thrilled by his words. They brought a clear\npicture of myself roaming about India as a monk. Perhaps they\nawakened memories of a past life; in any case, I began to see with\nwhat natural ease I would wear the garb of that anciently-founded\nmonastic order.\n\nChatting one morning with Dwarka, I felt a love for God descending\nwith avalanchic force. My companion was only partly attentive to\nthe ensuing eloquence, but I was wholeheartedly listening to myself.\n\nI fled that afternoon toward Naini Tal in the Himalayan foothills.\nAnanta gave determined chase; I was forced to return sadly to\nBareilly. The only pilgrimage permitted me was the customary one\nat dawn to the SHEOLI tree. My heart wept for the lost Mothers,\nhuman and divine.\n\n[Illustration: My Mother, A Disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya\u2014see\nmother.jpg]\n\nThe rent left in the family fabric by Mother\u2019s death was irreparable.\nFather never remarried during his nearly forty remaining years.\nAssuming the difficult role of Father-Mother to his little flock,\nhe grew noticeably more tender, more approachable. With calmness\nand insight, he solved the various family problems. After office\nhours he retired like a hermit to the cell of his room, practicing\nKRIYA YOGA in a sweet serenity. Long after Mother\u2019s death, I attempted\nto engage an English nurse to attend to details that would make my\nparent\u2019s life more comfortable. But Father shook his head.\n\n\u201cService to me ended with your mother.\u201d His eyes were remote with\na lifelong devotion. \u201cI will not accept ministrations from any\nother woman.\u201d\n\nFourteen months after Mother\u2019s passing, I learned that she had left\nme a momentous message. Ananta was present at her deathbed and had\nrecorded her words. Although she had asked that the disclosure be\nmade to me in one year, my brother delayed. He was soon to leave\nBareilly for Calcutta, to marry the girl Mother had chosen for him.\n{FN2-2} One evening he summoned me to his side.\n\n\u201cMukunda, I have been reluctant to give you strange tidings.\u201d\nAnanta\u2019s tone held a note of resignation. \u201cMy fear was to inflame\nyour desire to leave home. But in any case you are bristling with\ndivine ardor.  When I captured you recently on your way to the\nHimalayas, I came to a definite resolve. I must not further postpone\nthe fulfillment of my solemn promise.\u201d My brother handed me a small\nbox, and delivered Mother\u2019s message.\n\n\u201cLet these words be my final blessing, my beloved son Mukunda!\u201d\nMother had said. \u201cThe hour is here when I must relate a number of\nphenomenal events following your birth. I first knew your destined\npath when you were but a babe in my arms. I carried you then to\nthe home of my guru in Benares. Almost hidden behind a throng of\ndisciples, I could barely see Lahiri Mahasaya as he sat in deep\nmeditation.\n\n\u201cWhile I patted you, I was praying that the great guru take\nnotice and bestow a blessing. As my silent devotional demand grew\nin intensity, he opened his eyes and beckoned me to approach. The\nothers made a way for me; I bowed at the sacred feet. My master\nseated you on his lap, placing his hand on your forehead by way of\nspiritually baptizing you.\n\n\u201c\u2018Little mother, thy son will be a yogi. As a spiritual engine, he\nwill carry many souls to God\u2019s kingdom.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy heart leaped with joy to find my secret prayer granted by the\nomniscient guru. Shortly before your birth, he had told me you\nwould follow his path.\n\n\u201cLater, my son, your vision of the Great Light was known to me and\nyour sister Roma, as from the next room we observed you motionless\non the bed. Your little face was illuminated; your voice rang with\niron resolve as you spoke of going to the Himalayas in quest of\nthe Divine.\n\n\u201cIn these ways, dear son, I came to know that your road lies far\nfrom worldly ambitions. The most singular event in my life brought\nfurther confirmation-an event which now impels my deathbed message.\n\n\u201cIt was an interview with a sage in the Punjab. While our family\nwas living in Lahore, one morning the servant came precipitantly\ninto my room.\n\n\u201c\u2018Mistress, a strange SADHU {FN2-3} is here. He insists that he\n\u201csee the mother of Mukunda.\u201d\u2019\n\n\u201cThese simple words struck a profound chord within me; I went at\nonce to greet the visitor. Bowing at his feet, I sensed that before\nme was a true man of God.\n\n\u201c\u2018Mother,\u2019 he said, \u2018the great masters wish you to know that your\nstay on earth will not be long. Your next illness shall prove to\nbe your last.\u2019 {FN2-4} There was a silence, during which I felt no\nalarm but only a vibration of great peace. Finally he addressed me\nagain:\n\n\u201c\u2018You are to be the custodian of a certain silver amulet. I will\nnot give it to you today; to demonstrate the truth in my words, the\ntalisman shall materialize in your hands tomorrow as you meditate.\nOn your deathbed, you must instruct your eldest son Ananta to keep\nthe amulet for one year and then to hand it over to your second\nson.  Mukunda will understand the meaning of the talisman from the\ngreat ones. He should receive it about the time he is ready to\nrenounce all worldly hopes and start his vital search for God. When\nhe has retained the amulet for some years, and when it has served\nits purpose, it shall vanish. Even if kept in the most secret spot,\nit shall return whence it came.\u2019\n\n\u201cI proffered alms {FN2-5} to the saint, and bowed before him\nin great reverence. Not taking the offering, he departed with a\nblessing. The next evening, as I sat with folded hands in meditation,\na silver amulet materialized between my palms, even as the SADHU\nhad promised.  It made itself known by a cold, smooth touch. I\nhave jealously guarded it for more than two years, and now leave\nit in Ananta\u2019s keeping. Do not grieve for me, as I shall have been\nushered by my great guru into the arms of the Infinite. Farewell,\nmy child; the Cosmic Mother will protect you.\u201d\n\nA blaze of illumination came over me with possession of the amulet;\nmany dormant memories awakened. The talisman, round and anciently\nquaint, was covered with Sanskrit characters. I understood that it\ncame from teachers of past lives, who were invisibly guiding my\nsteps.  A further significance there was, indeed; but one does not\nreveal fully the heart of an amulet.\n\nHow the talisman finally vanished amidst deeply unhappy circumstances\nof my life; and how its loss was a herald of my gain of a guru,\ncannot be told in this chapter.\n\nBut the small boy, thwarted in his attempts to reach the Himalayas,\ndaily traveled far on the wings of his amulet.\n\n{FN2-1} Sanskrit root meaning of SWAMI is \u201che who is one with his\nSelf (SWA).\u201d Applied to a member of the Indian order of monks, the\ntitle has the formal respect of \u201cthe reverend.\u201d\n\n{FN2-2} The Indian custom, whereby parents choose the life-partner\nfor their child, has resisted the blunt assaults of time. The\npercentage is high of happy Indian marriages.\n\n{FN2-3} An anchorite; one who pursues a SADHANA or path of spiritual\ndiscipline.\n\n{FN2-4} When I discovered by these words that Mother had possessed\nsecret knowledge of a short life, I understood for the first time\nwhy she had been insistent on hastening the plans for Ananta\u2019s\nmarriage.  Though she died before the wedding, her natural maternal\nwish had been to witness the rites.\n\n{FN2-5} A customary gesture of respect to SADHUS.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 3\n\nTHE SAINT WITH TWO BODIES\n\n\n\u201cFather, if I promise to return home without coercion, may I take\na sight-seeing trip to Benares?\u201d\n\nMy keen love of travel was seldom hindered by Father. He permitted\nme, even as a mere boy, to visit many cities and pilgrimage spots.\nUsually one or more of my friends accompanied me; we would travel\ncomfortably on first-class passes provided by Father. His position\nas a railroad official was fully satisfactory to the nomads in the\nfamily.\n\nFather promised to give my request due consideration. The next\nday he summoned me and held out a round-trip pass from Bareilly to\nBenares, a number of rupee notes, and two letters.\n\n\u201cI have a business matter to propose to a Benares friend, Kedar\nNath Babu. Unfortunately I have lost his address. But I believe you\nwill be able to get this letter to him through our common friend,\nSwami Pranabananda. The swami, my brother disciple, has attained\nan exalted spiritual stature. You will benefit by his company; this\nsecond note will serve as your introduction.\u201d\n\n\nFather\u2019s eyes twinkled as he added, \u201cMind, no more flights from\nhome!\u201d\n\nI set forth with the zest of my twelve years (though time has\nnever dimmed my delight in new scenes and strange faces). Reaching\nBenares, I proceeded immediately to the swami\u2019s residence. The\nfront door was open; I made my way to a long, hall-like room on\nthe second floor. A rather stout man, wearing only a loincloth, was\nseated in lotus posture on a slightly raised platform. His head and\nunwrinkled face were clean-shaven; a beatific smile played about\nhis lips. To dispel my thought that I had intruded, he greeted me\nas an old friend.\n\n\u201cBABA ANAND (bliss to my dear one).\u201d His welcome was given heartily\nin a childlike voice. I knelt and touched his feet.\n\n\u201cAre you Swami Pranabananda?\u201d\n\nHe nodded. \u201cAre you Bhagabati\u2019s son?\u201d His words were out before I\nhad had time to get Father\u2019s letter from my pocket. In astonishment,\nI handed him the note of introduction, which now seemed superfluous.\n\n\u201cOf course I will locate Kedar Nath Babu for you.\u201d The saint again\nsurprised me by his clairvoyance. He glanced at the letter, and\nmade a few affectionate references to my parent.\n\n\u201cYou know, I am enjoying two pensions. One is by the recommendation\nof your father, for whom I once worked in the railroad office. The\nother is by the recommendation of my Heavenly Father, for whom I\nhave conscientiously finished my earthly duties in life.\u201d\n\nI found this remark very obscure. \u201cWhat kind of pension, sir, do\nyou receive from the Heavenly Father? Does He drop money in your\nlap?\u201d\n\nHe laughed. \u201cI mean a pension of fathomless peace-a reward for many\nyears of deep meditation. I never crave money now. My few material\nneeds are amply provided for. Later you will understand the\nsignificance of a second pension.\u201d\n\nAbruptly terminating our conversation, the saint became gravely\nmotionless. A sphinxlike air enveloped him. At first his eyes\nsparkled, as if observing something of interest, then grew dull. I\nfelt abashed at his pauciloquy; he had not yet told me how I could\nmeet Father\u2019s friend. A trifle restlessly, I looked about me in\nthe bare room, empty except for us two. My idle gaze took in his\nwooden sandals, lying under the platform seat.\n\n\u201cLittle sir, {FN3-1} don\u2019t get worried. The man you wish to see\nwill be with you in half an hour.\u201d The yogi was reading my mind-a\nfeat not too difficult at the moment!\n\n[Illustration: Swami Pranabananda, \u201cThe Saint With Two Bodies\u201d, An\nExalted Disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya\u2014see pranabananda.jpg]\n\nAgain he fell into inscrutable silence. My watch informed me that\nthirty minutes had elapsed.\n\nThe swami aroused himself. \u201cI think Kedar Nath Babu is nearing the\ndoor.\u201d\n\nI heard somebody coming up the stairs. An amazed incomprehension\narose suddenly; my thoughts raced in confusion: \u201cHow is it possible\nthat Father\u2019s friend has been summoned to this place without the\nhelp of a messenger? The swami has spoken to no one but myself\nsince my arrival!\u201d\n\nAbruptly I quitted the room and descended the steps. Halfway down\nI met a thin, fair-skinned man of medium height. He appeared to be\nin a hurry.\n\n\u201cAre you Kedar Nath Babu?\u201d Excitement colored my voice.\n\n\u201cYes. Are you not Bhagabati\u2019s son who has been waiting here to meet\nme?\u201d He smiled in friendly fashion.\n\n\u201cSir, how do you happen to come here?\u201d I felt baffled resentment\nover his inexplicable presence.\n\n\u201cEverything is mysterious today! Less than an hour ago I had just\nfinished my bath in the Ganges when Swami Pranabananda approached\nme.  I have no idea how he knew I was there at that time.\n\n\u201c\u2018Bhagabati\u2019s son is waiting for you in my apartment,\u2019 he said.\n\u2018Will you come with me?\u2019 I gladly agreed. As we proceeded hand in\nhand, the swami in his wooden sandals was strangely able to outpace\nme, though I wore these stout walking shoes.\n\n\u201c\u2018How long will it take you to reach my place?\u2019 Pranabanandaji\nsuddenly halted to ask me this question.\n\n\u201c\u2018About half an hour.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I have something else to do at present.\u2019 He gave me an enigmatical\nglance. \u2018I must leave you behind. You can join me in my house,\nwhere Bhagabati\u2019s son and I will be awaiting you.\u2019\n\n\u201cBefore I could remonstrate, he dashed swiftly past me and disappeared\nin the crowd. I walked here as fast as possible.\u201d\n\nThis explanation only increased my bewilderment. I inquired how\nlong he had known the swami.\n\n\u201cWe met a few times last year, but not recently. I was very glad\nto see him again today at the bathing GHAT.\u201d\n\n\u201cI cannot believe my ears! Am I losing my mind? Did you meet him\nin a vision, or did you actually see him, touch his hand, and hear\nthe sound of his feet?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re driving at!\u201d He flushed angrily. \u201cI am\nnot lying to you. Can\u2019t you understand that only through the swami\ncould I have known you were waiting at this place for me?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, that man, Swami Pranabananda, has not left my sight a moment\nsince I first came about an hour ago.\u201d I blurted out the whole\nstory.\n\nHis eyes opened widely. \u201cAre we living in this material age, or\nare we dreaming? I never expected to witness such a miracle in my\nlife! I thought this swami was just an ordinary man, and now I find\nhe can materialize an extra body and work through it!\u201d Together we\nentered the saint\u2019s room.\n\n\u201cLook, those are the very sandals he was wearing at the GHAT,\u201d\nKedar Nath Babu whispered. \u201cHe was clad only in a loincloth, just\nas I see him now.\u201d\n\nAs the visitor bowed before him, the saint turned to me with a\nquizzical smile.\n\n\u201cWhy are you stupefied at all this? The subtle unity of the phenomenal\nworld is not hidden from true yogis. I instantly see and converse\nwith my disciples in distant Calcutta. They can similarly transcend\nat will every obstacle of gross matter.\u201d\n\nIt was probably in an effort to stir spiritual ardor in my young\nbreast that the swami had condescended to tell me of his powers of\nastral radio and television. {FN3-2} But instead of enthusiasm, I\nexperienced only an awe-stricken fear. Inasmuch as I was destined\nto undertake my divine search through one particular guru-Sri\nYukteswar, whom I had not yet met-I felt no inclination to accept\nPranabananda as my teacher. I glanced at him doubtfully, wondering\nif it were he or his counterpart before me.\n\nThe master sought to banish my disquietude by bestowing a soul-awakening\ngaze, and by some inspiring words about his guru.\n\n\u201cLahiri Mahasaya was the greatest yogi I ever knew. He was Divinity\nItself in the form of flesh.\u201d\n\nIf a disciple, I reflected, could materialize an extra fleshly form\nat will, what miracles indeed could be barred to his master?\n\n\u201cI will tell you how priceless is a guru\u2019s help. I used to meditate\nwith another disciple for eight hours every night. We had to work at\nthe railroad office during the day. Finding difficulty in carrying\non my clerical duties, I desired to devote my whole time to God.\nFor eight years I persevered, meditating half the night. I had\nwonderful results; tremendous spiritual perceptions illumined my\nmind. But a little veil always remained between me and the Infinite.\nEven with super-human earnestness, I found the final irrevocable\nunion to be denied me. One evening I paid a visit to Lahiri Mahasaya\nand pleaded for his divine intercession. My importunities continued\nduring the entire night.\n\n\u201c\u2018Angelic Guru, my spiritual anguish is such that I can no longer\nbear my life without meeting the Great Beloved face to face!\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018What can I do? You must meditate more profoundly.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I am appealing to Thee, O God my Master! I see Thee materialized\nbefore me in a physical body; bless me that I may perceive Thee in\nThine infinite form!\u2019\n\n\u201cLahiri Mahasaya extended his hand in a benign gesture. \u2018You may\ngo now and meditate. I have interceded for you with Brahma.\u2019 {FN3-3}\n\n\u201cImmeasurably uplifted, I returned to my home. In meditation that\nnight, the burning Goal of my life was achieved. Now I ceaselessly\nenjoy the spiritual pension. Never from that day has the Blissful\nCreator remained hidden from my eyes behind any screen of delusion.\u201d\n\nPranabananda\u2019s face was suffused with divine light. The peace of\nanother world entered my heart; all fear had fled. The saint made\na further confidence.\n\n\u201cSome months later I returned to Lahiri Mahasaya and tried to\nthank him for his bestowal of the infinite gift. Then I mentioned\nanother matter.\n\n\u201c\u2018Divine Guru, I can no longer work in the office. Please release\nme.  Brahma keeps me continuously intoxicated.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Apply for a pension from your company.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018What reason shall I give, so early in my service?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Say what you feel.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe next day I made my application. The doctor inquired the grounds\nfor my premature request.\n\n\u201c\u2018At work, I find an overpowering sensation rising in my spine.\n{FN3-4} It permeates my whole body, unfitting me for the performance\nof my duties.\u2019\n\n\u201cWithout further questioning the physician recommended me highly\nfor a pension, which I soon received. I know the divine will of\nLahiri Mahasaya worked through the doctor and the railroad officials,\nincluding your father. Automatically they obeyed the great guru\u2019s\nspiritual direction, and freed me for a life of unbroken communion\nwith the Beloved.\u201d {FN3-5}\n\nAfter this extraordinary revelation, Swami Pranabananda retired\ninto one of his long silences. As I was taking leave, touching his\nfeet reverently, he gave me his blessing:\n\n\u201cYour life belongs to the path of renunciation and yoga. I shall\nsee you again, with your father, later on.\u201d The years brought\nfulfillment to both these predictions. {FN3-6}\n\nKedar Nath Babu walked by my side in the gathering darkness. I\ndelivered Father\u2019s letter, which my companion read under a street\nlamp.\n\n\u201cYour father suggests that I take a position in the Calcutta office\nof his railroad company. How pleasant to look forward to at least\none of the pensions that Swami Pranabananda enjoys! But it is\nimpossible; I cannot leave Benares. Alas, two bodies are not yet\nfor me!\u201d\n\n{FN3-1} CHOTO MAHASAYA is the term by which a number of Indian\nsaints addressed me. It translates \u201clittle sir.\u201d.\n\n{FN3-2} In its own way, physical science is affirming the validity\nof laws discovered by yogis through mental science. For example,\na demonstration that man has televisional powers was given on Nov.\n26, 1934 at the Royal University of Rome. \u201cDr. Giuseppe Calligaris,\nprofessor of neuro-psychology, pressed certain points of a subject\u2019s\nbody and the subject responded with minute descriptions of other\npersons and objects on the opposite side of a wall. Dr. Calligaris\ntold the other professors that if certain areas on the skin are\nagitated, the subject is given super-sensorial impressions enabling\nhim to see objects that he could not otherwise perceive. To enable\nhis subject to discern things on the other side of a wall, Professor\nCalligaris pressed on a spot to the right of the thorax for fifteen\nminutes. Dr. Calligaris said that if other spots of the body were\nagitated, the subjects could see objects at any distance, regardless\nof whether they had ever before seen those objects.\u201d.\n\n{FN3-3} God in His aspect of Creator; from Sanskrit root BRIH, to\nexpand. When Emerson\u2019s poem BRAHMA appeared in the ATLANTIC MONTHLY\nin 1857, most the readers were bewildered. Emerson chuckled. \u201cTell\nthem,\u201d he said, \u201cto say \u2018Jehovah\u2019 instead of \u2018Brahma\u2019 and they will\nnot feel any perplexity.\u201d\n\n{FN3-4} In deep meditation, the first experience of Spirit is on the\naltar of the spine, and then in the brain. The torrential bliss is\noverwhelming, but the yogi learns to control its outward manifestations.\n\n{FN3-5} After his retirement, Pranabananda wrote one of the most\nprofound commentaries on the BHAGAVAD GITA, available in Bengali\nand Hindi.\n\n{FN3-6} See chapter 27.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 4\n\nMY INTERRUPTED FLIGHT TOWARD THE HIMALAYAS\n\n\n\u201cLeave your classroom on some trifling pretext, and engage a hackney\ncarriage. Stop in the lane where no one in my house can see you.\u201d\n\nThese were my final instructions to Amar Mitter, a high school\nfriend who planned to accompany me to the Himalayas. We had chosen\nthe following day for our flight. Precautions were necessary,\nas Ananta exercised a vigilant eye. He was determined to foil the\nplans of escape which he suspected were uppermost in my mind. The\namulet, like a spiritual yeast, was silently at work within me.\nAmidst the Himalayan snows, I hoped to find the master whose face\noften appeared to me in visions.\n\nThe family was living now in Calcutta, where Father had been\npermanently transferred. Following the patriarchal Indian custom,\nAnanta had brought his bride to live in our home, now at 4 Gurpar\nRoad. There in a small attic room I engaged in daily meditations\nand prepared my mind for the divine search.\n\nThe memorable morning arrived with inauspicious rain. Hearing the\nwheels of Amar\u2019s carriage in the road, I hastily tied together a\nblanket, a pair of sandals, Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s picture, a copy of\nthe BHAGAVAD GITA, a string of prayer beads, and two loincloths.\nThis bundle I threw from my third-story window. I ran down the\nsteps and passed my uncle, buying fish at the door.\n\n\u201cWhat is the excitement?\u201d His gaze roved suspiciously over my\nperson.\n\nI gave him a noncommittal smile and walked to the lane. Retrieving\nmy bundle, I joined Amar with conspiratorial caution. We drove to\nChadni Chowk, a merchandise center. For months we had been saving\nour tiffin money to buy English clothes. Knowing that my clever\nbrother could easily play the part of a detective, we thought to\noutwit him by European garb.\n\nOn the way to the station, we stopped for my cousin, Jotin Ghosh,\nwhom I called Jatinda. He was a new convert, longing for a guru\nin the Himalayas. He donned the new suit we had in readiness.\nWell-camouflaged, we hoped! A deep elation possessed our hearts.\n\n\u201cAll we need now are canvas shoes.\u201d I led my companions to a shop\ndisplaying rubber-soled footwear. \u201cArticles of leather, gotten\nonly through the slaughter of animals, must be absent on this holy\ntrip.\u201d I halted on the street to remove the leather cover from my\nBHAGAVAD GITA, and the leather straps from my English-made SOLA\nTOPEE (helmet).\n\nAt the station we bought tickets to Burdwan, where we planned to\ntransfer for Hardwar in the Himalayan foothills. As soon as the\ntrain, like ourselves, was in flight, I gave utterance to a few of\nmy glorious anticipations.\n\n\u201cJust imagine!\u201d I ejaculated. \u201cWe shall be initiated by the masters\nand experience the trance of cosmic consciousness. Our flesh will\nbe charged with such magnetism that wild animals of the Himalayas\nwill come tamely near us. Tigers will be no more than meek house\ncats awaiting our caresses!\u201d\n\nThis remark-picturing a prospect I considered entrancing, both\nmetaphorically and literally-brought an enthusiastic smile from\nAmar.  But Jatinda averted his gaze, directing it through the window\nat the scampering landscape.\n\n\u201cLet the money be divided in three portions.\u201d Jatinda broke a long\nsilence with this suggestion. \u201cEach of us should buy his own ticket\nat Burdwan. Thus no one at the station will surmise that we are\nrunning away together.\u201d\n\nI unsuspectingly agreed. At dusk our train stopped at Burdwan.\nJatinda entered the ticket office; Amar and I sat on the platform.\nWe waited fifteen minutes, then made unavailing inquiries. Searching\nin all directions, we shouted Jatinda\u2019s name with the urgency\nof fright. But he had faded into the dark unknown surrounding the\nlittle station.\n\nI was completely unnerved, shocked to a peculiar numbness. That God\nwould countenance this depressing episode! The romantic occasion\nof my first carefully-planned flight after Him was cruelly marred.\n\n\u201cAmar, we must return home.\u201d I was weeping like a child. \u201cJatinda\u2019s\ncallous departure is an ill omen. This trip is doomed to failure.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs this your love for the Lord? Can\u2019t you stand the little test\nof a treacherous companion?\u201d\n\nThrough Amar\u2019s suggestion of a divine test, my heart steadied\nitself.  We refreshed ourselves with famous Burdwan sweetmeats,\nSITABHOG (food for the goddess) and MOTICHUR (nuggets of sweet\npearl). In a few hours, we entrained for Hardwar, via Bareilly.\nChanging trains at Moghul Serai, we discussed a vital matter as we\nwaited on the platform.\n\n\u201cAmar, we may soon be closely questioned by railroad officials.\nI am not underrating my brother\u2019s ingenuity! No matter what the\noutcome, I will not speak untruth.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll I ask of you, Mukunda, is to keep still. Don\u2019t laugh or grin\nwhile I am talking.\u201d\n\nAt this moment, a European station agent accosted me. He waved a\ntelegram whose import I immediately grasped.\n\n\u201cAre you running away from home in anger?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d I was glad his choice of words permitted me to make emphatic\nreply. Not anger but \u201cdivinest melancholy\u201d was responsible, I knew,\nfor my unconventional behavior.\n\nThe official then turned to Amar. The duel of wits that followed\nhardly permitted me to maintain the counseled stoic gravity.\n\n\u201cWhere is the third boy?\u201d The man injected a full ring of authority\ninto his voice. \u201cCome on; speak the truth!\u201d\n\n\u201cSir, I notice you are wearing eyeglasses. Can\u2019t you see that\nwe are only two?\u201d Amar smiled impudently. \u201cI am not a magician; I\ncan\u2019t conjure up a third companion.\u201d\n\nThe official, noticeably disconcerted by this impertinence, sought\na new field of attack.\n\n\u201cWhat is your name?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am called Thomas. I am the son of an English mother and a\nconverted Christian Indian father.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is your friend\u2019s name?\u201d\n\n\u201cI call him Thompson.\u201d\n\nBy this time my inward mirth had reached a zenith; I unceremoniously\nmade for the train, whistling for departure. Amar followed with\nthe official, who was credulous and obliging enough to put us into\na European compartment. It evidently pained him to think of two\nhalf-English boys traveling in the section allotted to natives. After\nhis polite exit, I lay back on the seat and laughed uncontrollably.\nMy friend wore an expression of blithe satisfaction at having\noutwitted a veteran European official.\n\nOn the platform I had contrived to read the telegram. From my brother,\nit went thus: \u201cThree Bengali boys in English clothes running away\nfrom home toward Hardwar via Moghul Serai. Please detain them until\nmy arrival. Ample reward for your services.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmar, I told you not to leave marked timetables in your home.\u201d My\nglance was reproachful. \u201cBrother must have found one there.\u201d\n\nMy friend sheepishly acknowledged the thrust. We halted briefly\nin Bareilly, where Dwarka Prasad awaited us with a telegram from\nAnanta.  My old friend tried valiantly to detain us; I convinced him\nthat our flight had not been undertaken lightly. As on a previous\noccasion, Dwarka refused my invitation to set forth to the Himalayas.\n\nWhile our train stood in a station that night, and I was half asleep,\nAmar was awakened by another questioning official. He, too, fell a\nvictim to the hybrid charms of \u201cThomas\u201d and \u201cThompson.\u201d The train\nbore us triumphantly into a dawn arrival at Hardwar. The majestic\nmountains loomed invitingly in the distance. We dashed through the\nstation and entered the freedom of city crowds. Our first act was\nto change into native costume, as Ananta had somehow penetrated\nour European disguise. A premonition of capture weighed on my mind.\n\nDeeming it advisable to leave Hardwar at once, we bought tickets to\nproceed north to Rishikesh, a soil long hallowed by feet of many\nmasters. I had already boarded the train, while Amar lagged on\nthe platform. He was brought to an abrupt halt by a shout from a\npoliceman. Our unwelcome guardian escorted us to a station bungalow\nand took charge of our money. He explained courteously that it was\nhis duty to hold us until my elder brother arrived.\n\nLearning that the truants\u2019 destination had been the Himalayas, the\nofficer related a strange story.\n\n\u201cI see you are crazy about saints! You will never meet a greater\nman of God than the one I saw only yesterday. My brother officer\nand I first encountered him five days ago. We were patrolling by the\nGanges, on a sharp lookout for a certain murderer. Our instructions\nwere to capture him, alive or dead. He was known to be masquerading\nas a SADHU in order to rob pilgrims. A short way before us, we\nspied a figure which resembled the description of the criminal. He\nignored our command to stop; we ran to overpower him. Approaching\nhis back, I wielded my ax with tremendous force; the man\u2019s right\narm was severed almost completely from his body.\n\n\u201cWithout outcry or any glance at the ghastly wound, the stranger\nastonishingly continued his swift pace. As we jumped in front of\nhim, he spoke quietly.\n\n\u201c\u2018I am not the murderer you are seeking.\u2019\n\n\u201cI was deeply mortified to see I had injured the person of a\ndivine\u2014looking sage. Prostrating myself at his feet, I implored\nhis pardon, and offered my turban-cloth to staunch the heavy spurts\nof blood.\n\n\u201c\u2018Son, that was just an understandable mistake on your part.\u2019 The\nsaint regarded me kindly. \u2018Run along, and don\u2019t reproach yourself.\nThe Beloved Mother is taking care of me.\u2019 He pushed his dangling\narm into its stump and lo! it adhered; the blood inexplicably ceased\nto flow.\n\n\u201c\u2018Come to me under yonder tree in three days and you will find me\nfully healed. Thus you will feel no remorse.\u2019\n\n\u201cYesterday my brother officer and I went eagerly to the designated\nspot. The SADHU was there and allowed us to examine his arm. It\nbore no scar or trace of hurt!\n\n\u201c\u2018I am going via Rishikesh to the Himalayan solitudes.\u2019 He blessed\nus as he departed quickly. I feel that my life has been uplifted\nthrough his sanctity.\u201d\n\nThe officer concluded with a pious ejaculation; his experience had\nobviously moved him beyond his usual depths. With an impressive\ngesture, he handed me a printed clipping about the miracle. In\nthe usual garbled manner of the sensational type of newspaper (not\nmissing, alas! even in India), the reporter\u2019s version was slightly\nexaggerated: it indicated that the SADHU had been almost decapitated!\n\nAmar and I lamented that we had missed the great yogi who could\nforgive his persecutor in such a Christlike way. India, materially\npoor for the last two centuries, yet has an inexhaustible fund of\ndivine wealth; spiritual \u201cskyscrapers\u201d may occasionally be encountered\nby the wayside, even by worldly men like this policeman.\n\nWe thanked the officer for relieving our tedium with his marvelous\nstory. He was probably intimating that he was more fortunate than\nwe: he had met an illumined saint without effort; our earnest search\nhad ended, not at the feet of a master, but in a coarse police\nstation!\n\nSo near the Himalayas and yet, in our captivity, so far, I told\nAmar I felt doubly impelled to seek freedom.\n\n\u201cLet us slip away when opportunity offers. We can go on foot to\nholy Rishikesh.\u201d I smiled encouragingly.\n\nBut my companion had turned pessimist as soon as the stalwart prop\nof our money had been taken from us.\n\n\u201cIf we started a trek over such dangerous jungle land, we should\nfinish, not in the city of saints, but in the stomachs of tigers!\u201d\n\nAnanta and Amar\u2019s brother arrived after three days. Amar greeted\nhis relative with affectionate relief. I was unreconciled; Ananta\ngot no more from me than a severe upbraiding.\n\n\u201cI understand how you feel.\u201d My brother spoke soothingly. \u201cAll I\nask of you is to accompany me to Benares to meet a certain saint,\nand go on to Calcutta to visit your grieving father for a few days.\nThen you can resume your search here for a master.\u201d\n\nAmar entered the conversation at this point to disclaim any intention\nof returning to Hardwar with me. He was enjoying the familial\nwarmth.  But I knew I would never abandon the quest for my guru.\n\nOur party entrained for Benares. There I had a singular and instant\nresponse to my prayers.\n\nA clever scheme had been prearranged by Ananta. Before seeing me\nat Hardwar, he had stopped in Benares to ask a certain scriptural\nauthority to interview me later. Both the pundit and his son had\npromised to undertake my dissuasion from the path of a SANNYASI.\n{FN4-1}\n\nAnanta took me to their home. The son, a young man of ebullient\nmanner, greeted me in the courtyard. He engaged me in a lengthy\nphilosophic discourse. Professing to have a clairvoyant knowledge\nof my future, he discountenanced my idea of being a monk.\n\n\u201cYou will meet continual misfortune, and be unable to find God, if\nyou insist on deserting your ordinary responsibilities! You cannot\nwork out your past karma {FN4-2} without worldly experiences.\u201d\n\nKrishna\u2019s immortal words rose to my lips in reply: \u201c\u2018Even he with\nthe worst of karma who ceaselessly meditates on Me quickly loses\nthe effects of his past bad actions. Becoming a high-souled being,\nhe soon attains perennial peace. Arjuna, know this for certain:\nthe devotee who puts his trust in Me never perishes!\u2019\u201d {FN4-3}\n\n[Illustration: I stand behind my elder brother, Ananta.\u2014see\nananta.jpg]\n\nBut the forceful prognostications of the young man had slightly\nshaken my confidence. With all the fervor of my heart I prayed\nsilently to God:\n\n\u201cPlease solve my bewilderment and answer me, right here and now, if\nThou dost desire me to lead the life of a renunciate or a worldly\nman!\u201d\n\nI noticed a SADHU of noble countenance standing just outside\nthe compound of the pundit\u2019s house. Evidently he had overheard\nthe spirited conversation between the self-styled clairvoyant and\nmyself, for the stranger called me to his side. I felt a tremendous\npower flowing from his calm eyes.\n\n\u201cSon, don\u2019t listen to that ignoramus. In response to your prayer,\nthe Lord tells me to assure you that your sole path in this life\nis that of the renunciate.\u201d\n\nWith astonishment as well as gratitude, I smiled happily at this\ndecisive message.\n\n\u201cCome away from that man!\u201d The \u201cignoramus\u201d was calling me from the\ncourtyard. My saintly guide raised his hand in blessing and slowly\ndeparted.\n\n\u201cThat SADHU is just as crazy as you are.\u201d It was the hoary-headed\npundit who made this charming observation. He and his son were\ngazing at me lugubriously. \u201cI heard that he too has left his home\nin a vague search for God.\u201d\n\nI turned away. To Ananta I remarked that I would not engage in\nfurther discussion with our hosts. My brother agreed to an immediate\ndeparture; we soon entrained for Calcutta.\n\n\u201cMr. Detective, how did you discover I had fled with two companions?\u201d\nI vented my lively curiosity to Ananta during our homeward journey.\nHe smiled mischievously.\n\n\u201cAt your school, I found that Amar had left his classroom and had\nnot returned. I went to his home the next morning and unearthed a\nmarked timetable. Amar\u2019s father was just leaving by carriage and\nwas talking to the coachman.\n\n\u201c\u2018My son will not ride with me to his school this morning. He has\ndisappeared!\u2019 the father moaned.\n\n\u201c\u2018I heard from a brother coachman that your son and two others,\ndressed in European suits, boarded the train at Howrah Station,\u2019\nthe man stated. \u2018They made a present of their leather shoes to the\ncab driver.\u2019\n\n\u201cThus I had three clues-the timetable, the trio of boys, and the\nEnglish clothing.\u201d\n\nI was listening to Ananta\u2019s disclosures with mingled mirth and\nvexation. Our generosity to the coachman had been slightly misplaced!\n\n\u201cOf course I rushed to send telegrams to station officials in all\nthe cities which Amar had underlined in the timetable. He had checked\nBareilly, so I wired your friend Dwarka there. After inquiries\nin our Calcutta neighborhood, I learned that cousin Jatinda had\nbeen absent one night but had arrived home the following morning\nin European garb.  I sought him out and invited him to dinner. He\naccepted, quite disarmed by my friendly manner. On the way I led him\nunsuspectingly to a police station. He was surrounded by several\nofficers whom I had previously selected for their ferocious\nappearance. Under their formidable gaze, Jatinda agreed to account\nfor his mysterious conduct.\n\n\u201c\u2018I started for the Himalayas in a buoyant spiritual mood,\u2019 he\nexplained. \u2018Inspiration filled me at the prospect of meeting the\nmasters. But as soon as Mukunda said, \u201cDuring our ecstasies in the\nHimalayan caves, tigers will be spellbound and sit around us like\ntame pussies,\u201d my spirits froze; beads of perspiration formed on\nmy brow.  \u201cWhat then?\u201d I thought. \u201cIf the vicious nature of the\ntigers be not changed through the power of our spiritual trance,\nshall they treat us with the kindness of house cats?\u201d In my mind\u2019s\neye, I already saw myself the compulsory inmate of some tiger\u2019s\nstomach-entering there not at once with the whole body, but by\ninstallments of its several parts!\u2019\u201d\n\nMy anger at Jatinda\u2019s vanishment was evaporated in laughter. The\nhilarious sequel on the train was worth all the anguish he had\ncaused me. I must confess to a slight feeling of satisfaction:\nJatinda too had not escaped an encounter with the police!\n\n\u201cAnanta, {FN4-4} you are a born sleuthhound!\u201d My glance of amusement\nwas not without some exasperation. \u201cAnd I shall tell Jatinda I am\nglad he was prompted by no mood of treachery, as it appeared, but\nonly by the prudent instinct of self-preservation!\u201d\n\nAt home in Calcutta, Father touchingly requested me to curb my roving\nfeet until, at least, the completion of my high school studies.\nIn my absence, he had lovingly hatched a plot by arranging for\na saintly pundit, Swami Kebalananda, {FN4-5} to come regularly to\nthe house.\n\n\u201cThe sage will be your Sanskrit tutor,\u201d my parent announced\nconfidently.\n\nFather hoped to satisfy my religious yearnings by instructions\nfrom a learned philosopher. But the tables were subtly turned: my\nnew teacher, far from offering intellectual aridities, fanned the\nembers of my God-aspiration. Unknown to Father, Swami Kebalananda\nwas an exalted disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya. The peerless guru had\npossessed thousands of disciples, silently drawn to him by the\nirresistibility of his divine magnetism. I learned later that Lahiri\nMahasaya had often characterized Kebalananda as RISHI or illumined\nsage.\n\nLuxuriant curls framed my tutor\u2019s handsome face. His dark eyes were\nguileless, with the transparency of a child\u2019s. All the movements of\nhis slight body were marked by a restful deliberation. Ever gentle\nand loving, he was firmly established in the infinite consciousness.\nMany of our happy hours together were spent in deep KRIYA meditation.\n\nKebalananda was a noted authority on the ancient SHASTRAS or sacred\nbooks: his erudition had earned him the title of \u201cShastri Mahasaya,\u201d\nby which he was usually addressed. But my progress in Sanskrit\nscholarship was unnoteworthy. I sought every opportunity to forsake\nprosaic grammar and to talk of yoga and Lahiri Mahasaya. My tutor\nobliged me one day by telling me something of his own life with\nthe master.\n\n\u201cRarely fortunate, I was able to remain near Lahiri Mahasaya for\nten years. His Benares home was my nightly goal of pilgrimage. The\nguru was always present in a small front parlor on the first floor.\nAs he sat in lotus posture on a backless wooden seat, his disciples\ngarlanded him in a semicircle. His eyes sparkled and danced with\nthe joy of the Divine. They were ever half closed, peering through\nthe inner telescopic orb into a sphere of eternal bliss. He seldom\nspoke at length. Occasionally his gaze would focus on a student in\nneed of help; healing words poured then like an avalanche of light.\n\n\u201cAn indescribable peace blossomed within me at the master\u2019s glance.\nI was permeated with his fragrance, as though from a lotus of\ninfinity.  To be with him, even without exchanging a word for days,\nwas experience which changed my entire being. If any invisible\nbarrier rose in the path of my concentration, I would meditate at\nthe guru\u2019s feet. There the most tenuous states came easily within\nmy grasp. Such perceptions eluded me in the presence of lesser\nteachers. The master was a living temple of God whose secret doors\nwere open to all disciples through devotion.\n\n\u201cLahiri Mahasaya was no bookish interpreter of the scriptures.\nEffortlessly he dipped into the \u2018divine library.\u2019 Foam of words and\nspray of thoughts gushed from the fountain of his omniscience. He\nhad the wondrous clavis which unlocked the profound philosophical\nscience embedded ages ago in the VEDAS. {FN4-6} If asked to explain\nthe different planes of consciousness mentioned in the ancient\ntexts, he would smilingly assent.\n\n\u201c\u2018I will undergo those states, and presently tell you what I\nperceive.\u2019 He was thus diametrically unlike the teachers who commit\nscripture to memory and then give forth unrealized abstractions.\n\n\u201c\u2018Please expound the holy stanzas as the meaning occurs to you.\u2019\nThe taciturn guru often gave this instruction to a near-by disciple.\n\u2018I will guide your thoughts, that the right interpretation be\nuttered.\u2019 In this way many of Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s perceptions came\nto be recorded, with voluminous commentaries by various students.\n\n\u201cThe master never counseled slavish belief. \u2018Words are only shells,\u2019\nhe said. \u2018Win conviction of God\u2019s presence through your own joyous\ncontact in meditation.\u2019\n\n\u201cNo matter what the disciple\u2019s problem, the guru advised KRIYA YOGA\nfor its solution.\n\n\u201c\u2018The yogic key will not lose its efficiency when I am no longer\npresent in the body to guide you. This technique cannot be bound,\nfiled, and forgotten, in the manner of theoretical inspirations.\nContinue ceaselessly on your path to liberation through KRIYA,\nwhose power lies in practice.\u2019\n\n\u201cI myself consider KRIYA the most effective device of salvation through\nself-effort ever to be evolved in man\u2019s search for the Infinite.\u201d\nKebalananda concluded with this earnest testimony. \u201cThrough its use,\nthe omnipotent God, hidden in all men, became visibly incarnated\nin the flesh of Lahiri Mahasaya and a number of his disciples.\u201d\n\nA Christlike miracle by Lahiri Mahasaya took place in Kebalananda\u2019s\npresence. My saintly tutor recounted the story one day, his eyes\nremote from the Sanskrit texts before us.\n\n\u201cA blind disciple, Ramu, aroused my active pity. Should he have no\nlight in his eyes, when he faithfully served our master, in whom\nthe Divine was fully blazing? One morning I sought to speak to\nRamu, but he sat for patient hours fanning the guru with a hand-made\npalm-leaf PUNKHA. When the devotee finally left the room, I followed\nhim.\n\n\u201c\u2018Ramu, how long have you been blind?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018From my birth, sir! Never have my eyes been blessed with a glimpse\nof the sun.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Our omnipotent guru can help you. Please make a supplication.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe following day Ramu diffidently approached Lahiri Mahasaya. The\ndisciple felt almost ashamed to ask that physical wealth be added\nto his spiritual superabundance.\n\n\u201c\u2018Master, the Illuminator of the cosmos is in you. I pray you\nto bring His light into my eyes, that I perceive the sun\u2019s lesser\nglow.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Ramu, someone has connived to put me in a difficult position. I\nhave no healing power.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir, the Infinite One within you can certainly heal.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018That is indeed different, Ramu. God\u2019s limit is nowhere! He who\nignites the stars and the cells of flesh with mysterious life-effulgence\ncan surely bring luster of vision into your eyes.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe master touched Ramu\u2019s forehead at the point between the eyebrows.\n{FN4-7} \u201c\u2018Keep your mind concentrated there, and frequently chant\nthe name of the prophet Rama {FN4-8} for seven days. The splendor\nof the sun shall have a special dawn for you.\u2019\n\n\u201cLo! in one week it was so. For the first time, Ramu beheld the\nfair face of nature. The Omniscient One had unerringly directed his\ndisciple to repeat the name of Rama, adored by him above all other\nsaints. Ramu\u2019s faith was the devotionally ploughed soil in which\nthe guru\u2019s powerful seed of permanent healing sprouted.\u201d Kebalananda\nwas silent for a moment, then paid a further tribute to his guru.\n\n\u201cIt was evident in all miracles performed by Lahiri Mahasaya that\nhe never allowed the ego-principle {FN4-9} to consider itself a\ncausative force. By perfection of resistless surrender, the master\nenabled the Prime Healing Power to flow freely through him.\n\n\u201cThe numerous bodies which were spectacularly healed through Lahiri\nMahasaya eventually had to feed the flames of cremation. But the\nsilent spiritual awakenings he effected, the Christlike disciples\nhe fashioned, are his imperishable miracles.\u201d\n\nI never became a Sanskrit scholar; Kebalananda taught me a diviner\nsyntax.\n\n{FN4-1} Literally, \u201crenunciate.\u201d From Sanskrit verb roots, \u201cto cast\naside.\u201d\n\n{FN4-2} Effects of past actions, in this or a former life; from\nSanskrit KRI, \u201cto do.\u201d\n\n{FN4-3} BHAGAVAD GITA, IX, 30-31. Krishna was the greatest prophet\nof India; Arjuna was his foremost disciple.\n\n{FN4-4} I always addressed him as Ananta-da. DA is a respectful\nsuffix which the eldest brother in an Indian family receives from\njunior brothers and sisters.\n\n{FN4-5} At the time of our meeting, Kebalananda had not yet joined\nthe Swami Order and was generally called \u201cShastri Mahasaya.\u201d To avoid\nconfusion with the name of Lahiri Mahasaya and of Master Mahasaya\n(../chapter 9), I am referring to my Sanskrit tutor only by his\nlater monastic name of Swami Kebalananda. His biography has been\nrecently published in Bengali. Born in the Khulna district of\nBengal in 1863, Kebalananda gave up his body in Benares at the age\nof sixty-eight. His family name was Ashutosh Chatterji.\n\n{FN4-6} The ancient four VEDAS comprise over 100 extant canonical\nbooks. Emerson paid the following tribute in his JOURNAL to Vedic\nthought: \u201cIt is sublime as heat and night and a breathless ocean.\nIt contains every religious sentiment, all the grand ethics which\nvisit in turn each noble poetic mind. . . . It is of no use to put\naway the book; if I trust myself in the woods or in a boat upon the\npond, Nature makes a BRAHMIN of me presently: eternal necessity,\neternal compensation, unfathomable power, unbroken silence. . . .\nThis is her creed. Peace, she saith to me, and purity and absolute\nabandonment\u2014these panaceas expiate all sin and bring you to the\nbeatitude of the Eight Gods.\u201d\n\n{FN4-7} The seat of the \u201csingle\u201d or spiritual eye. At death the\nconsciousness of man is usually drawn to this holy spot, accounting\nfor the upraised eyes found in the dead.\n\n{FN4-8} The central sacred figure of the Sanskrit epic, RAMAYANA.\n\n{FN4-9} Ahankara, egoism; literally, \u201cI do.\u201d The root cause of\ndualism or illusion of MAYA, whereby the subject (ego) appears as\nobject; the creatures imagine themselves to be creators.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 5\n\nA \u201cPERFUME SAINT\u201d DISPLAYS HIS WONDERS\n\n\n\u201cTo every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose\nunder the heaven.\u201d\n\nI did not have this wisdom of Solomon to comfort me; I gazed\nsearchingly about me, on any excursion from home, for the face of\nmy destined guru. But my path did not cross his own until after\nthe completion of my high school studies.\n\nTwo years elapsed between my flight with Amar toward the Himalayas,\nand the great day of Sri Yukteswar\u2019s arrival into my life. During\nthat interim I met a number of sages-the \u201cPerfume Saint,\u201d the \u201cTiger\nSwami,\u201d Nagendra Nath Bhaduri, Master Mahasaya, and the famous\nBengali scientist, Jagadis Chandra Bose.\n\nMy encounter with the \u201cPerfume Saint\u201d had two preambles, one\nharmonious and the other humorous.\n\n\u201cGod is simple. Everything else is complex. Do not seek absolute\nvalues in the relative world of nature.\u201d\n\nThese philosophical finalities gently entered my ear as I stood\nsilently before a temple image of Kali. Turning, I confronted a\ntall man whose garb, or lack of it, revealed him a wandering SADHU.\n\n\u201cYou have indeed penetrated the bewilderment of my thoughts!\u201d I\nsmiled gratefully. \u201cThe confusion of benign and terrible aspects\nin nature, as symbolized by Kali, {FN5-1} has puzzled wiser heads\nthan mine!\u201d\n\n\u201cFew there be who solve her mystery! Good and evil is the challenging\nriddle which life places sphinxlike before every intelligence.\nAttempting no solution, most men pay forfeit with their lives,\npenalty now even as in the days of Thebes. Here and there, a towering\nlonely figure never cries defeat. From the MAYA {FN5-2} of duality\nhe plucks the cleaveless truth of unity.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou speak with conviction, sir.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have long exercised an honest introspection, the exquisitely\npainful approach to wisdom. Self-scrutiny, relentless observance of\none\u2019s thoughts, is a stark and shattering experience. It pulverizes\nthe stoutest ego. But true self-analysis mathematically operates\nto produce seers. The way of \u2018self-expression,\u2019 individual\nacknowledgments, results in egotists, sure of the right to their\nprivate interpretations of God and the universe.\u201d\n\n\u201cTruth humbly retires, no doubt, before such arrogant originality.\u201d\nI was enjoying the discussion.\n\n\u201cMan can understand no eternal verity until he has freed himself\nfrom pretensions. The human mind, bared to a centuried slime, is\nteeming with repulsive life of countless world-delusions. Struggles\nof the battlefields pale into insignificance here, when man first\ncontends with inward enemies! No mortal foes these, to be overcome\nby harrowing array of might! Omnipresent, unresting, pursuing man\neven in sleep, subtly equipped with a miasmic weapon, these soldiers\nof ignorant lusts seek to slay us all. Thoughtless is the man who\nburies his ideals, surrendering to the common fate. Can he seem\nother than impotent, wooden, ignominious?\u201d\n\n\u201cRespected Sir, have you no sympathy for the bewildered masses?\u201d\n\nThe sage was silent for a moment, then answered obliquely.\n\n\u201cTo love both the invisible God, Repository of All Virtues, and\nvisible man, apparently possessed of none, is often baffling! But\ningenuity is equal to the maze. Inner research soon exposes a unity\nin all human minds-the stalwart kinship of selfish motive. In one\nsense at least, the brotherhood of man stands revealed. An aghast\nhumility follows this leveling discovery. It ripens into compassion\nfor one\u2019s fellows, blind to the healing potencies of the soul\nawaiting exploration.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe saints of every age, sir, have felt like yourself for the\nsorrows of the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cOnly the shallow man loses responsiveness to the woes of others\u2019\nlives, as he sinks into narrow suffering of his own.\u201d The SADHU\u2019S\naustere face was noticeably softened. \u201cThe one who practices a\nscalpel self-dissection will know an expansion of universal pity.\nRelease is given him from the deafening demands of his ego. The\nlove of God flowers on such soil. The creature finally turns to\nhis Creator, if for no other reason than to ask in anguish: \u2018Why,\nLord, why?\u2019 By ignoble whips of pain, man is driven at last into\nthe Infinite Presence, whose beauty alone should lure him.\u201d\n\nThe sage and I were present in Calcutta\u2019s Kalighat Temple, whither\nI had gone to view its famed magnificence. With a sweeping gesture,\nmy chance companion dismissed the ornate dignity.\n\n\u201cBricks and mortar sing us no audible tune; the heart opens only\nto the human chant of being.\u201d\n\nWe strolled to the inviting sunshine at the entrance, where throngs\nof devotees were passing to and fro.\n\n\u201cYou are young.\u201d The sage surveyed me thoughtfully. \u201cIndia too is\nyoung. The ancient RISHIS {FN5-3} laid down ineradicable patterns\nof spiritual living. Their hoary dictums suffice for this day\nand land.  Not outmoded, not unsophisticated against the guiles\nof materialism, the disciplinary precepts mold India still. By\nmillenniums-more than embarrassed scholars care to compute!-the\nskeptic Time has validated Vedic worth. Take it for your heritage.\u201d\n\nAs I was reverently bidding farewell to the eloquent SADHU, he\nrevealed a clairvoyant perception:\n\n\u201cAfter you leave here today, an unusual experience will come your\nway.\u201d\n\nI quitted the temple precincts and wandered along aimlessly. Turning\na corner, I ran into an old acquaintance-one of those long-winded\nfellows whose conversational powers ignore time and embrace eternity.\n\n\u201cI will let you go in a very short while, if you will tell me all\nthat has happened during the six years of our separation.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat a paradox! I must leave you now.\u201d\n\nBut he held me by the hand, forcing out tidbits of information.\nHe was like a ravenous wolf, I thought in amusement; the longer I\nspoke, the more hungrily he sniffed for news. Inwardly I petitioned\nthe Goddess Kali to devise a graceful means of escape.\n\nMy companion left me abruptly. I sighed with relief and doubled my\npace, dreading any relapse into the garrulous fever. Hearing rapid\nfootsteps behind me, I quickened my speed. I dared not look back.\nBut with a bound, the youth rejoined me, jovially clasping my\nshoulder.\n\n\u201cI forgot to tell you of Gandha Baba (Perfume Saint), who is gracing\nyonder house.\u201d He pointed to a dwelling a few yards distant. \u201cDo\nmeet him; he is interesting. You may have an unusual experience.\nGood-by,\u201d and he actually left me.\n\nThe similarly worded prediction of the SADHU at Kalighat Temple\nflashed to my mind. Definitely intrigued, I entered the house and\nwas ushered into a commodious parlor. A crowd of people were sitting,\nOrient-wise, here and there on a thick orange-colored carpet. An\nawed whisper reached my ear:\n\n\u201cBehold Gandha Baba on the leopard skin. He can give the natural\nperfume of any flower to a scentless one, or revive a wilted blossom,\nor make a person\u2019s skin exude delightful fragrance.\u201d\n\nI looked directly at the saint; his quick gaze rested on mine. He\nwas plump and bearded, with dark skin and large, gleaming eyes.\n\n\u201cSon, I am glad to see you. Say what you want. Would you like some\nperfume?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat for?\u201d I thought his remark rather childish.\n\n\u201cTo experience the miraculous way of enjoying perfumes.\u201d\n\n\u201cHarnessing God to make odors?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat of it? God makes perfume anyway.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, but He fashions frail bottles of petals for fresh use and\ndiscard. Can you materialize flowers?\u201d\n\n\u201cI materialize perfumes, little friend.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen scent factories will go out of business.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will permit them to keep their trade! My own purpose is to\ndemonstrate the power of God.\u201d\n\n\u201cSir, is it necessary to prove God? Isn\u2019t He performing miracles\nin everything, everywhere?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, but we too should manifest some of His infinite creative\nvariety.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow long did it take to master your art?\u201d\n\n\u201cTwelve years.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor manufacturing scents by astral means! It seems, my honored\nsaint, you have been wasting a dozen years for fragrances which\nyou can obtain with a few rupees from a florist\u2019s shop.\u201d\n\n\u201cPerfumes fade with flowers.\u201d\n\n\u201cPerfumes fade with death. Why should I desire that which pleases\nthe body only?\u201d\n\n\u201cMr. Philosopher, you please my mind. Now, stretch forth your right\nhand.\u201d He made a gesture of blessing.\n\nI was a few feet away from Gandha Baba; no one else was near\nenough to contact my body. I extended my hand, which the yogi did\nnot touch.\n\n\u201cWhat perfume do you want?\u201d\n\n\u201cRose.\u201d\n\n\u201cBe it so.\u201d\n\nTo my great surprise, the charming fragrance of rose was wafted\nstrongly from the center of my palm. I smilingly took a large white\nscentless flower from a near-by vase.\n\n\u201cCan this odorless blossom be permeated with jasmine?\u201d\n\n\u201cBe it so.\u201d\n\nA jasmine fragrance instantly shot from the petals. I thanked the\nwonder-worker and seated myself by one of his students. He informed\nme that Gandha Baba, whose proper name was Vishudhananda, had\nlearned many astonishing yoga secrets from a master in Tibet. The\nTibetan yogi, I was assured, had attained the age of over a thousand\nyears.\n\n\u201cHis disciple Gandha Baba does not always perform his perfume-feats\nin the simple verbal manner you have just witnessed.\u201d The student\nspoke with obvious pride in his master. \u201cHis procedure differs\nwidely, to accord with diversity in temperaments. He is marvelous!\nMany members of the Calcutta intelligentsia are among his followers.\u201d\n\nI inwardly resolved not to add myself to their number. A guru too\nliterally \u201cmarvelous\u201d was not to my liking. With polite thanks to\nGandha Baba, I departed. Sauntering home, I reflected on the three\nvaried encounters the day had brought forth.\n\nMy sister Uma met me as I entered our Gurpar Road door.\n\n\u201cYou are getting quite stylish, using perfumes!\u201d\n\nWithout a word, I motioned her to smell my hand.\n\n\u201cWhat an attractive rose fragrance! It is unusually strong!\u201d\n\nThinking it was \u201cstrongly unusual,\u201d I silently placed the astrally\nscented blossom under her nostrils.\n\n\u201cOh, I love jasmine!\u201d She seized the flower. A ludicrous bafflement\npassed over her face as she repeatedly sniffed the odor of jasmine\nfrom a type of flower she well knew to be scentless. Her reactions\ndisarmed my suspicion that Gandha Baba had induced an auto-suggestive\nstate whereby I alone could detect the fragrances.\n\nLater I heard from a friend, Alakananda, that the \u201cPerfume Saint\u201d\nhad a power which I wish were possessed by the starving millions\nof Asia and, today, of Europe as well.\n\n\u201cI was present with a hundred other guests at Gandha Baba\u2019s home\nin Burdwan,\u201d Alakananda told me. \u201cIt was a gala occasion. Because\nthe yogi was reputed to have the power of extracting objects\nout of thin air, I laughingly requested him to materialize some\nout-of-season tangerines. Immediately the LUCHIS {FN5-4} which\nwere present on all the banana-leaf plates became puffed up. Each\nof the bread-envelopes proved to contain a peeled tangerine. I bit\ninto my own with some trepidation, but found it delicious.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: My sister Uma, as a young girl\u2014see uma.jpg]\n\nYears later I understood by inner realization how Gandha Baba\naccomplished his materializations. The method, alas! is beyond the\nreach of the world\u2019s hungry hordes.\n\nThe different sensory stimuli to which man reacts-tactual, visual,\ngustatory, auditory, and olfactory-are produced by vibratory\nvariations in electrons and protons. The vibrations in turn are\nregulated by \u201clifetrons,\u201d subtle life forces or finer-than-atomic\nenergies intelligently charged with the five distinctive sensory\nidea-substances.\n\nGandha Baba, tuning himself with the cosmic force by certain yogic\npractices, was able to guide the lifetrons to rearrange their\nvibratory structure and objectivize the desired result. His perfume,\nfruit and other miracles were actual materializations of mundane\nvibrations, and not inner sensations hypnotically produced. {FN5-5}\n\nPerformances of miracles such as shown by the \u201cPerfume Saint\u201d are\nspectacular but spiritually useless. Having little purpose beyond\nentertainment, they are digressions from a serious search for God.\n\nHypnotism has been used by physicians in minor operations as a sort\nof psychical chloroform for persons who might be endangered by an\nanesthetic. But a hypnotic state is harmful to those often subjected to\nit; a negative psychological effect ensues which in time deranges\nthe brain cells. Hypnotism is trespass into the territory of\nanother\u2019s consciousness. Its temporary phenomena have nothing in\ncommon with the miracles performed by men of divine realization.\nAwake in God, true saints effect changes in this dream-world by\nmeans of a will harmoniously attuned to the Creative Cosmic Dreamer.\n\nOstentatious display of unusual powers are decried by masters. The\nPersian mystic, Abu Said, once laughed at certain FAKIRS who were\nproud of their miraculous powers over water, air, and space.\n\n\u201cA frog is also at home in the water!\u201d Abu Said pointed out in gentle\nscorn. \u201cThe crow and the vulture easily fly in the air; the Devil\nis simultaneously present in the East and in the West! A true man\nis he who dwells in righteousness among his fellow men, who buys\nand sells, yet is never for a single instant forgetful of God!\u201d\nOn another occasion the great Persian teacher gave his views on\nthe religious life thus: \u201cTo lay aside what you have in your head\n(selfish desires and ambitions); to freely bestow what you have in\nyour hand; and never to flinch from the blows of adversity!\u201d\n\nNeither the impartial sage at Kalighat Temple nor the Tibetan-trained\nyogi had satisfied my yearning for a guru. My heart needed no\ntutor for its recognitions, and cried its own \u201cBravos!\u201d the more\nresoundingly because unoften summoned from silence. When I finally\nmet my master, he taught me by sublimity of example alone the\nmeasure of a true man.\n\n{FN5-1} Kali represents the eternal principle in nature. She is\ntraditionally pictured as a four-armed woman, standing on the form\nof the God Shiva or the Infinite, because nature or the phenomenal\nworld is rooted in the Noumenon. The four arms symbolize cardinal\nattributes, two beneficent, two destructive, indicating the essential\nduality of matter or creation.\n\n{FN5-2} Cosmic illusion; literally, \u201cthe measurer.\u201d MAYA is the\nmagical power in creation by which limitations and divisions are\napparently present in the Immeasurable and Inseparable.  Emerson\nwrote the following poem, to which he gave the title of MAYA:\n\nIllusion works impenetrable,\nWeaving webs innumerable,\nHer gay pictures never fail,\nCrowd each other, veil on veil,\nCharmer who will be believed\nBy man who thirsts to be deceived.\n\n{FN5-3} The RISHIS, literally \u201cseers,\u201d were the authors of the\nVEDAS in an indeterminable antiquity..\n\n{FN5-4} Flat, round Indian bread..\n\n{FN5-5} Laymen scarcely realize the vast strides of twentieth-century\nscience. Transmutation of metals and other alchemical dreams are\nseeing fulfillment every day in centers of scientific research over\nthe world. The eminent French chemist, M. Georges Claude, performed\n\u201cmiracles\u201d at Fontainebleau in 1928 before a scientific assemblage\nthrough his chemical knowledge of oxygen transformations. His\n\u201cmagician\u2019s wand\u201d was simple oxygen, bubbling in a tube on a table.\nThe scientist \u201cturned a handful of sand into precious stones,\niron into a state resembling melted chocolate and, after depriving\nflowers of their tints, turned them into the consistency of glass.\n\n\u201cM. Claude explained how the sea could be turned by oxygen\ntransformations into many millions of pounds of horsepower; how\nwater which boils is not necessarily burning; how little mounds of\nsand, by a single whiff of the oxygen blowpipe, could be changed\ninto sapphires, rubies, and topazes; and he predicted the time when\nit will be possible for men to walk on the bottom of the ocean minus\nthe diver\u2019s equipment. Finally the scientist amazed his onlookers\nby turning their faces black by taking the red out of the sun\u2019s\nrays.\u201d\n\nThis noted French scientist has produced liquid air by an expansion\nmethod in which he has been able to separate the various gases of\nthe air, and has discovered various means of mechanical utilization\nof differences of temperature in sea water.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 6\n\nTHE TIGER SWAMI\n\n\n\u201cI have discovered the Tiger Swami\u2019s address. Let us visit him\ntomorrow.\u201d\n\nThis welcome suggestion came from Chandi, one of my high school\nfriends. I was eager to meet the saint who, in his premonastic\nlife, had caught and fought tigers with his naked hands. A boyish\nenthusiasm over such remarkable feats was strong within me.\n\nThe next day dawned wintry cold, but Chandi and I sallied forth\ngaily.  After much vain hunting in Bhowanipur, outside Calcutta, we\narrived at the right house. The door held two iron rings, which I\nsounded piercingly. Notwithstanding the clamor, a servant approached\nwith leisurely gait. His ironical smile implied that visitors,\ndespite their noise, were powerless to disturb the calmness of a\nsaint\u2019s home.\n\nFeeling the silent rebuke, my companion and I were thankful to be\ninvited into the parlor. Our long wait there caused uncomfortable\nmisgivings. India\u2019s unwritten law for the truth seeker is patience;\na master may purposely make a test of one\u2019s eagerness to meet him.\nThis psychological ruse is freely employed in the West by doctors\nand dentists!\n\nFinally summoned by the servant, Chandi and I entered a sleeping\napartment. The famous Sohong {FN6-1} Swami was seated on his bed.\nThe sight of his tremendous body affected us strangely. With bulging\neyes, we stood speechless. We had never before seen such a chest or\nsuch football-like biceps. On an immense neck, the swami\u2019s fierce\nyet calm face was adorned with flowing locks, beard and moustache.\nA hint of dovelike and tigerlike qualities shone in his dark eyes.\nHe was unclothed, save for a tiger skin about his muscular waist.\n\nFinding our voices, my friend and I greeted the monk, expressing\nour admiration for his prowess in the extraordinary feline arena.\n\n\u201cWill you not tell us, please, how it is possible to subdue with\nbare fists the most ferocious of jungle beasts, the royal Bengals?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy sons, it is nothing to me to fight tigers. I could do it today\nif necessary.\u201d He gave a childlike laugh. \u201cYou look upon tigers as\ntigers; I know them as pussycats.\u201d\n\n\u201cSwamiji, I think I could impress my subconsciousness with the\nthought that tigers are pussycats, but could I make tigers believe\nit?\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course strength also is necessary! One cannot expect victory\nfrom a baby who imagines a tiger to be a house cat! Powerful hands\nare my sufficient weapon.\u201d\n\nHe asked us to follow him to the patio, where he struck the edge\nof a wall. A brick crashed to the floor; the sky peered boldly\nthrough the gaping lost tooth of the wall. I fairly staggered in\nastonishment; he who can remove mortared bricks from a solid wall\nwith one blow, I thought, must surely be able to displace the teeth\nof tigers!\n\n\u201cA number of men have physical power such as mine, but still lack\nin cool confidence. Those who are bodily but not mentally stalwart\nmay find themselves fainting at mere sight of a wild beast bounding\nfreely in the jungle. The tiger in its natural ferocity and habitat\nis vastly different from the opium-fed circus animal!\n\n\u201cMany a man with herculean strength has nonetheless been terrorized\ninto abject helplessness before the onslaught of a royal Bengal.\nThus the tiger has converted the man, in his own mind, to a state\nas nerveless as the pussycat\u2019s. It is possible for a man, owning a\nfairly strong body and an immensely strong determination, to turn\nthe tables on the tiger, and force it to a conviction of pussycat\ndefenselessness. How often I have done just that!\u201d\n\nI was quite willing to believe that the titan before me was able to\nperform the tiger-pussycat metamorphosis. He seemed in a didactic\nmood; Chandi and I listened respectfully.\n\n\u201cMind is the wielder of muscles. The force of a hammer blow depends\non the energy applied; the power expressed by a man\u2019s bodily instrument\ndepends on his aggressive will and courage. The body is literally\nmanufactured and sustained by mind. Through pressure of instincts\nfrom past lives, strengths or weaknesses percolate gradually into\nhuman consciousness. They express as habits, which in turn ossify\ninto a desirable or an undesirable body. Outward frailty has\nmental origin; in a vicious circle, the habit-bound body thwarts\nthe mind. If the master allows himself to be commanded by a servant,\nthe latter becomes autocratic; the mind is similarly enslaved by\nsubmitting to bodily dictation.\u201d\n\nAt our entreaty, the impressive swami consented to tell us something\nof his own life.\n\n\u201cMy earliest ambition was to fight tigers. My will was mighty, but\nmy body was feeble.\u201d\n\nAn ejaculation of surprise broke from me. It appeared incredible\nthat this man, now \u201cwith Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear,\u201d could\never have known weakness.\n\n\u201cIt was by indomitable persistency in thoughts of health and\nstrength that I overcame my handicap. I have every reason to extol\nthe compelling mental vigor which I found to be the real subduer\nof royal Bengals.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you think, revered swami, that I could ever fight tigers?\u201d This\nwas the first, and the last, time that the bizarre ambition ever\nvisited my mind!\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d He was smiling. \u201cBut there are many kinds of tigers; some\nroam in jungles of human desires. No spiritual benefit accrues\nby knocking beasts unconscious. Rather be victor over the inner\nprowlers.\u201d\n\n\u201cMay we hear, sir, how you changed from a tamer of wild tigers to\na tamer of wild passions?\u201d\n\nThe Tiger Swami fell into silence. Remoteness came into his gaze,\nsummoning visions of bygone years. I discerned his slight mental\nstruggle to decide whether to grant my request. Finally he smiled\nin acquiescence.\n\n\u201cWhen my fame reached a zenith, it brought the intoxication of\npride.  I decided not only to fight tigers but to display them in\nvarious tricks. My ambition was to force savage beasts to behave\nlike domesticated ones. I began to perform my feats publicly, with\ngratifying success.\n\n\u201cOne evening my father entered my room in pensive mood.\n\n\u201c\u2018Son, I have words of warning. I would save you from coming ills,\nproduced by the grinding wheels of cause and effect.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Are you a fatalist, Father? Should superstition be allowed to\ndiscolor the powerful waters or my activities?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I am no fatalist, son. But I believe in the just law of retribution,\nas taught in the holy scriptures. There is resentment against you\nin the jungle family; sometime it may act to your cost.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Father, you astonish me! You well know what tigers are-beautiful\nbut merciless! Even immediately after an enormous meal of some\nhapless creature, a tiger is fired with fresh lust at sight of new\nprey. It may be a joyous gazelle, frisking over the jungle grass.\nCapturing it and biting an opening in the soft throat, the malevolent\nbeast tastes only a little of the mutely crying blood, and goes\nits wanton way.\n\n\u201c\u2018Tigers are the most contemptible of the jungle breed! Who knows?\nmy blows may inject some slight sanity of consideration into their\nthick heads. I am headmaster in a forest finishing school, to teach\nthem gentle manners!\n\n\u201c\u2018Please, Father, think of me as tiger tamer and never as tiger\nkiller. How could my good actions bring ill upon me? I beg you not\nto impose any command that I change my way of life.\u2019\u201d\n\nChandi and I were all attention, understanding the past dilemma.\nIn India a child does not lightly disobey his parents\u2019 wishes.\n\n\u201cIn stoic silence Father listened to my explanation. He followed\nit with a disclosure which he uttered gravely.\n\n\u201c\u2018Son, you compel me to relate an ominous prediction from the lips\nof a saint. He approached me yesterday as I sat on the veranda in\nmy daily meditation.\n\n\u201c\u2019\u201cDear friend, I come with a message for your belligerent son. Let\nhim cease his savage activities. Otherwise, his next tiger-encounter\nshall result in his severe wounds, followed by six months of deathly\nsickness. He shall then forsake his former ways and become a monk.\u201d\u2019\n\n\u201cThis tale did not impress me. I considered that Father had been\nthe credulous victim of a deluded fanatic.\u201d\n\nThe Tiger Swami made this confession with an impatient gesture, as\nthough at some stupidity. Grimly silent for a long time, he seemed\noblivious of our presence. When he took up the dangling thread of\nhis narrative, it was suddenly, with subdued voice.\n\n\u201cNot long after Father\u2019s warning, I visited the capital city of\nCooch Behar. The picturesque territory was new to me, and I expected\na restful change. As usual everywhere, a curious crowd followed me\non the streets. I would catch bits of whispered comment:\n\n\u201c\u2018This is the man who fights wild tigers.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Has he legs, or tree-trunks?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Look at his face! He must be an incarnation of the king of tigers\nhimself!\u2019\n\n\u201cYou know how village urchins function like final editions of a\nnewspaper! With what speed do the even-later speech-bulletins of\nthe women circulate from house to house! Within a few hours, the\nwhole city was in a state of excitement over my presence.\n\n\u201cI was relaxing quietly in the evening, when I heard the hoofbeats\nof galloping horses. They stopped in front of my dwelling place.\nIn came a number of tall, turbaned policemen.\n\n\u201cI was taken aback. \u2018All things are possible unto these creatures\nof human law,\u2019 I thought. \u2018I wonder if they are going to take me to\ntask about matters utterly unknown to me.\u2019 But the officers bowed\nwith unwonted courtesy.\n\n\u201c\u2018Honored Sir, we are sent to welcome you on behalf of the Prince\nof Cooch Behar. He is pleased to invite you to his palace tomorrow\nmorning.\u2019\n\n\u201cI speculated awhile on the prospect. For some obscure reason I\nfelt sharp regret at this interruption in my quiet trip. But the\nsuppliant manner of the policemen moved me; I agreed to go.\n\n\u201cI was bewildered the next day to be obsequiously escorted from my\ndoor into a magnificent coach drawn by four horses. A servant held\nan ornate umbrella to protect me from the scorching sunlight. I\nenjoyed the pleasant ride through the city and its woodland outskirts.\nThe royal scion himself was at the palace door to welcome me. He\nproffered his own gold-brocaded seat, smilingly placing himself in\na chair of simpler design.\n\n\u201c\u2018All this politeness is certainly going to cost me something!\u2019 I\nthought in mounting astonishment. The prince\u2019s motive emerged after\na few casual remarks.\n\n\u201c\u2018My city is filled with the rumor that you can fight wild tigers\nwith nothing more than your naked hands. Is it a fact?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018It is quite true.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I can scarcely believe it! You are a Calcutta Bengali, nurtured\non the white rice of city folk. Be frank, please; have you not been\nfighting only spineless, opium-fed animals?\u2019 His voice was loud\nand sarcastic, tinged with provincial accent.\n\n\u201cI vouchsafed no reply to his insulting question.\n\n\u201c\u2018I challenge you to fight my newly-caught tiger, Raja Begum.\n{FN6-2} If you can successfully resist him, bind him with a chain,\nand leave his cage in a conscious state, you shall have this royal\nBengal! Several thousand rupees and many other gifts shall also be\nbestowed. If you refuse to meet him in combat, I shall blazon your\nname throughout the state as an impostor!\u2019\n\n\u201cHis insolent words struck me like a volley of bullets. I shot an\nangry acceptance. Half risen from the chair in his excitement, the\nprince sank back with a sadistic smile. I was reminded of the Roman\nemperors who delighted in setting Christians in bestial arenas.\n\n\u201c\u2018The match will be set for a week hence. I regret that I cannot\ngive you permission to view the tiger in advance.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhether the prince feared I might seek to hypnotize the beast, or\nsecretly feed him opium, I know not!\n\n\u201cI left the palace, noting with amusement that the royal umbrella\nand panoplied coach were now missing.\n\n\u201cThe following week I methodically prepared my mind and body for\nthe coming ordeal. Through my servant I learned of fantastic tales.\nThe saint\u2019s direful prediction to my father had somehow got abroad,\nenlarging as it ran. Many simple villagers believed that an evil\nspirit, cursed by the gods, had reincarnated as a tiger which took\nvarious demoniac forms at night, but remained a striped animal\nduring the day. This demon-tiger was supposed to be the one sent\nto humble me.\n\n\u201cAnother imaginative version was that animal prayers to Tiger\nHeaven had achieved a response in the shape of Raja Begum. He was\nto be the instrument to punish me-the audacious biped, so insulting\nto the entire tiger species! A furless, fangless man daring\nto challenge a claw-armed, sturdy-limbed tiger! The concentrated\nvenom of all humiliated tigers-the villagers declared-had gathered\nmomentum sufficient to operate hidden laws and bring about the fall\nof the proud tiger tamer.\n\n\u201cMy servant further apprized me that the prince was in his element\nas manager of the bout between man and beast. He had supervised\nthe erection of a storm-proof pavilion, designed to accommodate\nthousands.  Its center held Raja Begum in an enormous iron cage,\nsurrounded by an outer safety room. The captive emitted a ceaseless\nseries of blood-curdling roars. He was fed sparingly, to kindle a\nwrathful appetite.  Perhaps the prince expected me to be the meal\nof reward!\n\n\u201cCrowds from the city and suburbs bought tickets eagerly in response\nto the beat of drums announcing the unique contest. The day of\nbattle saw hundreds turned away for lack of seats. Many men broke\nthrough the tent openings, or crowded any space below the galleries.\u201d\n\nAs the Tiger Swami\u2019s story approached a climax, my excitement\nmounted with it; Chandi also was raptly mute.\n\n\u201cAmidst piercing sound-explosions from Raja Begum, and the hubbub\nof the somewhat terrified crowd, I quietly made my appearance. Scantily\nclad around the waist, I was otherwise unprotected by clothing. I\nopened the bolt on the door of the safety room and calmly locked\nit behind me. The tiger sensed blood. Leaping with a thunderous\ncrash on his bars, he sent forth a fearsome welcome. The audience\nwas hushed with pitiful fear; I seemed a meek lamb before the raging\nbeast.\n\n\u201cIn a trice I was within the cage; but as I slammed the door, Raja\nBegum was headlong upon me. My right hand was desperately torn.\nHuman blood, the greatest treat a tiger can know, fell in appalling\nstreams.  The prophecy of the saint seemed about to be fulfilled.\n\n\u201cI rallied instantly from the shock of the first serious injury\nI had ever received. Banishing the sight of my gory fingers by\nthrusting them beneath my waist cloth, I swung my left arm in a\nbone-cracking blow. The beast reeled back, swirled around the rear\nof the cage, and sprang forward convulsively. My famous fistic\npunishment rained on his head.\n\n\u201cBut Raja Begum\u2019s taste of blood had acted like the maddening first\nsip of wine to a dipsomaniac long-deprived. Punctuated by deafening\nroar, the brute\u2019s assaults grew in fury. My inadequate defense\nof only one hand left me vulnerable before claws and fangs. But I\ndealt out dazing retribution. Mutually ensanguined, we struggled\nas to the death. The cage was pandemonium, as blood splashed in\nall directions, and blasts of pain and lethal lust came from the\nbestial throat.\n\n\u201c\u2018Shoot him!\u2019 \u2018Kill the tiger!\u2019 Shrieks arose from the audience.\nSo fast did man and beast move, that a guard\u2019s bullet went amiss.\nI mustered all my will force, bellowed fiercely, and landed a final\nconcussive blow. The tiger collapsed and lay quietly.\n\n\u201cLike a pussycat!\u201d I interjected.\n\nThe swami laughed in hearty appreciation, then continued the\nengrossing tale.\n\n\u201cRaja Begum was vanquished at last. His royal pride was further\nhumbled: with my lacerated hands, I audaciously forced open his\njaws.  For a dramatic moment, I held my head within the yawning\ndeathtrap. I looked around for a chain. Pulling one from a pile\non the floor, I bound the tiger by his neck to the cage bars. In\ntriumph I moved toward the door.\n\n\u201cBut that fiend incarnate, Raja Begum, had stamina worthy of his\nsupposed demoniac origin. With an incredible lunge, he snapped\nthe chain and leaped on my back. My shoulder fast in his jaws, I\nfell violently. But in a trice I had him pinned beneath me. Under\nmerciless blows, the treacherous animal sank into semiconsciousness.\nThis time I secured him more carefully. Slowly I left the cage.\n\n\u201cI found myself in a new uproar, this time one of delight. The crowd\u2019s\ncheer broke as though from a single gigantic throat. Disastrously\nmauled, I had yet fulfilled the three conditions of the fight-stunning\nthe tiger, binding him with a chain, and leaving him without\nrequiring assistance for myself. In addition, I had so drastically\ninjured and frightened the aggressive beast that he had been content\nto overlook the opportune prize of my head in his mouth!\n\n\u201cAfter my wounds were treated, I was honored and garlanded; hundreds of\ngold pieces showered at my feet. The whole city entered a holiday\nperiod. Endless discussions were heard on all sides about my\nvictory over one of the largest and most savage tigers ever seen.\nRaja Begum was presented to me, as promised, but I felt no elation.\nA spiritual change had entered my heart. It seemed that with my\nfinal exit from the cage I had also closed the door on my worldly\nambitions.\n\n\u201cA woeful period followed. For six months I lay near death from\nblood poisoning. As soon as I was well enough to leave Cooch Behar,\nI returned to my native town.\n\n\u201c\u2018I know now that my teacher is the holy man who gave the wise\nwarning.\u2019 I humbly made this confession to my father. \u2018Oh, if I\ncould only find him!\u2019 My longing was sincere, for one day the saint\narrived unheralded.\n\n\u201c\u2018Enough of tiger taming.\u2019 He spoke with calm assurance. \u2018Come with\nme; I will teach you to subdue the beasts of ignorance roaming in\njungles of the human mind. You are used to an audience: let it be\na galaxy of angels, entertained by your thrilling mastery of yoga!\u2019\n\n\u201cI was initiated into the spiritual path by my saintly guru. He\nopened my soul-doors, rusty and resistant with long disuse. Hand\nin hand, we soon set out for my training in the Himalayas.\u201d\n\nChandi and I bowed at the swami\u2019s feet, grateful for his vivid\noutline of a life truly cyclonic. I felt amply repaid for the long\nprobationary wait in the cold parlor!\n\n{FN6-1} SOHONG was his monastic name. He was popularly known as\nthe \u201cTiger Swami.\u201d\n\n{FN6-2} \u201cPrince Princess\u201d-so named to indicate that this beast\npossessed the combined ferocity of tiger and tigress.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 7\n\nTHE LEVITATING SAINT\n\n\n\u201cI saw a yogi remain in the air, several feet above the ground,\nlast night at a group meeting.\u201d My friend, Upendra Mohun Chowdhury,\nspoke impressively.\n\nI gave him an enthusiastic smile. \u201cPerhaps I can guess his name.\nWas it Bhaduri Mahasaya, of Upper Circular Road?\u201d\n\nUpendra nodded, a little crestfallen not to be a news-bearer. My\ninquisitiveness about saints was well-known among my friends; they\ndelighted in setting me on a fresh track.\n\n\u201cThe yogi lives so close to my home that I often visit him.\u201d My\nwords brought keen interest to Upendra\u2019s face, and I made a further\nconfidence.\n\n\u201cI have seen him in remarkable feats. He has expertly mastered the\nvarious PRANAYAMAS {FN7-1} of the ancient eightfold yoga outlined\nby Patanjali. {FN7-2} Once Bhaduri Mahasaya performed the BHASTRIKA\nPRANAYAMA before me with such amazing force that it seemed an actual\nstorm had arisen in the room! Then he extinguished the thundering\nbreath and remained motionless in a high state of superconsciousness.\n{FN7-3} The aura of peace after the storm was vivid beyond forgetting.\u201d\n\n\u201cI heard that the saint never leaves his home.\u201d Upendra\u2019s tone was\na trifle incredulous.\n\n\u201cIndeed it is true! He has lived indoors for the past twenty years.\nHe slightly relaxes his self-imposed rule at the times of our holy\nfestivals, when he goes as far as his front sidewalk! The beggars\ngather there, because Saint Bhaduri is known for his tender heart.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow does he remain in the air, defying the law of gravitation?\u201d\n\n\u201cA yogi\u2019s body loses its grossness after use of certain PRANAYAMAS.\nThen it will levitate or hop about like a leaping frog. Even\nsaints who do not practice a formal yoga {FN7-4} have been known\nto levitate during a state of intense devotion to God.\u201d\n\n\u201cI would like to know more of this sage. Do you attend his evening\nmeetings?\u201d Upendra\u2019s eyes were sparkling with curiosity.\n\n\u201cYes, I go often. I am vastly entertained by the wit in his\nwisdom.  Occasionally my prolonged laughter mars the solemnity of\nhis gatherings. The saint is not displeased, but his disciples look\ndaggers!\u201d\n\nOn my way home from school that afternoon, I passed Bhaduri Mahasaya\u2019s\ncloister and decided on a visit. The yogi was inaccessible to the\ngeneral public. A lone disciple, occupying the ground floor, guarded\nhis master\u2019s privacy. The student was something of a martinet; he\nnow inquired formally if I had an \u201cengagement.\u201d His guru put in an\nappearance just in time to save me from summary ejection.\n\n\u201cLet Mukunda come when he will.\u201d The sage\u2019s eyes twinkled. \u201cMy rule\nof seclusion is not for my own comfort, but for that of others.\nWorldly people do not like the candor which shatters their delusions.\nSaints are not only rare but disconcerting. Even in scripture, they\nare often found embarrassing!\u201d\n\nI followed Bhaduri Mahasaya to his austere quarters on the top floor,\nfrom which he seldom stirred. Masters often ignore the panorama\nof the world\u2019s ado, out of focus till centered in the ages. The\ncontemporaries of a sage are not alone those of the narrow present.\n\n\u201cMaharishi, {FN7-5} you are the first yogi I have known who always\nstays indoors.\u201d\n\n\u201cGod plants his saints sometimes in unexpected soil, lest we think\nwe may reduce Him to a rule!\u201d\n\nThe sage locked his vibrant body in the lotus posture. In his\nseventies, he displayed no unpleasing signs of age or sedentary life.\nStalwart and straight, he was ideal in every respect. His face was\nthat of a RISHI, as described in the ancient texts. Noble-headed,\nabundantly bearded, he always sat firmly upright, his quiet eyes\nfixed on Omnipresence.\n\n[Illustration: BHADURI MAHASAYA, \u201cThe Levitating Saint\u201d \u201cSir,\u201d\nI inquired, \u201cwhy do you not write a book on yoga for the benefit\nof the world?\u201d \u201cI am training disciples,\u201d He replied. \u201cThey and\ntheir students will be living volumes, proof against the natural\ndisintegrations of time and the unnatural interpretations of the\ncritics.\u201d\u2014see badhuri.jpg]\n\nThe saint and I entered the meditative state. After an hour, his\ngentle voice roused me.\n\n\u201cYou go often into the silence, but have you developed ANUBHAVA?\u201d\n{FN7-6} He was reminding me to love God more than meditation.  \u201cDo\nnot mistake the technique for the Goal.\u201d\n\nHe offered me some mangoes. With that good-humored wit that I found\nso delightful in his grave nature, he remarked, \u201cPeople in general\nare more fond of JALA YOGA (union with food) than of DHYANA YOGA\n(union with God).\u201d\n\nHis yogic pun affected me uproariously.\n\n\u201cWhat a laugh you have!\u201d An affectionate gleam came into his gaze.\nHis own face was always serious, yet touched with an ecstatic smile.\nHis large, lotus eyes held a hidden divine laughter.\n\n\u201cThose letters come from far-off America.\u201d The sage indicated several\nthick envelopes on a table. \u201cI correspond with a few societies\nthere whose members are interested in yoga. They are discovering\nIndia anew, with a better sense of direction than Columbus! I am\nglad to help them. The knowledge of yoga is free to all who will\nreceive, like the ungarnishable daylight.\n\n\u201cWhat RISHIS perceived as essential for human salvation need not\nbe diluted for the West. Alike in soul though diverse in outer\nexperience, neither West nor East will flourish if some form of\ndisciplinary yoga be not practiced.\u201d\n\nThe saint held me with his tranquil eyes. I did not realize that\nhis speech was a veiled prophetic guidance. It is only now, as I\nwrite these words, that I understand the full meaning in the casual\nintimations he often gave me that someday I would carry India\u2019s\nteachings to America.\n\n\u201cMaharishi, I wish you would write a book on yoga for the benefit\nof the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am training disciples. They and their students will be living\nvolumes, proof against the natural disintegrations of time and the\nunnatural interpretations of the critics.\u201d Bhaduri\u2019s wit put me\ninto another gale of laughter.\n\nI remained alone with the yogi until his disciples arrived in the\nevening. Bhaduri Mahasaya entered one of his inimitable discourses.\nLike a peaceful flood, he swept away the mental debris of his listeners,\nfloating them Godward. His striking parables were expressed in a\nflawless Bengali.\n\nThis evening Bhaduri expounded various philosophical points\nconnected with the life of Mirabai, a medieval Rajputani princess\nwho abandoned her court life to seek the company of sadhus. One\ngreat-sannyasi refused to receive her because she was a woman; her\nreply brought him humbly to her feet.\n\n\u201cTell the master,\u201d she had said, \u201cthat I did not know there was\nany Male in the universe save God; are we all not females before\nHim?\u201d (A scriptural conception of the Lord as the only Positive\nCreative Principle, His creation being naught but a passive MAYA.)\n\nMirabai composed many ecstatic songs which are still treasured in\nIndia; I translate one of them here:\n\n  \u201cIf by bathing daily God could be realized\n  Sooner would I be a whale in the deep;\n  If by eating roots and fruits He could be known\n  Gladly would I choose the form of a goat;\n  If the counting of rosaries uncovered Him\n  I would say my prayers on mammoth beads;\n  If bowing before stone images unveiled Him\n  A flinty mountain I would humbly worship;\n  If by drinking milk the Lord could be imbibed\n  Many calves and children would know Him;\n  If abandoning one\u2019s wife would summon God\n  Would not thousands be eunuchs?\n  Mirabai knows that to find the Divine One\n  The only indispensable is Love.\u201d\n\nSeveral students put rupees in Bhaduri\u2019s slippers which lay by his\nside as he sat in yoga posture. This respectful offering, customary\nin India, indicates that the disciple places his material goods at\nthe guru\u2019s feet. Grateful friends are only the Lord in disguise,\nlooking after His own.\n\n\u201cMaster, you are wonderful!\u201d A student, taking his leave, gazed\nardently at the patriarchal sage. \u201cYou have renounced riches and\ncomforts to seek God and teach us wisdom!\u201d It was well-known that\nBhaduri Mahasaya had forsaken great family wealth in his early\nchildhood, when single-mindedly he entered the yogic path.\n\n\u201cYou are reversing the case!\u201d The saint\u2019s face held a mild rebuke.\n\u201cI have left a few paltry rupees, a few petty pleasures, for a cosmic\nempire of endless bliss. How then have I denied myself anything?\nI know the joy of sharing the treasure. Is that a sacrifice? The\nshortsighted worldly folk are verily the real renunciates! They\nrelinquish an unparalleled divine possession for a poor handful of\nearthly toys!\u201d\n\nI chuckled over this paradoxical view of renunciation-one which\nputs the cap of Croesus on any saintly beggar, whilst transforming\nall proud millionaires into unconscious martyrs.\n\n\u201cThe divine order arranges our future more wisely than any insurance\ncompany.\u201d The master\u2019s concluding words were the realized creed\nof his faith. \u201cThe world is full of uneasy believers in an outward\nsecurity.  Their bitter thoughts are like scars on their foreheads.\nThe One who gave us air and milk from our first breath knows how\nto provide day by day for His devotees.\u201d\n\nI continued my after-school pilgrimages to the saint\u2019s door. With\nsilent zeal he aided me to attain ANUBHAVA. One day he moved to\nRam Mohan Roy Road, away from the neighborhood of my Gurpar Road\nhome. His loving disciples had built him a new hermitage, known as\n\u201cNagendra Math.\u201d {FN7-7}\n\nAlthough it throws me ahead of my story by a number of years, I\nwill recount here the last words given to me by Bhaduri Mahasaya.\nShortly before I embarked for the West, I sought him out and humbly\nknelt for his farewell blessing:\n\n\u201cSon, go to America. Take the dignity of hoary India for your\nshield.  Victory is written on your brow; the noble distant people\nwill well receive you.\u201d\n\n{FN7-1} Methods of controlling life-force through regulation of\nbreath.\n\n{FN7-2} The foremost ancient exponent of yoga.\n\n{FN7-3} French professors were the first in the West to be willing\nto scientifically investigate the possibilities of the superconscious\nmind. Professor Jules-Bois, member of the L\u2019Ecole de Psychologie of\nthe Sorbonne, lectured in America in 1928; he told his audiences that\nFrench scientists have accorded recognition to the superconsciousness,\n\u201cwhich is the exact opposite of Freud\u2019s subconscious mind and is the\nfaculty which makes man really man and not just a super-animal.\u201d M.\nJules-Bois explained that the awakening of the higher consciousness\n\u201cwas not to be confused with Coueism or hypnotism. The existence\nof a superconscious mind has long been recognized philosophically,\nbeing in reality the Oversoul spoken of by Emerson, but only recently\nhas it been recognized scientifically.\u201d The French scientist pointed\nout that from the superconsciousness come inspiration, genius, moral\nvalues.  \u201cBelief in this is not mysticism though it recognized and\nvalued the qualities which mystics preached.\u201d\n\n{FN7-4} St. Theresa of Avila and other Christian saints were often\nobserved in a state of levitation.\n\n{FN7-5} \u201cGreat sage.\u201d\n\n{FN7-6} Actual perception of God.\n\n{FN7-7} The saint\u2019s full name was Nagendranath Bhaduri. MATH means\nhermitage or ASHRAM.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 8\n\nINDIA\u2019S GREAT SCIENTIST, J.C. BOSE\n\n\n\u201cJagadis Chandra Bose\u2019s wireless inventions antedated those of\nMarconi.\u201d\n\nOverhearing this provocative remark, I walked closer to a sidewalk\ngroup of professors engaged in scientific discussion. If my motive\nin joining them was racial pride, I regret it. I cannot deny my\nkeen interest in evidence that India can play a leading part in\nphysics, and not metaphysics alone.\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean, sir?\u201d\n\nThe professor obligingly explained. \u201cBose was the first one to invent\na wireless coherer and an instrument for indicating the refraction\nof electric waves. But the Indian scientist did not exploit his\ninventions commercially. He soon turned his attention from the\ninorganic to the organic world. His revolutionary discoveries as a\nplant physiologist are outpacing even his radical achievements as\na physicist.\u201d\n\nI politely thanked my mentor. He added, \u201cThe great scientist is\none of my brother professors at Presidency College.\u201d\n\nI paid a visit the next day to the sage at his home, which was close\nto mine on Gurpar Road. I had long admired him from a respectful\ndistance. The grave and retiring botanist greeted me graciously. He\nwas a handsome, robust man in his fifties, with thick hair, broad\nforehead, and the abstracted eyes of a dreamer. The precision in\nhis tones revealed the lifelong scientific habit.\n\n\u201cI have recently returned from an expedition to scientific societies\nof the West. Their members exhibited intense interest in delicate\ninstruments of my invention which demonstrate the indivisible unity\nof all life. {FN8-1} The Bose crescograph has the enormity of ten\nmillion magnifications. The microscope enlarges only a few thousand\ntimes; yet it brought vital impetus to biological science. The\ncrescograph opens incalculable vistas.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have done much, sir, to hasten the embrace of East and West\nin the impersonal arms of science.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: JAGADIS CHANDRA BOSE, India\u2019s great physicist,\nbotanist, and inventor of the Crescograph\u2014see bose.jpg]\n\n\u201cI was educated at Cambridge. How admirable is the Western method\nof submitting all theory to scrupulous experimental verification!\nThat empirical procedure has gone hand in hand with the gift for\nintrospection which is my Eastern heritage. Together they have enabled\nme to sunder the silences of natural realms long uncommunicative.\nThe telltale charts of my crescograph {FN8-2} are evidence for\nthe most skeptical that plants have a sensitive nervous system and\na varied emotional life. Love, hate, joy, fear, pleasure, pain,\nexcitability, stupor, and countless appropriate responses to stimuli\nare as universal in plants as in animals.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe unique throb of life in all creation could seem only poetic\nimagery before your advent, Professor! A saint I once knew would\nnever pluck flowers. \u2018Shall I rob the rosebush of its pride in\nbeauty? Shall I cruelly affront its dignity by my rude divestment?\u2019\nHis sympathetic words are verified literally through your discoveries!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe poet is intimate with truth, while the scientist approaches\nawkwardly. Come someday to my laboratory and see the unequivocable\ntestimony of the crescograph.\u201d\n\nGratefully I accepted the invitation, and took my departure. I\nheard later that the botanist had left Presidency College, and was\nplanning a research center in Calcutta.\n\nWhen the Bose Institute was opened, I attended the dedicatory\nservices. Enthusiastic hundreds strolled over the premises. I was\ncharmed with the artistry and spiritual symbolism of the new home\nof science. Its front gate, I noted, was a centuried relic from\na distant shrine. Behind the lotus {FN8-3} fountain, a sculptured\nfemale figure with a torch conveyed the Indian respect for woman\nas the immortal light-bearer. The garden held a small temple\nconsecrated to the Noumenon beyond phenomena. Thought of the divine\nincorporeity was suggested by absence of any altar-image.\n\nBose\u2019s speech on this great occasion might have issued from the\nlips of one of the inspired ancient RISHIS.\n\n\u201cI dedicate today this Institute as not merely a laboratory but\na temple.\u201d His reverent solemnity stole like an unseen cloak over\nthe crowded auditorium. \u201cIn the pursuit of my investigations I was\nunconsciously led into the border region of physics and physiology.\nTo my amazement, I found boundary lines vanishing, and points\nof contact emerging, between the realms of the living and the\nnon-living.  Inorganic matter was perceived as anything but inert;\nit was athrill under the action of multitudinous forces.\n\n\u201cA universal reaction seemed to bring metal, plant and animal under\na common law. They all exhibited essentially the same phenomena\nof fatigue and depression, with possibilities of recovery and of\nexaltation, as well as the permanent irresponsiveness associated\nwith death. Filled with awe at this stupendous generalization, it\nwas with great hope that I announced my results before the Royal\nSociety\u2014results demonstrated by experiments. But the physiologists\npresent advised me to confine myself to physical investigations, in\nwhich my success had been assured, rather than encroach on their\npreserves. I had unwittingly strayed into the domain of an unfamiliar\ncaste system and so offended its etiquette.\n\n\u201cAn unconscious theological bias was also present, which confounds\nignorance with faith. It is often forgotten that He who surrounded\nus with this ever-evolving mystery of creation has also implanted\nin us the desire to question and understand. Through many years\nof miscomprehension, I came to know that the life of a devotee of\nscience is inevitably filled with unending struggle. It is for him\nto cast his life as an ardent offering-regarding gain and loss,\nsuccess and failure, as one.\n\n\u201cIn time the leading scientific societies of the world accepted my\ntheories and results, and recognized the importance of the Indian\ncontribution to science. {FN8-4} Can anything small or circumscribed\never satisfy the mind of India? By a continuous living tradition,\nand a vital power of rejuvenescence, this land has readjusted itself\nthrough unnumbered transformations. Indians have always arisen who,\ndiscarding the immediate and absorbing prize of the hour, have\nsought for the realization of the highest ideals in life-not through\npassive renunciation, but through active struggle. The weakling\nwho has refused the conflict, acquiring nothing, has had nothing\nto renounce.  He alone who has striven and won can enrich the world\nby bestowing the fruits of his victorious experience.\n\n\u201cThe work already carried out in the Bose laboratory on the\nresponse of matter, and the unexpected revelations in plant life,\nhave opened out very extended regions of inquiry in physics, in\nphysiology, in medicine, in agriculture, and even in psychology.\nProblems hitherto regarded as insoluble have now been brought within\nthe sphere of experimental investigation.\n\n\u201cBut high success is not to be obtained without rigid exactitude.\nHence the long battery of super-sensitive instruments and apparatus\nof my design, which stand before you today in their cases in the\nentrance hall. They tell you of the protracted efforts to get behind\nthe deceptive seeming into the reality that remains unseen, of the\ncontinuous toil and persistence and resourcefulness called forth\nto overcome human limitations. All creative scientists know that\nthe true laboratory is the mind, where behind illusions they uncover\nthe laws of truth.\n\n\u201cThe lectures given here will not be mere repetitions of second-hand\nknowledge. They will announce new discoveries, demonstrated for\nthe first time in these halls. Through regular publication of the\nwork of the Institute, these Indian contributions will reach the\nwhole world.  They will become public property. No patents will\never be taken. The spirit of our national culture demands that we\nshould forever be free from the desecration of utilizing knowledge\nonly for personal gain.\n\n\u201cIt is my further wish that the facilities of this Institute be\navailable, so far as possible, to workers from all countries. In\nthis I am attempting to carry on the traditions of my country. So\nfar back as twenty-five centuries, India welcomed to its ancient\nuniversities, at Nalanda and Taxila, scholars from all parts of\nthe world.\n\n\u201cAlthough science is neither of the East nor of the West but rather\ninternational in its universality, yet India is specially fitted to\nmake great contributions. {FN8-5} The burning Indian imagination,\nwhich can extort new order out of a mass of apparently contradictory\nfacts, is held in check by the habit of concentration. This restraint\nconfers the power to hold the mind to the pursuit of truth with an\ninfinite patience.\u201d\n\nTears stood in my eyes at the scientist\u2019s concluding words. Is\n\u201cpatience\u201d not indeed a synonym of India, confounding Time and the\nhistorians alike?\n\nI visited the research center again, soon after the day of opening.\nThe great botanist, mindful of his promise, took me to his quiet\nlaboratory.\n\n\u201cI will attach the crescograph to this fern; the magnification is\ntremendous. If a snail\u2019s crawl were enlarged in the same proportion,\nthe creature would appear to be traveling like an express train!\u201d\n\nMy gaze was fixed eagerly on the screen which reflected the magnified\nfern-shadow. Minute life-movements were now clearly perceptible;\nthe plant was growing very slowly before my fascinated eyes. The\nscientist touched the tip of the fern with a small metal bar. The\ndeveloping pantomime came to an abrupt halt, resuming the eloquent\nrhythms as soon as the rod was withdrawn.\n\n\u201cYou saw how any slight outside interference is detrimental to the\nsensitive tissues,\u201d Bose remarked. \u201cWatch; I will now administer\nchloroform, and then give an antidote.\u201d\n\nThe effect of the chloroform discontinued all growth; the antidote\nwas revivifying. The evolutionary gestures on the screen held me\nmore raptly than a \u201cmovie\u201d plot. My companion (here in the role\nof villain) thrust a sharp instrument through a part of the fern;\npain was indicated by spasmodic flutters. When he passed a razor\npartially through the stem, the shadow was violently agitated, then\nstilled itself with the final punctuation of death.\n\n\u201cBy first chloroforming a huge tree, I achieved a successful\ntransplantation. Usually, such monarchs of the forest die very\nquickly after being moved.\u201d Jagadis smiled happily as he recounted\nthe life-saving maneuver. \u201cGraphs of my delicate apparatus have\nproved that trees possess a circulatory system; their sap movements\ncorrespond to the blood pressure of animal bodies. The ascent of\nsap is not explicable on the mechanical grounds ordinarily advanced,\nsuch as capillary attraction. The phenomenon has been solved through\nthe crescograph as the activity of living cells. Peristaltic waves\nissue from a cylindrical tube which extends down a tree and serves\nas an actual heart! The more deeply we perceive, the more striking\nbecomes the evidence that a uniform plan links every form in manifold\nnature.\u201d\n\nThe great scientist pointed to another Bose instrument.\n\n\u201cI will show you experiments on a piece of tin. The life-force in\nmetals responds adversely or beneficially to stimuli. Ink markings\nwill register the various reactions.\u201d\n\nDeeply engrossed, I watched the graph which recorded the characteristic\nwaves of atomic structure. When the professor applied chloroform\nto the tin, the vibratory writings stopped. They recommenced as\nthe metal slowly regained its normal state. My companion dispensed\na poisonous chemical. Simultaneous with the quivering end of the\ntin, the needle dramatically wrote on the chart a death-notice.\n\n\u201cBose instruments have demonstrated that metals, such as the steel\nused in scissors and machinery, are subject to fatigue, and regain\nefficiency by periodic rest. The life-pulse in metals is seriously\nharmed or even extinguished through the application of electric\ncurrents or heavy pressure.\u201d\n\nI looked around the room at the numerous inventions, eloquent\ntestimony of a tireless ingenuity.\n\n\u201cSir, it is lamentable that mass agricultural development is\nnot speeded by fuller use of your marvelous mechanisms. Would it\nnot be easily possible to employ some of them in quick laboratory\nexperiments to indicate the influence of various types of fertilizers\non plant growth?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right. Countless uses of Bose instruments will be made\nby future generations. The scientist seldom knows contemporaneous\nreward; it is enough to possess the joy of creative service.\u201d\n\nWith expressions of unreserved gratitude to the indefatigable sage,\nI took my leave. \u201cCan the astonishing fertility of his genius ever\nbe exhausted?\u201d I thought.\n\nNo diminution came with the years. Inventing an intricate instrument,\nthe \u201cResonant Cardiograph,\u201d Bose then pursued extensive researches\non innumerable Indian plants. An enormous unsuspected pharmacopoeia\nof useful drugs was revealed. The cardiograph is constructed with\nan unerring accuracy by which a one-hundredth part of a second\nis indicated on a graph. Resonant records measure infinitesimal\npulsations in plant, animal and human structure. The great botanist\npredicted that use of his cardiograph will lead to vivisection on\nplants instead of animals.\n\n\u201cSide by side recordings of the effects of a medicine given\nsimultaneously to a plant and an animal have shown astounding\nunanimity in result,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cEverything in man has been\nforeshadowed in the plant. Experimentation on vegetation will\ncontribute to lessening of human suffering.\u201d\n\nYears later Bose\u2019s pioneer plant findings were substantiated by other\nscientists. Work done in 1938 at Columbia University was reported\nby THE NEW YORK TIMES as follows:\n\nIt has been determined within the past few years that when the\nnerves transmit messages between the brain and other parts of the\nbody, tiny electrical impulses are being generated. These impulses\nhave been measured by delicate galvanometers and magnified millions\nof times by modern amplifying apparatus. Until now no satisfactory\nmethod had been found to study the passages of the impulses along\nthe nerve fibers in living animals or man because of the great\nspeed with which these impulses travel.\n\nDrs. K. S. Cole and H. J. Curtis reported having discovered that the\nlong single cells of the fresh-water plant nitella, used frequently\nin goldfish bowls, are virtually identical with those of single\nnerve fibers. Furthermore, they found that nitella fibers, on being\nexcited, propagate electrical waves that are similar in every way,\nexcept velocity, to those of the nerve fibers in animals and man.\nThe electrical nerve impulses in the plant were found to be much\nslower than those in animals. This discovery was therefore seized\nupon by the Columbia workers as a means for taking slow motion\npictures of the passage of the electrical impulses in nerves.\n\nThe nitella plant thus may become a sort of Rosetta stone for\ndeciphering the closely guarded secrets close to the very borderland\nof mind and matter.\n\nThe poet Rabindranath Tagore was a stalwart friend of India\u2019s\nidealistic scientist. To him, the sweet Bengali singer addressed\nthe following lines: {FN8-6}\n\n  O Hermit, call thou in the authentic words\n  Of that old hymn called SAMA; \u201cRise! Awake!\u201d\n  Call to the man who boasts his SHASTRIC lore\n  From vain pedantic wranglings profitless,\n  Call to that foolish braggart to come forth\n  Out on the face of nature, this broad earth,\n  Send forth this call unto thy scholar band;\n  Together round thy sacrifice of fire\n  Let them all gather. So may our India,\n  Our ancient land unto herself return\n  O once again return to steadfast work,\n  To duty and devotion, to her trance\n  Of earnest meditation; let her sit\n  Once more unruffled, greedless, strifeless, pure,\n  O once again upon her lofty seat\n  And platform, teacher of all lands.\n\n{FN8-1} \u201cAll science is transcendental or else passes away. Botany\nis now acquiring the right theory-the avatars of Brahma will\npresently be the textbooks of natural history.\u201d-EMERSON.\n\n{FN8-2} From the Latin root, CRESCERE, to increase. For his\ncrescograph and other inventions, Bose was knighted in 1917.\n\n{FN8-3} The lotus flower is an ancient divine symbol in India; its\nunfolding petals suggest the expansion of the soul; the growth of\nits pure beauty from the mud of its origin holds a benign spiritual\npromise.\n\n{FN8-4} \u201cAt present, only the sheerest accident brings India into\nthe purview of the American college student. Eight universities\n(Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Pennsylvania,\nChicago, and California) have chairs of Indology or Sanskrit,\nbut India is virtually unrepresented in departments of history,\nphilosophy, fine arts, political science, sociology, or any of\nthe other departments of intellectual experience in which, as we\nhave seen, India has made great contributions. . . . We believe,\nconsequently, that no department of study, particularly in the\nhumanities, in any major university can be fully equipped without\na properly trained specialist in the Indic phases of its discipline.\nWe believe, too, that every college which aims to prepare its\ngraduates for intelligent work in the world which is to be theirs\nto live in, must have on its staff a scholar competent in the\ncivilization of India.\u201d-Extracts from an article by Professor W.\nNorman Brown of the University of Pennsylvania which appeared in\nthe May, 1939, issue of the BULLETIN of the American Council of\nLearned Societies, 907 15th St., Washington, D. C., 25 cents copy.\nThis issue (#28) contains over 100 pages of a \u201cBasic Bibliography\nfor Indic Studies.\u201d\n\n{FN8-5} The atomic structure of matter was well-known to the ancient\nHindus. One of the six systems of Indian philosophy is VAISESIKA,\nfrom the Sanskrit root VISESAS, \u201catomic individuality.\u201d One of the\nforemost VAISESIKA expounders was Aulukya, also called Kanada, \u201cthe\natom-eater,\u201d born about 2800 years ago.\n\nIn an article in EAST-WEST, April, 1934, a summary of VAISESIKA\nscientific knowledge was given as follows: \u201cThough the modern\n\u2018atomic theory\u2019 is generally considered a new advance of science,\nit was brilliantly expounded long ago by Kanada, \u2018the atom-eater.\u2019\nThe Sanskrit ANUS can be properly translated as \u2018atom\u2019 in the latter\u2019s\nliteral Greek sense of \u2018uncut\u2019 or indivisible. Other scientific\nexpositions of VAISESIKA treatises of the B.C. era include (1) the\nmovement of needles toward magnets, (2) the circulation of water\nin plants, (3) AKASH or ether, inert and structureless, as a basis\nfor transmitting subtle forces, (4) the solar fire as the cause of\nall other forms of heat, (5) heat as the cause of molecular change,\n(6) the law of gravitation as caused by the quality that inheres in\nearth-atoms to give them their attractive power or downward pull,\n(7) the kinetic nature of all energy; causation as always rooted\nin an expenditure of energy or a redistribution of motion, (8)\nuniversal dissolution through the disintegration of atoms, (9)\nthe radiation of heat and light rays, infinitely small particles,\ndarting forth in all directions with inconceivable speed (the modern\n\u2018cosmic rays\u2019 theory), (10) the relativity of time and space.\n\n\u201cVAISESIKA assigned the origin of the world to atoms, eternal in\ntheir nature, i.e., their ultimate peculiarities. These atoms were\nregarded as possessing an incessant vibratory motion. . . . The\nrecent discovery that an atom is a miniature solar system would be\nno news to the old VAISESIKA philosophers, who also reduced time to\nits furthest mathematical concept by describing the smallest unit\nof time (KALA) as the period taken by an atom to traverse its own\nunit of space.\u201d\n\n{FN8-6} Translated from the Bengali of Rabindranath Tagore, by\nManmohan Ghosh, in VISWA-BHARATI.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 9\n\nTHE BLISSFUL DEVOTEE AND HIS COSMIC ROMANCE\n\n\n\u201cLittle sir, please be seated. I am talking to my Divine Mother.\u201d\n\nSilently I had entered the room in great awe. The angelic\nappearance of Master Mahasaya fairly dazzled me. With silky white\nbeard and large lustrous eyes, he seemed an incarnation of purity.\nHis upraised chin and folded hands apprized me that my first visit\nhad disturbed him in the midst of his devotions.\n\nHis simple words of greeting produced the most violent effect my\nnature had so far experienced. The bitter separation of my mother\u2019s\ndeath I had thought the measure of all anguish. Now an agony at\nseparation from my Divine Mother was an indescribable torture of\nthe spirit. I fell moaning to the floor.\n\n\u201cLittle sir, quiet yourself!\u201d The saint was sympathetically\ndistressed.\n\nAbandoned in some oceanic desolation, I clutched his feet as the\nsole raft of my rescue.\n\n\u201cHoly sir, thy intercession! Ask Divine Mother if I find any favor\nin Her sight!\u201d\n\nThis promise is one not easily bestowed; the master was constrained\nto silence.\n\nBeyond reach of doubt, I was convinced that Master Mahasaya was in\nintimate converse with the Universal Mother. It was deep humiliation\nto realize that my eyes were blind to Her who even at this moment\nwas perceptible to the faultless gaze of the saint. Shamelessly\ngripping his feet, deaf to his gentle remonstrances, I besought\nhim again and again for his intervening grace.\n\n\u201cI will make your plea to the Beloved.\u201d The master\u2019s capitulation\ncame with a slow, compassionate smile.\n\nWhat power in those few words, that my being should know release\nfrom its stormy exile?\n\n\u201cSir, remember your pledge! I shall return soon for Her message!\u201d\nJoyful anticipation rang in my voice that only a moment ago had\nbeen sobbing in sorrow.\n\nDescending the long stairway, I was overwhelmed by memories. This\nhouse at 50 Amherst Street, now the residence of Master Mahasaya,\nhad once been my family home, scene of my mother\u2019s death. Here\nmy human heart had broken for the vanished mother; and here today\nmy spirit had been as though crucified by absence of the Divine\nMother. Hallowed walls, silent witness of my grievous hurts and\nfinal healing!\n\nMy steps were eager as I returned to my Gurpar Road home. Seeking\nthe seclusion of my small attic, I remained in meditation until\nten o\u2019clock. The darkness of the warm Indian night was suddenly\nlit with a wondrous vision.\n\nHaloed in splendor, the Divine Mother stood before me. Her face,\ntenderly smiling, was beauty itself.\n\n\u201cAlways have I loved thee! Ever shall I love thee!\u201d\n\nThe celestial tones still ringing in the air, She disappeared.\n\nThe sun on the following morning had hardly risen to an angle of\ndecorum when I paid my second visit to Master Mahasaya. Climbing\nthe staircase in the house of poignant memories, I reached his\nfourth-floor room. The knob of the closed door was wrapped around\nwith a cloth; a hint, I felt, that the saint desired privacy. As\nI stood irresolutely on the landing, the door was opened by the\nmaster\u2019s welcoming hand. I knelt at his holy feet. In a playful\nmood, I wore a solemn mask over my face, hiding the divine elation.\n\n\u201cSir, I have come-very early, I confess!-for your message. Did the\nBeloved Mother say anything about me?\u201d\n\n\u201cMischievous little sir!\u201d\n\nNot another remark would he make. Apparently my assumed gravity\nwas unimpressive.\n\n\u201cWhy so mysterious, so evasive? Do saints never speak plainly?\u201d\nPerhaps I was a little provoked.\n\n\u201cMust you test me?\u201d His calm eyes were full of understanding. \u201cCould\nI add a single word this morning to the assurance you received last\nnight at ten o\u2019clock from the Beautiful Mother Herself?\u201d\n\nMaster Mahasaya possessed control over the flood-gates of my soul:\nagain I plunged prostrate at his feet. But this time my tears welled\nfrom a bliss, and not a pain, past bearing.\n\n\u201cThink you that your devotion did not touch the Infinite Mercy?\nThe Motherhood of God, that you have worshiped in forms both human\nand divine, could never fail to answer your forsaken cry.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Master Mahasaya, Ever engrossed in his blissful\ncosmic romance.\u2014see mmahasaya.jpg]\n\nWho was this simple saint, whose least request to the Universal Spirit\nmet with sweet acquiescence? His role in the world was humble, as\nbefitted the greatest man of humility I ever knew. In this Amherst\nStreet house, Master Mahasaya {FN9-1} conducted a small high school\nfor boys. No words of chastisement passed his lips; no rule and\nferule maintained his discipline. Higher mathematics indeed were\ntaught in these modest classrooms, and a chemistry of love absent\nfrom the textbooks. He spread his wisdom by spiritual contagion\nrather than impermeable precept. Consumed by an unsophisticated\npassion for the Divine Mother, the saint no more demanded the\noutward forms of respect than a child.\n\n\u201cI am not your guru; he shall come a little later,\u201d he told me.\n\u201cThrough his guidance, your experiences of the Divine in terms of\nlove and devotion shall be translated into his terms of fathomless\nwisdom.\u201d\n\nEvery late afternoon, I betook myself to Amherst Street. I\nsought Master Mahasaya\u2019s divine cup, so full that its drops daily\noverflowed on my being. Never before had I bowed in utter reverence;\nnow I felt it an immeasurable privilege even to tread the same\nground which Master Mahasaya sanctified.\n\n\u201cSir, please wear this champak garland I have fashioned especially\nfor you.\u201d I arrived one evening, holding my chain of flowers. But\nshyly he drew away, repeatedly refusing the honor. Perceiving my\nhurt, he finally smiled consent.\n\n\u201cSince we are both devotees of the Mother, you may put the garland\non this bodily temple, as offering to Her who dwells within.\u201d His\nvast nature lacked space in which any egotistical consideration\ncould gain foothold.\n\n\u201cLet us go tomorrow to the Dakshineswar Temple, forever hallowed\nby my guru.\u201d Master Mahasaya was a disciple of a Christlike master,\nSri Ramakrishna Paramhansa.\n\nThe four-mile journey on the following morning was taken by boat\non the Ganges. We entered the nine-domed Temple of Kali, where the\nfigures of the Divine Mother and Shiva rest on a burnished silver\nlotus, its thousand petals meticulously chiseled. Master Mahasaya\nbeamed in enchantment. He was engaged in his inexhaustible romance\nwith the Beloved. As he chanted Her name, my enraptured heart seemed\nshattered into a thousand pieces.\n\nWe strolled later through the sacred precincts, halting in a\ntamarisk grove. The manna characteristically exuded by this tree\nwas symbolic of the heavenly food Master Mahasaya was bestowing.\nHis divine invocations continued. I sat rigidly motionless on the\ngrass amid the pink feathery tamarisk flowers. Temporarily absent\nfrom the body, I soared in a supernal visit.\n\nThis was the first of many pilgrimages to Dakshineswar with the holy\nteacher. From him I learned the sweetness of God in the aspect of\nMother, or Divine Mercy. The childlike saint found little appeal in\nthe Father aspect, or Divine Justice. Stern, exacting, mathematical\njudgment was alien to his gentle nature.\n\n\u201cHe can serve as an earthly prototype for the very angels of\nheaven!\u201d I thought fondly, watching him one day at his prayers.\nWithout a breath of censure or criticism, he surveyed the world\nwith eyes long familiar with the Primal Purity. His body, mind,\nspeech, and actions were effortlessly harmonized with his soul\u2019s\nsimplicity.\n\n\u201cMy Master told me so.\u201d Shrinking from personal assertion, the\nsaint ended any sage counsel with this invariable tribute. So deep\nwas his identity with Sri Ramakrishna that Master Mahasaya no longer\nconsidered his thoughts as his own.\n\nHand in hand, the saint and I walked one evening on the block of his\nschool. My joy was dimmed by the arrival of a conceited acquaintance\nwho burdened us with a lengthy discourse.\n\n\u201cI see this man doesn\u2019t please you.\u201d The saint\u2019s whisper to me was\nunheard by the egotist, spellbound by his own monologue. \u201cI have\nspoken to Divine Mother about it; She realizes our sad predicament.\nAs soon as we get to yonder red house, She has promised to remind\nhim of more urgent business.\u201d\n\nMy eyes were glued to the site of salvation. Reaching its red gate,\nthe man unaccountably turned and departed, neither finishing his\nsentence nor saying good-by. The assaulted air was comforted with\npeace.\n\nAnother day found me walking alone near the Howrah railway station.\nI stood for a moment by a temple, silently criticizing a small group\nof men with drum and cymbals who were violently reciting a chant.\n\n\u201cHow undevotionally they use the Lord\u2019s divine name in mechanical\nrepetition,\u201d I reflected. My gaze was astonished by the rapid\napproach of Master Mahasaya. \u201cSir, how come you here?\u201d\n\nThe saint, ignoring my question, answered my thought. \u201cIsn\u2019t it\ntrue, little sir, that the Beloved\u2019s name sounds sweet from all\nlips, ignorant or wise?\u201d He passed his arm around me affectionately;\nI found myself carried on his magic carpet to the Merciful Presence.\n\n\u201cWould you like to see some bioscopes?\u201d This question one afternoon\nfrom Master Mahasaya was mystifying; the term was then used in India\nto signify motion pictures. I agreed, glad to be in his company in\nany circumstances. A brisk walk brought us to the garden fronting\nCalcutta University. My companion indicated a bench near the GOLDIGHI\nor pond.\n\n\u201cLet us sit here for a few minutes. My Master always asked me\nto meditate whenever I saw an expanse of water. Here its placidity\nreminds us of the vast calmness of God. As all things can be\nreflected in water, so the whole universe is mirrored in the lake\nof the Cosmic Mind. So my GURUDEVA often said.\u201d\n\nSoon we entered a university hall where a lecture was in progress.\nIt proved abysmally dull, though varied occasionally by lantern\nslide illustrations, equally uninteresting.\n\n\u201cSo this is the kind of bioscope the master wanted me to see!\u201d My\nthought was impatient, yet I would not hurt the saint by revealing\nboredom in my face. But he leaned toward me confidentially.\n\n\u201cI see, little sir, that you don\u2019t like this bioscope. I have\nmentioned it to Divine Mother; She is in full sympathy with us\nboth.  She tells me that the electric lights will now go out, and\nwon\u2019t be relit until we have a chance to leave the room.\u201d\n\nAs his whisper ended, the hall was plunged into darkness. The\nprofessor\u2019s strident voice was stilled in astonishment, then remarked,\n\u201cThe electrical system of this hall appears to be defective.\u201d By\nthis time, Master Mahasaya and I were safely across the threshold.\nGlancing back from the corridor, I saw that the scene of our\nmartyrdom had again become illuminated.\n\n\u201cLittle sir, you were disappointed in that bioscope, {FN9-2} but I\nthink you will like a different one.\u201d The saint and I were standing\non the sidewalk in front of the university building. He gently\nslapped my chest over the heart.\n\nA transforming silence ensued. Just as the modern \u201ctalkies\u201d become\ninaudible motion pictures when the sound apparatus goes out of\norder, so the Divine Hand, by some strange miracle, stifled the\nearthly bustle. The pedestrians as well as the passing trolley cars,\nautomobiles, bullock carts, and iron-wheeled hackney carriages were\nall in noiseless transit. As though possessing an omnipresent eye,\nI beheld the scenes which were behind me, and to each side, as\neasily as those in front. The whole spectacle of activity in that\nsmall section of Calcutta passed before me without a sound. Like\na glow of fire dimly seen beneath a thin coat of ashes, a mellow\nluminescence permeated the panoramic view.\n\nMy own body seemed nothing more than one of the many shadows,\nthough it was motionless, while the others flitted mutely to and\nfro. Several boys, friends of mine, approached and passed on; though\nthey had looked directly at me, it was without recognition.\n\nThe unique pantomime brought me an inexpressible ecstasy. I drank\ndeep from some blissful fount. Suddenly my chest received another\nsoft blow from Master Mahasaya. The pandemonium of the world burst\nupon my unwilling ears. I staggered, as though harshly awakened\nfrom a gossamer dream. The transcendental wine removed beyond my\nreach.\n\n\u201cLittle sir, I see you found the second bioscope to your liking.\u201d\nThe saint was smiling; I started to drop in gratitude on the ground\nbefore him. \u201cYou can\u2019t do that to me now; you know God is in your\ntemple also! I won\u2019t let Divine Mother touch my feet through your\nhands!\u201d\n\nIf anyone observed the unpretentious master and myself as we walked\naway from the crowded pavement, the onlooker surely suspected\nus of intoxication. I felt that the falling shades of evening\nwere sympathetically drunk with God. When darkness recovered from\nits nightly swoon, I faced the new morning bereft of my ecstatic\nmood. But ever enshrined in memory is the seraphic son of Divine\nMother-Master Mahasaya!\n\nTrying with poor words to do justice to his benignity, I wonder if\nMaster Mahasaya, and others among the deep-visioned saints whose\npaths crossed mine, knew that years later, in a Western land,\nI would be writing about their lives as divine devotees. Their\nforeknowledge would not surprise me nor, I hope, my readers, who\nhave come thus far with me.\n\n{FN9-1} These are respectful titles by which he was customarily\naddressed. His name was Mahendra Nath Gupta; he signed his literary\nworks simply \u201cM.\u201d\n\n{FN9-2} The Oxford English Dictionary gives, as rare, this definition\nof BIOSCOPE: A view of life; that which gives such a view.\n\nMaster Mahasaya\u2019s choice of a word was, then, peculiarly justified.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 10\n\nI MEET MY MASTER, SRI YUKTESWAR\n\n\n\u201cFaith in God can produce any miracle except one-passing an\nexamination without study.\u201d Distastefully I closed the book I had\npicked up in an idle moment.\n\n\u201cThe writer\u2019s exception shows his complete lack of faith,\u201d I thought.\n\u201cPoor chap, he has great respect for the midnight oil!\u201d\n\nMy promise to Father had been that I would complete my high school\nstudies. I cannot pretend to diligence. The passing months found me\nless frequently in the classroom than in secluded spots along the\nCalcutta bathing GHATS. The adjoining crematory grounds, especially\ngruesome at night, are considered highly attractive by the yogi.\nHe who would find the Deathless Essence must not be dismayed by a\nfew unadorned skulls. Human inadequacy becomes clear in the gloomy\nabode of miscellaneous bones. My midnight vigils were thus of a\ndifferent nature from the scholar\u2019s.\n\nThe week of final examinations at the Hindu High School was fast\napproaching. This interrogatory period, like the sepulchral haunts,\ninspires a well-known terror. My mind was nevertheless at peace.\nBraving the ghouls, I was exhuming a knowledge not found in lecture\nhalls. But it lacked the art of Swami Pranabananda, who easily\nappeared in two places at one time. My educational dilemma was\nplainly a matter for the Infinite Ingenuity. This was my reasoning,\nthough to many it seems illogic. The devotee\u2019s irrationality springs\nfrom a thousand inexplicable demonstrations of God\u2019s instancy in\ntrouble.\n\n\u201cHello, Mukunda! I catch hardly a glimpse of you these days!\u201d A\nclassmate accosted me one afternoon on Gurpar Road.\n\n\u201cHello, Nantu! My invisibility at school has actually placed me\nthere in a decidedly awkward position.\u201d I unburdened myself under\nhis friendly gaze.\n\nNantu, who was a brilliant student, laughed heartily; my predicament\nwas not without a comic aspect.\n\n\u201cYou are utterly unprepared for the finals! I suppose it is up to\nme to help you!\u201d\n\nThe simple words conveyed divine promise to my ears; with alacrity\nI visited my friend\u2019s home. He kindly outlined the solutions to\nvarious problems he considered likely to be set by the instructors.\n\n\u201cThese questions are the bait which will catch many trusting boys\nin the examination trap. Remember my answers, and you will escape\nwithout injury.\u201d\n\nThe night was far gone when I departed. Bursting with unseasoned\nerudition, I devoutly prayed it would remain for the next few\ncritical days. Nantu had coached me in my various subjects but,\nunder press of time, had forgotten my course in Sanskrit. Fervently\nI reminded God of the oversight.\n\nI set out on a short walk the next morning, assimilating my new\nknowledge to the rhythm of swinging footsteps. As I took a short\ncut through the weeds of a corner lot, my eye fell on a few loose\nprinted sheets. A triumphant pounce proved them to be Sanskrit verse.\nI sought out a pundit for aid in my stumbling interpretation. His\nrich voice filled the air with the edgeless, honeyed beauty of the\nancient tongue. {FN10-1}\n\n\u201cThese exceptional stanzas cannot possibly be of aid in your Sanskrit\ntest.\u201d The scholar dismissed them skeptically.\n\nBut familiarity with that particular poem enabled me on the following\nday to pass the Sanskrit examination. Through the discerning help\nNantu had given, I also attained the minimum grade for success in\nall my other subjects.\n\nFather was pleased that I had kept my word and concluded my secondary\nschool course. My gratitude sped to the Lord, whose sole guidance\nI perceived in my visit to Nantu and my walk by the unhabitual route\nof the debris-filled lot. Playfully He had given a dual expression\nto His timely design for my rescue.\n\nI came across the discarded book whose author had denied God\nprecedence in the examination halls. I could not restrain a chuckle\nat my own silent comment:\n\n\u201cIt would only add to this fellow\u2019s confusion, if I were to tell\nhim that divine meditation among the cadavers is a short cut to a\nhigh school diploma!\u201d\n\nIn my new dignity, I was now openly planning to leave home. Together\nwith a young friend, Jitendra Mazumdar, {FN10-2} I decided to join a\nMahamandal hermitage in Benares, and receive its spiritual discipline.\n\nA desolation fell over me one morning at thought of separation from\nmy family. Since Mother\u2019s death, my affection had grown especially\ntender for my two younger brothers, Sananda and Bishnu. I rushed\nto my retreat, the little attic which had witnessed so many scenes\nin my turbulent SADHANA. {FN10-3} After a two-hour flood of tears,\nI felt singularly transformed, as by some alchemical cleanser. All\nattachment {FN10-4} disappeared; my resolution to seek God as the\nFriend of friends set like granite within me. I quickly completed\nmy travel preparations.\n\n\u201cI make one last plea.\u201d Father was distressed as I stood before him\nfor final blessing. \u201cDo not forsake me and your grieving brothers\nand sisters.\u201d\n\n\u201cRevered Father, how can I tell my love for you! But even greater\nis my love for the Heavenly Father, who has given me the gift of\na perfect father on earth. Let me go, that I someday return with\na more divine understanding.\u201d\n\nWith reluctant parental consent, I set out to join Jitendra, already\nin Benares at the hermitage. On my arrival the young head swami,\nDyananda, greeted me cordially. Tall and thin, of thoughtful mien,\nhe impressed me favorably. His fair face had a Buddhalike composure.\n\nI was pleased that my new home possessed an attic, where I managed\nto spend the dawn and morning hours. The ashram members, knowing\nlittle of meditation practices, thought I should employ my whole\ntime in organizational duties. They gave me praise for my afternoon\nwork in their office.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t try to catch God so soon!\u201d This ridicule from a fellow\nresident accompanied one of my early departures toward the attic. I\nwent to Dyananda, busy in his small sanctum overlooking the Ganges.\n\n\u201cSwamiji, {FN10-5} I don\u2019t understand what is required of me here.\nI am seeking direct perception of God. Without Him, I cannot be\nsatisfied with affiliation or creed or performance of good works.\u201d\n\nThe orange-robed ecclesiastic gave me an affectionate pat. Staging\na mock rebuke, he admonished a few near-by disciples. \u201cDon\u2019t bother\nMukunda. He will learn our ways.\u201d\n\nI politely concealed my doubt. The students left the room, not overly\nbent with their chastisement. Dyananda had further words for me.\n\n\u201cMukunda, I see your father is regularly sending you money. Please\nreturn it to him; you require none here. A second injunction for\nyour discipline concerns food. Even when you feel hunger, don\u2019t\nmention it.\u201d\n\nWhether famishment gleamed in my eye, I knew not. That I was hungry,\nI knew only too well. The invariable hour for the first hermitage\nmeal was twelve noon. I had been accustomed in my own home to a\nlarge breakfast at nine o\u2019clock.\n\nThe three-hour gap became daily more interminable. Gone were the\nCalcutta years when I could rebuke the cook for a ten-minute delay.\nNow I tried to control my appetite; one day I undertook a twenty-four\nhour fast. With double zest I awaited the following midday.\n\n\u201cDyanandaji\u2019s train is late; we are not going to eat until he\narrives.\u201d Jitendra brought me this devastating news. As gesture\nof welcome to the swami, who had been absent for two weeks, many\ndelicacies were in readiness. An appetizing aroma filled the air.\nNothing else offering, what else could be swallowed except pride\nover yesterday\u2019s achievement of a fast?\n\n\u201cLord hasten the train!\u201d The Heavenly Provider, I thought, was hardly\nincluded in the interdiction with which Dyananda had silenced me.\nDivine Attention was elsewhere, however; the plodding clock covered\nthe hours. Darkness was descending as our leader entered the door.\nMy greeting was one of unfeigned joy.\n\n\u201cDyanandaji will bathe and meditate before we can serve food.\u201d\nJitendra approached me again as a bird of ill omen.\n\nI was in near-collapse. My young stomach, new to deprivation,\nprotested with gnawing vigor. Pictures I had seen of famine victims\npassed wraithlike before me.\n\n\u201cThe next Benares death from starvation is due at once in this\nhermitage,\u201d I thought. Impending doom averted at nine o\u2019clock.\nAmbrosial summons! In memory that meal is vivid as one of life\u2019s\nperfect hours.\n\nIntense absorption yet permitted me to observe that Dyananda ate\nabsent-mindedly. He was apparently above my gross pleasures.\n\n\u201cSwamiji, weren\u2019t you hungry?\u201d Happily surfeited, I was alone with\nthe leader in his study.\n\n\u201cO yes! I have spent the last four days without food or drink.\nI never eat on trains, filled with the heterogenous vibrations of\nworldly people. Strictly I observe the SHASTRIC {FN10-6} rules for\nmonks of my particular order.\n\n\u201cCertain problems of our organizational work lie on my mind.\nTonight at home I neglected my dinner. What\u2019s the hurry? Tomorrow\nI\u2019ll make it a point to have a proper meal.\u201d He laughed merrily.\n\nShame spread within me like a suffocation. But the past day of my\ntorture was not easily forgotten; I ventured a further remark.\n\n\u201cSwamiji, I am puzzled. Following your instruction, suppose I never\nasked for food, and nobody gives me any. I should starve to death.\u201d\n\n\u201cDie then!\u201d This alarming counsel split the air. \u201cDie if you must\nMukunda! Never admit that you live by the power of food and not by\nthe power of God! He who has created every form of nourishment, He\nwho has bestowed appetite, will certainly see that His devotee is\nsustained!  Do not imagine that rice maintains you, or that money\nor men support you! Could they aid if the Lord withdraws your\nlife-breath? They are His indirect instruments merely. Is it by\nany skill of yours that food digests in your stomach? Use the sword\nof your discrimination, Mukunda! Cut through the chains of agency\nand perceive the Single Cause!\u201d\n\nI found his incisive words entering some deep marrow. Gone was\nan age-old delusion by which bodily imperatives outwit the soul.\nThere and then I tasted the Spirit\u2019s all-sufficiency. In how many\nstrange cities, in my later life of ceaseless travel, did occasion\narise to prove the serviceability of this lesson in a Benares\nhermitage!\n\nThe sole treasure which had accompanied me from Calcutta was the\nSADHU\u2019S silver amulet bequeathed to me by Mother. Guarding it for\nyears, I now had it carefully hidden in my ashram room. To renew\nmy joy in the talismanic testimony, one morning I opened the locked\nbox.  The sealed covering untouched, lo! the amulet was gone.\nMournfully I tore open its envelope and made unmistakably sure. It\nhad vanished, in accordance with the SADHU\u2019S prediction, into the\nether whence he had summoned it.\n\nMy relationship with Dyananda\u2019s followers grew steadily worse. The\nhousehold was alienated, hurt by my determined aloofness. My strict\nadherence to meditation on the very Ideal for which I had left\nhome and all worldly ambitions called forth shallow criticism on\nall sides.\n\nTorn by spiritual anguish, I entered the attic one dawn, resolved\nto pray until answer was vouchsafed.\n\n\u201cMerciful Mother of the Universe, teach me Thyself through visions,\nor through a guru sent by Thee!\u201d\n\nThe passing hours found my sobbing pleas without response. Suddenly\nI felt lifted as though bodily to a sphere uncircumscribed.\n\n\u201cThy Master cometh today!\u201d A divine womanly voice came from everywhere\nand nowhere.\n\nThis supernal experience was pierced by a shout from a definite\nlocale. A young priest nicknamed Habu was calling me from the\ndownstairs kitchen.\n\n\u201cMukunda, enough of meditation! You are needed for an errand.\u201d\n\nAnother day I might have replied impatiently; now I wiped\nmy tear-swollen face and meekly obeyed the summons. Together Habu\nand I set out for a distant market place in the Bengali section of\nBenares. The ungentle Indian sun was not yet at zenith as we made\nour purchases in the bazaars. We pushed our way through the colorful\nmedley of housewives, guides, priests, simply-clad widows, dignified\nBrahmins, and the ubiquitous holy bulls. Passing an inconspicuous\nlane, I turned my head and surveyed the narrow length.\n\nA Christlike man in the ocher robes of a swami stood motionless at\nthe end of the road. Instantly and anciently familiar he seemed;\nmy gaze fed hungrily for a trice. Then doubt assailed me.\n\n\u201cYou are confusing this wandering monk with someone known to you,\u201d\nI thought. \u201cDreamer, walk on.\u201d\n\nAfter ten minutes, I felt heavy numbness in my feet. As though\nturned to stone, they were unable to carry me farther. Laboriously\nI turned around; my feet regained normalcy. I faced the opposite\ndirection; again the curious weight oppressed me.\n\n\u201cThe saint is magnetically drawing me to him!\u201d With this thought,\nI heaped my parcels into the arms of Habu. He had been observing\nmy erratic footwork with amazement, and now burst into laughter.\n\n\u201cWhat ails you? Are you crazy?\u201d\n\nMy tumultuous emotion prevented any retort; I sped silently away.\n\nRetracing my steps as though wing-shod, I reached the narrow lane.\nMy quick glance revealed the quiet figure, steadily gazing in my\ndirection. A few eager steps and I was at his feet.\n\n\u201cGurudeva!\u201d {FN10-7} The divine face was none other than he of my\nthousand visions. These halcyon eyes, in leonine head with pointed\nbeard and flowing locks, had oft peered through gloom of my nocturnal\nreveries, holding a promise I had not fully understood.\n\n\u201cO my own, you have come to me!\u201d My guru uttered the words again\nand again in Bengali, his voice tremulous with joy. \u201cHow many years\nI have waited for you!\u201d\n\nWe entered a oneness of silence; words seemed the rankest\nsuperfluities. Eloquence flowed in soundless chant from heart of\nmaster to disciple. With an antenna of irrefragable insight I sensed\nthat my guru knew God, and would lead me to Him. The obscuration\nof this life disappeared in a fragile dawn of prenatal memories.\nDramatic time! Past, present, and future are its cycling scenes.\nThis was not the first sun to find me at these holy feet!\n\nMy hand in his, my guru led me to his temporary residence in the\nRana Mahal section of the city. His athletic figure moved with firm\ntread.  Tall, erect, about fifty-five at this time, he was active\nand vigorous as a young man. His dark eyes were large, beautiful with\nplumbless wisdom. Slightly curly hair softened a face of striking\npower.  Strength mingled subtly with gentleness.\n\nAs we made our way to the stone balcony of a house overlooking the\nGanges, he said affectionately:\n\n\u201cI will give you my hermitages and all I possess.\u201d\n\n\u201cSir, I come for wisdom and God-contact. Those are your treasure-troves\nI am after!\u201d\n\nThe swift Indian twilight had dropped its half-curtain before my\nmaster spoke again. His eyes held unfathomable tenderness.\n\n\u201cI give you my unconditional love.\u201d\n\nPrecious words! A quarter-century elapsed before I had another\nauricular proof of his love. His lips were strange to ardor; silence\nbecame his oceanic heart.\n\n\u201cWill you give me the same unconditional love?\u201d He gazed at me with\nchildlike trust.\n\n\u201cI will love you eternally, Gurudeva!\u201d\n\n\u201cOrdinary love is selfish, darkly rooted in desires and satisfactions.\nDivine love is without condition, without boundary, without change.\nThe flux of the human heart is gone forever at the transfixing touch\nof pure love.\u201d He added humbly, \u201cIf ever you find me falling from\na state of God-realization, please promise to put my head on your\nlap and help to bring me back to the Cosmic Beloved we both worship.\u201d\n\nHe rose then in the gathering darkness and guided me to an inner\nroom.  As we ate mangoes and almond sweetmeats, he unobtrusively\nwove into his conversation an intimate knowledge of my nature. I\nwas awe-struck at the grandeur of his wisdom, exquisitely blended\nwith an innate humility.\n\n\u201cDo not grieve for your amulet. It has served its purpose.\u201d Like\na divine mirror, my guru apparently had caught a reflection of my\nwhole life.\n\n\u201cThe living reality of your presence, Master, is joy beyond any\nsymbol.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is time for a change, inasmuch as you are unhappily situated\nin the hermitage.\u201d\n\nI had made no references to my life; they now seemed superfluous!\nBy his natural, unemphatic manner, I understood that he wished no\nastonished ejaculations at his clairvoyance.\n\n\u201cYou should go back to Calcutta. Why exclude relatives from your\nlove of humanity?\u201d\n\nHis suggestion dismayed me. My family was predicting my return,\nthough I had been unresponsive to many pleas by letter. \u201cLet the\nyoung bird fly in the metaphysical skies,\u201d Ananta had remarked.\n\u201cHis wings will tire in the heavy atmosphere. We shall yet see him\nswoop toward home, fold his pinions, and humbly rest in our family\nnest.\u201d This discouraging simile fresh in my mind, I was determined\nto do no \u201cswooping\u201d in the direction of Calcutta.\n\n\u201cSir, I am not returning home. But I will follow you anywhere.\nPlease give me your address, and your name.\u201d\n\n\u201cSwami Sri Yukteswar Giri. My chief hermitage is in Serampore, on\nRai Ghat Lane. I am visiting my mother here for only a few days.\u201d\n\nI wondered at God\u2019s intricate play with His devotees. Serampore is\nbut twelve miles from Calcutta, yet in those regions I had never\ncaught a glimpse of my guru. We had had to travel for our meeting\nto the ancient city of Kasi (Benares), hallowed by memories of\nLahiri Mahasaya. Here too the feet of Buddha, Shankaracharya and\nother Yogi\u2014Christs had blessed the soil.\n\n\u201cYou will come to me in four weeks.\u201d For the first time, Sri\nYukteswar\u2019s voice was stern. \u201cNow I have told my eternal affection,\nand have shown my happiness at finding you-that is why you disregard\nmy request. The next time we meet, you will have to reawaken my\ninterest: I won\u2019t accept you as a disciple easily. There must be\ncomplete surrender by obedience to my strict training.\u201d\n\nI remained obstinately silent. My guru easily penetrated my\ndifficulty.\n\n\u201cDo you think your relatives will laugh at you?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will not return.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou will return in thirty days.\u201d\n\n\u201cNever.\u201d Bowing reverently at his feet, I departed without lightening\nthe controversial tension. As I made my way in the midnight darkness,\nI wondered why the miraculous meeting had ended on an inharmonious\nnote. The dual scales of MAYA, that balance every joy with a grief!\nMy young heart was not yet malleable to the transforming fingers\nof my guru.\n\nThe next morning I noticed increased hostility in the attitude\nof the hermitage members. My days became spiked with invariable\nrudeness. In three weeks, Dyananda left the ashram to attend a\nconference in Bombay; pandemonium broke over my hapless head.\n\n\u201cMukunda is a parasite, accepting hermitage hospitality without\nmaking proper return.\u201d Overhearing this remark, I regretted for the\nfirst time that I had obeyed the request to send back my money to\nFather.  With heavy heart, I sought out my sole friend, Jitendra.\n\n\u201cI am leaving. Please convey my respectful regrets to Dyanandaji\nwhen he returns.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will leave also! My attempts to meditate here meet with no more\nfavor than your own.\u201d Jitendra spoke with determination.\n\n\u201cI have met a Christlike saint. Let us visit him in Serampore.\u201d\n\nAnd so the \u201cbird\u201d prepared to \u201cswoop\u201d perilously close to Calcutta!\n\n{FN10-1} SANSKRITA, polished; complete. Sanskrit is the eldest\nsister of all Indo-European tongues. Its alphabetical script is\nDEVANAGARI, literally \u201cdivine abode.\u201d \u201cWho knows my grammar knows\nGod!\u201d Panini, great philologist of ancient India, paid this tribute\nto the mathematical and psychological perfection in Sanskrit. He\nwho would track language to its lair must indeed end as omniscient.\n\n{FN10-2} He was not Jatinda (Jotin Ghosh), who will be remembered\nfor his timely aversion to tigers!\n\n{FN10-3} Path or preliminary road to God.\n\n{FN10-4} Hindu scriptures teach that family attachment is delusive\nif it prevents the devotee from seeking the Giver of all boons,\nincluding the one of loving relatives, not to mention life itself.\nJesus similarly taught: \u201cWho is my mother? and who are my brethren?\u201d\n(MATTHEW 12:48.)\n\n{FN10-5} JI is a customary respectful suffix, particularly used\nin direct address; thus \u201cswamiji,\u201d \u201cguruji,\u201d \u201cSri Yukteswarji,\u201d\n\u201cparamhansaji.\u201d\n\n{FN10-6} Pertaining to the SHASTRAS, literally, \u201csacred books,\u201d\ncomprising four classes of scripture: the SHRUTI, SMRITI, PURANA,\nand TANTRA. These comprehensive treatises cover every aspect\nof religious and social life, and the fields of law, medicine,\narchitecture, art, etc. The SHRUTIS are the \u201cdirectly heard\u201d or\n\u201crevealed\u201d scriptures, the VEDAS. The SMRITIS or \u201cremembered\u201d lore\nwas finally written down in a remote past as the world\u2019s longest\nepic poems, the MAHABHARATA and the RAMAYANA. PURANAS are literally\n\u201cancient\u201d allegories; TANTRAS literally mean \u201crites\u201d or \u201crituals\u201d;\nthese treatises convey profound truths under a veil of detailed\nsymbolism.\n\n{FN10-7} \u201cDivine teacher,\u201d the customary Sanskrit term for one\u2019s\nspiritual preceptor. I have rendered it in English as simply\n\u201cMaster.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 11\n\nTWO PENNILESS BOYS IN BRINDABAN\n\n\n\u201cIt would serve you right if Father disinherited you, Mukunda! How\nfoolishly you are throwing away your life!\u201d An elder-brother sermon\nwas assaulting my ears.\n\nJitendra and I, fresh from the train (a figure of speech merely;\nwe were covered with dust), had just arrived at the home of Ananta,\nrecently transferred from Calcutta to the ancient city of Agra.\nBrother was a supervising accountant for the Bengal-Nagpur Railway.\n\n\u201cYou well know, Ananta, I seek my inheritance from the Heavenly\nFather.\u201d\n\n\u201cMoney first; God can come later! Who knows? Life may be too long.\u201d\n\n\u201cGod first; money is His slave! Who can tell? Life may be too\nshort.\u201d\n\nMy retort was summoned by the exigencies of the moment, and held\nno presentiment. Yet the leaves of time unfolded to early finality\nfor Ananta; a few years later {FN11-1} he entered the land where\nbank notes avail neither first nor last.\n\n\u201cWisdom from the hermitage, I suppose! But I see you have left\nBenares.\u201d Ananta\u2019s eyes gleamed with satisfaction; he yet hoped to\nsecure my pinions in the family nest.\n\n\u201cMy sojourn in Benares was not in vain! I found there everything my\nheart had been longing for! You may be sure it was not your pundit\nor his son!\u201d\n\nAnanta joined me in reminiscent laughter; he had had to admit that\nthe Benares \u201cclairvoyant\u201d he selected was a shortsighted one.\n\n\u201cWhat are your plans, my wandering brother?\u201d\n\n\u201cJitendra persuaded me to Agra. We shall view the beauties of the\nTaj Mahal {FN11-2} here,\u201d I explained. \u201cThen we are going to my\nnewly-found guru, who has a hermitage in Serampore.\u201d\n\nAnanta hospitably arranged for our comfort. Several times during\nthe evening I noticed his eyes fixed on me reflectively.\n\n\u201cI know that look!\u201d I thought. \u201cA plot is brewing!\u201d\n\nThe denouement took place during our early breakfast.\n\n\u201cSo you feel quite independent of Father\u2019s wealth.\u201d Ananta\u2019s gaze\nwas innocent as he resumed the barbs of yesterday\u2019s conversation.\n\n\u201cI am conscious of my dependence on God.\u201d\n\n\u201cWords are cheap! Life has shielded you thus far! What a plight\nif you were forced to look to the Invisible Hand for your food and\nshelter!  You would soon be begging on the streets!\u201d\n\n\u201cNever! I would not put faith in passers-by rather than God! He can\ndevise for His devotee a thousand resources besides the begging-bowl!\u201d\n\n\u201cMore rhetoric! Suppose I suggest that your vaunted philosophy be\nput to a test in this tangible world?\u201d\n\n\n\u201cI would agree! Do you confine God to a speculative world?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe shall see; today you shall have opportunity either to enlarge\nor to confirm my own views!\u201d Ananta paused for a dramatic moment;\nthen spoke slowly and seriously.\n\n\u201cI propose that I send you and your fellow disciple Jitendra this\nmorning to the near-by city of Brindaban. You must not take a\nsingle rupee; you must not beg, either for food or money; you must\nnot reveal your predicament to anyone; you must not go without your\nmeals; and you must not be stranded in Brindaban. If you return\nto my bungalow here before twelve o\u2019clock tonight, without having\nbroken any rule of the test, I shall be the most astonished man in\nAgra!\u201d\n\n\u201cI accept the challenge.\u201d No hesitation was in my words or in\nmy heart. Grateful memories flashed of the Instant Beneficence:\nmy healing of deadly cholera through appeal to Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s\npicture; the playful gift of the two kites on the Lahore roof with\nUma; the opportune amulet amidst my discouragement; the decisive\nmessage through the unknown Benares SADHU outside the compound of\nthe pundit\u2019s home; the vision of Divine Mother and Her majestic\nwords of love; Her swift heed through Master Mahasaya to my trifling\nembarrassments; the last-minute guidance which materialized my\nhigh school diploma; and the ultimate boon, my living Master from\nthe mist of lifelong dreams.  Never could I admit my \u201cphilosophy\u201d\nunequal to any tussle on the world\u2019s harsh proving ground!\n\n\u201cYour willingness does you credit. I\u2019ll escort you to the train\nat once.\u201d Ananta turned to the openmouthed Jitendra. \u201cYou must go\nalong as a witness and, very likely, a fellow victim!\u201d\n\nA half hour later Jitendra and I were in possession of one-way\ntickets for our impromptu trip. We submitted, in a secluded corner\nof the station, to a search of our persons. Ananta was quickly\nsatisfied that we were carrying no hidden hoard; our simple DHOTIS\n{FN11-3} concealed nothing more than was necessary.\n\nAs faith invaded the serious realms of finance, my friend spoke\nprotestingly. \u201cAnanta, give me one or two rupees as a safeguard.\nThen I can telegraph you in case of misfortune.\u201d\n\n\u201cJitendra!\u201d My ejaculation was sharply reproachful. \u201cI will not\nproceed with the test if you take any money as final security.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is something reassuring about the clink of coins.\u201d Jitendra\nsaid no more as I regarded him sternly.\n\n\u201cMukunda, I am not heartless.\u201d A hint of humility had crept into\nAnanta\u2019s voice. It may be that his conscience was smiting him;\nperhaps for sending two insolvent boys to a strange city; perhaps\nfor his own religious skepticism. \u201cIf by any chance or grace you\npass successfully through the Brindaban ordeal, I shall ask you to\ninitiate me as your disciple.\u201d\n\nThis promise had a certain irregularity, in keeping with the\nunconventional occasion. The eldest brother in an Indian family\nseldom bows before his juniors; he receives respect and obedience\nsecond only to a father. But no time remained for my comment; our\ntrain was at point of departure.\n\nJitendra maintained a lugubrious silence as our train covered the\nmiles. Finally he bestirred himself; leaning over, he pinched me\npainfully at an awkward spot.\n\n\u201cI see no sign that God is going to supply our next meal!\u201d\n\n\u201cBe quiet, doubting Thomas; the Lord is working with us.\u201d\n\n\u201cCan you also arrange that He hurry? Already I am famished merely\nat the prospect before us. I left Benares to view the Taj\u2019s mausoleum,\nnot to enter my own!\u201d\n\n\u201cCheer up, Jitendra! Are we not to have our first glimpse of the\nsacred wonders of Brindaban? {FN11-4} I am in deep joy at thought\nof treading the ground hallowed by feet of Lord Krishna.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: (Left to Right) Jitendra Mazumdar, my companion\non the \u201cpenniless test\u201d at Brindaban; Lalit-da, my cousin; Swami\nKebelananda (\u201cShastri Mahasaya\u201d), my saintly Sanskrit tutor; myself,\nas a high school youth\u2014see friends.jpg]\n\nThe door of our compartment opened; two men seated themselves. The\nnext train stop would be the last.\n\n\u201cYoung lads, do you have friends in Brindaban?\u201d The stranger opposite\nme was taking a surprising interest.\n\n\u201cNone of your business!\u201d Rudely I averted my gaze.\n\n\u201cYou are probably flying away from your families under the enchantment\nof the Stealer of Hearts. {FN11-5} I am of devotional temperament\nmyself. I will make it my positive duty to see that you receive\nfood, and shelter from this overpowering heat.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, sir, let us alone. You are very kind; but you are mistaken in\njudging us to be truants from home.\u201d\n\nNo further conversation ensued; the train came to a halt. As Jitendra\nand I descended to the platform, our chance companions linked arms\nwith us and summoned a horse cab.\n\nWe alit before a stately hermitage, set amidst the evergreen trees\nof well-kept grounds. Our benefactors were evidently known here; a\nsmiling lad led us without comment to a parlor. We were soon joined\nby an elderly woman of dignified bearing.\n\n\u201cGauri Ma, the princes could not come.\u201d One of the men addressed\nthe ashram hostess. \u201cAt the last moment their plans went awry; they\nsend deep regrets. But we have brought two other guests. As soon\nas we met on the train, I felt drawn to them as devotees of Lord\nKrishna.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood-by, young friends.\u201d Our two acquaintances walked to the door.\n\u201cWe shall meet again, if God be willing.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are welcome here.\u201d Gauri Ma smiled in motherly fashion on her\ntwo unexpected charges. \u201cYou could not have come on a better day.\nI was expecting two royal patrons of this hermitage. What a shame\nif my cooking had found none to appreciate it!\u201d\n\nThese appetizing words had disastrous effect on Jitendra: he burst\ninto tears. The \u201cprospect\u201d he had feared in Brindaban was turning\nout as royal entertainment; his sudden mental adjustment proved\ntoo much for him. Our hostess looked at him with curiosity, but\nwithout remark; perhaps she was familiar with adolescent quirks.\n\nLunch was announced; Gauri Ma led the way to a dining patio, spicy\nwith savory odors. She vanished into an adjoining kitchen.\n\nI had been premeditating this moment. Selecting the appropriate\nspot on Jitendra\u2019s anatomy, I administered a pinch as resounding\nas the one he had given me on the train.\n\n\u201cDoubting Thomas, the Lord works-in a hurry, too!\u201d\n\nThe hostess reentered with a PUNKHA. She steadily fanned us in the\nOriental fashion as we squatted on ornate blanket-seats. Ashram\ndisciples passed to and fro with some thirty courses. Rather than\n\u201cmeal,\u201d the description can only be \u201csumptuous repast.\u201d Since\narriving on this planet, Jitendra and I had never before tasted\nsuch delicacies.\n\n\u201cDishes fit for princes indeed, Honored Mother! What your royal\npatrons could have found more urgent than attending this banquet,\nI cannot imagine! You have given us a memory for a lifetime!\u201d\n\nSilenced as we were by Ananta\u2019s requirement, we could not explain\nto the gracious lady that our thanks held a double significance.\nOur sincerity at least was patent. We departed with her blessing\nand an attractive invitation to revisit the hermitage.\n\nThe heat outdoors was merciless. My friend and I made for the\nshelter of a lordly cadamba tree at the ashram gate. Sharp words\nfollowed; once again Jitendra was beset with misgivings.\n\n\u201cA fine mess you have got me into! Our luncheon was only accidental\ngood fortune! How can we see the sights of this city, without a\nsingle pice between us? And how on earth are you going to take me\nback to Ananta\u2019s?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou forget God quickly, now that your stomach is filled.\u201d My words,\nnot bitter, were accusatory. How short is human memory for divine\nfavors! No man lives who has not seen certain of his prayers granted.\n\n\u201cI am not likely to forget my folly in venturing out with a madcap\nlike you!\u201d\n\n\u201cBe quiet, Jitendra! The same Lord who fed us will show us Brindaban,\nand return us to Agra.\u201d\n\nA slight young man of pleasing countenance approached at rapid\npace.  Halting under our tree, he bowed before me.\n\n\u201cDear friend, you and your companion must be strangers here. Permit\nme to be your host and guide.\u201d\n\nIt is scarcely possible for an Indian to pale, but Jitendra\u2019s face\nwas suddenly sickly. I politely declined the offer.\n\n\u201cYou are surely not banishing me?\u201d The stranger\u2019s alarm would have\nbeen comic in any other circumstances.\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are my guru.\u201d His eyes sought mine trustfully. \u201cDuring my\nmidday devotions, the blessed Lord Krishna appeared in a vision.\nHe showed me two forsaken figures under this very tree. One face\nwas yours, my master! Often have I seen it in meditation! What joy\nif you accept my humble services!\u201d\n\n\u201cI too am glad you have found me. Neither God nor man has forsaken\nus!\u201d Though I was motionless, smiling at the eager face before me,\nan inward obeisance cast me at the Divine Feet.\n\n\u201cDear friends, will you not honor my home for a visit?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are kind; but the plan is unfeasible. Already we are guests\nof my brother in Agra.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt least give me memories of touring Brindaban with you.\u201d\n\nI gladly consented. The young man, who said his name was Pratap\nChatterji, hailed a horse carriage. We visited Madanamohana Temple\nand other Krishna shrines. Night descended while we were at our\ntemple devotions.\n\n\u201cExcuse me while I get SANDESH.\u201d {FN11-6} Pratap entered a shop\nnear the railroad station. Jitendra and I sauntered along the\nwide street, crowded now in the comparative coolness. Our friend\nwas absent for some time, but finally returned with gifts of many\nsweetmeats.\n\n\u201cPlease allow me to gain this religious merit.\u201d Pratap smiled\npleadingly as he held out a bundle of rupee notes and two tickets,\njust purchased, to Agra.\n\nThe reverence of my acceptance was for the Invisible Hand. Scoffed\nat by Ananta, had Its bounty not far exceeded necessity?\n\nWe sought out a secluded spot near the station.\n\n\u201cPratap, I will instruct you in the KRIYA of Lahiri Mahasaya, the\ngreatest yogi of modern times. His technique will be your guru.\u201d\n\nThe initiation was concluded in a half hour. \u201cKRIYA is your CHINTAMANI,\u201d\n{FN11-7} I told the new student. \u201cThe technique, which as you see\nis simple, embodies the art of quickening man\u2019s spiritual evolution.\nHindu scriptures teach that the incarnating ego requires a million\nyears to obtain liberation from MAYA. This natural period is\ngreatly shortened through KRIYA YOGA. Just as Jagadis Chandra Bose\nhas demonstrated that plant growth can be accelerated far beyond\nits normal rate, so man\u2019s psychological development can be also\nspeeded by an inner science. Be faithful in your practice; you will\napproach the Guru of all gurus.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am transported to find this yogic key, long sought!\u201d Pratap\nspoke thoughtfully. \u201cIts unshackling effect on my sensory bonds\nwill free me for higher spheres. The vision today of Lord Krishna\ncould only mean my highest good.\u201d\n\nWe sat awhile in silent understanding, then walked slowly to the\nstation. Joy was within me as I boarded the train, but this was\nJitendra\u2019s day for tears. My affectionate farewell to Pratap had\nbeen punctuated by stifled sobs from both my companions. The journey\nonce more found Jitendra in a welter of grief. Not for himself this\ntime, but against himself.\n\n\u201cHow shallow my trust! My heart has been stone! Never in future\nshall I doubt God\u2019s protection!\u201d\n\nMidnight was approaching. The two \u201cCinderellas,\u201d sent forth\npenniless, entered Ananta\u2019s bedroom. His face, as he had promised,\nwas a study in astonishment. Silently I showered the table with\nrupees.\n\n\u201cJitendra, the truth!\u201d Ananta\u2019s tone was jocular. \u201cHas not this\nyoungster been staging a holdup?\u201d\n\nBut as the tale was unfolded, my brother turned sober, then solemn.\n\n\u201cThe law of demand and supply reaches into subtler realms than I\nhad supposed.\u201d Ananta spoke with a spiritual enthusiasm never before\nnoticeable. \u201cI understand for the first time your indifference to\nthe vaults and vulgar accumulations of the world.\u201d\n\nLate as it was, my brother insisted that he receive DIKSHA {FN11-8}\ninto KRIYA YOGA. The \u201cguru\u201d Mukunda had to shoulder the responsibility\nof two unsought disciples in one day.\n\nBreakfast the following morning was eaten in a harmony absent the\nday before. I smiled at Jitendra.\n\n\u201cYou shall not be cheated of the Taj. Let us view it before starting\nfor Serampore.\u201d\n\nBidding farewell to Ananta, my friend and I were soon before the\nglory of Agra, the Taj Mahal. White marble dazzling in the sun,\nit stands a vision of pure symmetry. The perfect setting is dark\ncypress, glossy lawn, and tranquil lagoon. The interior is exquisite\nwith lacelike carvings inlaid with semiprecious stones. Delicate\nwreaths and scrolls emerge intricately from marbles, brown and\nviolet. Illumination from the dome falls on the cenotaphs of Emperor\nShah-Jahan and Mumtaz Mahall, queen of his realm and his heart.\n\nEnough of sight-seeing! I was longing for my guru. Jitendra and I\nwere shortly traveling south by train toward Bengal.\n\n\u201cMukunda, I have not seen my family in months. I have changed my\nmind; perhaps later I shall visit your master in Serampore.\u201d\n\nMy friend, who may mildly be described as vacillating in temperament,\nleft me in Calcutta. By local train I soon reached Serampore, twelve\nmiles to the north.\n\nA throb of wonderment stole over me as I realized that twenty-eight\ndays had elapsed since the Benares meeting with my guru. \u201cYou will\ncome to me in four weeks!\u201d Here I was, heart pounding, standing\nwithin his courtyard on quiet Rai Ghat Lane. I entered for the first\ntime the hermitage where I was to spend the best part of the next\nten years with India\u2019s JYANAVATAR, \u201cincarnation of wisdom.\u201d\n\n{FN11-1} See chapter 25.\n\n{FN11-2} The world-famous mausoleum..\n\n{FN11-3} A DHOTI-cloth is knotted around the waist and covers the\nlegs..\n\n{FN11-4} Brindaban, in the Muttra district of United Provinces, is\nthe Hindu Jerusalem. Here Lord Krishna displayed his glories for\nthe benefit of mankind..\n\n{FN11-5} Hari; an endearing name by which Lord Krishna is known to\nhis devotees.\n\n{FN11-6} An Indian sweetmeat..\n\n{FN11-7} A mythological gem with power to grant desires.\n\n{FN11-8} Spiritual initiation; from the Sanskrit root DIKSH, to\ndedicate oneself.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 12\n\nYEARS IN MY MASTER\u2019S HERMITAGE\n\n\n\u201cYou have come.\u201d Sri Yukteswar greeted me from a tiger skin on the\nfloor of a balconied sitting room. His voice was cold, his manner\nunemotional.\n\n\u201cYes, dear Master, I am here to follow you.\u201d Kneeling, I touched\nhis feet.\n\n\u201cHow can that be? You ignore my wishes.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo longer, Guruji! Your wish shall be my law!\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is better! Now I can assume responsibility for your life.\u201d\n\n\u201cI willingly transfer the burden, Master.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy first request, then, is that you return home to your family.\nI want you to enter college in Calcutta. Your education should be\ncontinued.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, sir.\u201d I hid my consternation. Would importunate books\npursue me down the years? First Father, now Sri Yukteswar!\n\n\n\u201cSomeday you will go to the West. Its people will lend ears more\nreceptive to India\u2019s ancient wisdom if the strange Hindu teacher\nhas a university degree.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know best, Guruji.\u201d My gloom departed. The reference to the\nWest I found puzzling, remote; but my opportunity to please Master\nby obedience was vitally immediate.\n\n\u201cYou will be near in Calcutta; come here whenever you find time.\u201d\n\n\u201cEvery day if possible, Master! Gratefully I accept your authority\nin every detail of my life-on one condition.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat you promise to reveal God to me!\u201d\n\nAn hour-long verbal tussle ensued. A master\u2019s word cannot be\nfalsified; it is not lightly given. The implications in the pledge\nopen out vast metaphysical vistas. A guru must be on intimate\nterms indeed with the Creator before he can obligate Him to appear!\nI sensed Sri Yukteswar\u2019s divine unity, and was determined, as his\ndisciple, to press my advantage.\n\n\u201cYou are of exacting disposition!\u201d Then Master\u2019s consent rang out\nwith compassionate finality:\n\n\u201cLet your wish be my wish.\u201d\n\nLifelong shadow lifted from my heart; the vague search, hither and\nyon, was over. I had found eternal shelter in a true guru.\n\n\u201cCome; I will show you the hermitage.\u201d Master rose from his tiger\nmat.  I glanced about me; my gaze fell with astonishment on a wall\npicture, garlanded with a spray of jasmine.\n\n\u201cLahiri Mahasaya!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my divine guru.\u201d Sri Yukteswar\u2019s tone was reverently vibrant.\n\u201cGreater he was, as man and yogi, than any other teacher whose life\ncame within the range of my investigations.\u201d\n\nSilently I bowed before the familiar picture. Soul-homage sped to\nthe peerless master who, blessing my infancy, had guided my steps\nto this hour.\n\nLed by my guru, I strolled over the house and its grounds.\nLarge, ancient and well-built, the hermitage was surrounded by a\nmassive-pillared courtyard. Outer walls were moss-covered; pigeons\nfluttered over the flat gray roof, unceremoniously sharing the\nashram quarters.  A rear garden was pleasant with jackfruit, mango,\nand plantain trees.  Balustraded balconies of upper rooms in the\ntwo-storied building faced the courtyard from three sides. A spacious\nground-floor hall, with high ceiling supported by colonnades, was\nused, Master said, chiefly during the annual festivities of DURGAPUJA.\n{FN12-1} A narrow stairway led to Sri Yukteswar\u2019s sitting room,\nwhose small balcony overlooked the street. The ashram was plainly\nfurnished; everything was simple, clean, and utilitarian. Several\nWestern styled chairs, benches, and tables were in evidence.\n\nMaster invited me to stay overnight. A supper of vegetable curry was\nserved by two young disciples who were receiving hermitage training.\n\n\u201cGuruji, please tell me something of your life.\u201d I was squatting\non a straw mat near his tiger skin. The friendly stars were very\nclose, it seemed, beyond the balcony.\n\n\u201cMy family name was Priya Nath Karar. I was born {FN12-2} here\nin Serampore, where Father was a wealthy businessman. He left me\nthis ancestral mansion, now my hermitage. My formal schooling was\nlittle; I found it slow and shallow. In early manhood, I undertook\nthe responsibilities of a householder, and have one daughter, now\nmarried.  My middle life was blessed with the guidance of Lahiri\nMahasaya. After my wife died, I joined the Swami Order and received\nthe new name of Sri Yukteswar Giri. {FN12-3} Such are my simple\nannals.\u201d\n\nMaster smiled at my eager face. Like all biographical sketches,\nhis words had given the outward facts without revealing the inner\nman.\n\n\u201cGuruji, I would like to hear some stories of your childhood.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will tell you a few-each one with a moral!\u201d Sri Yukteswar\u2019s\neyes twinkled with his warning. \u201cMy mother once tried to frighten\nme with an appalling story of a ghost in a dark chamber. I went\nthere immediately, and expressed my disappointment at having missed\nthe ghost. Mother never told me another horror-tale. Moral: Look\nfear in the face and it will cease to trouble you.\n\n\u201cAnother early memory is my wish for an ugly dog belonging to\na neighbor. I kept my household in turmoil for weeks to get that\ndog. My ears were deaf to offers of pets with more prepossessing\nappearance.  Moral: Attachment is blinding; it lends an imaginary\nhalo of attractiveness to the object of desire.\n\n\u201cA third story concerns the plasticity of the youthful mind. I\nheard my mother remark occasionally: \u2018A man who accepts a job under\nanyone is a slave.\u2019 That impression became so indelibly fixed that\neven after my marriage I refused all positions. I met expenses by\ninvesting my family endowment in land. Moral: Good and positive\nsuggestions should instruct the sensitive ears of children. Their\nearly ideas long remain sharply etched.\u201d\n\nMaster fell into tranquil silence. Around midnight he led me to\na narrow cot. Sleep was sound and sweet the first night under my\nguru\u2019s roof.\n\nSri Yukteswar chose the following morning to grant me his KRIYA YOGA\ninitiation. The technique I had already received from two disciples\nof Lahiri Mahasaya-Father and my tutor, Swami Kebalananda-but in\nMaster\u2019s presence I felt transforming power. At his touch, a great\nlight broke upon my being, like glory of countless suns blazing\ntogether. A flood of ineffable bliss, overwhelming my heart to an\ninnermost core, continued during the following day. It was late\nthat afternoon before I could bring myself to leave the hermitage.\n\n\u201cYou will return in thirty days.\u201d As I reached my Calcutta home,\nthe fulfillment of Master\u2019s prediction entered with me. None of my\nrelatives made the pointed remarks I had feared about the reappearance\nof the \u201csoaring bird.\u201d\n\nI climbed to my little attic and bestowed affectionate glances,\nas though on a living presence. \u201cYou have witnessed my meditations,\nand the tears and storms of my SADHANA. Now I have reached the\nharbor of my divine teacher.\u201d\n\n\u201cSon, I am happy for us both.\u201d Father and I sat together in the\nevening calm. \u201cYou have found your guru, as in miraculous fashion\nI once found my own. The holy hand of Lahiri Mahasaya is guarding\nour lives. Your master has proved no inaccessible Himalayan saint,\nbut one near-by. My prayers have been answered: you have not in\nyour search for God been permanently removed from my sight.\u201d\n\nFather was also pleased that my formal studies would be resumed;\nhe made suitable arrangements. I was enrolled the following day at\nthe Scottish Church College in Calcutta.\n\nHappy months sped by. My readers have doubtless made the perspicacious\nsurmise that I was little seen in the college classrooms. The\nSerampore hermitage held a lure too irresistible. Master accepted\nmy ubiquitous presence without comment. To my relief, he seldom\nreferred to the halls of learning. Though it was plain to all that\nI was never cut out for a scholar, I managed to attain minimum\npassing grades from time to time.\n\nDaily life at the ashram flowed smoothly, infrequently varied. My\nguru awoke before dawn. Lying down, or sometimes sitting on the bed,\nhe entered a state of SAMADHI. {FN12-4} It was simplicity itself\nto discover when Master had awakened: abrupt halt of stupendous\nsnores. {FN12-5} A sigh or two; perhaps a bodily movement. Then a\nsoundless state of breathlessness: he was in deep yogic joy.\n\n[Illustration: My Master, Sri Yukteswar, Disciple of Lahiri\nMahasaya\u2014see yukteswar.jpg]\n\nBreakfast did not follow; first came a long walk by the Ganges.\nThose morning strolls with my guru-how real and vivid still! In\nthe easy resurrection of memory, I often find myself by his side:\nthe early sun is warming the river. His voice rings out, rich with\nthe authenticity of wisdom.\n\nA bath; then the midday meal. Its preparation, according to Master\u2019s\ndaily directions, had been the careful task of young disciples. My\nguru was a vegetarian. Before embracing monkhood, however, he had\neaten eggs and fish. His advice to students was to follow any simple\ndiet which proved suited to one\u2019s constitution.\n\nMaster ate little; often rice, colored with turmeric or juice of\nbeets or spinach and lightly sprinkled with buffalo GHEE or melted\nbutter.  Another day he might have lentil-DHAL or CHANNA {FN12-6}\ncurry with vegetables. For dessert, mangoes or oranges with rice\npudding, or jackfruit juice.\n\nVisitors appeared in the afternoons. A steady stream poured from\nthe world into the hermitage tranquillity. Everyone found in Master\nan equal courtesy and kindness. To a man who has realized himself\nas a soul, not the body or the ego, the rest of humanity assumes\na striking similarity of aspect.\n\nThe impartiality of saints is rooted in wisdom. Masters have escaped\nMAYA; its alternating faces of intellect and idiocy no longer cast\nan influential glance. Sri Yukteswar showed no special consideration\nto those who happened to be powerful or accomplished; neither did\nhe slight others for their poverty or illiteracy. He would listen\nrespectfully to words of truth from a child, and openly ignore a\nconceited pundit.\n\nEight o\u2019clock was the supper hour, and sometimes found lingering\nguests. My guru would not excuse himself to eat alone; none left his\nashram hungry or dissatisfied. Sri Yukteswar was never at a loss,\nnever dismayed by unexpected visitors; scanty food would emerge\na banquet under his resourceful direction. Yet he was economical;\nhis modest funds went far. \u201cBe comfortable within your purse,\u201d\nhe often said. \u201cExtravagance will buy you discomfort.\u201d Whether in\nthe details of hermitage entertainment, or his building and repair\nwork, or other practical concerns, Master manifested the originality\nof a creative spirit.\n\nQuiet evening hours often brought one of my guru\u2019s discourses,\ntreasures against time. His every utterance was measured and chiseled\nby wisdom. A sublime self-assurance marked his mode of expression:\nit was unique. He spoke as none other in my experience ever spoke.\nHis thoughts were weighed in a delicate balance of discrimination\nbefore he permitted them an outward garb. The essence of truth,\nall-pervasive with even a physiological aspect, came from him like\na fragrant exudation of the soul. I was conscious always that I\nwas in the presence of a living manifestation of God. The weight\nof his divinity automatically bowed my head before him.\n\nIf late guests detected that Sri Yukteswar was becoming engrossed\nwith the Infinite, he quickly engaged them in conversation. He was\nincapable of striking a pose, or of flaunting his inner withdrawal.\nAlways one with the Lord, he needed no separate time for communion.\nA self-realized master has already left behind the stepping stone\nof meditation. \u201cThe flower falls when the fruit appears.\u201d But saints\noften cling to spiritual forms for the encouragement of disciples.\n\nAs midnight approached, my guru might fall into a doze with the\nnaturalness of a child. There was no fuss about bedding. He often\nlay down, without even a pillow, on a narrow davenport which was\nthe background for his customary tiger-skin seat.\n\nA night-long philosophical discussion was not rare; any disciple\ncould summon it by intensity of interest. I felt no tiredness then,\nno desire for sleep; Master\u2019s living words were sufficient. \u201cOh,\nit is dawn! Let us walk by the Ganges.\u201d So ended many of my periods\nof nocturnal edification.\n\nMy early months with Sri Yukteswar culminated in a useful lesson-\u201cHow\nto Outwit a Mosquito.\u201d At home my family always used protective\ncurtains at night. I was dismayed to discover that in the Serampore\nhermitage this prudent custom was honored in the breach. Yet the\ninsects were in full residency; I was bitten from head to foot. My\nguru took pity on me.\n\n\u201cBuy yourself a curtain, and also one for me.\u201d He laughed and added,\n\u201cIf you buy only one, for yourself, all mosquitoes will concentrate\non me!\u201d\n\nI was more than thankful to comply. Every night that I spent in\nSerampore, my guru would ask me to arrange the bedtime curtains.\n\nThe mosquitoes one evening were especially virulent. But Master\nfailed to issue his usual instructions. I listened nervously to\nthe anticipatory hum of the insects. Getting into bed, I threw a\npropitiatory prayer in their general direction. A half hour later,\nI coughed pretentiously to attract my guru\u2019s attention. I thought\nI would go mad with the bites and especially the singing drone as\nthe mosquitoes celebrated bloodthirsty rites.\n\nNo responsive stir from Master; I approached him cautiously. He was\nnot breathing. This was my first observation of him in the yogic\ntrance; it filled me with fright.\n\n\u201cHis heart must have failed!\u201d I placed a mirror under his nose;\nno breath-vapor appeared. To make doubly certain, for minutes I\nclosed his mouth and nostrils with my fingers. His body was cold\nand motionless. In a daze, I turned toward the door to summon help.\n\n\u201cSo! A budding experimentalist! My poor nose!\u201d Master\u2019s voice was\nshaky with laughter. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go to bed? Is the whole world\ngoing to change for you? Change yourself: be rid of the mosquito\nconsciousness.\u201d\n\nMeekly I returned to my bed. Not one insect ventured near. I realized\nthat my guru had previously agreed to the curtains only to please\nme; he had no fear of mosquitoes. His yogic power was such that\nhe either could will them not to bite, or could escape to an inner\ninvulnerability.\n\n\u201cHe was giving me a demonstration,\u201d I thought. \u201cThat is the yogic\nstate I must strive to attain.\u201d A yogi must be able to pass into,\nand continue in, the superconsciousness, regardless of multitudinous\ndistractions never absent from this earth. Whether in the buzz of\ninsects or the pervasive glare of daylight, the testimony of the\nsenses must be barred. Sound and sight come then indeed, but to\nworlds fairer than the banished Eden. {FN12-7}\n\nThe instructive mosquitoes served for another early lesson at the\nashram. It was the gentle hour of dusk. My guru was matchlessly\ninterpreting the ancient texts. At his feet, I was in perfect peace.\nA rude mosquito entered the idyl and competed for my attention. As\nit dug a poisonous hypodermic needle into my thigh, I automatically\nraised an avenging hand. Reprieve from impending execution! An\nopportune memory came to me of one of Patanjali\u2019s yoga aphorisms-that\non AHIMSA (harmlessness).\n\n\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you finish the job?\u201d\n\n\u201cMaster! Do you advocate taking life?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo; but the deathblow already had been struck in your mind.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t understand.\u201d\n\n\u201cPatanjali\u2019s meaning was the removal of DESIRE to kill.\u201d Sri\nYukteswar had found my mental processes an open book. \u201cThis world\nis inconveniently arranged for a literal practice of AHIMSA. Man\nmay be compelled to exterminate harmful creatures. He is not under\nsimilar compulsion to feel anger or animosity. All forms of life\nhave equal right to the air of MAYA. The saint who uncovers the\nsecret of creation will be in harmony with its countless bewildering\nexpressions. All men may approach that understanding who curb the\ninner passion for destruction.\u201d\n\n\u201cGuruji, should one offer himself a sacrifice rather than kill a\nwild beast?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo; man\u2019s body is precious. It has the highest evolutionary\nvalue because of unique brain and spinal centers. These enable the\nadvanced devotee to fully grasp and express the loftiest aspects\nof divinity.  No lower form is so equipped. It is true that one\nincurs the debt of a minor sin if he is forced to kill an animal or\nany living thing. But the VEDAS teach that wanton loss of a human\nbody is a serious transgression against the karmic law.\u201d\n\nI sighed in relief; scriptural reinforcement of one\u2019s natural\ninstincts is not always forthcoming.\n\nIt so happened that I never saw Master at close quarters with a\nleopard or a tiger. But a deadly cobra once confronted him, only\nto be conquered by my guru\u2019s love. This variety of snake is much\nfeared in India, where it causes more than five thousand deaths\nannually. The dangerous encounter took place at Puri, where Sri\nYukteswar had a second hermitage, charmingly situated near the Bay\nof Bengal.  Prafulla, a young disciple of later years, was with\nMaster on this occasion.\n\n\u201cWe were seated outdoors near the ashram,\u201d Prafulla told me. \u201cA\ncobra appeared near-by, a four-foot length of sheer terror. Its\nhood was angrily expanded as it raced toward us. My guru gave a\nwelcoming chuckle, as though to a child. I was beside myself with\nconsternation to see Master engage in a rhythmical clapping of\nhands. {FN12-8} He was entertaining the dread visitor! I remained\nabsolutely quiet, inwardly ejaculating what fervent prayers I could\nmuster. The serpent, very close to my guru, was now motionless,\nseemingly magnetized by his caressing attitude. The frightful hood\ngradually contracted; the snake slithered between Master\u2019s feet\nand disappeared into the bushes.\n\n\u201cWhy my guru would move his hands, and why the cobra would not\nstrike them, were inexplicable to me then,\u201d Prafulla concluded. \u201cI\nhave since come to realize that my divine master is beyond fear of\nhurt from any living creature.\u201d\n\nOne afternoon during my early months at the ashram, found Sri\nYukteswar\u2019s eyes fixed on me piercingly.\n\n\u201cYou are too thin, Mukunda.\u201d\n\nHis remark struck a sensitive point. That my sunken eyes and\nemaciated appearance were far from my liking was testified to by\nrows of tonics in my room at Calcutta. Nothing availed; chronic\ndyspepsia had pursued me since childhood. My despair reached an\noccasional zenith when I asked myself if it were worth-while to\ncarry on this life with a body so unsound.\n\n\u201cMedicines have limitations; the creative life-force has none.\nBelieve that: you shall be well and strong.\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s words aroused a conviction of personally-applicable\ntruth which no other healer-and I had tried many!-had been able to\nsummon within me.\n\nDay by day, behold! I waxed. Two weeks after Master\u2019s hidden\nblessing, I had accumulated the invigorating weight which eluded\nme in the past.  My persistent stomach ailments vanished with\na lifelong permanency. On later occasions I witnessed my guru\u2019s\ninstantaneous divine healings of persons suffering from ominous\ndisease-tuberculosis, diabetes, epilepsy, or paralysis. Not one\ncould have been more grateful for his cure than I was at sudden\nfreedom from my cadaverous aspect.\n\n\u201cYears ago, I too was anxious to put on weight,\u201d Sri Yukteswar told\nme. \u201cDuring convalescence after a severe illness, I visited Lahiri\nMahasaya in Benares.\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir, I have been very sick and lost many pounds.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I see, Yukteswar, {FN12-9} you made yourself unwell, and now you\nthink you are thin.\u2019\n\n\u201cThis reply was far from the one I had expected; my guru, however,\nadded encouragingly:\n\n\u201c\u2018Let me see; I am sure you ought to feel better tomorrow.\u2019\n\n\u201cTaking his words as a gesture of secret healing toward my receptive\nmind, I was not surprised the next morning at a welcome accession\nof strength. I sought out my master and exclaimed exultingly, \u2018Sir,\nI feel much better today.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Indeed! Today you invigorate yourself.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018No, master!\u2019 I protested. \u2018It was you who helped me; this is the\nfirst time in weeks that I have had any energy.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018O yes! Your malady has been quite serious. Your body is frail\nyet; who can say how it will be tomorrow?\u2019\n\n\u201cThe thought of possible return of my weakness brought me a shudder\nof cold fear. The following morning I could hardly drag myself to\nLahiri Mahasaya\u2019s home.\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir, I am ailing again.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy guru\u2019s glance was quizzical. \u2018So! Once more you indispose\nyourself.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Gurudeva, I realize now that day by day you have been ridiculing\nme.\u2019 My patience was exhausted. \u2018I don\u2019t understand why you disbelieve\nmy truthful reports.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Really, it has been your thoughts that have made you feel\nalternately weak and strong.\u2019 My master looked at me affectionately.\n\u2018You have seen how your health has exactly followed your expectations.\nThought is a force, even as electricity or gravitation. The human\nmind is a spark of the almighty consciousness of God. I could show\nyou that whatever your powerful mind believes very intensely would\ninstantly come to pass.\u2019\n\n\u201cKnowing that Lahiri Mahasaya never spoke idly, I addressed him\nwith great awe and gratitude: \u2018Master, if I think I am well and\nhave regained my former weight, shall that happen?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018It is so, even at this moment.\u2019 My guru spoke gravely, his gaze\nconcentrated on my eyes.\n\n\u201cLo! I felt an increase not alone of strength but of weight. Lahiri\nMahasaya retreated into silence. After a few hours at his feet, I\nreturned to my mother\u2019s home, where I stayed during my visits to\nBenares.\n\n\u201c\u2018My son! What is the matter? Are you swelling with dropsy?\u2019 Mother\ncould hardly believe her eyes. My body was now of the same robust\ndimensions it had possessed before my illness.\n\n\u201cI weighed myself and found that in one day I had gained fifty\npounds; they remained with me permanently. Friends and acquaintances\nwho had seen my thin figure were aghast with wonderment. A number\nof them changed their mode of life and became disciples of Lahiri\nMahasaya as a result of this miracle.\n\n\u201cMy guru, awake in God, knew this world to be nothing but an objectivized\ndream of the Creator. Because he was completely aware of his unity\nwith the Divine Dreamer, Lahiri Mahasaya could materialize or\ndematerialize or make any change he wished in the cosmic vision.\n{FN12-10}\n\n\u201cAll creation is governed by law,\u201d Sri Yukteswar concluded. \u201cThe ones\nwhich manifest in the outer universe, discoverable by scientists,\nare called natural laws. But there are subtler laws ruling the\nrealms of consciousness which can be known only through the inner\nscience of yoga. The hidden spiritual planes also have their\nnatural and lawful principles of operation. It is not the physical\nscientist but the fully self-realized master who comprehends the\ntrue nature of matter.  Thus Christ was able to restore the servant\u2019s\near after it had been severed by one of the disciples.\u201d {FN12-11}\n\nSri Yukteswar was a peerless interpreter of the scriptures. Many of\nmy happiest memories are centered in his discourses. But his jeweled\nthoughts were not cast into ashes of heedlessness or stupidity. One\nrestless movement of my body, or my slight lapse into absent-mindedness,\nsufficed to put an abrupt period to Master\u2019s exposition.\n\n\u201cYou are not here.\u201d Master interrupted himself one afternoon with\nthis disclosure. As usual, he was keeping track of my attention\nwith a devastating immediacy.\n\n\u201cGuruji!\u201d My tone was a protest. \u201cI have not stirred; my eyelids\nhave not moved; I can repeat each word you have uttered!\u201d\n\n\u201cNevertheless you were not fully with me. Your objection forces me\nto remark that in your mental background you were creating three\ninstitutions. One was a sylvan retreat on a plain, another on a\nhilltop, a third by the ocean.\u201d\n\nThose vaguely formulated thoughts had indeed been present almost\nsubconsciously. I glanced at him apologetically.\n\n\u201cWhat can I do with such a master, who penetrates my random musings?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have given me that right. The subtle truths I am expounding\ncannot be grasped without your complete concentration. Unless\nnecessary I do not invade the seclusion of others\u2019 minds. Man has\nthe natural privilege of roaming secretly among his thoughts. The\nunbidden Lord does not enter there; neither do I venture intrusion.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are ever welcome, Master!\u201d\n\n\u201cYour architectural dreams will materialize later. Now is the time\nfor study!\u201d\n\nThus incidentally my guru revealed in his simple way the coming of\nthree great events in my life. Since early youth I had had enigmatic\nglimpses of three buildings, each in a different setting. In the\nexact sequence Sri Yukteswar had indicated, these visions took\nultimate form. First came my founding of a boys\u2019 yoga school on a\nRanchi plain, then my American headquarters on a Los Angeles hilltop,\nfinally a hermitage in southern California by the vast Pacific.\n\nMaster never arrogantly asserted: \u201cI prophesy that such and such\nan event shall occur!\u201d He would rather hint: \u201cDon\u2019t you think it\nmay happen?\u201d But his simple speech hid vatic power. There was no\nrecanting; never did his slightly veiled words prove false.\n\nSri Yukteswar was reserved and matter-of-fact in demeanor. There\nwas naught of the vague or daft visionary about him. His feet\nwere firm on the earth, his head in the haven of heaven. Practical\npeople aroused his admiration. \u201cSaintliness is not dumbness! Divine\nperceptions are not incapacitating!\u201d he would say. \u201cThe active\nexpression of virtue gives rise to the keenest intelligence.\u201d\n\nIn Master\u2019s life I fully discovered the cleavage between spiritual\nrealism and the obscure mysticism that spuriously passes as\na counterpart. My guru was reluctant to discuss the superphysical\nrealms. His only \u201cmarvelous\u201d aura was one of perfect simplicity.\nIn conversation he avoided startling references; in action he was\nfreely expressive. Others talked of miracles but could manifest\nnothing; Sri Yukteswar seldom mentioned the subtle laws but secretly\noperated them at will.\n\n\u201cA man of realization does not perform any miracle until he\nreceives an inward sanction,\u201d Master explained. \u201cGod does not wish\nthe secrets of His creation revealed promiscuously. {FN12-12} Also,\nevery individual in the world has inalienable right to his free\nwill. A saint will not encroach upon that independence.\u201d\n\nThe silence habitual to Sri Yukteswar was caused by his deep\nperceptions of the Infinite. No time remained for the interminable\n\u201crevelations\u201d that occupy the days of teachers without self-realization.\n\u201cIn shallow men the fish of little thoughts cause much commotion.\nIn oceanic minds the whales of inspiration make hardly a ruffle.\u201d\nThis observation from the Hindu scriptures is not without discerning\nhumor.\n\nBecause of my guru\u2019s unspectacular guise, only a few of his\ncontemporaries recognized him as a superman. The popular adage: \u201cHe\nis a fool that cannot conceal his wisdom,\u201d could never be applied\nto Sri Yukteswar. Though born a mortal like all others, Master had\nachieved identity with the Ruler of time and space. In his life I\nperceived a godlike unity. He had not found any insuperable obstacle\nto mergence of human with Divine. No such barrier exists, I came\nto understand, save in man\u2019s spiritual unadventurousness.\n\nI always thrilled at the touch of Sri Yukteswar\u2019s holy feet.\nYogis teach that a disciple is spiritually magnetized by reverent\ncontact with a master; a subtle current is generated. The devotee\u2019s\nundesirable habit-mechanisms in the brain are often cauterized; the\ngroove of his worldly tendencies beneficially disturbed. Momentarily\nat least he may find the secret veils of MAYA lifting, and glimpse\nthe reality of bliss. My whole body responded with a liberating\nglow whenever I knelt in the Indian fashion before my guru.\n\n\u201cEven when Lahiri Mahasaya was silent,\u201d Master told me, \u201cor when\nhe conversed on other than strictly religious topics, I discovered\nthat nonetheless he had transmitted to me ineffable knowledge.\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar affected me similarly. If I entered the hermitage in\na worried or indifferent frame of mind, my attitude imperceptibly\nchanged. A healing calm descended at mere sight of my guru. Every\nday with him was a new experience in joy, peace, and wisdom. Never\ndid I find him deluded or intoxicated with greed or emotion or\nanger or any human attachment.\n\n\u201cThe darkness of MAYA is silently approaching. Let us hie homeward\nwithin.\u201d With these words at dusk Master constantly reminded his\ndisciples of their need for KRIYA YOGA. A new student occasionally\nexpressed doubts regarding his own worthiness to engage in yoga\npractice.\n\n\u201cForget the past,\u201d Sri Yukteswar would console him. \u201cThe vanished\nlives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever\nunreliable until anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will\nimprove if you are making a spiritual effort now.\u201d\n\nMaster always had young CHELAS {FN12-13} in his hermitage. Their\nspiritual and intellectual education was his lifelong interest:\neven shortly before he passed on, he accepted for training two\nsix-year-old boys and one youth of sixteen. He directed their minds\nand lives with that careful discipline in which the word \u201cdisciple\u201d\nis etymologically rooted. The ashram residents loved and revered\ntheir guru; a slight clap of his hands sufficed to bring them\neagerly to his side. When his mood was silent and withdrawn, no one\nventured to speak; when his laugh rang jovially, children looked\nupon him as their own.\n\nMaster seldom asked others to render him a personal service, nor would\nhe accept help from a student unless the willingness were sincere.\nMy guru quietly washed his clothes if the disciples overlooked that\nprivileged task. Sri Yukteswar wore the traditional ocher-colored\nswami robe; his laceless shoes, in accordance with yogi custom,\nwere of tiger or deer skin.\n\nMaster spoke fluent English, French, Hindi, and Bengali; his\nSanskrit was fair. He patiently instructed his young disciples by\ncertain short cuts which he had ingeniously devised for the study\nof English and Sanskrit.\n\nMaster was cautious of his body, while withholding solicitous\nattachment. The Infinite, he pointed out, properly manifests through\nphysical and mental soundness. He discountenanced any extremes. A\ndisciple once started a long fast. My guru only laughed: \u201cWhy not\nthrow the dog a bone?\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s health was excellent; I never saw him unwell.\n{FN12-14} He permitted students to consult doctors if it seemed\nadvisable. His purpose was to give respect to the worldly custom:\n\u201cPhysicians must carry on their work of healing through God\u2019s laws\nas applied to matter.\u201d But he extolled the superiority of mental\ntherapy, and often repeated: \u201cWisdom is the greatest cleanser.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe body is a treacherous friend. Give it its due; no more,\u201d\nhe said.  \u201cPain and pleasure are transitory; endure all dualities\nwith calmness, while trying at the same time to remove their hold.\nImagination is the door through which disease as well as healing\nenters. Disbelieve in the reality of sickness even when you are\nill; an unrecognized visitor will flee!\u201d\n\nMaster numbered many doctors among his disciples. \u201cThose who have\nferreted out the physical laws can easily investigate the science\nof the soul,\u201d he told them. \u201cA subtle spiritual mechanism is hidden\njust behind the bodily structure.\u201d {FN12-15}\n\nSri Yukteswar counseled his students to be living liaisons of\nWestern and Eastern virtues. Himself an executive Occidental in\nouter habits, inwardly he was the spiritual Oriental. He praised\nthe progressive, resourceful and hygienic habits of the West, and\nthe religious ideals which give a centuried halo to the East.\n\nDiscipline had not been unknown to me: at home Father was strict,\nAnanta often severe. But Sri Yukteswar\u2019s training cannot be described\nas other than drastic. A perfectionist, my guru was hypercritical\nof his disciples, whether in matters of moment or in the subtle\nnuances of behavior.\n\n\u201cGood manners without sincerity are like a beautiful dead lady,\u201d\nhe remarked on suitable occasion. \u201cStraightforwardness without\ncivility is like a surgeon\u2019s knife, effective but unpleasant. Candor\nwith courtesy is helpful and admirable.\u201d\n\nMaster was apparently satisfied with my spiritual progress, for he\nseldom referred to it; in other matters my ears were no strangers\nto reproof. My chief offenses were absentmindedness, intermittent\nindulgence in sad moods, non-observance of certain rules of etiquette,\nand occasional unmethodical ways.\n\n\u201cObserve how the activities of your father Bhagabati are well-organized\nand balanced in every way,\u201d my guru pointed out. The two disciples\nof Lahiri Mahasaya had met, soon after I began my pilgrimages\nto Serampore. Father and Sri Yukteswar admiringly evaluated the\nother\u2019s worth. Both had built an inner life of spiritual granite,\ninsoluble against the ages.\n\nFrom transient teachers of my earlier life I had imbibed a few\nerroneous lessons. A CHELA, I was told, need not concern himself\nstrenuously over worldly duties; when I had neglected or carelessly\nperformed my tasks, I was not chastised. Human nature finds such\ninstruction very easy of assimilation. Under Master\u2019s unsparing\nrod, however, I soon recovered from the agreeable delusions of\nirresponsibility.\n\n\u201cThose who are too good for this world are adorning some other,\u201d\nSri Yukteswar remarked. \u201cSo long as you breathe the free air of\nearth, you are under obligation to render grateful service. He alone\nwho has fully mastered the breathless state {FN12-16} is freed from\ncosmic imperatives. I will not fail to let you know when you have\nattained the final perfection.\u201d\n\nMy guru could never be bribed, even by love. He showed no leniency\nto anyone who, like myself, willingly offered to be his disciple.\nWhether Master and I were surrounded by his students or by strangers,\nor were alone together, he always spoke plainly and upbraided\nsharply. No trifling lapse into shallowness or inconsistency escaped\nhis rebuke.  This flattening treatment was hard to endure, but my\nresolve was to allow Sri Yukteswar to iron out each of my psychological\nkinks. As he labored at this titanic transformation, I shook many\ntimes under the weight of his disciplinary hammer.\n\n\u201cIf you don\u2019t like my words, you are at liberty to leave at any\ntime,\u201d Master assured me. \u201cI want nothing from you but your own\nimprovement.  Stay only if you feel benefited.\u201d\n\nFor every humbling blow he dealt my vanity, for every tooth in my\nmetaphorical jaw he knocked loose with stunning aim, I am grateful\nbeyond any facility of expression. The hard core of human egotism\nis hardly to be dislodged except rudely. With its departure, the\nDivine finds at last an unobstructed channel. In vain It seeks to\npercolate through flinty hearts of selfishness.\n\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s wisdom was so penetrating that, heedless of remarks,\nhe often replied to one\u2019s unspoken observation. \u201cWhat a person\nimagines he hears, and what the speaker has really implied, may\nbe poles apart,\u201d he said. \u201cTry to feel the thoughts behind the\nconfusion of men\u2019s verbiage.\u201d\n\nBut divine insight is painful to worldly ears; Master was not popular\nwith superficial students. The wise, always few in number, deeply\nrevered him. I daresay Sri Yukteswar would have been the most\nsoughtafter guru in India had his words not been so candid and so\ncensorious.\n\n\u201cI am hard on those who come for my training,\u201d he admitted to me.\n\u201cThat is my way; take it or leave it. I will never compromise. But\nyou will be much kinder to your disciples; that is your way. I try\nto purify only in the fires of severity, searing beyond the average\ntoleration. The gentle approach of love is also transfiguring. The\ninflexible and the yielding methods are equally effective if applied\nwith wisdom. You will go to foreign lands, where blunt assaults\non the ego are not appreciated. A teacher could not spread India\u2019s\nmessage in the West without an ample fund of accommodative patience\nand forbearance.\u201d I refuse to state the amount of truth I later\ncame to find in Master\u2019s words!\n\nThough Sri Yukteswar\u2019s undissembling speech prevented a large\nfollowing during his years on earth, nevertheless his living spirit\nmanifests today over the world, through sincere students of his\nKRIYA YOGA and other teachings. He has further dominion in men\u2019s\nsouls than ever Alexander dreamed of in the soil.\n\nFather arrived one day to pay his respects to Sri Yukteswar. My\nparent expected, very likely, to hear some words in my praise. He\nwas shocked to be given a long account of my imperfections. It was\nMaster\u2019s practice to recount simple, negligible shortcomings with\nan air of portentous gravity. Father rushed to see me. \u201cFrom your\nguru\u2019s remarks I thought to find you a complete wreck!\u201d My parent\nwas between tears and laughter.\n\nThe only cause of Sri Yukteswar\u2019s displeasure at the time was that\nI had been trying, against his gentle hint, to convert a certain\nman to the spiritual path.\n\nWith indignant speed I sought out my guru. He received me with\ndowncast eyes, as though conscious of guilt. It was the only time\nI ever saw the divine lion meek before me. The unique moment was\nsavored to the full.\n\n\u201cSir, why did you judge me so mercilessly before my astounded\nfather?  Was that just?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will not do it again.\u201d Master\u2019s tone was apologetic.\n\nInstantly I was disarmed. How readily the great man admitted his\nfault! Though he never again upset Father\u2019s peace of mind, Master\nrelentlessly continued to dissect me whenever and wherever he chose.\n\nNew disciples often joined Sri Yukteswar in exhaustive criticism\nof others. Wise like the guru! Models of flawless discrimination!\nBut he who takes the offensive must not be defenseless. The same\ncarping students fled precipitantly as soon as Master publicly\nunloosed in their direction a few shafts from his analytical quiver.\n\n\u201cTender inner weaknesses, revolting at mild touches of censure,\nare like diseased parts of the body, recoiling before even delicate\nhandling.\u201d This was Sri Yukteswar\u2019s amused comment on the flighty\nones.\n\nThere are disciples who seek a guru made in their own image. Such\nstudents often complained that they did not understand Sri Yukteswar.\n\n\u201cNeither do you comprehend God!\u201d I retorted on one occasion. \u201cWhen\na saint is clear to you, you will be one.\u201d Among the trillion\nmysteries, breathing every second the inexplicable air, who may\nventure to ask that the fathomless nature of a master be instantly\ngrasped?\n\nStudents came, and generally went. Those who craved a path of\noily sympathy and comfortable recognitions did not find it at the\nhermitage. Master offered shelter and shepherding for the aeons,\nbut many disciples miserly demanded ego-balm as well. They departed,\npreferring life\u2019s countless humiliations before any humility.\nMaster\u2019s blazing rays, the open penetrating sunshine of his wisdom,\nwere too powerful for their spiritual sickness. They sought some\nlesser teacher who, shading them with flattery, permitted the fitful\nsleep of ignorance.\n\nDuring my early months with Master, I had experienced a sensitive\nfear of his reprimands. These were reserved, I soon saw, for disciples\nwho had asked for his verbal vivisection. If any writhing student\nmade a protest, Sri Yukteswar would become unoffendedly silent.\nHis words were never wrathful, but impersonal with wisdom.\n\nMaster\u2019s insight was not for the unprepared ears of casual visitors; he\nseldom remarked on their defects, even if conspicuous. But toward\nstudents who sought his counsel, Sri Yukteswar felt a serious\nresponsibility. Brave indeed is the guru who undertakes to transform\nthe crude ore of ego-permeated humanity! A saint\u2019s courage roots\nin his compassion for the stumbling eyeless of this world.\n\nWhen I had abandoned underlying resentment, I found a marked decrease\nin my chastisement. In a very subtle way, Master melted into\ncomparative clemency. In time I demolished every wall of rationalization\nand subconscious reservation behind which the human personality\ngenerally shields itself. {FN12-17} The reward was an effortless\nharmony with my guru. I discovered him then to be trusting, considerate,\nand silently loving. Undemonstrative, however, he bestowed no word\nof affection.\n\nMy own temperament is principally devotional. It was disconcerting\nat first to find that my guru, saturated with JNANA but seemingly\ndry of BHAKTI, {FN12-18} expressed himself only in terms of\ncold spiritual mathematics. But as I tuned myself to his nature,\nI discovered no diminution but rather increase in my devotional\napproach to God. A self-realized master is fully able to guide his\nvarious disciples along natural lines of their essential bias.\n\nMy relationship with Sri Yukteswar, somewhat inarticulate, nonetheless\npossessed all eloquence. Often I found his silent signature on my\nthoughts, rendering speech inutile. Quietly sitting beside him, I\nfelt his bounty pouring peacefully over my being.\n\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s impartial justice was notably demonstrated during\nthe summer vacation of my first college year. I welcomed the opportunity\nto spend uninterrupted months at Serampore with my guru.\n\n\u201cYou may be in charge of the hermitage.\u201d Master was pleased over\nmy enthusiastic arrival. \u201cYour duties will be the reception of\nguests, and supervision of the work of the other disciples.\u201d\n\nKumar, a young villager from east Bengal, was accepted a fortnight\nlater for hermitage training. Remarkably intelligent, he quickly\nwon Sri Yukteswar\u2019s affection. For some unfathomable reason, Master\nwas very lenient to the new resident.\n\n\u201cMukunda, let Kumar assume your duties. Employ your own time in\nsweeping and cooking.\u201d Master issued these instructions after the\nnew boy had been with us for a month.\n\nExalted to leadership, Kumar exercised a petty household tyranny.\nIn silent mutiny, the other disciples continued to seek me out for\ndaily counsel.\n\n\u201cMukunda is impossible! You made me supervisor, yet the others go\nto him and obey him.\u201d Three weeks later Kumar was complaining to\nour guru. I overheard him from an adjoining room.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why I assigned him to the kitchen and you to the parlor.\u201d\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s withering tones were new to Kumar. \u201cIn this way you\nhave come to realize that a worthy leader has the desire to serve,\nand not to dominate. You wanted Mukunda\u2019s position, but could not\nmaintain it by merit. Return now to your earlier work as cook\u2019s\nassistant.\u201d\n\nAfter this humbling incident, Master resumed toward Kumar a former\nattitude of unwonted indulgence. Who can solve the mystery of\nattraction? In Kumar our guru discovered a charming fount which\ndid not spurt for the fellow disciples. Though the new boy was\nobviously Sri Yukteswar\u2019s favorite, I felt no dismay. Personal\nidiosyncrasies, possessed even by masters, lend a rich complexity\nto the pattern of life. My nature is seldom commandeered by a detail;\nI was seeking from Sri Yukteswar a more inaccessible benefit than\nan outward praise.\n\nKumar spoke venomously to me one day without reason; I was deeply\nhurt.\n\n\u201cYour head is swelling to the bursting point!\u201d I added a warning\nwhose truth I felt intuitively: \u201cUnless you mend your ways, someday\nyou will be asked to leave this ashram.\u201d\n\nLaughing sarcastically, Kumar repeated my remark to our guru, who\nhad just entered the room. Fully expecting to be scolded, I retired\nmeekly to a corner.\n\n\u201cMaybe Mukunda is right.\u201d Master\u2019s reply to the boy came with\nunusual coldness. I escaped without castigation.\n\nA year later, Kumar set out for a visit to his childhood home.\nHe ignored the quiet disapproval of Sri Yukteswar, who never\nauthoritatively controlled his disciples\u2019 movements. On the boy\u2019s\nreturn to Serampore in a few months, a change was unpleasantly\napparent. Gone was the stately Kumar with serenely glowing face.\nOnly an undistinguished peasant stood before us, one who had lately\nacquired a number of evil habits.\n\nMaster summoned me and brokenheartedly discussed the fact that the\nboy was now unsuited to the monastic hermitage life.\n\n\u201cMukunda, I will leave it to you to instruct Kumar to leave the\nashram tomorrow; I can\u2019t do it!\u201d Tears stood in Sri Yukteswar\u2019s\neyes, but he controlled himself quickly. \u201cThe boy would never have\nfallen to these depths had he listened to me and not gone away to\nmix with undesirable companions. He has rejected my protection;\nthe callous world must be his guru still.\u201d\n\nKumar\u2019s departure brought me no elation; sadly I wondered how one\nwith power to win a master\u2019s love could ever respond to cheaper\nallures.  Enjoyment of wine and sex are rooted in the natural man,\nand require no delicacies of perception for their appreciation.\nSense wiles are comparable to the evergreen oleander, fragrant with\nits multicolored flowers: every part of the plant is poisonous. The\nland of healing lies within, radiant with that happiness blindly\nsought in a thousand misdirections. {FN12-19}\n\n\u201cKeen intelligence is two-edged,\u201d Master once remarked in reference\nto Kumar\u2019s brilliant mind. \u201cIt may be used constructively or\ndestructively like a knife, either to cut the boil of ignorance,\nor to decapitate one\u2019s self. Intelligence is rightly guided only\nafter the mind has acknowledged the inescapability of spiritual\nlaw.\u201d\n\nMy guru mixed freely with men and women disciples, treating\nall as his children. Perceiving their soul equality, he showed no\ndistinction or partiality.\n\n\u201cIn sleep, you do not know whether you are a man or a woman,\u201d he\nsaid.  \u201cJust as a man, impersonating a woman, does not become one,\nso the soul, impersonating both man and woman, has no sex. The soul\nis the pure, changeless image of God.\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar never avoided or blamed women as objects of seduction.\nMen, he said, were also a temptation to women. I once inquired of\nmy guru why a great ancient saint had called women \u201cthe door to\nhell.\u201d\n\n\u201cA girl must have proved very troublesome to his peace of mind in\nhis early life,\u201d my guru answered causticly. \u201cOtherwise he would have\ndenounced, not woman, but some imperfection in his own self-control.\u201d\n\nIf a visitor dared to relate a suggestive story in the hermitage,\nMaster would maintain an unresponsive silence. \u201cDo not allow yourself\nto be thrashed by the provoking whip of a beautiful face,\u201d he told\nthe disciples. \u201cHow can sense slaves enjoy the world? Its subtle\nflavors escape them while they grovel in primal mud. All nice\ndiscriminations are lost to the man of elemental lusts.\u201d\n\nStudents seeking to escape from the dualistic MAYA delusion received\nfrom Sri Yukteswar patient and understanding counsel.\n\n\u201cJust as the purpose of eating is to satisfy hunger, not greed,\nso the sex instinct is designed for the propagation of the species\naccording to natural law, never for the kindling of insatiable\nlongings,\u201d he said. \u201cDestroy wrong desires now; otherwise they\nwill follow you after the astral body is torn from its physical\ncasing. Even when the flesh is weak, the mind should be constantly\nresistant. If temptation assails you with cruel force, overcome it\nby impersonal analysis and indomitable will. Every natural passion\ncan be mastered.\n\n\u201cConserve your powers. Be like the capacious ocean, absorbing\nwithin all the tributary rivers of the senses. Small yearnings are\nopenings in the reservoir of your inner peace, permitting healing\nwaters to be wasted in the desert soil of materialism. The forceful\nactivating impulse of wrong desire is the greatest enemy to the\nhappiness of man.  Roam in the world as a lion of self-control;\nsee that the frogs of weakness don\u2019t kick you around.\u201d\n\nThe devotee is finally freed from all instinctive compulsions. He\ntransforms his need for human affection into aspiration for God\nalone, a love solitary because omnipresent.\n\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s mother lived in the Rana Mahal district of Benares\nwhere I had first visited my guru. Gracious and kindly, she was\nyet a woman of very decided opinions. I stood on her balcony one\nday and watched mother and son talking together. In his quiet,\nsensible way, Master was trying to convince her about something.\nHe was apparently unsuccessful, for she shook her head with great\nvigor.\n\n\u201cNay, nay, my son, go away now! Your wise words are not for me! I\nam not your disciple!\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar backed away without further argument, like a scolded\nchild. I was touched at his great respect for his mother even in\nher unreasonable moods. She saw him only as her little boy, not as a\nsage.  There was a charm about the trifling incident; it supplied\na sidelight on my guru\u2019s unusual nature, inwardly humble and\noutwardly unbendable.\n\nThe monastic regulations do not allow a swami to retain connection\nwith worldly ties after their formal severance. He cannot perform\nthe ceremonial family rites which are obligatory on the householder.\nYet Shankara, the ancient founder of the Swami Order, disregarded\nthe injunctions. At the death of his beloved mother, he cremated her\nbody with heavenly fire which he caused to spurt from his upraised\nhand.\n\nSri Yukteswar also ignored the restrictions, in a fashion less\nspectacular. When his mother passed on, he arranged the crematory\nservices by the holy Ganges in Benares, and fed many Brahmins in\nconformance with age-old custom.\n\nThe SHASTRIC prohibitions were intended to help swamis overcome\nnarrow identifications. Shankara and Sri Yukteswar had wholly merged\ntheir beings in the Impersonal Spirit; they needed no rescue by\nrule.  Sometimes, too, a master purposely ignores a canon in order\nto uphold its principle as superior to and independent of form. Thus\nJesus plucked ears of corn on the day of rest. To the inevitable\ncritics he said: \u201cThe sabbath was made for man, and not man for\nthe sabbath.\u201d {FN12-20}\n\nOutside of the scriptures, seldom was a book honored by Sri\nYukteswar\u2019s perusal. Yet he was invariably acquainted with the\nlatest scientific discoveries and other advancements of knowledge.\nA brilliant conversationalist, he enjoyed an exchange of views on\ncountless topics with his guests. My guru\u2019s ready wit and rollicking\nlaugh enlivened every discussion. Often grave, Master was never\ngloomy. \u201cTo seek the Lord, one need not disfigure his face,\u201d he\nwould remark. \u201cRemember that finding God will mean the funeral of\nall sorrows.\u201d\n\nAmong the philosophers, professors, lawyers and scientists who came\nto the hermitage, a number arrived for their first visit with the\nexpectation of meeting an orthodox religionist. A supercilious\nsmile or a glance of amused tolerance occasionally betrayed that\nthe newcomers anticipated nothing more than a few pious platitudes.\nYet their reluctant departure would bring an expressed conviction\nthat Sri Yukteswar had shown precise insight into their specialized\nfields.\n\nMy guru ordinarily was gentle and affable to guests; his welcome was\ngiven with charming cordiality. Yet inveterate egotists sometimes\nsuffered an invigorating shock. They confronted in Master either\na frigid indifference or a formidable opposition: ice or iron!\n\nA noted chemist once crossed swords with Sri Yukteswar. The\nvisitor would not admit the existence of God, inasmuch as science\nhas devised no means of detecting Him.\n\n\u201cSo you have inexplicably failed to isolate the Supreme Power in\nyour test tubes!\u201d Master\u2019s gaze was stern. \u201cI recommend an unheard-of\nexperiment. Examine your thoughts unremittingly for twenty-four\nhours.  Then wonder no longer at God\u2019s absence.\u201d\n\nA celebrated pundit received a similar jolt. With ostentatious\nzeal, the scholar shook the ashram rafters with scriptural lore.\nResounding passages poured from the MAHABHARATA, the UPANISHADS,\n{FN12-21} the BHASYAS {FN12-22} of Shankara.\n\n\u201cI am waiting to hear you.\u201d Sri Yukteswar\u2019s tone was inquiring, as\nthough utter silence had reigned. The pundit was puzzled.\n\n\u201cQuotations there have been, in superabundance.\u201d Master\u2019s words\nconvulsed me with mirth, as I squatted in my corner, at a respectful\ndistance from the visitor. \u201cBut what original commentary can you\nsupply, from the uniqueness of your particular life? What holy\ntext have you absorbed and made your own? In what ways have these\ntimeless truths renovated your nature? Are you content to be a\nhollow victrola, mechanically repeating the words of other men?\u201d\n\n\u201cI give up!\u201d The scholar\u2019s chagrin was comical. \u201cI have no inner\nrealization.\u201d\n\nFor the first time, perhaps, he understood that discerning placement\nof the comma does not atone for a spiritual coma.\n\n\u201cThese bloodless pedants smell unduly of the lamp,\u201d my guru remarked\nafter the departure of the chastened one. \u201cThey prefer philosophy\nto be a gentle intellectual setting-up exercise. Their elevated\nthoughts are carefully unrelated either to the crudity of outward\naction or to any scourging inner discipline!\u201d\n\nMaster stressed on other occasions the futility of mere book\nlearning.\n\n\u201cDo not confuse understanding with a larger vocabulary,\u201d he remarked.\n\u201cSacred writings are beneficial in stimulating desire for inward\nrealization, if one stanza at a time is slowly assimilated. Continual\nintellectual study results in vanity and the false satisfaction of\nan undigested knowledge.\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar related one of his own experiences in scriptural\nedification. The scene was a forest hermitage in eastern Bengal,\nwhere he observed the procedure of a renowned teacher, Dabru Ballav.\nHis method, at once simple and difficult, was common in ancient\nIndia.\n\nDabru Ballav had gathered his disciples around him in the sylvan\nsolitudes. The holy BHAGAVAD GITA was open before them. Steadfastly\nthey looked at one passage for half an hour, then closed their eyes.\nAnother half hour slipped away. The master gave a brief comment.\nMotionless, they meditated again for an hour. Finally the guru\nspoke.\n\n\u201cHave you understood?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir.\u201d One in the group ventured this assertion.\n\n\u201cNo; not fully. Seek the spiritual vitality that has given these\nwords the power to rejuvenate India century after century.\u201d Another\nhour disappeared in silence. The master dismissed the students,\nand turned to Sri Yukteswar.\n\n\u201cDo you know the BHAGAVAD GITA?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, sir, not really; though my eyes and mind have run through its\npages many times.\u201d\n\n\u201cThousands have replied to me differently!\u201d The great sage smiled\nat Master in blessing. \u201cIf one busies himself with an outer display\nof scriptural wealth, what time is left for silent inward diving\nafter the priceless pearls?\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar directed the study of his own disciples by the same\nintensive method of one-pointedness. \u201cWisdom is not assimilated\nwith the eyes, but with the atoms,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen your conviction\nof a truth is not merely in your brain but in your being, you may\ndiffidently vouch for its meaning.\u201d He discouraged any tendency a\nstudent might have to construe book-knowledge as a necessary step\nto spiritual realization.\n\n\u201cThe RISHIS wrote in one sentence profundities that commentating\nscholars busy themselves over for generations,\u201d he remarked. \u201cEndless\nliterary controversy is for sluggard minds. What more liberating\nthought than \u2018God is\u2019-nay, \u2018God\u2019?\u201d\n\nBut man does not easily return to simplicity. It is seldom \u201cGod\u201d\nfor him, but rather learned pomposities. His ego is pleased, that\nhe can grasp such erudition.\n\nMen who were pridefully conscious of high worldly position were likely,\nin Master\u2019s presence, to add humility to their other possessions.\nA local magistrate once arrived for an interview at the seaside\nhermitage in Puri. The man, who held a reputation for ruthlessness, had\nit well within his power to oust us from the ashram.  I cautioned\nmy guru about the despotic possibilities. But he seated himself\nwith an uncompromising air, and did not rise to greet the visitor.\nSlightly nervous, I squatted near the door. The man had to content\nhimself with a wooden box; my guru did not request me to fetch\na chair. There was no fulfillment of the magistrate\u2019s obvious\nexpectation that his importance would be ceremoniously acknowledged.\n\nA metaphysical discussion ensued. The guest blundered through\nmisinterpretations of the scriptures. As his accuracy sank, his\nire rose.\n\n\u201cDo you know that I stood first in the M. A. examination?\u201d Reason\nhad forsaken him, but he could still shout.\n\n\u201cMr. Magistrate, you forget that this is not your courtroom,\u201d Master\nreplied evenly. \u201cFrom your childish remarks I would have surmised\nthat your college career was unremarkable. A university degree,\nin any case, is not remotely related to Vedic realization. Saints\nare not produced in batches every semester like accountants.\u201d\n\nAfter a stunned silence, the visitor laughed heartily.\n\n\u201cThis is my first encounter with a heavenly magistrate,\u201d he said.\nLater he made a formal request, couched in the legal terms which\nwere evidently part and parcel of his being, to be accepted as a\n\u201cprobationary\u201d disciple.\n\nMy guru personally attended to the details connected with the\nmanagement of his property. Unscrupulous persons on various occasions\nattempted to secure possession of Master\u2019s ancestral land. With\ndetermination and even by instigating lawsuits, Sri Yukteswar\noutwitted every opponent. He underwent these painful experiences from\na desire never to be a begging guru, or a burden on his disciples.\n\nHis financial independence was one reason why my alarmingly\noutspoken Master was innocent of the cunnings of diplomacy. Unlike\nthose teachers who have to flatter their supporters, my guru was\nimpervious to the influences, open or subtle, of others\u2019 wealth.\nNever did I hear him ask or even hint for money for any purpose.\nHis hermitage training was given free and freely to all disciples.\n\nAn insolent court deputy arrived one day at the Serampore ashram\nto serve Sri Yukteswar with a legal summons. A disciple named Kanai\nand myself were also present. The officer\u2019s attitude toward Master\nwas offensive.\n\n\u201cIt will do you good to leave the shadows of your hermitage and breathe\nthe honest air of a courtroom.\u201d The deputy grinned contemptuously.\nI could not contain myself.\n\n\u201cAnother word of your impudence and you will be on the floor!\u201d I\nadvanced threateningly.\n\n\u201cYou wretch!\u201d Kanai\u2019s shout was simultaneous with my own. \u201cDare\nyou bring your blasphemies into this sacred ashram?\u201d\n\nBut Master stood protectingly in front of his abuser. \u201cDon\u2019t get\nexcited over nothing. This man is only doing his rightful duty.\u201d\n\nThe officer, dazed at his varying reception, respectfully offered\na word of apology and sped away.\n\nAmazing it was to find that a master with such a fiery will could\nbe so calm within. He fitted the Vedic definition of a man of God:\n\u201cSofter than the flower, where kindness is concerned; stronger than\nthe thunder, where principles are at stake.\u201d\n\nThere are always those in this world who, in Browning\u2019s words,\n\u201cendure no light, being themselves obscure.\u201d An outsider occasionally\nberated Sri Yukteswar for an imaginary grievance. My imperturbable\nguru listened politely, analyzing himself to see if any shred of\ntruth lay within the denunciation. These scenes would bring to my\nmind one of Master\u2019s inimitable observations: \u201cSome people try to\nbe tall by cutting off the heads of others!\u201d\n\nThe unfailing composure of a saint is impressive beyond any sermon.\n\u201cHe that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that\nruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.\u201d {FN12-23}\n\nI often reflected that my majestic Master could easily have been\nan emperor or world-shaking warrior had his mind been centered on\nfame or worldly achievement. He had chosen instead to storm those\ninner citadels of wrath and egotism whose fall is the height of a\nman.\n\n{FN12-1} \u201cWorship of Durga.\u201d This is the chief festival of the\nBengali year and lasts for nine days around the end of September.\nImmediately following is the ten-day festival of DASHAHARA (\u201cthe One\nwho removes ten sins\u201d-three of body, three of mind, four of speech).\nBoth PUJAS are sacred to Durga, literally \u201cthe Inaccessible,\u201d an\naspect of Divine Mother, Shakti, the female creative force personified.\n\n{FN12-2} Sri Yukteswar was born on May 10, 1855.\n\n{FN12-3} YUKTESWAR means \u201cunited to God.\u201d GIRI is a classificatory\ndistinction of one of the ten ancient Swami branches. SRI means\n\u201choly\u201d; it is not a name but a title of respect.\n\n{FN12-4} Literally, \u201cto direct together.\u201d SAMADHI is a superconscious\nstate of ecstasy in which the yogi perceives the identity of soul\nand Spirit.\n\n{FN12-5} Snoring, according to physiologists, is an indication of\nutter relaxation (to the oblivious practitioner, solely).\n\n{FN12-6} DHAL is a thick soup made from split peas or other pulses.\nCHANNA is a cheese of fresh curdled milk, cut into squares and\ncurried with potatoes.\n\n{FN12-7} The omnipresent powers of a yogi, whereby he sees, hears,\ntastes, smells, and feels his oneness in creation without the use\nof sensory organs, have been described as follows in the TAITTIRIYA\nARANYAKA: \u201cThe blind man pierced the pearl; the fingerless put a\nthread into it; the neckless wore it; and the tongueless praised\nit.\u201d\n\n{FN12-8} The cobra swiftly strikes at any moving object within its\nrange. Complete immobility is usually one\u2019s sole hope of safety.\n\n{FN12-9} Lahiri Mahasaya actually said \u201cPriya\u201d (first or given\nname), not \u201cYukteswar\u201d (monastic name, not received by my guru\nduring Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s lifetime). (See page 109.) \u201cYukteswar\u201d is\nsubstituted here, and in a few other places in this book, in order\nto avoid the confusion, to reader, of two names.\n\n{FN12-10} \u201cTherefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire,\nwhen ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have\nthem.\u201d-MARK 11:24. Masters who possess the Divine Vision are fully\nable to transfer their realizations to advanced disciples, as Lahiri\nMahasaya did for Sri Yukteswar on this occasion.\n\n{FN12-11} \u201cAnd one of them smote the servant of the high priest,\nand cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye\nthus far. And he touched his ear and healed him.\u201d-LUKE 22:50-51.\n\n{FN12-12} \u201cGive not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast\nye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their\nfeet, and turn again and rend you.\u201d-MATTHEW 7:6.\n\n{FN12-13} Disciples; from Sanskrit verb root, \u201cto serve.\u201d\n\n{FN12-14} He was once ill in Kashmir, when I was absent from him.\n(See chapter 23.)\n\n{FN12-15} A courageous medical man, Charles Robert Richet, awarded\nthe Nobel Prize in physiology, wrote as follows: \u201cMetaphysics is not\nyet officially a science, recognized as such. But it is going to be.\n. . .  At Edinburgh, I was able to affirm before 100 physiologists\nthat our five senses are not our only means of knowledge and that\na fragment of reality sometimes reaches the intelligence in other\nways. . . .  Because a fact is rare is no reason that it does\nnot exist. Because a study is difficult, is that a reason for not\nunderstanding it? . . .  Those who have railed at metaphysics as\nan occult science will be as ashamed of themselves as those who\nrailed at chemistry on the ground that pursuit of the philosopher\u2019s\nstone was illusory. . . . In the matter of principles there are only\nthose of Lavoisier, Claude Bernard, and Pasteur-the EXPERIMENTAL\neverywhere and always.  Greetings, then, to the new science which\nis going to change the orientation of human thought.\u201d\n\n{FN12-16} SAMADHI: perfect union of the individualized soul with\nthe Infinite Spirit.\n\n{FN12-17} The subconsciously guided rationalizations of the mind\nare utterly different from the infallible guidance of truth which\nissues from the superconsciousness. Led by French scientists of\nthe Sorbonne, Western thinkers are beginning to investigate the\npossibility of divine perception in man.\n\n\u201cFor the past twenty years, students of psychology, influenced by\nFreud, gave all their time to searching the subconscious realms,\u201d\nRabbi Israel H. Levinthal pointed out in 1929. \u201cIt is true that\nthe subconscious reveals much of the mystery that can explain human\nactions, but not all of our actions. It can explain the abnormal,\nbut not deeds that are above the normal. The latest psychology,\nsponsored by the French schools, has discovered a new region in man,\nwhich it terms the superconscious. In contrast to the subconscious\nwhich represents the submerged currents of our nature, it reveals\nthe heights to which our nature can reach. Man represents a triple,\nnot a double, personality; our conscious and subconscious being\nis crowned by a superconsciousness. Many years ago the English\npsychologist, F.  W. H. Myers, suggested that \u2018hidden in the\ndeep of our being is a rubbish heap as well as a treasure house.\u2019\nIn contrast to the psychology that centers all its researches\non the subconscious in man\u2019s nature, this new psychology of the\nsuperconscious focuses its attention upon the treasure-house, the\nregion that alone can explain the great, unselfish, heroic deeds\nof men.\u201d\n\n{FN12-18} JNANA, wisdom, and BHAKTI, devotion: two of the main\npaths to God.\n\n{FN12-19} \u201cMan in his waking state puts forth innumerable efforts\nfor experiencing sensual pleasures; when the entire group of sensory\norgans is fatigued, he forgets even the pleasure on hand and goes\nto sleep in order to enjoy rest in the soul, his own nature,\u201d\nShankara, the great Vedantist, has written. \u201cUltra-sensual bliss\nis thus extremely easy of attainment and is far superior to sense\ndelights which always end in disgust.\u201d\n\n{FN12-20} MARK 2:27.\n\n{FN12-21} The UPANISHADS or VEDANTA (literally, \u201cend of the Vedas\u201d),\noccur in certain parts of the VEDAS as essential summaries. The\nUPANISHADS furnish the doctrinal basis of the Hindu religion. They\nreceived the following tribute from Schopenhauer: \u201cHow entirely\ndoes the UPANISHAD breathe throughout the holy spirit of the VEDAS!\nHow is everyone who has become familiar with that incomparable book\nstirred by that spirit to the very depths of his soul! From every\nsentence deep, original, and sublime thoughts arise, and the whole\nis pervaded by a high and holy and earnest spirit. . . . The access\nto the VEDAS by means of the UPANISHADS is in my eyes the greatest\nprivilege this century may claim before all previous centuries.\u201d\n\n{FN12-22} Commentaries. Shankara peerlessly expounded the UPANISHADS.\n\n{FN12-23} PROVERBS 16:32.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 13\n\nTHE SLEEPLESS SAINT\n\n\n\u201cPlease permit me to go to the Himalayas. I hope in unbroken solitude\nto achieve continuous divine communion.\u201d\n\nI actually once addressed these ungrateful words to my Master.\nSeized by one of the unpredictable delusions which occasionally\nassail the devotee, I felt a growing impatience with hermitage\nduties and college studies. A feebly extenuating circumstance is\nthat my proposal was made when I had been only six months with Sri\nYukteswar. Not yet had I fully surveyed his towering stature.\n\n\u201cMany hillmen live in the Himalayas, yet possess no God-perception.\u201d\nMy guru\u2019s answer came slowly and simply. \u201cWisdom is better sought\nfrom a man of realization than from an inert mountain.\u201d\n\nIgnoring Master\u2019s plain hint that he, and not a hill, was my teacher,\nI repeated my plea. Sri Yukteswar vouchsafed no reply. I took his\nsilence for consent, a precarious interpretation readily accepted\nat one\u2019s convenience.\n\nIn my Calcutta home that evening, I busied myself with travel\npreparations. Tying a few articles inside a blanket, I remembered\na similar bundle, surreptitiously dropped from my attic window a\nfew years earlier. I wondered if this were to be another ill-starred\nflight toward the Himalayas. The first time my spiritual elation had\nbeen high; tonight conscience smote heavily at thought of leaving\nmy guru.\n\nThe following morning I sought out Behari Pundit, my Sanskrit\nprofessor at Scottish Church College.\n\n\u201cSir, you have told me of your friendship with a great disciple of\nLahiri Mahasaya. Please give me his address.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou mean Ram Gopal Muzumdar. I call him the \u2018sleepless saint.\u2019\nHe is always awake in an ecstatic consciousness. His home is at\nRanbajpur, near Tarakeswar.\u201d\n\nI thanked the pundit, and entrained immediately for Tarakeswar.\nI hoped to silence my misgivings by wringing a sanction from the\n\u201csleepless saint\u201d to engage myself in lonely Himalayan meditation.\nBehari\u2019s friend, I heard, had received illumination after many\nyears of KRIYA YOGA practice in isolated caves.\n\nAt Tarakeswar I approached a famous shrine. Hindus regard it with\nthe same veneration that Catholics give to the Lourdes sanctuary in\nFrance. Innumerable healing miracles have occurred at Tarakeswar,\nincluding one for a member of my family.\n\n\u201cI sat in the temple there for a week,\u201d my eldest aunt once told\nme.  \u201cObserving a complete fast, I prayed for the recovery of your\nUncle Sarada from a chronic malady. On the seventh day I found a\nherb materialized in my hand! I made a brew from the leaves, and\ngave it to your uncle. His disease vanished at once, and has never\nreappeared.\u201d\n\nI entered the sacred Tarakeswar shrine; the altar contains nothing\nbut a round stone. Its circumference, beginningless and endless,\nmakes it aptly significant of the Infinite. Cosmic abstractions are\nnot alien even to the humblest Indian peasant; he has been accused\nby Westerners, in fact, of living on abstractions!\n\nMy own mood at the moment was so austere that I felt disinclined\nto bow before the stone symbol. God should be sought, I reflected,\nonly within the soul.\n\nI left the temple without genuflection and walked briskly toward\nthe outlying village of Ranbajpur. My appeal to a passer-by for\nguidance caused him to sink into long cogitation.\n\n\u201cWhen you come to a crossroad, turn right and keep going,\u201d he\nfinally pronounced oracularly.\n\nObeying the directions, I wended my way alongside the banks of\na canal. Darkness fell; the outskirts of the jungle village were\nalive with winking fireflies and the howls of near-by jackals. The\nmoonlight was too faint to supply any reassurance; I stumbled on\nfor two hours.\n\nWelcome clang of a cowbell! My repeated shouts eventually brought\na peasant to my side.\n\n\u201cI am looking for Ram Gopal Babu.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo such person lives in our village.\u201d The man\u2019s tone was surly.\n\u201cYou are probably a lying detective.\u201d\n\nHoping to allay suspicion in his politically troubled mind,\nI touchingly explained my predicament. He took me to his home and\noffered a hospitable welcome.\n\n\u201cRanbajpur is far from here,\u201d he remarked. \u201cAt the crossroad, you\nshould have turned left, not right.\u201d\n\nMy earlier informant, I thought sadly, was a distinct menace to\ntravelers. After a relishable meal of coarse rice, lentil-DHAL,\nand curry of potatoes with raw bananas, I retired to a small hut\nadjoining the courtyard. In the distance, villagers were singing\nto the loud accompaniment of MRIDANGAS {FN13-1} and cymbals. Sleep\nwas inconsiderable that night; I prayed deeply to be directed to\nthe secret yogi, Ram Gopal.\n\nAs the first streaks of dawn penetrated the fissures of my dark\nroom, I set out for Ranbajpur. Crossing rough paddy fields, I trudged\nover sickled stumps of the prickly plant and mounds of dried clay.\nAn occasionally-met peasant would inform me, invariably, that my\ndestination was \u201conly a KROSHA (two miles).\u201d In six hours the sun\ntraveled victoriously from horizon to meridian, but I began to feel\nthat I would ever be distant from Ranbajpur by one KROSHA.\n\nAt midafternoon my world was still an endless paddy field. Heat\npouring from the avoidless sky was bringing me to near-collapse. As\na man approached at leisurely pace, I hardly dared utter my usual\nquestion, lest it summon the monotonous: \u201cJust a KROSHA.\u201d\n\nThe stranger halted beside me. Short and slight, he was physically\nunimpressive save for an extraordinary pair of piercing dark eyes.\n\n\u201cI was planning to leave Ranbajpur, but your purpose was good, so\nI awaited you.\u201d He shook his finger in my astounded face. \u201cAren\u2019t\nyou clever to think that, unannounced, you could pounce on me? That\nprofessor Behari had no right to give you my address.\u201d\n\nConsidering that introduction of myself would be mere verbosity in\nthe presence of this master, I stood speechless, somewhat hurt at\nmy reception. His next remark was abruptly put.\n\n\u201cTell me; where do you think God is?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, He is within me and everywhere.\u201d I doubtless looked as\nbewildered as I felt.\n\n\u201cAll-pervading, eh?\u201d The saint chuckled. \u201cThen why, young sir,\ndid you fail to bow before the Infinite in the stone symbol at the\nTarakeswar temple yesterday? {FN13-2} Your pride caused you the\npunishment of being misdirected by the passer-by who was not bothered\nby fine distinctions of left and right. Today, too, you have had\na fairly uncomfortable time of it!\u201d\n\nI agreed wholeheartedly, wonder-struck that an omniscient eye hid\nwithin the unremarkable body before me. Healing strength emanated\nfrom the yogi; I was instantly refreshed in the scorching field.\n\n\u201cThe devotee inclines to think his path to God is the only way,\u201d he\nsaid. \u201cYoga, through which divinity is found within, is doubtless\nthe highest road: so Lahiri Mahasaya has told us. But discovering\nthe Lord within, we soon perceive Him without. Holy shrines at\nTarakeswar and elsewhere are rightly venerated as nuclear centers\nof spiritual power.\u201d\n\nThe saint\u2019s censorious attitude vanished; his eyes became\ncompassionately soft. He patted my shoulder.\n\n\u201cYoung yogi, I see you are running away from your master. He\nhas everything you need; you must return to him. Mountains cannot\nbe your guru.\u201d Ram Gopal was repeating the same thought which Sri\nYukteswar had expressed at our last meeting.\n\n\u201cMasters are under no cosmic compulsion to limit their residence.\u201d\nMy companion glanced at me quizzically. \u201cThe Himalayas in India\nand Tibet have no monopoly on saints. What one does not trouble to\nfind within will not be discovered by transporting the body hither\nand yon. As soon as the devotee is WILLING to go even to the ends\nof the earth for spiritual enlightenment, his guru appears near-by.\u201d\n\nI silently agreed, recalling my prayer in the Benares hermitage,\nfollowed by the meeting with Sri Yukteswar in a crowded lane.\n\n\u201cAre you able to have a little room where you can close the door\nand be alone?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d I reflected that this saint descended from the general to\nthe particular with disconcerting speed.\n\n\u201cThat is your cave.\u201d The yogi bestowed on me a gaze of illumination\nwhich I have never forgotten. \u201cThat is your sacred mountain. That\nis where you will find the kingdom of God.\u201d\n\nHis simple words instantaneously banished my lifelong obsession for\nthe Himalayas. In a burning paddy field I awoke from the monticolous\ndreams of eternal snows.\n\n\u201cYoung sir, your divine thirst is laudable. I feel great love for\nyou.\u201d Ram Gopal took my hand and led me to a quaint hamlet. The\nadobe houses were covered with coconut leaves and adorned with\nrustic entrances.\n\nThe saint seated me on the umbrageous bamboo platform of his small\ncottage. After giving me sweetened lime juice and a piece of rock\ncandy, he entered his patio and assumed the lotus posture. In about\nfour hours I opened my meditative eyes and saw that the moonlit\nfigure of the yogi was still motionless. As I was sternly reminding\nmy stomach that man does not live by bread alone, Ram Gopal approached\nme.\n\n\u201cI see you are famished; food will be ready soon.\u201d\n\nA fire was kindled under a clay oven on the patio; rice and DHAL\nwere quickly served on large banana leaves. My host courteously\nrefused my aid in all cooking chores. \u201cThe guest is God,\u201d a Hindu\nproverb, has commanded devout observance from time immemorial. In\nmy later world travels, I was charmed to see that a similar respect\nfor visitors is manifested in rural sections of many countries.\nThe city dweller finds the keen edge of hospitality blunted by\nsuperabundance of strange faces.\n\nThe marts of men seemed remotely dim as I squatted by the yogi\nin the isolation of the tiny jungle village. The cottage room\nwas mysterious with a mellow light. Ram Gopal arranged some torn\nblankets on the floor for my bed, and seated himself on a straw\nmat. Overwhelmed by his spiritual magnetism, I ventured a request.\n\n\u201cSir, why don\u2019t you grant me a SAMADHI?\u201d\n\n\u201cDear one, I would be glad to convey the divine contact, but it\nis not my place to do so.\u201d The saint looked at me with half-closed\neyes.  \u201cYour master will bestow that experience shortly. Your body\nis not tuned just yet. As a small lamp cannot withstand excessive\nelectrical voltage, so your nerves are unready for the cosmic\ncurrent. If I gave you the infinite ecstasy right now, you would\nburn as if every cell were on fire.\n\n\u201cYou are asking illumination from me,\u201d the yogi continued musingly,\n\u201cwhile I am wondering-inconsiderable as I am, and with the little\nmeditation I have done-if I have succeeded in pleasing God, and\nwhat worth I may find in His eyes at the final reckoning.\u201d\n\n\u201cSir, have you not been singleheartedly seeking God for a long\ntime?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have not done much. Behari must have told you something of\nmy life.  For twenty years I occupied a secret grotto, meditating\neighteen hours a day. Then I moved to a more inaccessible cave\nand remained there for twenty-five years, entering the yoga union\nfor twenty hours daily. I did not need sleep, for I was ever\nwith God. My body was more rested in the complete calmness of the\nsuperconsciousness than it could be by the partial peace of the\nordinary subconscious state.\n\n\u201cThe muscles relax during sleep, but the heart, lungs, and\ncirculatory system are constantly at work; they get no rest. In\nsuperconsciousness, the internal organs remain in a state of suspended\nanimation, electrified by the cosmic energy. By such means I have\nfound it unnecessary to sleep for years. The time will come when\nyou too will dispense with sleep.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy goodness, you have meditated for so long and yet are unsure\nof the Lord\u2019s favor!\u201d I gazed at him in astonishment. \u201cThen what\nabout us poor mortals?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, don\u2019t you see, my dear boy, that God is Eternity Itself? To\nassume that one can fully know Him by forty-five years of meditation\nis rather a preposterous expectation. Babaji assures us, however,\nthat even a little meditation saves one from the dire fear of death\nand after-death states. Do not fix your spiritual ideal on a small\nmountain, but hitch it to the star of unqualified divine attainment.\nIf you work hard, you will get there.\u201d\n\nEnthralled by the prospect, I asked him for further enlightening\nwords. He related a wondrous story of his first meeting with Lahiri\nMahasaya\u2019s guru, Babaji. {FN13-3} Around midnight Ram Gopal fell\ninto silence, and I lay down on my blankets. Closing my eyes, I\nsaw flashes of lightning; the vast space within me was a chamber\nof molten light.  I opened my eyes and observed the same dazzling\nradiance. The room became a part of that infinite vault which I\nbeheld with interior vision.\n\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t you go to sleep?\u201d\n\n\u201cSir, how can I sleep in the presence of lightning, blazing whether\nmy eyes are shut or open?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are blessed to have this experience; the spiritual radiations\nare not easily seen.\u201d The saint added a few words of affection.\n\nAt dawn Ram Gopal gave me rock candies and said I must depart. I\nfelt such reluctance to bid him farewell that tears coursed down\nmy cheeks.\n\n\u201cI will not let you go empty-handed.\u201d The yogi spoke tenderly. \u201cI\nwill do something for you.\u201d\n\nHe smiled and looked at me steadfastly. I stood rooted to the\nground, peace rushing like a mighty flood through the gates of my\neyes. I was instantaneously healed of a pain in my back, which had\ntroubled me intermittently for years. Renewed, bathed in a sea of\nluminous joy, I wept no more. After touching the saint\u2019s feet, I\nsauntered into the jungle, making my way through its tropical tangle\nuntil I reached Tarakeswar.\n\nThere I made a second pilgrimage to the famous shrine, and prostrated\nmyself fully before the altar. The round stone enlarged before\nmy inner vision until it became the cosmical spheres, ring within\nring, zone after zone, all dowered with divinity.\n\nI entrained happily an hour later for Calcutta. My travels ended,\nnot in the lofty mountains, but in the Himalayan presence of my\nMaster.\n\n{FN13-1} Hand-played drums, used only for devotional music.\n\n{FN13-2} One is reminded here of Dostoevski\u2019s observation: \u201cA man\nwho bows down to nothing can never bear the burden of himself.\u201d\n\n{FN13-3} See chapter 35.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 14\n\nAN EXPERIENCE IN COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS\n\n\n\u201cI am here, Guruji.\u201d My shamefacedness spoke more eloquently for\nme.\n\n\u201cLet us go to the kitchen and find something to eat.\u201d Sri Yukteswar\u2019s\nmanner was as natural as if hours and not days had separated us.\n\n\u201cMaster, I must have disappointed you by my abrupt departure from\nmy duties here; I thought you might be angry with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, of course not! Wrath springs only from thwarted desires. I\ndo not expect anything from others, so their actions cannot be in\nopposition to wishes of mine. I would not use you for my own ends;\nI am happy only in your own true happiness.\u201d\n\n\u201cSir, one hears of divine love in a vague way, but for the first\ntime I am having a concrete example in your angelic self! In the\nworld, even a father does not easily forgive his son if he leaves\nhis parent\u2019s business without warning. But you show not the slightest\nvexation, though you must have been put to great inconvenience by\nthe many unfinished tasks I left behind.\u201d\n\nWe looked into each other\u2019s eyes, where tears were shining. A\nblissful wave engulfed me; I was conscious that the Lord, in the\nform of my guru, was expanding the small ardors of my heart into\nthe incompressible reaches of cosmic love.\n\nA few mornings later I made my way to Master\u2019s empty sitting room.\nI planned to meditate, but my laudable purpose was unshared by\ndisobedient thoughts. They scattered like birds before the hunter.\n\n\u201cMukunda!\u201d Sri Yukteswar\u2019s voice sounded from a distant inner\nbalcony.\n\nI felt as rebellious as my thoughts. \u201cMaster always urges me to\nmeditate,\u201d I muttered to myself. \u201cHe should not disturb me when he\nknows why I came to his room.\u201d\n\nHe summoned me again; I remained obstinately silent. The third time\nhis tone held rebuke.\n\n\u201cSir, I am meditating,\u201d I shouted protestingly.\n\n\u201cI know how you are meditating,\u201d my guru called out, \u201cwith your\nmind distributed like leaves in a storm! Come here to me.\u201d\n\nSnubbed and exposed, I made my way sadly to his side.\n\n\u201cPoor boy, the mountains couldn\u2019t give what you wanted.\u201d Master\nspoke caressively, comfortingly. His calm gaze was unfathomable.\n\u201cYour heart\u2019s desire shall be fulfilled.\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar seldom indulged in riddles; I was bewildered. He\nstruck gently on my chest above the heart.\n\nMy body became immovably rooted; breath was drawn out of my lungs\nas if by some huge magnet. Soul and mind instantly lost their\nphysical bondage, and streamed out like a fluid piercing light\nfrom my every pore. The flesh was as though dead, yet in my intense\nawareness I knew that never before had I been fully alive. My sense\nof identity was no longer narrowly confined to a body, but embraced\nthe circumambient atoms. People on distant streets seemed to be\nmoving gently over my own remote periphery. The roots of plants and\ntrees appeared through a dim transparency of the soil; I discerned\nthe inward flow of their sap.\n\nThe whole vicinity lay bare before me. My ordinary frontal\nvision was now changed to a vast spherical sight, simultaneously\nall-perceptive.  Through the back of my head I saw men strolling far\ndown Rai Ghat Road, and noticed also a white cow who was leisurely\napproaching. When she reached the space in front of the open ashram\ngate, I observed her with my two physical eyes. As she passed by,\nbehind the brick wall, I saw her clearly still.\n\nAll objects within my panoramic gaze trembled and vibrated like\nquick motion pictures. My body, Master\u2019s, the pillared courtyard,\nthe furniture and floor, the trees and sunshine, occasionally became\nviolently agitated, until all melted into a luminescent sea; even\nas sugar crystals, thrown into a glass of water, dissolve after\nbeing shaken. The unifying light alternated with materializations\nof form, the metamorphoses revealing the law of cause and effect\nin creation.\n\nAn oceanic joy broke upon calm endless shores of my soul. The Spirit\nof God, I realized, is exhaustless Bliss; His body is countless\ntissues of light. A swelling glory within me began to envelop towns,\ncontinents, the earth, solar and stellar systems, tenuous nebulae,\nand floating universes. The entire cosmos, gently luminous, like\na city seen afar at night, glimmered within the infinitude of\nmy being. The sharply etched global outlines faded somewhat at the\nfarthest edges; there I could see a mellow radiance, ever-undiminished.\nIt was indescribably subtle; the planetary pictures were formed of\na grosser light.\n\nThe divine dispersion of rays poured from an Eternal Source, blazing\ninto galaxies, transfigured with ineffable auras. Again and again\nI saw the creative beams condense into constellations, then resolve\ninto sheets of transparent flame. By rhythmic reversion, sextillion\nworlds passed into diaphanous luster; fire became firmament.\n\nI cognized the center of the empyrean as a point of intuitive\nperception in my heart. Irradiating splendor issued from my nucleus\nto every part of the universal structure. Blissful AMRITA, the\nnectar of immortality, pulsed through me with a quicksilverlike\nfluidity. The creative voice of God I heard resounding as AUM,\n{FN14-1} the vibration of the Cosmic Motor.\n\nSuddenly the breath returned to my lungs. With a disappointment\nalmost unbearable, I realized that my infinite immensity was lost.\nOnce more I was limited to the humiliating cage of a body, not\neasily accommodative to the Spirit. Like a prodigal child, I had\nrun away from my macrocosmic home and imprisoned myself in a narrow\nmicrocosm.\n\nMy guru was standing motionless before me; I started to drop at his\nholy feet in gratitude for the experience in cosmic consciousness\nwhich I had long passionately sought. He held me upright, and spoke\ncalmly, unpretentiously.\n\n\u201cYou must not get overdrunk with ecstasy. Much work yet remains\nfor you in the world. Come; let us sweep the balcony floor; then\nwe shall walk by the Ganges.\u201d\n\nI fetched a broom; Master, I knew, was teaching me the secret of\nbalanced living. The soul must stretch over the cosmogonic abysses,\nwhile the body performs its daily duties. When we set out later\nfor a stroll, I was still entranced in unspeakable rapture. I saw\nour bodies as two astral pictures, moving over a road by the river\nwhose essence was sheer light.\n\n\u201cIt is the Spirit of God that actively sustains every form and\nforce in the universe; yet He is transcendental and aloof in the\nblissful uncreated void beyond the worlds of vibratory phenomena,\u201d\n{FN14-2} Master explained. \u201cSaints who realize their divinity even\nwhile in the flesh know a similar twofold existence. Conscientiously\nengaging in earthly work, they yet remain immersed in an inward\nbeatitude. The Lord has created all men from the limitless joy\nof His being. Though they are painfully cramped by the body, God\nnevertheless expects that souls made in His image shall ultimately\nrise above all sense identifications and reunite with Him.\u201d\n\nThe cosmic vision left many permanent lessons. By daily stilling\nmy thoughts, I could win release from the delusive conviction that\nmy body was a mass of flesh and bones, traversing the hard soil of\nmatter. The breath and the restless mind, I saw, were like storms\nwhich lashed the ocean of light into waves of material forms-earth,\nsky, human beings, animals, birds, trees. No perception of the\nInfinite as One Light could be had except by calming those storms.\nAs often as I silenced the two natural tumults, I beheld the\nmultitudinous waves of creation melt into one lucent sea, even as\nthe waves of the ocean, their tempests subsiding, serenely dissolve\ninto unity.\n\nA master bestows the divine experience of cosmic consciousness when\nhis disciple, by meditation, has strengthened his mind to a degree\nwhere the vast vistas would not overwhelm him. The experience\ncan never be given through one\u2019s mere intellectual willingness or\nopen-mindedness. Only adequate enlargement by yoga practice and\ndevotional BHAKTI can prepare the mind to absorb the liberating\nshock of omnipresence. It comes with a natural inevitability to\nthe sincere devotee. His intense craving begins to pull at God with\nan irresistible force. The Lord, as the Cosmic Vision, is drawn by\nthe seeker\u2019s magnetic ardor into his range of consciousness.\n\nI wrote, in my later years, the following poem, \u201cSamadhi,\u201d endeavoring\nto convey the glory of its cosmic state:\n\n  Vanished the veils of light and shade,\n  Lifted every vapor of sorrow,\n  Sailed away all dawns of fleeting joy,\n  Gone the dim sensory mirage.\n  Love, hate, health, disease, life, death,\n  Perished these false shadows on the screen of duality.\n  Waves of laughter, scyllas of sarcasm, melancholic whirlpools,\n  Melting in the vast sea of bliss.\n  The storm of MAYA stilled\n  By magic wand of intuition deep.\n  The universe, forgotten dream, subconsciously lurks,\n  Ready to invade my newly-wakened memory divine.\n  I live without the cosmic shadow,\n  But it is not, bereft of me;\n  As the sea exists without the waves,\n  But they breathe not without the sea.\n  Dreams, wakings, states of deep TURIA sleep,\n  Present, past, future, no more for me,\n  But ever-present, all-flowing I, I, everywhere.\n  Planets, stars, stardust, earth,\n  Volcanic bursts of doomsday cataclysms,\n  Creation\u2019s molding furnace,\n  Glaciers of silent x-rays, burning electron floods,\n  Thoughts of all men, past, present, to come,\n  Every blade of grass, myself, mankind,\n  Each particle of universal dust,\n  Anger, greed, good, bad, salvation, lust,\n  I swallowed, transmuted all\n  Into a vast ocean of blood of my own one Being!\n  Smoldering joy, oft-puffed by meditation\n  Blinding my tearful eyes,\n  Burst into immortal flames of bliss,\n  Consumed my tears, my frame, my all.\n  Thou art I, I am Thou,\n  Knowing, Knower, Known, as One!\n  Tranquilled, unbroken thrill, eternally living, ever-new peace!\n  Enjoyable beyond imagination of expectancy, SAMADHI bliss!\n  Not an unconscious state\n  Or mental chloroform without wilful return,\n  SAMADHI but extends my conscious realm\n  Beyond limits of the mortal frame\n  To farthest boundary of eternity\n  Where I, the Cosmic Sea,\n  Watch the little ego floating in Me.\n  The sparrow, each grain of sand, fall not without My sight.\n  All space floats like an iceberg in My mental sea.\n  Colossal Container, I, of all things made.\n  By deeper, longer, thirsty, guru-given meditation\n  Comes this celestial SAMADHI.\n  Mobile murmurs of atoms are heard,\n  The dark earth, mountains, vales, lo! molten liquid!\n  Flowing seas change into vapors of nebulae!\n  AUM blows upon vapors, opening wondrously their veils,\n  Oceans stand revealed, shining electrons,\n  Till, at last sound of the cosmic drum,\n  Vanish the grosser lights into eternal rays\n  Of all-pervading bliss.\n  From joy I came, for joy I live, in sacred joy I melt.\n  Ocean of mind, I drink all creation\u2019s waves.\n  Four veils of solid, liquid, vapor, light,\n  Lift aright.\n  Myself, in everything, enters the Great Myself.\n  Gone forever, fitful, flickering shadows of mortal memory.\n  Spotless is my mental sky, below, ahead, and high above.\n  Eternity and I, one united ray.\n  A tiny bubble of laughter, I\n  Am become the Sea of Mirth Itself.\n\nSri Yukteswar taught me how to summon the blessed experience at will,\nand also how to transmit it to others if their intuitive channels\nwere developed. For months I entered the ecstatic union, comprehending\nwhy the UPANISHADS say God is RASA, \u201cthe most relishable.\u201d One day,\nhowever, I took a problem to Master.\n\n\u201cI want to know, sir-when shall I find God?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have found Him.\u201d\n\n\u201cO no, sir, I don\u2019t think so!\u201d\n\nMy guru was smiling. \u201cI am sure you aren\u2019t expecting a venerable\nPersonage, adorning a throne in some antiseptic corner of the\ncosmos!  I see, however, that you are imagining that the possession\nof miraculous powers is knowledge of God. One might have the whole\nuniverse, and find the Lord elusive still! Spiritual advancement\nis not measured by one\u2019s outward powers, but only by the depth of\nhis bliss in meditation.\n\n\u201cEVER-NEW JOY IS GOD. He is inexhaustible; as you continue your\nmeditations during the years, He will beguile you with an infinite\ningenuity. Devotees like yourself who have found the way to God never\ndream of exchanging Him for any other happiness; He is seductive\nbeyond thought of competition.\n\n\u201cHow quickly we weary of earthly pleasures! Desire for material\nthings is endless; man is never satisfied completely, and pursues\none goal after another. The \u2018something else\u2019 he seeks is the Lord,\nwho alone can grant lasting joy.\n\n\u201cOutward longings drive us from the Eden within; they offer false\npleasures which only impersonate soul-happiness. The lost paradise\nis quickly regained through divine meditation. As God is unanticipatory\nEver-Newness, we never tire of Him. Can we be surfeited with bliss,\ndelightfully varied throughout eternity?\u201d\n\n\u201cI understand now, sir, why saints call the Lord unfathomable. Even\neverlasting life could not suffice to appraise Him.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is true; but He is also near and dear. After the mind has been\ncleared by KRIYA YOGA of sensory obstacles, meditation furnishes\na twofold proof of God. Ever-new joy is evidence of His existence,\nconvincing to our very atoms. Also, in meditation one finds His\ninstant guidance, His adequate response to every difficulty.\u201d\n\n\u201cI see, Guruji; you have solved my problem.\u201d I smiled gratefully.\n\u201cI do realize now that I have found God, for whenever the joy of\nmeditation has returned subconsciously during my active hours, I\nhave been subtly directed to adopt the right course in everything,\neven details.\u201d\n\n\u201cHuman life is beset with sorrow until we know how to tune in with\nthe Divine Will, whose \u2018right course\u2019 is often baffling to the\negoistic intelligence. God bears the burden of the cosmos; He alone\ncan give unerring counsel.\u201d\n\n{FN14-1} \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,\nand the Word was God.\u201d-JOHN 1:1.\n\n{FN14-2} \u201cFor the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all\njudgment unto the Son.\u201d-JOHN 5:22. \u201cNo man hath seen God at any\ntime; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,\nhe hath declared him.\u201d-JOHN 1:18. \u201cVerily, verily, I say unto you,\nhe that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;\nand greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my\nFather.\u201d-JOHN 14:12. \u201cBut the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,\nwhom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things,\nand bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said\nto you.\u201d-JOHN 14:26.\n\nThese Biblical words refer to the threefold nature of God as Father,\nSon, Holy Ghost (SAT, TAT, AUM in the Hindu scriptures). God the\nFather is the Absolute, Unmanifested, existing BEYOND vibratory\ncreation. God the Son is the Christ Consciousness (Brahma or\nKUTASTHA CHAITANYA) existing WITHIN vibratory creation; this Christ\nConsciousness is the \u201conly begotten\u201d or sole reflection of the\nUncreated Infinite. Its outward manifestation or \u201cwitness\u201d is AUM\nor Holy Ghost, the divine, creative, invisible power which structures\nall creation through vibration. AUM the blissful Comforter is heard\nin meditation and reveals to the devotee the ultimate Truth.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 15\n\nTHE CAULIFLOWER ROBBERY\n\n\n\u201cMaster, a gift for you! These six huge cauliflowers were planted\nwith my hands; I have watched over their growth with the tender\ncare of a mother nursing her child.\u201d I presented the basket of\nvegetables with a ceremonial flourish.\n\n\u201cThank you!\u201d Sri Yukteswar\u2019s smile was warm with appreciation.\n\u201cPlease keep them in your room; I shall need them tomorrow for a\nspecial dinner.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: MY GURU\u2019S SEASIDE HERMITAGE AT PURI A steady stream\nof visitors poured from the world into the hermitage tranquillity.\nA number of learned men came with the expectation of meeting an\northodox religionist. A supercilious smile or a glance of amused\ntolerance occasionally betrayed that the newcomers anticipated\nnothing more than a few pious platitudes. Yet their reluctant\ndeparture would bring an expressed conviction that Sri Yukteswar had\nshown precise insight into their specialized fields of knowledge.\nMy guru always had young resident disciples in his hermitage.\nHe directed their minds and lives with that careful discipline in\nwhich the word \u201cdisciple\u201d is etymologically rooted.\u2014see puri.jpg]\n\nI had just arrived in Puri {FN15-1} to spend my college summer\nvacation with my guru at his seaside hermitage. Built by Master\nand his disciples, the cheerful little two-storied retreat fronts\non the Bay of Bengal.\n\nI awoke early the following morning, refreshed by the salty sea\nbreezes and the charm of my surroundings. Sri Yukteswar\u2019s melodious\nvoice was calling; I took a look at my cherished cauliflowers and\nstowed them neatly under my bed.\n\n\u201cCome, let us go to the beach.\u201d Master led the way; several young\ndisciples and myself followed in a scattered group. Our guru surveyed\nus in mild criticism.\n\n\u201cWhen our Western brothers walk, they usually take pride in unison.\nNow, please march in two rows; keep rhythmic step with one another.\u201d\nSri Yukteswar watched as we obeyed; he began to sing: \u201cBoys go to\nand fro, in a pretty little row.\u201d I could not but admire the ease\nwith which Master was able to match the brisk pace of his young\nstudents.\n\n\u201cHalt!\u201d My guru\u2019s eyes sought mine. \u201cDid you remember to lock the\nback door of the hermitage?\u201d\n\n\u201cI think so, sir.\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar was silent for a few minutes, a half-suppressed smile\non his lips. \u201cNo, you forgot,\u201d he said finally. \u201cDivine contemplation\nmust not be made an excuse for material carelessness. You have\nneglected your duty in safeguarding the ashram; you must be punished.\u201d\n\nI thought he was obscurely joking when he added: \u201cYour six cauliflowers\nwill soon be only five.\u201d\n\nWe turned around at Master\u2019s orders and marched back until we were\nclose to the hermitage.\n\n\u201cRest awhile. Mukunda, look across the compound on our left; observe\nthe road beyond. A certain man will arrive there presently; he will\nbe the means of your chastisement.\u201d\n\nI concealed my vexation at these incomprehensible remarks. A peasant\nsoon appeared on the road; he was dancing grotesquely and flinging\nhis arms about with meaningless gestures. Almost paralyzed with\ncuriosity, I glued my eyes on the hilarious spectacle. As the man\nreached a point in the road where he would vanish from our view,\nSri Yukteswar said, \u201cNow, he will return.\u201d\n\nThe peasant at once changed his direction and made for the rear\nof the ashram. Crossing a sandy tract, he entered the building by\nthe back door. I had left it unlocked, even as my guru had said.\nThe man emerged shortly, holding one of my prized cauliflowers. He\nnow strode along respectably, invested with the dignity of possession.\n\nThe unfolding farce, in which my role appeared to be that of bewildered\nvictim, was not so disconcerting that I failed in indignant pursuit.\nI was halfway to the road when Master recalled me. He was shaking\nfrom head to foot with laughter.\n\n\u201cThat poor crazy man has been longing for a cauliflower,\u201d he explained\nbetween outbursts of mirth. \u201cI thought it would be a good idea if\nhe got one of yours, so ill-guarded!\u201d\n\nI dashed to my room, where I found that the thief, evidently one\nwith a vegetable fixation, had left untouched my gold rings, watch,\nand money, all lying openly on the blanket. He had crawled instead\nunder the bed where, completely hidden from casual sight, one of\nmy cauliflowers had aroused his singlehearted desire.\n\nI asked Sri Yukteswar that evening to explain the incident which\nhad, I thought, a few baffling features.\n\nMy guru shook his head slowly. \u201cYou will understand it someday.\nScience will soon discover a few of these hidden laws.\u201d\n\nWhen the wonders of radio burst some years later on an astounded\nworld, I remembered Master\u2019s prediction. Age-old concepts of time\nand space were annihilated; no peasant\u2019s home so narrow that London\nor Calcutta could not enter! The dullest intelligence enlarged\nbefore indisputable proof of one aspect of man\u2019s omnipresence.\n\nThe \u201cplot\u201d of the cauliflower comedy can be best understood by a\nradio analogy. Sri Yukteswar was a perfect human radio. Thoughts\nare no more than very gentle vibrations moving in the ether. Just\nas a sensitized radio picks up a desired musical number out of\nthousands of other programs from every direction, so my guru had\nbeen able to catch the thought of the half-witted man who hankered\nfor a cauliflower, out of the countless thoughts of broadcasting\nhuman wills in the world. {FN15-2} By his powerful will, Master was\nalso a human broadcasting station, and had successfully directed\nthe peasant to reverse his steps and go to a certain room for a\nsingle cauliflower.\n\nIntuition {FN15-3} is soul guidance, appearing naturally in man during\nthose instants when his mind is calm. Nearly everyone has had the\nexperience of an inexplicably correct \u201chunch,\u201d or has transferred\nhis thoughts effectively to another person.\n\nThe human mind, free from the static of restlessness, can perform\nthrough its antenna of intuition all the functions of complicated\nradio mechanisms-sending and receiving thoughts, and tuning out\nundesirable ones. As the power of a radio depends on the amount of\nelectrical current it can utilize, so the human radio is energized\naccording to the power of will possessed by each individual.\n\nAll thoughts vibrate eternally in the cosmos. By deep concentration, a\nmaster is able to detect the thoughts of any mind, living or dead.\nThoughts are universally and not individually rooted; a truth\ncannot be created, but only perceived. The erroneous thoughts of\nman result from imperfections in his discernment. The goal of yoga\nscience is to calm the mind, that without distortion it may mirror\nthe divine vision in the universe.\n\nRadio and television have brought the instantaneous sound and sight\nof remote persons to the firesides of millions: the first faint\nscientific intimations that man is an all-pervading spirit. Not\na body confined to a point in space, but the vast soul, which the\nego in most barbaric modes conspires in vain to cramp.\n\n\u201cVery strange, very wonderful, seemingly very improbable phenomena\nmay yet appear which, when once established, will not astonish us\nmore than we are now astonished at all that science has taught us\nduring the last century,\u201d Charles Robert Richet, Nobel Prizeman in\nphysiology, has declared. \u201cIt is assumed that the phenomena which\nwe now accept without surprise, do not excite our astonishment\nbecause they are understood. But this is not the case. If they do\nnot surprise us it is not because they are understood, it is because\nthey are familiar; for if that which is not understood ought to\nsurprise us, we should be surprised at everything-the fall of a\nstone thrown into the air, the acorn which becomes an oak, mercury\nwhich expands when it is heated, iron attracted by a magnet,\nphosphorus which burns when it is rubbed. . . . The science of\ntoday is a light matter; the revolutions and evolutions which it\nwill experience in a hundred thousand years will far exceed the\nmost daring anticipations. The truths-those surprising, amazing,\nunforeseen truths-which our descendants will discover, are even\nnow all around us, staring us in the eyes, so to speak, and yet\nwe do not see them. But it is not enough to say that we do not see\nthem; we do not wish to see them; for as soon as an unexpected and\nunfamiliar fact appears, we try to fit it into the framework of\nthe commonplaces of acquired knowledge, and we are indignant that\nanyone should dare to experiment further.\u201d\n\nA humorous occurrence took place a few days after I had been so\nimplausibly robbed of a cauliflower. A certain kerosene lamp could\nnot be found. Having so lately witnessed my guru\u2019s omniscient\ninsight, I thought he would demonstrate that it was child\u2019s play\nto locate the lamp.\n\nMaster perceived my expectation. With exaggerated gravity he\nquestioned all ashram residents. A young disciple confessed that\nhe had used the lamp to go to the well in the back yard.\n\nSri Yukteswar gave the solemn counsel: \u201cSeek the lamp near the\nwell.\u201d\n\nI rushed there; no lamp! Crestfallen, I returned to my guru. He\nwas now laughing heartily, without compunction for my disillusionment.\n\n\u201cToo bad I couldn\u2019t direct you to the vanished lamp; I am not a\nfortune teller!\u201d With twinkling eyes, he added, \u201cI am not even a\nsatisfactory Sherlock Holmes!\u201d\n\nI realized that Master would never display his powers when challenged,\nor for a triviality.\n\nDelightful weeks sped by. Sri Yukteswar was planning a religious\nprocession. He asked me to lead the disciples over the town and\nbeach of Puri. The festive day dawned as one of the hottest of the\nsummer.\n\n\u201cGuruji, how can I take the barefooted students over the fiery\nsands?\u201d I spoke despairingly.\n\n\u201cI will tell you a secret,\u201d Master responded. \u201cThe Lord will send\nan umbrella of clouds; you all shall walk in comfort.\u201d\n\nI happily organized the procession; our group started from the\nashram with a SAT-SANGA banner. {FN15-4} Designed by Sri Yukteswar,\nit bore the symbol of the single {FN15-5} eye, the telescopic gaze\nof intuition.\n\nNo sooner had we left the hermitage than the part of the sky which\nwas overhead became filled with clouds as though by magic. To the\naccompaniment of astonished ejaculations from all sides, a very\nlight shower fell, cooling the city streets and the burning seashore.\nThe soothing drops descended during the two hours of the parade.\nThe exact instant at which our group returned to the ashram, the\nclouds and rain passed away tracelessly.\n\n\u201cYou see how God feels for us,\u201d Master replied after I had expressed\nmy gratitude. \u201cThe Lord responds to all and works for all. Just as\nHe sent rain at my plea, so He fulfills any sincere desire of the\ndevotee. Seldom do men realize how often God heeds their prayers.\nHe is not partial to a few, but listens to everyone who approaches\nHim trustingly. His children should ever have implicit faith in\nthe loving-kindness of their Omnipresent Father.\u201d {FN15-6}\n\nSri Yukteswar sponsored four yearly festivals, at the equinoxes\nand solstices, when his students gathered from far and near. The\nwinter solstice celebration was held in Serampore; the first one\nI attended left me with a permanent blessing.\n\nThe festivities started in the morning with a barefoot procession\nalong the streets. The voices of a hundred students rang out with\nsweet religious songs; a few musicians played the flute and KHOL\nKARTAL (drums and cymbals). Enthusiastic townspeople strewed the\npath with flowers, glad to be summoned from prosaic tasks by our\nresounding praise of the Lord\u2019s blessed name. The long tour ended\nin the courtyard of the hermitage. There we encircled our guru,\nwhile students on upper balconies showered us with marigold blossoms.\n\nMany guests went upstairs to receive a pudding of CHANNA and\noranges.  I made my way to a group of brother disciples who were\nserving today as cooks. Food for such large gatherings had to\nbe cooked outdoors in huge cauldrons. The improvised wood-burning\nbrick stoves were smoky and tear-provoking, but we laughed merrily\nat our work. Religious festivals in India are never considered\ntroublesome; each one does his part, supplying money, rice,\nvegetables, or his personal services.\n\nMaster was soon in our midst, supervising the details of the feast.\nBusy every moment, he kept pace with the most energetic young\nstudent.\n\nA SANKIRTAN (group chanting), accompanied by the harmonium and\nhand-played Indian drums, was in progress on the second floor. Sri\nYukteswar listened appreciatively; his musical sense was acutely\nperfect.\n\n\u201cThey are off key!\u201d Master left the cooks and joined the artists.\nThe melody was heard again, this time correctly rendered.\n\nIn India, music as well as painting and the drama is considered a\ndivine art. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva-the Eternal Trinity-were the\nfirst musicians. The Divine Dancer Shiva is scripturally represented\nas having worked out the infinite modes of rhythm in His cosmic\ndance of universal creation, preservation, and dissolution, while\nBrahma accentuated the time-beat with the clanging cymbals, and\nVishnu sounded the holy MRIDANGA or drum. Krishna, an incarnation\nof Vishnu, is always shown in Hindu art with a flute, on which\nhe plays the enrapturing song that recalls to their true home the\nhuman souls wandering in MAYA-delusion. Saraswati, goddess of wisdom,\nis symbolized as performing on the VINA, mother of all stringed\ninstruments. The SAMA VEDA of India contains the world\u2019s earliest\nwritings on musical science.\n\nThe foundation stone of Hindu music is the RAGAS or fixed melodic\nscales. The six basic RAGAS branch out into 126 derivative RAGINIS\n(wives) and PUTRAS (sons). Each RAGA has a minimum of five notes:\na leading note (VADI or king), a secondary note (SAMAVADI or prime\nminister), helping notes (ANUVADI, attendants), and a dissonant\nnote (VIVADI, the enemy).\n\nEach one of the six basic RAGAS has a natural correspondence with\na certain hour of the day, season of the year, and a presiding\ndeity who bestows a particular potency. Thus, (1) the HINDOLE RAGA\nis heard only at dawn in the spring, to evoke the mood of universal\nlove; (2) DEEPAKA RAGA is played during the evening in summer, to\narouse compassion; (3) MEGHA RAGA is a melody for midday in the\nrainy season, to summon courage; (4) BHAIRAVA RAGA is played in the\nmornings of August, September, October, to achieve tranquillity;\n(5) SRI RAGA is reserved for autumn twilights, to attain pure love;\n(6) MALKOUNSA RAGA is heard at midnights in winter, for valor.\n\nThe ancient rishis discovered these laws of sound alliance between\nnature and man. Because nature is an objectification of AUM,\nthe Primal Sound or Vibratory Word, man can obtain control over\nall natural manifestations through the use of certain MANTRAS or\nchants. {FN15-7} Historical documents tell of the remarkable powers\npossessed by Miyan Tan Sen, sixteenth century court musician for\nAkbar the Great. Commanded by the Emperor to sing a night RAGA\nwhile the sun was overhead, Tan Sen intoned a MANTRA which instantly\ncaused the whole palace precincts to become enveloped in darkness.\n\nIndian music divides the octave into 22 SRUTIS or demi-semitones.\nThese microtonal intervals permit fine shades of musical expression\nunattainable by the Western chromatic scale of 12 semitones. Each\none of the seven basic notes of the octave is associated in Hindu\nmythology with a color, and the natural cry of a bird or beast-DO\nwith green, and the peacock; RE with red, and the skylark; MI with\ngolden, and the goat; FA with yellowish white, and the heron; SOL\nwith black, and the nightingale; LA with yellow, and the horse; SI\nwith a combination of all colors, and the elephant.\n\nThree scales-major, harmonic minor, melodic minor-are the only\nones which Occidental music employs, but Indian music outlines 72\nTHATAS or scales. The musician has a creative scope for endless\nimprovisation around the fixed traditional melody or RAGA; he\nconcentrates on the sentiment or definitive mood of the structural\ntheme and then embroiders it to the limits of his own originality.\nThe Hindu musician does not read set notes; he clothes anew at each\nplaying the bare skeleton of the RAGA, often confining himself to\na single melodic sequence, stressing by repetition all its subtle\nmicrotonal and rhythmic variations. Bach, among Western composers,\nhad an understanding of the charm and power of repetitious sound\nslightly differentiated in a hundred complex ways.\n\nAncient Sanskrit literature describes 120 TALAS or time-measures.\nThe traditional founder of Hindu music, Bharata, is said to have\nisolated 32 kinds of TALA in the song of a lark. The origin of TALA\nor rhythm is rooted in human movements-the double time of walking,\nand the triple time of respiration in sleep, when inhalation is\ntwice the length of exhalation. India has always recognized the\nhuman voice as the most perfect instrument of sound. Hindu music\ntherefore largely confines itself to the voice range of three\noctaves. For the same reason, melody (relation of successive notes)\nis stressed, rather than harmony (relation of simultaneous notes).\n\nThe deeper aim of the early rishi-musicians was to blend the singer\nwith the Cosmic Song which can be heard through awakening of man\u2019s\noccult spinal centers. Indian music is a subjective, spiritual,\nand individualistic art, aiming not at symphonic brilliance but at\npersonal harmony with the Oversoul. The Sanskrit word for musician\nis BHAGAVATHAR, \u201che who sings the praises of God.\u201d The SANKIRTANS\nor musical gatherings are an effective form of yoga or spiritual\ndiscipline, necessitating deep concentration, intense absorption\nin the seed thought and sound. Because man himself is an expression\nof the Creative Word, sound has the most potent and immediate effect\non him, offering a way to remembrance of his divine origin.\n\nThe SANKIRTAN issuing from Sri Yukteswar\u2019s second-story sitting\nroom on the day of the festival was inspiring to the cooks amidst\nthe steaming pots. My brother disciples and I joyously sang the\nrefrains, beating time with our hands.\n\nBy sunset we had served our hundreds of visitors with KHICHURI (rice\nand lentils), vegetable curry, and rice pudding. We laid cotton\nblankets over the courtyard; soon the assemblage was squatting\nunder the starry vault, quietly attentive to the wisdom pouring from\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s lips. His public speeches emphasized the value of\nKRIYA YOGA, and a life of self-respect, calmness, determination,\nsimple diet, and regular exercise.\n\nA group of very young disciples then chanted a few sacred hymns; the\nmeeting concluded with SANKIRTAN. From ten o\u2019clock until midnight,\nthe ashram residents washed pots and pans, and cleared the courtyard.\nMy guru called me to his side.\n\n\u201cI am pleased over your cheerful labors today and during the past\nweek of preparations. I want you with me; you may sleep in my bed\ntonight.\u201d\n\nThis was a privilege I had never thought would fall to my lot. We\nsat awhile in a state of intense divine tranquillity. Hardly ten\nminutes after we had gotten into bed, Master rose and began to\ndress.\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter, sir?\u201d I felt a tinge of unreality in the\nunexpected joy of sleeping beside my guru.\n\n\u201cI think that a few students who missed their proper train connections\nwill be here soon. Let us have some food ready.\u201d\n\n\u201cGuruji, no one would come at one o\u2019clock in the morning!\u201d\n\n\u201cStay in bed; you have been working very hard. But I am going to\ncook.\u201d\n\nAt Sri Yukteswar\u2019s resolute tone, I jumped up and followed him to\nthe small daily-used kitchen adjacent to the second-floor inner\nbalcony.  Rice and DHAL were soon boiling.\n\nMy guru smiled affectionately. \u201cTonight you have conquered fatigue\nand fear of hard work; you shall never be bothered by them in the\nfuture.\u201d\n\nAs he uttered these words of lifelong blessing, footsteps sounded\nin the courtyard. I ran downstairs and admitted a group of students.\n\n\u201cDear brother, how reluctant we are to disturb Master at this hour!\u201d\nOne man addressed me apologetically. \u201cWe made a mistake about train\nschedules, but felt we could not return home without a glimpse of\nour guru.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe has been expecting you and is even now preparing your food.\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s welcoming voice rang out; I led the astonished\nvisitors to the kitchen. Master turned to me with twinkling eyes.\n\n\u201cNow that you have finished comparing notes, no doubt you are\nsatisfied that our guests really did miss their train!\u201d\n\nI followed him to his bedroom a half hour later, realizing fully\nthat I was about to sleep beside a godlike guru.\n\n{FN15-1} Puri, about 310 miles south of Calcutta, is a famous\npilgrimage city for devotees of Krishna; his worship is celebrated\nthere with two immense annual festivals, SNANAYATRA and RATHAYATRA.\n\n{FN15-2} The 1939 discovery of a radio microscope revealed\na new world of hitherto unknown rays. \u201cMan himself as well as all\nkinds of supposedly inert matter constantly emits the rays that\nthis instrument \u2018sees,\u2019\u201d reported the ASSOCIATED PRESS. \u201cThose\nwho believe in telepathy, second sight, and clairvoyance, have in\nthis announcement the first scientific proof of the existence of\ninvisible rays which really travel from one person to another. The\nradio device actually is a radio frequency spectroscope. It does\nthe same thing for cool, nonglowing matter that the spectroscope\ndoes when it discloses the kinds of atoms that make the stars. . .\n. The existence of such rays coming from man and all living things\nhas been suspected by scientists for many years. Today is the first\nexperimental proof of their existence. The discovery shows that\nevery atom and every molecule in nature is a continuous radio\nbroadcasting station. . . . Thus even after death the substance\nthat was a man continues to send out its delicate rays. The wave\nlengths of these rays range from shorter than anything now used\nin broadcasting to the longest kind of radio waves.  The jumble of\nthese rays is almost inconceivable. There are millions of them. A\nsingle very large molecule may give off 1,000,000 different wave\nlengths at the same time. The longer wave lengths of this sort\ntravel with the ease and speed of radio waves. . . . There is one\namazing difference between the new radio rays and familiar rays\nlike light. This is the prolonged time, amounting to thousands of\nyears, which these radio waves will keep on emitting from undisturbed\nmatter.\u201d\n\n{FN15-3} One hesitates to use \u201cintuition\u201d; Hitler has almost ruined\nthe word along with more ambitious devastations. The Latin root\nmeaning of INTUITION is \u201cinner protection.\u201d The Sanskrit word AGAMA\nmeans intuitional knowledge born of direct soul-perception; hence\ncertain ancient treatises by the rishis were called AGAMAS.\n\n{FN15-4} SAT is literally \u201cbeing,\u201d hence \u201cessence; reality.\u201d SANGA\nis \u201cassociation.\u201d Sri Yukteswar called his hermitage organization\nSAT-SANGA, \u201cfellowship with truth.\u201d\n\n{FN15-5} \u201cIf therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall\nbe full of light.\u201d-MATTHEW 6:22. During deep meditation, the single\nor spiritual eye becomes visible within the central part of the\nforehead.  This omniscient eye is variously referred to in scriptures\nas the third eye, the star of the East, the inner eye, the dove\ndescending from heaven, the eye of Shiva, the eye of intuition,\netc.\n\n{FN15-6} \u201cHe that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed\nthe eye, shall he not see? . . . he that teacheth man knowledge,\nshall he not know?\u201d-PSALM 94:9-10.\n\n{FN15-7} Folklore of all peoples contains references to incantations\nwith power over nature. The American Indians are well-known to\nhave developed sound rituals for rain and wind. Tan Sen, the great\nHindu musician, was able to quench fire by the power of his song.\nCharles Kellogg, the California naturalist, gave a demonstration\nof the effect of tonal vibration on fire in 1926 before a group\nof New York firemen.  \u201cPassing a bow, like an enlarged violin bow,\nswiftly across an aluminum tuning fork, he produced a screech like\nintense radio static.  Instantly the yellow gas flame, two feet\nhigh, leaping inside a hollow glass tube, subsided to a height of\nsix inches and became a sputtering blue flare. Another attempt with\nthe bow, and another screech of vibration, extinguished it.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 16\n\nOUTWITTING THE STARS\n\n\n\u201cMukunda, why don\u2019t you get an astrological armlet?\u201d\n\n\u201cShould I, Master? I don\u2019t believe in astrology.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is never a question of BELIEF; the only scientific attitude\none can take on any subject is whether it is TRUE. The law of\ngravitation worked as efficiently before Newton as after him. The\ncosmos would be fairly chaotic if its laws could not operate without\nthe sanction of human belief.\n\n\u201cCharlatans have brought the stellar science to its present state\nof disrepute. Astrology is too vast, both mathematically {FN16-1}\nand philosophically, to be rightly grasped except by men of profound\nunderstanding. If ignoramuses misread the heavens, and see there a\nscrawl instead of a script, that is to be expected in this imperfect\nworld. One should not dismiss the wisdom with the \u2018wise.\u2019\n\n\u201cAll parts of creation are linked together and interchange their\ninfluences. The balanced rhythm of the universe is rooted in\nreciprocity,\u201d my guru continued. \u201cMan, in his human aspect, has\nto combat two sets of forces-first, the tumults within his being,\ncaused by the admixture of earth, water, fire, air, and ethereal\nelements; second, the outer disintegrating powers of nature. So long\nas man struggles with his mortality, he is affected by the myriad\nmutations of heaven and earth.\n\n\u201cAstrology is the study of man\u2019s response to planetary stimuli.\nThe stars have no conscious benevolence or animosity; they merely\nsend forth positive and negative radiations. Of themselves, these\ndo not help or harm humanity, but offer a lawful channel for the\noutward operation of cause-effect equilibriums which each man has\nset into motion in the past.\n\n\u201cA child is born on that day and at that hour when the celestial\nrays are in mathematical harmony with his individual karma. His\nhoroscope is a challenging portrait, revealing his unalterable\npast and its probable future results. But the natal chart can be\nrightly interpreted only by men of intuitive wisdom: these are few.\n\n\u201cThe message boldly blazoned across the heavens at the moment\nof birth is not meant to emphasize fate-the result of past good\nand evil-but to arouse man\u2019s will to escape from his universal\nthralldom. What he has done, he can undo. None other than himself\nwas the instigator of the causes of whatever effects are now\nprevalent in his life. He can overcome any limitation, because he\ncreated it by his own actions in the first place, and because he\nhas spiritual resources which are not subject to planetary pressure.\n\n\u201cSuperstitious awe of astrology makes one an automaton, slavishly\ndependent on mechanical guidance. The wise man defeats his\nplanets\u2014which is to say, his past-by transferring his allegiance\nfrom the creation to the Creator. The more he realizes his unity\nwith Spirit, the less he can be dominated by matter. The soul is\never-free; it is deathless because birthless. It cannot be regimented\nby stars.\n\n\u201cMan IS a soul, and HAS a body. When he properly places his sense\nof identity, he leaves behind all compulsive patterns. So long as\nhe remains confused in his ordinary state of spiritual amnesia, he\nwill know the subtle fetters of environmental law.\n\n\u201cGod is harmony; the devotee who attunes himself will never perform\nany action amiss. His activities will be correctly and naturally timed\nto accord with astrological law. After deep prayer and meditation\nhe is in touch with his divine consciousness; there is no greater\npower than that inward protection.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, dear Master, why do you want me to wear an astrological\nbangle?\u201d I ventured this question after a long silence, during\nwhich I had tried to assimilate Sri Yukteswar\u2019s noble exposition.\n\n\u201cIt is only when a traveler has reached his goal that he is justified\nin discarding his maps. During the journey, he takes advantage of\nany convenient short cut. The ancient rishis discovered many ways\nto curtail the period of man\u2019s exile in delusion. There are certain\nmechanical features in the law of karma which can be skillfully\nadjusted by the fingers of wisdom.\n\n\u201cAll human ills arise from some transgression of universal law.\nThe scriptures point out that man must satisfy the laws of nature,\nwhile not discrediting the divine omnipotence. He should say: \u2018Lord,\nI trust in Thee, and know Thou canst help me, but I too will do\nmy best to undo any wrong I have done.\u2019 By a number of means-by\nprayer, by will power, by yoga meditation, by consultation with\nsaints, by use of astrological bangles-the adverse effects of past\nwrongs can be minimized or nullified.\n\n\u201cJust as a house can be fitted with a copper rod to absorb the\nshock of lightning, so the bodily temple can be benefited by various\nprotective measures. Ages ago our yogis discovered that pure metals\nemit an astral light which is powerfully counteractive to negative\npulls of the planets. Subtle electrical and magnetic radiations\nare constantly circulating in the universe; when a man\u2019s body is\nbeing aided, he does not know it; when it is being disintegrated,\nhe is still in ignorance. Can he do anything about it?\n\n\u201cThis problem received attention from our rishis; they found helpful\nnot only a combination of metals, but also of plants and-most\neffective of all-faultless jewels of not less than two carats. The\npreventive uses of astrology have seldom been seriously studied\noutside of India. One little-known fact is that the proper jewels,\nmetals, or plant preparations are valueless unless the required\nweight is secured, and unless these remedial agents are worn next\nto the skin.\u201d\n\n\u201cSir, of course I shall take your advice and get a bangle. I am\nintrigued at the thought of outwitting a planet!\u201d\n\n\u201cFor general purposes I counsel the use of an armlet made of gold,\nsilver, and copper. But for a specific purpose I want you to get\none of silver and lead.\u201d Sri Yukteswar added careful directions.\n\n\u201cGuruji, what \u2018specific purpose\u2019 do you mean?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe stars are about to take an unfriendly interest in you, Mukunda.\nFear not; you shall be protected. In about a month your liver will\ncause you much trouble. The illness is scheduled to last for six\nmonths, but your use of an astrological armlet will shorten the\nperiod to twenty-four days.\u201d\n\nI sought out a jeweler the next day, and was soon wearing the\nbangle.  My health was excellent; Master\u2019s prediction slipped from\nmy mind. He left Serampore to visit Benares. Thirty days after our\nconversation, I felt a sudden pain in the region of my liver. The\nfollowing weeks were a nightmare of excruciating pain. Reluctant\nto disturb my guru, I thought I would bravely endure my trial alone.\n\nBut twenty-three days of torture weakened my resolution; I entrained\nfor Benares. There Sri Yukteswar greeted me with unusual warmth,\nbut gave me no opportunity to tell him my woes in private. Many\ndevotees visited Master that day, just for a DARSHAN. {FN16-2}\nIll and neglected, I sat in a corner. It was not until after the\nevening meal that all guests had departed. My guru summoned me to\nthe octagonal balcony of the house.\n\n\u201cYou must have come about your liver disorder.\u201d Sri Yukteswar\u2019s\ngaze was averted; he walked to and fro, occasionally intercepting\nthe moonlight. \u201cLet me see; you have been ailing for twenty-four\ndays, haven\u2019t you?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir.\u201d\n\n\u201cPlease do the stomach exercise I have taught you.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you knew the extent of my suffering, Master, you would not ask\nme to exercise.\u201d Nevertheless I made a feeble attempt to obey him.\n\n\u201cYou say you have pain; I say you have none. How can such contradictions\nexist?\u201d My guru looked at me inquiringly.\n\nI was dazed and then overcome with joyful relief. No longer could\nI feel the continuous torment that had kept me nearly sleepless\nfor weeks; at Sri Yukteswar\u2019s words the agony vanished as though\nit had never been.\n\nI started to kneel at his feet in gratitude, but he quickly prevented\nme.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t be childish. Get up and enjoy the beauty of the moon over\nthe Ganges.\u201d But Master\u2019s eyes were twinkling happily as I stood\nin silence beside him. I understood by his attitude that he wanted\nme to feel that not he, but God, had been the Healer.\n\nI wear even now the heavy silver and lead bangle, a memento of that\nday-long-past, ever-cherished-when I found anew that I was living\nwith a personage indeed superhuman. On later occasions, when\nI brought my friends to Sri Yukteswar for healing, he invariably\nrecommended jewels or the bangle, extolling their use as an act of\nastrological wisdom.\n\nI had been prejudiced against astrology from my childhood, partly\nbecause I observed that many people are sequaciously attached to it,\nand partly because of a prediction made by our family astrologer:\n\u201cYou will marry three times, being twice a widower.\u201d I brooded\nover the matter, feeling like a goat awaiting sacrifice before the\ntemple of triple matrimony.\n\n\u201cYou may as well be resigned to your fate,\u201d my brother Ananta had\nremarked. \u201cYour written horoscope has correctly stated that you\nwould fly from home toward the Himalayas during your early years,\nbut would be forcibly returned. The forecast of your marriages is\nalso bound to be true.\u201d\n\nA clear intuition came to me one night that the prophecy was wholly\nfalse. I set fire to the horoscope scroll, placing the ashes in a\npaper bag on which I wrote: \u201cSeeds of past karma cannot germinate\nif they are roasted in the divine fires of wisdom.\u201d I put the bag\nin a conspicuous spot; Ananta immediately read my defiant comment.\n\n\u201cYou cannot destroy truth as easily as you have burnt this paper\nscroll.\u201d My brother laughed scornfully.\n\nIt is a fact that on three occasions before I reached manhood, my\nfamily tried to arrange my betrothal. Each time I refused to fall\nin with the plans, {FN16-3} knowing that my love for God was more\noverwhelming than any astrological persuasion from the past.\n\n\u201cThe deeper the self-realization of a man, the more he influences\nthe whole universe by his subtle spiritual vibrations, and the\nless he himself is affected by the phenomenal flux.\u201d These words\nof Master\u2019s often returned inspiringly to my mind.\n\nOccasionally I told astrologers to select my worst periods, according\nto planetary indications, and I would still accomplish whatever\ntask I set myself. It is true that my success at such times has\nbeen accompanied by extraordinary difficulties. But my conviction\nhas always been justified: faith in the divine protection, and the\nright use of man\u2019s God-given will, are forces formidable beyond\nany the \u201cinverted bowl\u201d can muster.\n\nThe starry inscription at one\u2019s birth, I came to understand, is not\nthat man is a puppet of his past. Its message is rather a prod to\npride; the very heavens seek to arouse man\u2019s determination to be\nfree from every limitation. God created each man as a soul, dowered\nwith individuality, hence essential to the universal structure,\nwhether in the temporary role of pillar or parasite. His freedom\nis final and immediate, if he so wills; it depends not on outer\nbut inner victories.\n\nSri Yukteswar discovered the mathematical application of a 24,000-year\nequinoctial cycle to our present age. {FN16-4} The cycle is divided\ninto an Ascending Arc and a Descending Arc, each of 12,000 years.\nWithin each Arc fall four YUGAS or Ages, called KALI, DWAPARA,\nTRETA, and SATYA, corresponding to the Greek ideas of Iron, Bronze,\nSilver, and Golden Ages.\n\nMy guru determined by various calculations that the last KALI YUGA\nor Iron Age, of the Ascending Arc, started about A.D. 500. The Iron\nAge, 1200 years in duration, is a span of materialism; it ended\nabout A.D.  1700. That year ushered in DWAPARA YUGA, a 2400-year\nperiod of electrical and atomic-energy developments, the age of\ntelegraph, radio, airplanes, and other space-annihilators.\n\nThe 3600-year period of TRETA YUGA will start in A.D. 4100; its\nage will be marked by common knowledge of telepathic communications\nand other time-annihilators. During the 4800 years of SATYA YUGA,\nfinal age in an ascending arc, the intelligence of a man will be\ncompletely developed; he will work in harmony with the divine plan.\n\nA descending arc of 12,000 years, starting with a descending\nGolden Age of 4800 years, then begins {FN16-5} for the world; man\ngradually sinks into ignorance. These cycles are the eternal rounds\nof MAYA, the contrasts and relativities of the phenomenal universe.\n{FN16-6} Man, one by one, escapes from creation\u2019s prison of duality\nas he awakens to consciousness of his inseverable divine unity with\nthe Creator.\n\nMaster enlarged my understanding not only of astrology but of the\nworld\u2019s scriptures. Placing the holy texts on the spotless table of\nhis mind, he was able to dissect them with the scalpel of intuitive\nreasoning, and to separate errors and interpolations of scholars\nfrom the truths as originally expressed by the prophets.\n\n\u201cFix one\u2019s vision on the end of the nose.\u201d This inaccurate\ninterpretation of a BHAGAVAD GITA stanza, {FN16-7} widely accepted\nby Eastern pundits and Western translators, used to arouse Master\u2019s\ndroll criticism.\n\n\u201cThe path of a yogi is singular enough as it is,\u201d he remarked. \u201cWhy\ncounsel him that he must also make himself cross-eyed? The true\nmeaning of NASIKAGRAM is \u2018origin of the nose,\u2019 not \u2018end of the\nnose.\u2019 The nose begins at the point between the two eyebrows, the\nseat of spiritual vision.\u201d {FN16-8} Because of one SANKHYA {FN16-9}\naphorism, \u201cISWAR-ASHIDHA,\u201d-\u201cA Lord of Creation cannot be deduced\u201d\nor \u201cGod is not proved,\u201d {FN16-10}\u2014many scholars call the whole\nphilosophy atheistical.\n\n\u201cThe verse is not nihilistic,\u201d Sri Yukteswar explained. \u201cIt merely\nsignifies that to the unenlightened man, dependent on his senses\nfor all final judgments, proof of God must remain unknown and\ntherefore non-existent. True SANKHYA followers, with unshakable\ninsight born of meditation, understand that the Lord is both existent\nand knowable.\u201d\n\nMaster expounded the Christian Bible with a beautiful clarity.\nIt was from my Hindu guru, unknown to the roll call of Christian\nmembership, that I learned to perceive the deathless essence of\nthe Bible, and to understand the truth in Christ\u2019s assertion-surely\nthe most thrillingly intransigent ever uttered: \u201cHeaven and earth\nshall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.\u201d {FN16-11}\n\nThe great masters of India mold their lives by the same godly ideals\nwhich animated Jesus; these men are his proclaimed kin: \u201cWhosoever\nshall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my\nbrother, and sister, and mother.\u201d {FN16-12} \u201cIf ye continue in my\nword,\u201d Christ pointed out, \u201cthen are ye my disciples indeed; and ye\nshall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.\u201d {FN16-13}\nFreemen all, lords of themselves, the Yogi-Christs of India are part\nof the immortal fraternity: those who have attained a liberating\nknowledge of the One Father.\n\n\u201cThe Adam and Eve story is incomprehensible to me!\u201d I observed with\nconsiderable heat one day in my early struggles with the allegory.\n\u201cWhy did God punish not only the guilty pair, but also the innocent\nunborn generations?\u201d\n\nMaster was more amused by my vehemence than my ignorance. \u201cGENESIS\nis deeply symbolic, and cannot be grasped by a literal interpretation,\u201d\nhe explained. \u201cIts \u2018tree of life\u2019 is the human body. The spinal\ncord is like an upturned tree, with man\u2019s hair as its roots, and\nafferent and efferent nerves as branches. The tree of the nervous\nsystem bears many enjoyable fruits, or sensations of sight, sound,\nsmell, taste, and touch. In these, man may rightfully indulge; but\nhe was forbidden the experience of sex, the \u2018apple\u2019 at the center\nof the bodily garden. {FN16-14}\n\n\u201cThe \u2018serpent\u2019 represents the coiled-up spinal energy which stimulates\nthe sex nerves. \u2018Adam\u2019 is reason, and \u2018Eve\u2019 is feeling. When the\nemotion or Eve-consciousness in any human being is overpowered by\nthe sex impulse, his reason or Adam also succumbs. {FN16-15}\n\n\u201cGod created the human species by materializing the bodies of man\nand woman through the force of His will; He endowed the new species\nwith the power to create children in a similar \u2018immaculate\u2019 or divine\nmanner. {FN16-16} Because His manifestation in the individualized\nsoul had hitherto been limited to animals, instinct-bound and\nlacking the potentialities of full reason, God made the first human\nbodies, symbolically called Adam and Eve. To these, for advantageous\nupward evolution, He transferred the souls or divine essence of two\nanimals. {FN16-17} In Adam or man, reason predominated; in Eve or\nwoman, feeling was ascendant. Thus was expressed the duality or\npolarity which underlies the phenomenal worlds. Reason and feeling\nremain in a heaven of cooperative joy so long as the human mind is\nnot tricked by the serpentine energy of animal propensities.\n\n\u201cThe human body was therefore not solely a result of evolution from\nbeasts, but was produced by an act of special creation by God. The\nanimal forms were too crude to express full divinity; the human being\nwas uniquely given a tremendous mental capacity-the \u2018thousand-petaled\nlotus\u2019 of the brain-as well as acutely awakened occult centers in\nthe spine.\n\n\u201cGod, or the Divine Consciousness present within the first created\npair, counseled them to enjoy all human sensibilities, but not to\nput their concentration on touch sensations. {FN16-18} These were\nbanned in order to avoid the development of the sex organs, which\nwould enmesh humanity in the inferior animal method of propagation.\nThe warning not to revive subconsciously-present bestial memories\nwas not heeded.  Resuming the way of brute procreation, Adam and\nEve fell from the state of heavenly joy natural to the original\nperfect man.\n\n\u201cKnowledge of \u2018good and evil\u2019 refers to the cosmic dualistic\ncompulsion. Falling under the sway of MAYA through misuse of his\nfeeling and reason, or Eve-and Adam-consciousness, man relinquishes\nhis right to enter the heavenly garden of divine self-sufficiency.\n{FN16-19} The personal responsibility of every human being is to\nrestore his \u2018parents\u2019 or dual nature to a unified harmony or Eden.\u201d\n\nAs Sri Yukteswar ended his discourse, I glanced with new respect\nat the pages of GENESIS.\n\n\u201cDear Master,\u201d I said, \u201cfor the first time I feel a proper filial\nobligation toward Adam and Eve!\u201d\n\n{FN16-1} From astronomical references in ancient Hindu scriptures,\nscholars have been able to correctly ascertain the dates of the\nauthors. The scientific knowledge of the rishis was very great; in\nthe KAUSHITAKI BRAHMANA we find precise astronomical passages which\nshow that in 3100 B.C. the Hindus were far advanced in astronomy,\nwhich had a practical value in determining the auspicious times\nfor astrological ceremonies. In an article in EAST-WEST, February,\n1934, the following summary is given of the JYOTISH or body\nof Vedic astronomical treatises: \u201cIt contains the scientific lore\nwhich kept India at the forefront of all ancient nations and made\nher the mecca of seekers after knowledge. The very ancient BRAHMAGUPTA,\none of the JYOTISH works, is an astronomical treatise dealing with\nsuch matters as the heliocentric motion of the planetary bodies\nin our solar system, the obliquity of the ecliptic, the earth\u2019s\nspherical form, the reflected light of the moon, the earth\u2019s daily\naxial revolution, the presence of fixed stars in the Milky Way, the\nlaw of gravitation, and other scientific facts which did not dawn\nin the Western world until the time of Copernicus and Newton.\u201d\n\nIt is now well-known that the so-called \u201cArabic numerals,\u201d without\nwhose symbols advanced mathematics is difficult, came to Europe in\nthe 9th century, via the Arabs, from India, where that system of\nnotation had been anciently formulated. Further light on India\u2019s\nvast scientific heritage will be found in Dr. P. C. Ray\u2019s HISTORY\nOF HINDU CHEMISTRY, and in Dr. B. N. Seal\u2019s POSITIVE SCIENCES OF\nTHE ANCIENT HINDUS.\n\n{FN16-2} The blessing which flows from the mere sight of a saint.\n\n{FN16-3} One of the girls whom my family selected as a possible\nbride for me, afterwards married my cousin, Prabhas Chandra Ghose.\n\n{FN16-4} A series of thirteen articles on the historical verification\nof Sri Yukteswar\u2019s YUGA theory appeared in the magazine EAST-WEST\n(Los Angeles) from September, 1932, to September, 1933.\n\n{FN16-5} In the year A.D. 12,500.\n\n{FN16-6} The Hindu scriptures place the present world-age as\noccurring within the KALI YUGA of a much longer universal cycle than\nthe simple 24,000-year equinoctial cycle with which Sri Yukteswar\nwas concerned.  The universal cycle of the scriptures is 4,300,560,000\nyears in extent, and measures out a Day of Creation or the length\nof life assigned to our planetary system in its present form. This\nvast figure given by the rishis is based on a relationship between\nthe length of the solar year and a multiple of Pi (3.1416, the\nratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle).\n\nThe life span for a whole universe, according to the ancient seers,\nis 314,159,000,000,000 solar years, or \u201cOne Age of Brahma.\u201d\n\nScientists estimate the present age of the earth to be about two\nbillion years, basing their conclusions on a study of lead pockets\nleft as a result of radioactivity in rocks. The Hindu scriptures\ndeclare that an earth such as ours is dissolved for one of two\nreasons: the inhabitants as a whole become either completely good\nor completely evil. The world-mind thus generates a power which\nreleases the captive atoms held together as an earth.\n\nDire pronouncements are occasionally published regarding an imminent\n\u201cend of the world.\u201d The latest prediction of doom was given by Rev.\nChas. G. Long of Pasadena, who publicly set the \u201cDay of Judgment\u201d\nfor Sept. 21, 1945. UNITED PRESS reporters asked my opinion; I\nexplained that world cycles follow an orderly progression according\nto a divine plan. No earthly dissolution is in sight; two billion\nyears of ascending and descending equinoctial cycles are yet\nin store for our planet in its present form. The figures given by\nthe rishis for the various world ages deserve careful study in the\nWest; the magazine TIME (Dec. 17, 1945, p. 6) called them \u201creassuring\nstatistics.\u201d\n\n{FN16-7} chapter VI:13.\n\n{FN16-8} \u201cThe light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine\neye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine\neye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore\nthat the light which is in thee be not darkness.\u201d-LUKE 11:34-35.\n\n{FN16-9} One of the six systems of Hindu philosophy. SANKHYA teaches\nfinal emancipation through knowledge of twenty-five principles,\nstarting with PRAKRITI or nature and ending with PURUSHA or soul.\n\n{FN16-10} SANKHYA APHORISMS, I:92.\n\n{FN16-11} MATTHEW 24:35.\n\n{FN16-12} MATTHEW 12:50.\n\n{FN16-13} JOHN 8:31-32. St. John testified: \u201cBut as many as received\nhim, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them\nthat believe on his name (even to them who are established in the\nChrist Consciousness).\u201d-JOHN 1:12.\n\n{FN16-14} \u201cWe may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but\nof the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God\nhath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest\nye die.\u201d-GENESIS 3:2-3.\n\n{FN16-15} \u201cThe woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me\nof the tree, and I did eat. The woman said, The serpent beguiled\nme, and I did eat.\u201d-GEN. 3:12-13.\n\n{FN16-16} \u201cSo God created man in his own image, in the image of God\ncreated he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed\nthem, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish\nthe earth, and subdue it.\u201d-GEN. 1:27-28.\n\n{FN16-17} \u201cAnd the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,\nand breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became\na living soul.\u201d-GEN. 2:7.\n\n{FN16-18} \u201cNow the serpent (sex force) was more subtil than any\nbeast of the field\u201d (any other sense of the body).-GEN. 3:1.\n\n{FN16-19} \u201cAnd the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and\nthere he put the man whom he had formed.\u201d-GEN. 2:8. \u201cTherefore the\nLord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground\nfrom whence he was taken.\u201d-GEN. 3:23. The divine man first made\nby God had his consciousness centered in the omnipotent single eye\nin the forehead (eastward). The all-creative powers of his will,\nfocused at that spot, were lost to man when he began to \u201ctill the\nground\u201d of his physical nature.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 17\n\nSASI AND THE THREE SAPPHIRES\n\n\n\u201cBecause you and my son think so highly of Swami Sri Yukteswar,\nI will take a look at him.\u201d The tone of voice used by Dr. Narayan\nChunder Roy implied that he was humoring the whim of half-wits. I\nconcealed my indignation, in the best traditions of the proselyter.\n\nMy companion, a veterinary surgeon, was a confirmed agnostic. His\nyoung son Santosh had implored me to take an interest in his father.\nSo far my invaluable aid had been a bit on the invisible side.\n\nDr. Roy accompanied me the following day to the Serampore hermitage.\nAfter Master had granted him a brief interview, marked for the most\npart by stoic silence on both sides, the visitor brusquely departed.\n\n\u201cWhy bring a dead man to the ashram?\u201d Sri Yukteswar looked at me\ninquiringly as soon as the door had closed on the Calcutta skeptic.\n\n\u201cSir! The doctor is very much alive!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut in a short time he will be dead.\u201d\n\nI was shocked. \u201cSir, this will be a terrible blow to his son. Santosh\nyet hopes for time to change his father\u2019s materialistic views. I\nbeseech you, Master, to help the man.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well; for your sake.\u201d My guru\u2019s face was impassive. \u201cThe\nproud horse doctor is far gone in diabetes, although he does not\nknow it. In fifteen days he will take to his bed. The physicians\nwill give him up for lost; his natural time to leave this earth is\nsix weeks from today. Due to your intercession, however, on that\ndate he will recover. But there is one condition. You must get\nhim to wear an astrological bangle; he will doubtless object as\nviolently as one of his horses before an operation!\u201d Master chuckled.\n\nAfter a silence, during which I wondered how Santosh and I could\nbest employ the arts of cajolery on the recalcitrant doctor, Sri\nYukteswar made further disclosures.\n\n\u201cAs soon as the man gets well, advise him not to eat meat. He will\nnot heed this counsel, however, and in six months, just as he is\nfeeling at his best, he will drop dead. Even that six-month extension\nof life is granted him only because of your plea.\u201d\n\nThe following day I suggested to Santosh that he order an armlet\nat the jeweler\u2019s. It was ready in a week, but Dr. Roy refused to\nput it on.\n\n\u201cI am in the best of health. You will never impress me with these\nastrological superstitions.\u201d The doctor glanced at me belligerently.\n\nI recalled with amusement that Master had justifiably compared\nthe man to a balky horse. Another seven days passed; the doctor,\nsuddenly ill, meekly consented to wear the bangle. Two weeks later\nthe physician in attendance told me that his patient\u2019s case was\nhopeless. He supplied harrowing details of the ravages inflicted\nby diabetes.\n\nI shook my head. \u201cMy guru has said that, after a sickness lasting\none month, Dr. Roy will be well.\u201d\n\nThe physician stared at me incredulously. But he sought me out a\nfortnight later, with an apologetic air.\n\n\u201cDr. Roy has made a complete recovery!\u201d he exclaimed. \u201cIt is the\nmost amazing case in my experience. Never before have I seen a dying\nman show such an inexplicable comeback. Your guru must indeed be\na healing prophet!\u201d\n\nAfter one interview with Dr. Roy, during which I repeated Sri\nYukteswar\u2019s advice about a meatless diet, I did not see the man\nagain for six months. He stopped for a chat one evening as I sat\non the piazza of my family home on Gurpar Road.\n\n\u201cTell your teacher that by eating meat frequently, I have wholly\nregained my strength. His unscientific ideas on diet have not\ninfluenced me.\u201d It was true that Dr. Roy looked a picture of health.\n\nBut the next day Santosh came running to me from his home on the\nnext block. \u201cThis morning Father dropped dead!\u201d\n\nThis case was one of my strangest experiences with Master. He\nhealed the rebellious veterinary surgeon in spite of his disbelief,\nand extended the man\u2019s natural term on earth by six months, just\nbecause of my earnest supplication. Sri Yukteswar was boundless in\nhis kindness when confronted by the urgent prayer of a devotee.\n\nIt was my proudest privilege to bring college friends to meet my\nguru.  Many of them would lay aside-at least in the ashram!-their\nfashionable academic cloak of religious skepticism.\n\nOne of my friends, Sasi, spent a number of happy week ends in\nSerampore. Master became immensely fond of the boy, and lamented\nthat his private life was wild and disorderly.\n\n\u201cSasi, unless you reform, one year hence you will be dangerously\nill.\u201d Sri Yukteswar gazed at my friend with affectionate exasperation.\n\u201cMukunda is the witness: don\u2019t say later that I didn\u2019t warn you.\u201d\n\nSasi laughed. \u201cMaster, I will leave it to you to interest a sweet\ncharity of cosmos in my own sad case! My spirit is willing but my\nwill is weak. You are my only savior on earth; I believe in nothing\nelse.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt least you should wear a two-carat blue sapphire. It will help\nyou.\u201d\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t afford one. Anyhow, dear guruji, if trouble comes, I fully\nbelieve you will protect me.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn a year you will bring three sapphires,\u201d Sri Yukteswar replied\ncryptically. \u201cThey will be of no use then.\u201d\n\nVariations on this conversation took place regularly. \u201cI can\u2019t\nreform!\u201d Sasi would say in comical despair. \u201cAnd my trust in you,\nMaster, is more precious to me than any stone!\u201d\n\nA year later I was visiting my guru at the Calcutta home of his\ndisciple, Naren Babu. About ten o\u2019clock in the morning, as Sri\nYukteswar and I were sitting quietly in the second-floor parlor,\nI heard the front door open. Master straightened stiffly.\n\n\u201cIt is that Sasi,\u201d he remarked gravely. \u201cThe year is now up; both\nhis lungs are gone. He has ignored my counsel; tell him I don\u2019t\nwant to see him.\u201d\n\nHalf stunned by Sri Yukteswar\u2019s sternness, I raced down the stairway.\nSasi was ascending.\n\n\u201cO Mukunda! I do hope Master is here; I had a hunch he might be.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, but he doesn\u2019t wish to be disturbed.\u201d\n\nSasi burst into tears and brushed past me. He threw himself at Sri\nYukteswar\u2019s feet, placing there three beautiful sapphires.\n\n\u201cOmniscient guru, the doctors say I have galloping tuberculosis!\nThey give me no longer than three more months! I humbly implore\nyour aid; I know you can heal me!\u201d\n\n\u201cIsn\u2019t it a bit late now to be worrying over your life? Depart\nwith your jewels; their time of usefulness is past.\u201d Master then\nsat sphinxlike in an unrelenting silence, punctuated by the boy\u2019s\nsobs for mercy.\n\nAn intuitive conviction came to me that Sri Yukteswar was merely\ntesting the depth of Sasi\u2019s faith in the divine healing power. I was\nnot surprised a tense hour later when Master turned a sympathetic\ngaze on my prostrate friend.\n\n\u201cGet up, Sasi; what a commotion you make in other people\u2019s houses!\nReturn your sapphires to the jeweler\u2019s; they are an unnecessary\nexpense now. But get an astrological bangle and wear it. Fear not;\nin a few weeks you shall be well.\u201d\n\nSasi\u2019s smile illumined his tear-marred face like sudden sun over\na sodden landscape. \u201cBeloved guru, shall I take the medicines\nprescribed by the doctors?\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s glance was longanimous. \u201cJust as you wish-drink\nthem or discard them; it does not matter. It is more possible for\nthe sun and moon to interchange their positions than for you to\ndie of tuberculosis.\u201d He added abruptly, \u201cGo now, before I change\nmy mind!\u201d\n\nWith an agitated bow, my friend hastily departed. I visited him\nseveral times during the next few weeks, and was aghast to find\nhis condition increasingly worse.\n\n\u201cSasi cannot last through the night.\u201d These words from his physician,\nand the spectacle of my friend, now reduced almost to a skeleton,\nsent me posthaste to Serampore. My guru listened coldly to my\ntearful report.\n\n\u201cWhy do you come here to bother me? You have already heard me assure\nSasi of his recovery.\u201d\n\nI bowed before him in great awe, and retreated to the door. Sri\nYukteswar said no parting word, but sank into silence, his unwinking\neyes half-open, their vision fled to another world.\n\nI returned at once to Sasi\u2019s home in Calcutta. With astonishment\nI found my friend sitting up, drinking milk.\n\n\u201cO Mukunda! What a miracle! Four hours ago I felt Master\u2019s presence\nin the room; my terrible symptoms immediately disappeared. I feel\nthat through his grace I am entirely well.\u201d\n\nIn a few weeks Sasi was stouter and in better health than ever\nbefore. {FN17-1} But his singular reaction to his healing had an\nungrateful tinge: he seldom visited Sri Yukteswar again! My friend\ntold me one day that he so deeply regretted his previous mode of\nlife that he was ashamed to face Master.\n\nI could only conclude that Sasi\u2019s illness had had the contrasting\neffect of stiffening his will and impairing his manners.\n\nThe first two years of my course at Scottish Church College were\ndrawing to a close. My classroom attendance had been very spasmodic;\nwhat little studying I did was only to keep peace with my family.\nMy two private tutors came regularly to my house; I was regularly\nabsent: I can discern at least this one regularity in my scholastic\ncareer!\n\nIn India two successful years of college bring an Intermediate Arts\ndiploma; the student may then look forward to another two years\nand his A.B. degree.\n\nThe Intermediate Arts final examinations loomed ominously ahead.\nI fled to Puri, where my guru was spending a few weeks. Vaguely\nhoping that he would sanction my nonappearance at the finals, I\nrelated my embarrassing unpreparedness.\n\nBut Master smiled consolingly. \u201cYou have wholeheartedly pursued\nyour spiritual duties, and could not help neglecting your college\nwork.  Apply yourself diligently to your books for the next week:\nyou shall get through your ordeal without failure.\u201d\n\nI returned to Calcutta, firmly suppressing all reasonable doubts\nthat occasionally arose with unnerving ridicule. Surveying the\nmountain of books on my table, I felt like a traveler lost in a\nwilderness. A long period of meditation brought me a labor-saving\ninspiration. Opening each book at random, I studied only those\npages which lay thus exposed. Pursuing this course during eighteen\nhours a day for a week, I considered myself entitled to advise all\nsucceeding generations on the art of cramming.\n\nThe following days in the examination halls were a justification\nof my seemingly haphazard procedure. I passed all the tests, though\nby a hairbreadth. The congratulations of my friends and family were\nludicrously mixed with ejaculations betraying their astonishment.\n\nOn his return from Puri, Sri Yukteswar gave me a pleasant surprise.\n\u201cYour Calcutta studies are now over. I will see that you pursue\nyour last two years of university work right here in Serampore.\u201d\n\nI was puzzled. \u201cSir, there is no Bachelor of Arts course in this\ntown.\u201d Serampore College, the sole institution of higher learning,\noffered only a two-year course in Intermediate Arts.\n\nMaster smiled mischievously. \u201cI am too old to go about collecting\ndonations to establish an A.B. college for you. I guess I shall\nhave to arrange the matter through someone else.\u201d\n\nTwo months later Professor Howells, president of Serampore College,\npublicly announced that he had succeeded in raising sufficient\nfunds to offer a four-year course. Serampore College became a branch\naffiliation of the University of Calcutta. I was one of the first\nstudents to enroll in Serampore as an A.B. candidate.\n\n\u201cGuruji, how kind you are to me! I have been longing to leave\nCalcutta and be near you every day in Serampore. Professor Howells\ndoes not dream how much he owes to your silent help!\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar gazed at me with mock severity. \u201cNow you won\u2019t have\nto spend so many hours on trains; what a lot of free time for your\nstudies! Perhaps you will become less of a last-minute crammer and\nmore of a scholar.\u201d But somehow his tone lacked conviction.\n\n{FN17-1} In 1936 I heard from a friend that Sasi was still in\nexcellent health.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 18\n\nA MOHAMMEDAN WONDER-WORKER\n\n\n\u201cYears ago, right in this very room you now occupy, a Mohammedan\nwonder-worker performed four miracles before me!\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar made this surprising statement during his first visit\nto my new quarters. Immediately after entering Serampore College,\nI had taken a room in a near-by boardinghouse, called PANTHI. It\nwas an old-fashioned brick mansion, fronting the Ganges.\n\n\u201cMaster, what a coincidence! Are these newly decorated walls really\nancient with memories?\u201d I looked around my simply furnished room\nwith awakened interest.\n\n\u201cIt is a long story.\u201d My guru smiled reminiscently. \u201cThe name of\nthe FAKIR {FN18-1} was Afzal Khan. He had acquired his extraordinary\npowers through a chance encounter with a Hindu yogi.\n\n\u201c\u2018Son, I am thirsty; fetch me some water.\u2019 A dust-covered SANNYASI\nmade this request of Afzal one day during his early boyhood in a\nsmall village of eastern Bengal.\n\n\u201c\u2018Master, I am a Mohammedan. How could you, a Hindu, accept a drink\nfrom my hands?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Your truthfulness pleases me, my child. I do not observe\nthe ostracizing rules of ungodly sectarianism. Go; bring me water\nquickly.\u2019\n\n\u201cAfzal\u2019s reverent obedience was rewarded by a loving glance from\nthe yogi.\n\n\u201c\u2018You possess good karma from former lives,\u2019 he observed solemnly.\n\u2018I am going to teach you a certain yoga method which will give you\ncommand over one of the invisible realms. The great powers that\nwill be yours should be exercised for worthy ends; never employ\nthem selfishly! I perceive, alas! that you have brought over from\nthe past some seeds of destructive tendencies. Do not allow them\nto sprout by watering them with fresh evil actions. The complexity\nof your previous karma is such that you must use this life to\nreconcile your yogic accomplishments with the highest humanitarian\ngoals.\u2019\n\n\u201cAfter instructing the amazed boy in a complicated technique, the\nmaster vanished.\n\n\u201cAfzal faithfully followed his yoga exercise for twenty years. His\nmiraculous feats began to attract widespread attention. It seems that\nhe was always accompanied by a disembodied spirit whom he called\n\u2018Hazrat.\u2019 This invisible entity was able to fulfill the FAKIR\u2019S\nslightest wish.\n\n\u201cIgnoring his master\u2019s warning, Afzal began to misuse his powers.\nWhatever object he touched and then replaced would soon disappear\nwithout a trace. This disconcerting eventuality usually made the\nMohammedan an objectionable guest!\n\n\u201cHe visited large jewelry stores in Calcutta from time to time,\nrepresenting himself as a possible purchaser. Any jewel he handled\nwould vanish shortly after he had left the shop.\n\n\u201cAfzal was often surrounded by several hundred students, attracted\nby the hope of learning his secrets. The FAKIR occasionally invited\nthem to travel with him. At the railway station he would manage\nto touch a roll of tickets. These he would return to the clerk,\nremarking: \u2018I have changed my mind, and won\u2019t buy them now.\u2019\nBut when he boarded the train with his retinue, Afzal would be in\npossession of the required tickets. {FN18-2}\n\n\u201cThese exploits created an indignant uproar; Bengali jewelers and\nticket-sellers were succumbing to nervous breakdowns! The police\nwho sought to arrest Afzal found themselves helpless; the FAKIR\ncould remove incriminating evidence merely by saying: \u2018Hazrat, take\nthis away.\u2019\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar rose from his seat and walked to the balcony of my\nroom which overlooked the Ganges. I followed him, eager to hear\nmore of the baffling Mohammedan Raffles.\n\n\u201cThis PANTHI house formerly belonged to a friend of mine. He became\nacquainted with Afzal and asked him here. My friend also invited\nabout twenty neighbors, including myself. I was only a youth then,\nand felt a lively curiosity about the notorious FAKIR.\u201d Master\nlaughed. \u201cI took the precaution of not wearing anything valuable!\nAfzal looked me over inquisitively, then remarked:\n\n\u201c\u2018You have powerful hands. Go downstairs to the garden; get a\nsmooth stone and write your name on it with chalk; then throw the\nstone as far as possible into the Ganges.\u2019\n\n\u201cI obeyed. As soon as the stone had vanished under distant waves,\nthe Mohammedan addressed me again:\n\n\u201c\u2018Fill a pot with Ganges water near the front of this house.\u2019\n\n\u201cAfter I had returned with a vessel of water, the FAKIR cried,\n\u2018Hazrat, put the stone in the pot!\u2019\n\n\u201cThe stone appeared at once. I pulled it from the vessel and found\nmy signature as legible as when I had written it.\n\n\u201cBabu, {FN18-3} one of my friends in the room, was wearing a heavy\nantique gold watch and chain. The FAKIR examined them with ominous\nadmiration. Soon they were missing!\n\n\u201c\u2018Afzal, please return my prized heirloom!\u2019 Babu was nearly in\ntears.\n\n\u201cThe Mohammedan was stoically silent for awhile, then said, \u2018You\nhave five hundred rupees in an iron safe. Bring them to me, and I\nwill tell you where to locate your timepiece.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe distraught Babu left immediately for his home. He came back\nshortly and handed Afzal the required sum.\n\n\u201c\u2018Go to the little bridge near your house,\u2019 the FAKIR instructed\nBabu.  \u2018Call on Hazrat to give you the watch and chain.\u2019\n\n\u201cBabu rushed away. On his return, he was wearing a smile of relief\nand no jewelry whatever.\n\n\u201c\u2018When I commanded Hazrat as directed,\u2019 he announced, \u2018my watch\ncame tumbling down from the air into my right hand! You may be sure\nI locked the heirloom in my safe before rejoining the group here!\u2019\n\n\u201cBabu\u2019s friends, witnesses of the comicotragedy of the ransom for a\nwatch, were staring with resentment at Afzal. He now spoke placatingly.\n\n\u201c\u2018Please name any drink you want; Hazrat will produce it.\u2019\n\n\u201cA number asked for milk, others for fruit juices. I was not too\nmuch shocked when the unnerved Babu requested whisky! The Mohammedan\ngave an order; the obliging Hazrat sent sealed containers sailing\ndown the air and thudding to the floor. Each man found his desired\nbeverage.\n\n\u201cThe promise of the fourth spectacular feat of the day was doubtless\ngratifying to our host: Afzal offered to supply an instantaneous\nlunch!\n\n\u201c\u2018Let us order the most expensive dishes,\u2019 Babu suggested gloomily.\n\u2018I want an elaborate meal for my five hundred rupees! Everything\nshould be served on gold plates!\u2019\n\n\u201cAs soon as each man had expressed his preferences, the FAKIR addressed\nhimself to the inexhaustible Hazrat. A great rattle ensued; gold\nplatters filled with intricately-prepared curries, hot LUCHIS, and\nmany out-of-season fruits, landed from nowhere at our feet. All\nthe food was delicious. After feasting for an hour, we started to\nleave the room. A tremendous noise, as though dishes were being\npiled up, caused us to turn around. Lo! there was no sign of the\nglittering plates or the remnants of the meal.\u201d\n\n\u201cGuruji,\u201d I interrupted, \u201cif Afzal could easily secure such things\nas gold dishes, why did he covet the property of others?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe FAKIR was not highly developed spiritually,\u201d Sri Yukteswar\nexplained. \u201cHis mastery of a certain yoga technique gave him access\nto an astral plane where any desire is immediately materialized.\nThrough the agency of an astral being, Hazrat, the Mohammedan could\nsummon the atoms of any object from etheric energy by an act of\npowerful will.  But such astrally-produced objects are structurally\nevanescent; they cannot be long retained. Afzal still yearned for\nworldly wealth which, though more hardly earned, has a more dependable\ndurability.\u201d\n\nI laughed. \u201cIt too sometimes vanishes most unaccountably!\u201d\n\n\u201cAfzal was not a man of God-realization,\u201d Master went on. \u201cMiracles\nof a permanent and beneficial nature are performed by true saints\nbecause they have attuned themselves to the omnipotent Creator.\nAfzal was merely an ordinary man with an extraordinary power of\npenetrating a subtle realm not usually entered by mortals until\ndeath.\u201d\n\n\u201cI understand now, Guruji. The after-world appears to have some\ncharming features.\u201d\n\nMaster agreed. \u201cI never saw Afzal after that day, but a few years\nlater Babu came to my home to show me a newspaper account of the\nMohammedan\u2019s public confession. From it I learned the facts I have\njust told you about Afzal\u2019s early initiation from a Hindu guru.\u201d\n\nThe gist of the latter part of the published document, as recalled\nby Sri Yukteswar, was as follows: \u201cI, Afzal Khan, am writing these\nwords as an act of penance and as a warning to those who seek the\npossession of miraculous powers. For years I have been misusing the\nwondrous abilities imparted to me through the grace of God and my\nmaster. I became drunk with egotism, feeling that I was beyond the\nordinary laws of morality. My day of reckoning finally arrived.\n\n\u201cRecently I met an old man on a road outside Calcutta. He limped\nalong painfully, carrying a shining object which looked like gold.\nI addressed him with greed in my heart.\n\n\u201c\u2018I am Afzal Khan, the great FAKIR. What have you there?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018This ball of gold is my sole material wealth; it can be of no\ninterest to a FAKIR. I implore you, sir, to heal my limp.\u2019\n\n\u201cI touched the ball and walked away without reply. The old man\nhobbled after me. He soon raised an outcry: \u2018My gold is gone!\u2019\n\n\u201cAs I paid no attention, he suddenly spoke in a stentorian voice\nthat issued oddly from his frail body:\n\n\u201c\u2018Do you not recognize me?\u2019\n\n\u201cI stood speechless, aghast at the belated discovery that this\nunimpressive old cripple was none other than the great saint who,\nlong, long ago, had initiated me into yoga. He straightened himself;\nhis body instantly became strong and youthful.\n\n\u201c\u2018So!\u2019 My guru\u2019s glance was fiery. \u2018I see with my own eyes that\nyou use your powers, not to help suffering humanity, but to prey\non it like a common thief! I withdraw your occult gifts; Hazrat is\nnow freed from you. No longer shall you be a terror in Bengal!\u2019\n\n\u201cI called on Hazrat in anguished tones; for the first time, he did\nnot appear to my inner sight. But some dark veil suddenly lifted\nwithin me; I saw clearly the blasphemy of my life.\n\n\u201c\u2018My guru, I thank you for coming to banish my long delusion.\u2019 I\nwas sobbing at his feet. \u2018I promise to forsake my worldly ambitions.\nI will retire to the mountains for lonely meditation on God, hoping\nto atone for my evil past.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy master regarded me with silent compassion. \u2018I feel your\nsincerity,\u2019 he said finally. \u2018Because of your earlier years of\nstrict obedience, and because of your present repentance, I will\ngrant you one boon. Your other powers are now gone, but whenever\nfood and clothing are needed, you may still call successfully on\nHazrat to supply them. Devote yourself wholeheartedly to divine\nunderstanding in the mountain solitudes.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy guru then vanished; I was left to my tears and reflections.\nFarewell, world! I go to seek the forgiveness of the Cosmic Beloved.\u201d\n\n{FN18-1} A Moslem yogi; from the Arabic FAQIR, poor; originally\napplied to dervishes under a vow of poverty.\n\n{FN18-2} My father later told me that his company, the Bengal-Nagpur\nRailway, had been one of the firms victimized by Afzal Khan.\n\n{FN18-3} I do not recall the name of Sri Yukteswar\u2019s friend, and\nmust refer to him simply as \u201cBabu\u201d (Mister).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 19\n\nMY MASTER, IN CALCUTTA, APPEARS IN SERAMPORE\n\n\n\u201cI am often beset by atheistic doubts. Yet a torturing surmise\nsometimes haunts me: may not untapped soul possibilities exist? Is\nman not missing his real destiny if he fails to explore them?\u201d\n\nThese remarks of Dijen Babu, my roommate at the PANTHI boardinghouse,\nwere called forth by my invitation that he meet my guru.\n\n\u201cSri Yukteswarji will initiate you into KRIYA YOGA,\u201d I replied.\n\u201cIt calms the dualistic turmoil by a divine inner certainty.\u201d\n\nThat evening Dijen accompanied me to the hermitage. In Master\u2019s\npresence my friend received such spiritual peace that he was soon\na constant visitor. The trivial preoccupations of daily life are not\nenough for man; wisdom too is a native hunger. In Sri Yukteswar\u2019s\nwords Dijen found an incentive to those attempts-first painful,\nthen effortlessly liberating-to locate a realer self within his\nbosom than the humiliating ego of a temporary birth, seldom ample\nenough for the Spirit.\n\nAs Dijen and I were both pursuing the A.B. course at Serampore\nCollege, we got into the habit of walking together to the ashram\nas soon as classes were over. We would often see Sri Yukteswar\nstanding on his second-floor balcony, welcoming our approach with\na smile.\n\nOne afternoon Kanai, a young hermitage resident, met Dijen and me\nat the door with disappointing news.\n\n\u201cMaster is not here; he was summoned to Calcutta by an urgent note.\u201d\n\nThe following day I received a post card from my guru. \u201cI shall\nleave Calcutta Wednesday morning,\u201d he had written. \u201cYou and Dijen\nmeet the nine o\u2019clock train at Serampore station.\u201d\n\nAbout eight-thirty on Wednesday morning, a telepathic message from\nSri Yukteswar flashed insistently to my mind: \u201cI am delayed; don\u2019t\nmeet the nine o\u2019clock train.\u201d\n\nI conveyed the latest instructions to Dijen, who was already dressed\nfor departure.\n\n\u201cYou and your intuition!\u201d My friend\u2019s voice was edged in scorn. \u201cI\nprefer to trust Master\u2019s written word.\u201d\n\nI shrugged my shoulders and seated myself with quiet finality.\nMuttering angrily, Dijen made for the door and closed it noisily\nbehind him.\n\nAs the room was rather dark, I moved nearer to the window overlooking\nthe street. The scant sunlight suddenly increased to an intense\nbrilliancy in which the iron-barred window completely vanished.\nAgainst this dazzling background appeared the clearly materialized\nfigure of Sri Yukteswar!\n\nBewildered to the point of shock, I rose from my chair and knelt\nbefore him. With my customary gesture of respectful greeting at\nmy guru\u2019s feet, I touched his shoes. These were a pair familiar to\nme, of orange-dyed canvas, soled with rope. His ocher swami cloth\nbrushed against me; I distinctly felt not only the texture of his\nrobe, but also the gritty surface of the shoes, and the pressure of\nhis toes within them. Too much astounded to utter a word, I stood\nup and gazed at him questioningly.\n\n\u201cI was pleased that you got my telepathic message.\u201d Master\u2019s voice\nwas calm, entirely normal. \u201cI have now finished my business in\nCalcutta, and shall arrive in Serampore by the ten o\u2019clock train.\u201d\n\nAs I still stared mutely, Sri Yukteswar went on, \u201cThis is not\nan apparition, but my flesh and blood form. I have been divinely\ncommanded to give you this experience, rare to achieve on earth.\nMeet me at the station; you and Dijen will see me coming toward you,\ndressed as I am now. I shall be preceded by a fellow passenger-a\nlittle boy carrying a silver jug.\u201d\n\nMy guru placed both hands on my head, with a murmured blessing. As\nhe concluded with the words, \u201cTABA ASI,\u201d {FN19-1} I heard a peculiar\nrumbling sound. {FN19-2} His body began to melt gradually within\nthe piercing light. First his feet and legs vanished, then his\ntorso and head, like a scroll being rolled up. To the very last, I\ncould feel his fingers resting lightly on my hair. The effulgence\nfaded; nothing remained before me but the barred window and a pale\nstream of sunlight.\n\nI remained in a half-stupor of confusion, questioning whether I had\nnot been the victim of a hallucination. A crestfallen Dijen soon\nentered the room.\n\n\u201cMaster was not on the nine o\u2019clock train, nor even the nine-thirty.\u201d\nMy friend made his announcement with a slightly apologetic air.\n\n\u201cCome then; I know he will arrive at ten o\u2019clock.\u201d I took Dijen\u2019s\nhand and rushed him forcibly along with me, heedless of his protests.\nIn about ten minutes we entered the station, where the train was\nalready puffing to a halt.\n\n\u201cThe whole train is filled with the light of Master\u2019s aura! He is\nthere!\u201d I exclaimed joyfully.\n\n\u201cYou dream so?\u201d Dijen laughed mockingly.\n\n\u201cLet us wait here.\u201d I told my friend details of the way in which our\nguru would approach us. As I finished my description, Sri Yukteswar\ncame into view, wearing the same clothes I had seen a short time\nearlier. He walked slowly in the wake of a small lad bearing a\nsilver jug.\n\nFor a moment a wave of cold fear passed through me, at the\nunprecedented strangeness of my experience. I felt the materialistic,\ntwentieth-century world slipping from me; was I back in the ancient\ndays when Jesus appeared before Peter on the sea?\n\nAs Sri Yukteswar, a modern Yogi-Christ, reached the spot where\nDijen and I were speechlessly rooted, Master smiled at my friend\nand remarked:\n\n\u201cI sent you a message too, but you were unable to grasp it.\u201d\n\nDijen was silent, but glared at me suspiciously. After we\nhad escorted our guru to his hermitage, my friend and I proceeded\ntoward Serampore College. Dijen halted in the street, indignation\nstreaming from his every pore.\n\n\u201cSo! Master sent me a message! Yet you concealed it! I demand an\nexplanation!\u201d\n\n\u201cCan I help it if your mental mirror oscillates with such restlessness\nthat you cannot register our guru\u2019s instructions?\u201d I retorted.\n\nThe anger vanished from Dijen\u2019s face. \u201cI see what you mean,\u201d he\nsaid ruefully. \u201cBut please explain how you could know about the\nchild with the jug.\u201d\n\nBy the time I had finished the story of Master\u2019s phenomenal\nappearance at the boardinghouse that morning, my friend and I had\nreached Serampore College.\n\n\u201cThe account I have just heard of our guru\u2019s powers,\u201d Dijen said,\n\u201cmakes me feel that any university in the world is only a kindergarten.\u201d\n\n{FN19-1} The Bengali \u201cGood-by\u201d; literally, it is a hopeful paradox:\n\u201cThen I come.\u201d\n\n{FN19-2} The characteristic sound of dematerialization of bodily\natoms.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 20\n\nWE DO NOT VISIT KASHMIR\n\n\n\u201cFather, I want to invite Master and four friends to accompany me\nto the Himalayan foothills during my summer vacation. May I have\nsix train passes to Kashmir and enough money to cover our travel\nexpenses?\u201d\n\nAs I had expected, Father laughed heartily. \u201cThis is the third time\nyou have given me the same cock-and-bull story. Didn\u2019t you make a\nsimilar request last summer, and the year before that? At the last\nmoment, Sri Yukteswarji refuses to go.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is true, Father; I don\u2019t know why my guru will not give me his\ndefinite word about Kashmir. {FN20-1} But if I tell him that I have\nalready secured the passes from you, somehow I think that this time\nhe will consent to make the journey.\u201d\n\nFather was unconvinced at the moment, but the following day, after\nsome good-humored gibes, he handed me six passes and a roll of\nten-rupee bills.\n\n\u201cI hardly think your theoretical trip needs such practical props,\u201d\nhe remarked, \u201cbut here they are.\u201d\n\nThat afternoon I exhibited my booty to Sri Yukteswar. Though he\nsmiled at my enthusiasm, his words were noncommittal: \u201cI would like\nto go; we shall see.\u201d He made no comment when I asked his little\nhermitage disciple, Kanai, to accompany us. I also invited three\nother friends\u2014Rajendra Nath Mitra, Jotin Auddy, and one other boy.\nOur date of departure was set for the following Monday.\n\nOn Saturday and Sunday I stayed in Calcutta, where marriage rites\nfor a cousin were being celebrated at my family home. I arrived in\nSerampore with my luggage early Monday morning. Rajendra met me at\nthe hermitage door.\n\n\u201cMaster is out, walking. He has refused to go.\u201d\n\nI was equally grieved and obdurate. \u201cI will not give Father a third\nchance to ridicule my chimerical plans for Kashmir. Come; the rest\nof us will go anyhow.\u201d\n\nRajendra agreed; I left the ashram to find a servant. Kanai, I knew,\nwould not take the trip without Master, and someone was needed to\nlook after the luggage. I bethought myself of Behari, previously\na servant in my family home, who was now employed by a Serampore\nschoolmaster.  As I walked along briskly, I met my guru in front\nof the Christian church near Serampore Courthouse.\n\n\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d Sri Yukteswar\u2019s face was unsmiling.\n\n\u201cSir, I hear that you and Kanai will not take the trip we have been\nplanning. I am seeking Behari. You will recall that last year he\nwas so anxious to see Kashmir that he even offered to serve without\npay.\u201d\n\n\u201cI remember. Nevertheless, I don\u2019t think Behari will be willing to\ngo.\u201d\n\nI was exasperated. \u201cHe is just eagerly waiting for this opportunity!\u201d\n\nMy guru silently resumed his walk; I soon reached the schoolmaster\u2019s\nhouse. Behari, in the courtyard, greeted me with a friendly warmth\nthat abruptly vanished as soon as I mentioned Kashmir. With a murmured\nword of apology, the servant left me and entered his employer\u2019s\nhouse.  I waited half an hour, nervously assuring myself that\nBehari\u2019s delay was being caused by preparations for his trip.\nFinally I knocked at the front door.\n\n\u201cBehari left by the back stairs about thirty minutes ago,\u201d a man\ninformed me. A slight smile hovered about his lips.\n\nI departed sadly, wondering whether my invitation had been too\ncoercive or whether Master\u2019s unseen influence were at work. Passing\nthe Christian church, again I saw my guru walking slowly toward\nme.  Without waiting to hear my report, he exclaimed:\n\n\u201cSo Behari would not go! Now, what are your plans?\u201d\n\nI felt like a recalcitrant child who is determined to defy his\nmasterful father. \u201cSir, I am going to ask my uncle to lend me his\nservant, Lal Dhari.\u201d\n\n\u201cSee your uncle if you want to,\u201d Sri Yukteswar replied with a\nchuckle.  \u201cBut I hardly think you will enjoy the visit.\u201d\n\nApprehensive but rebellious, I left my guru and entered Serampore\nCourthouse. My paternal uncle, Sarada Ghosh, a government attorney,\nwelcomed me affectionately.\n\n\u201cI am leaving today with some friends for Kashmir,\u201d I told him.\n\u201cFor years I have been looking forward to this Himalayan trip.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am happy for you, Mukunda. Is there anything I can do to make\nyour journey more comfortable?\u201d\n\nThese kind words gave me a lift of encouragement. \u201cDear uncle,\u201d I\nsaid, \u201ccould you possibly spare me your servant, Lal Dhari?\u201d\n\nMy simple request had the effect of an earthquake. Uncle jumped so\nviolently that his chair overturned, the papers on the desk flew in\nevery direction, and his pipe, a long, coconut-stemmed hubble-bubble,\nfell to the floor with a great clatter.\n\n\u201cYou selfish young man,\u201d he shouted, quivering with wrath, \u201cwhat a\npreposterous idea! Who will look after me, if you take my servant\non one of your pleasure jaunts?\u201d\n\nI concealed my surprise, reflecting that my amiable uncle\u2019s sudden\nchange of front was only one more enigma in a day fully devoted\nto incomprehensibility. My retreat from the courthouse office was\nmore alacritous than dignified.\n\nI returned to the hermitage, where my friends were expectantly\ngathered. Conviction was growing on me that some sufficient if\nexceedingly recondite motive was behind Master\u2019s attitude. Remorse\nseized me that I had been trying to thwart my guru\u2019s will.\n\n\u201cMukunda, wouldn\u2019t you like to stay awhile longer with me?\u201d Sri\nYukteswar inquired. \u201cRajendra and the others can go ahead now, and\nwait for you at Calcutta. There will be plenty of time to catch\nthe last evening train leaving Calcutta for Kashmir.\u201d\n\n\u201cSir, I don\u2019t care to go without you,\u201d I said mournfully.\n\nMy friends paid not the slightest attention to my remark. They\nsummoned a hackney carriage and departed with all the luggage.\nKanai and I sat quietly at our guru\u2019s feet. After a half hour of\ncomplete silence, Master rose and walked toward the second-floor\ndining patio.\n\n\u201cKanai, please serve Mukunda\u2019s food. His train leaves soon.\u201d\n\nGetting up from my blanket seat, I staggered suddenly with nausea\nand a ghastly churning sensation in my stomach. The stabbing pain\nwas so intense that I felt I had been abruptly hurled into some\nviolent hell.  Groping blindly toward my guru, I collapsed before\nhim, attacked by all symptoms of the dread Asiatic cholera. Sri\nYukteswar and Kanai carried me to the sitting room.\n\nRacked with agony, I cried, \u201cMaster, I surrender my life to you;\u201d\nfor I believed it was indeed fast ebbing from the shores of my\nbody.\n\nSri Yukteswar put my head on his lap, stroking my forehead with\nangelic tenderness.\n\n\u201cYou see now what would have happened if you were at the station\nwith your friends,\u201d he said. \u201cI had to look after you in this strange\nway, because you chose to doubt my judgment about taking the trip\nat this particular time.\u201d\n\nI understood at last. Inasmuch as great masters seldom see fit to\ndisplay their powers openly, a casual observer of the day\u2019s events\nwould have imagined that their sequence was quite natural. My guru\u2019s\nintervention had been too subtle to be suspected. He had worked\nhis will through Behari and my Uncle Sarada and Rajendra and the\nothers in such an inconspicuous manner that probably everyone but\nmyself thought the situations had been logically normal.\n\nAs Sri Yukteswar never failed to observe his social obligations,\nhe instructed Kanai to go for a specialist, and to notify my uncle.\n\n\u201cMaster,\u201d I protested, \u201conly you can heal me. I am too far gone\nfor any doctor.\u201d\n\n\u201cChild, you are protected by the Divine Mercy. Don\u2019t worry about\nthe doctor; he will not find you in this state. You are already\nhealed.\u201d\n\nWith my guru\u2019s words, the excruciating suffering left me. I sat up\nfeebly. A doctor soon arrived and examined me carefully.\n\n\u201cYou appear to have passed through the worst,\u201d he said. \u201cI will\ntake some specimens with me for laboratory tests.\u201d\n\nThe following morning the physician arrived hurriedly. I was sitting\nup, in good spirits.\n\n\u201cWell, well, here you are, smiling and chatting as though you had\nhad no close call with death.\u201d He patted my hand gently. \u201cI hardly\nexpected to find you alive, after I had discovered from the specimens\nthat your disease was Asiatic cholera. You are fortunate, young\nman, to have a guru with divine healing powers! I am convinced of\nit!\u201d\n\nI agreed wholeheartedly. As the doctor was preparing to leave,\nRajendra and Auddy appeared at the door. The resentment in their\nfaces changed into sympathy as they glanced at the physician and\nthen at my somewhat wan countenance.\n\n\u201cWe were angry when you didn\u2019t turn up as agreed at the Calcutta\ntrain. You have been sick?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d I could not help laughing as my friends placed the luggage\nin the same corner it had occupied yesterday. I quoted: \u201cThere was\na ship that went to Spain; when it arrived, it came back again!\u201d\n\nMaster entered the room. I permitted myself a convalescent\u2019s liberty,\nand captured his hand lovingly.\n\n\u201cGuruji,\u201d I said, \u201cfrom my twelfth year on, I have made many\nunsuccessful attempts to reach the Himalayas. I am finally convinced\nthat without your blessings the Goddess Parvati {FN20-2} will not\nreceive me!\u201d\n\n{FN20-1} Although Master failed to make any explanation, his\nreluctance to visit Kashmir during those two summers may have been\na foreknowledge that the time was not ripe for his illness there\n(see chapter 22).\n\n{FN20-2} Literally, \u201cof the mountains.\u201d Parvati, mythologically\nrepresented as a daughter of Himavat or the sacred mountains, is\na name given to the SHAKTI or \u201cconsort\u201d of Shiva.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 21\n\nWE VISIT KASHMIR\n\n\n\u201cYou are strong enough now to travel. I will accompany you to\nKashmir,\u201d Sri Yukteswar informed me two days after my miraculous\nrecovery from Asiatic cholera.\n\nThat evening our party of six entrained for the north. Our first\nleisurely stop was at Simla, a queenly city resting on the throne\nof Himalayan hills. We strolled over the steep streets, admiring\nthe magnificent views.\n\n\u201cEnglish strawberries for sale,\u201d cried an old woman, squatting in\na picturesque open market place.\n\nMaster was curious about the strange little red fruits. He bought\na basketful and offered it to Kanai and myself, who were near-by.\nI tasted one berry but spat it hastily on the ground.\n\n\u201cSir, what a sour fruit! I could never like strawberries!\u201d\n\nMy guru laughed. \u201cOh, you will like them-in America. At a dinner\nthere, your hostess will serve them with sugar and cream. After she\nhas mashed the berries with a fork, you will taste them and say:\n\u2018What delicious strawberries!\u2019 Then you will remember this day in\nSimla.\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s forecast vanished from my mind, but reappeared\nthere many years later, shortly after my arrival in America. I was\na dinner guest at the home of Mrs. Alice T. Hasey (Sister Yogmata)\nin West Somerville, Massachusetts. When a dessert of strawberries\nwas put on the table, my hostess picked up her fork and mashed my\nberries, adding cream and sugar. \u201cThe fruit is rather tart; I think\nyou will like it fixed this way,\u201d she remarked.\n\nI took a mouthful. \u201cWhat delicious strawberries!\u201d I exclaimed.\nAt once my guru\u2019s prediction in Simla emerged from the fathomless\ncave of memory. It was staggering to realize that long ago Sri\nYukteswar\u2019s God-tuned mind had sensitively detected the program of\nkarmic events wandering in the ether of futurity.\n\nOur party soon left Simla and entrained for Rawalpindi. There\nwe hired a large landau, drawn by two horses, in which we started\na seven-day trip to Srinagar, capital city of Kashmir. The second\nday of our northbound journey brought into view the true Himalayan\nvastness. As the iron wheels of our carriage creaked along the hot,\nstony roads, we were enraptured with changing vistas of mountainous\ngrandeur.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d Auddy said to Master, \u201cI am greatly enjoying these glorious\nscenes in your holy company.\u201d\n\nI felt a throb of pleasure at Auddy\u2019s appreciation, for I was acting\nas host on this trip. Sri Yukteswar caught my thought; he turned\nto me and whispered:\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t flatter yourself; Auddy is not nearly as entranced with the\nscenery as he is with the prospect of leaving us long enough to\nhave a cigaret.\u201d\n\nI was shocked. \u201cSir,\u201d I said in an undertone, \u201cplease do not break\nour harmony by these unpleasant words. I can hardly believe that\nAuddy is hankering for a smoke.\u201d {FN21-1} I looked apprehensively\nat my usually irrepressible guru.\n\n\u201cVery well; I won\u2019t say anything to Auddy.\u201d Master chuckled. \u201cBut\nyou will soon see, when the landau halts, that Auddy is quick to\nseize his opportunity.\u201d\n\nThe carriage arrived at a small caravanserai. As our horses were led\nto be watered, Auddy inquired, \u201cSir, do you mind if I ride awhile\nwith the driver? I would like to get a little outside air.\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar gave permission, but remarked to me, \u201cHe wants fresh\nsmoke and not fresh air.\u201d\n\nThe landau resumed its noisy progress over the dusty roads. Master\u2019s\neyes were twinkling; he instructed me, \u201cCrane up your neck through\nthe carriage door and see what Auddy is doing with the air.\u201d\n\nI obeyed, and was astounded to observe Auddy in the act of exhaling\nrings of cigaret smoke. My glance toward Sri Yukteswar was apologetic.\n\n\u201cYou are right, as always, sir. Auddy is enjoying a puff along with\na panorama.\u201d I surmised that my friend had received a gift from the\ncab driver; I knew Auddy had not carried any cigarets from Calcutta.\n\nWe continued on the labyrinthine way, adorned by views of rivers,\nvalleys, precipitous crags, and multitudinous mountain tiers.\nEvery night we stopped at rustic inns, and prepared our own food.\nSri Yukteswar took special care of my diet, insisting that I have\nlime juice at all meals. I was still weak, but daily improving,\nthough the rattling carriage was strictly designed for discomfort.\n\nJoyous anticipations filled our hearts as we neared central Kashmir,\nparadise land of lotus lakes, floating gardens, gaily canopied\nhouseboats, the many-bridged Jhelum River, and flower-strewn\npastures, all ringed round by the Himalayan majesty. Our approach\nto Srinagar was through an avenue of tall, welcoming trees. We\nengaged rooms at a double-storied inn overlooking the noble hills.\nNo running water was available; we drew our supply from a near-by\nwell. The summer weather was ideal, with warm days and slightly\ncold nights.\n\nWe made a pilgrimage to the ancient Srinagar temple of Swami\nShankara.  As I gazed upon the mountain-peak hermitage, standing\nbold against the sky, I fell into an ecstatic trance. A vision\nappeared of a hilltop mansion in a distant land. The lofty Shankara\nashram before me was transformed into the structure where, years\nlater, I established the Self-Realization Fellowship headquarters\nin America. When I first visited Los Angeles, and saw the large\nbuilding on the crest of Mount Washington, I recognized it at once\nfrom my long-past visions in Kashmir and elsewhere.\n\nA few days at Srinagar; then on to Gulmarg (\u201cmountain paths of\nflowers\u201d), elevated by six thousand feet. There I had my first ride\non a large horse. Rajendra mounted a small trotter, whose heart\nwas fired with ambition for speed. We ventured onto the very steep\nKhilanmarg; the path led through a dense forest, abounding in\ntree-mushrooms, where the mist-shrouded trails were often precarious.\nBut Rajendra\u2019s little animal never permitted my oversized steed a\nmoment\u2019s rest, even at the most perilous turns. On, on, untiringly\ncame Rajendra\u2019s horse, oblivious to all but the joy of competition.\n\nOur strenuous race was rewarded by a breath-taking view. For\nthe first time in this life, I gazed in all directions at sublime\nsnow-capped Himalayas, lying tier upon tier like silhouettes of\nhuge polar bears.  My eyes feasted exultingly on endless reaches\nof icy mountains against sunny blue skies.\n\nI rolled merrily with my young companions, all wearing overcoats,\non the sparkling white slopes. On our downward trip we saw afar a\nvast carpet of yellow flowers, wholly transfiguring the bleak hills.\n\nOur next excursions were to the famous royal \u201cpleasure gardens\u201d\nof the Emperor Jehangir, at Shalimar and Nishat Bagh. The ancient\npalace at Nishat Bagh is built directly over a natural waterfall.\nRushing down from the mountains, the torrent has been regulated\nthrough ingenious contrivances to flow over colorful terraces and\nto gush into fountains amidst the dazzling flower-beds. The stream\nalso enters several of the palace rooms, ultimately dropping fairy\nlike into the lake below. The immense gardens are riotous with\ncolor\u2014roses of a dozen hues, snapdragons, lavender, pansies,\npoppies. An emerald enclosing outline is given by symmetrical rows\nof CHINARS, {FN21-2} cypresses, cherry trees; beyond them tower\nthe white austerities of the Himalayas.\n\nKashmir grapes are considered a rare delicacy in Calcutta. Rajendra,\nwho had been promising himself a veritable feast on reaching Kashmir,\nwas disappointed to find there no large vineyards. Now and then I\nchaffed him jocosely over his baseless anticipation.\n\n\u201cOh, I have become so much gorged with grapes I can\u2019t walk!\u201d I\nwould say. \u201cThe invisible grapes are brewing within me!\u201d Later I\nheard that sweet grapes grow abundantly in Kabul, west of Kashmir.\nWe consoled ourselves with ice cream made of RABRI, a heavily\ncondensed milk, and flavored with whole pistachio nuts.\n\nWe took several trips in the SHIKARAS or houseboats, shaded by\nred-embroidered canopies, coursing along the intricate channels of\nDal Lake, a network of canals like a watery spider web. Here the\nnumerous floating gardens, crudely improvised with logs and earth,\nstrike one with amazement, so incongruous is the first sight of\nvegetables and melons growing in the midst of vast waters. Occasionally\none sees a peasant, disdaining to be \u201crooted to the soil,\u201d towing\nhis square plot of \u201cland\u201d to a new location in the many-fingered\nlake.\n\nIn this storied vale one finds an epitome of all the earth\u2019s\nbeauties.  The Lady of Kashmir is mountain-crowned, lake-garlanded,\nand flower-shod. In later years, after I had toured many distant\nlands, I understood why Kashmir is often called the world\u2019s most\nscenic spot.  It possesses some of the charms of the Swiss Alps,\nand of Loch Lomond in Scotland, and of the exquisite English lakes.\nAn American traveler in Kashmir finds much to remind him of the\nrugged grandeur of Alaska and of Pikes Peak near Denver.\n\nAs entries in a scenic beauty contest, I offer for first prize\neither the gorgeous view of Xochimilco in Mexico, where mountains,\nskies, and poplars reflect themselves in myriad lanes of water amidst\nthe playful fish, or the jewel-like lakes of Kashmir, guarded like\nbeautiful maidens by the stern surveillance of the Himalayas. These\ntwo places stand out in my memory as the loveliest spots on earth.\n\nYet I was awed also when I first beheld the wonders of Yellowstone\nNational Park and of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, and of\nAlaska.  Yellowstone Park is perhaps the only region where one can\nsee innumerable geysers shooting high into the air, performing year\nafter year with clockwork regularity. Its opal and sapphire pools\nand hot sulphurous springs, its bears and wild creatures, remind\none that here Nature left a specimen of her earliest creation.\nMotoring along the roads of Wyoming to the \u201cDevil\u2019s Paint Pot\u201d of\nhot bubbling mud, with gurgling springs, vaporous fountains, and\nspouting geysers in all directions, I was disposed to say that\nYellowstone deserves a special prize for uniqueness.\n\nThe ancient majestic redwoods of Yosemite, stretching their huge\ncolumns far into the unfathomable sky, are green natural cathedrals\ndesigned with skill divine. Though there are wonderful falls in\nthe Orient, none match the torrential beauty of Niagara near the\nCanadian border. The Mammoth Caves of Kentucky and the Carlsbad\nCaverns in New Mexico, with colorful iciclelike formations, are\nstunning fairylands.  Their long needles of stalactite spires,\nhanging from cave ceilings and mirrored in underground waters,\npresent a glimpse of other worlds as fancied by man.\n\nMost of the Hindus of Kashmir, world-famed for their beauty, are\nas white as Europeans and have similar features and bone structure;\nmany have blue eyes and blonde hair. Dressed in Western clothes,\nthey look like Americans. The cold Himalayas protect the Kashmiris\nfrom the sultry sun and preserve their light complexions. As one\ntravels to the southern and tropical latitudes of India, he finds\nprogressively that the people become darker and darker.\n\nAfter spending happy weeks in Kashmir, I was forced to return to\nBengal for the fall term of Serampore College. Sri Yukteswar remained\nin Srinagar, with Kanai and Auddy. Before I departed, Master hinted\nthat his body would be subject to suffering in Kashmir.\n\n\u201cSir, you look a picture of health,\u201d I protested.\n\n\u201cThere is a chance that I may even leave this earth.\u201d\n\n\u201cGuruji!\u201d I fell at his feet with an imploring gesture. \u201cPlease\npromise that you won\u2019t leave your body now. I am utterly unprepared\nto carry on without you.\u201d\n\n\nSri Yukteswar was silent, but smiled at me so compassionately that\nI felt reassured. Reluctantly I left him.\n\n\u201cMaster dangerously ill.\u201d This telegram from Auddy reached me\nshortly after my return to Serampore.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d I wired my guru frantically, \u201cI asked for your promise not\nto leave me. Please keep your body; otherwise, I also shall die.\u201d\n\n\u201cBe it as you wish.\u201d This was Sri Yukteswar\u2019s reply from Kashmir.\n\nA letter from Auddy arrived in a few days, informing me that\nMaster had recovered. On his return to Serampore during the next\nfortnight, I was grieved to find my guru\u2019s body reduced to half\nits usual weight.\n\nFortunately for his disciples, Sri Yukteswar burned many of their\nsins in the fire of his severe fever in Kashmir. The metaphysical\nmethod of physical transfer of disease is known to highly advanced\nyogis. A strong man can assist a weaker one by helping to carry his\nheavy load; a spiritual superman is able to minimize his disciples\u2019\nphysical or mental burdens by sharing the karma of their past actions.\nJust as a rich man loses some money when he pays off a large debt\nfor his prodigal son, who is thus saved from dire consequences of\nhis own folly, so a master willingly sacrifices a portion of his\nbodily wealth to lighten the misery of disciples. {FN21-3}\n\nBy a secret method, the yogi unites his mind and astral vehicle\nwith those of a suffering individual; the disease is conveyed,\nwholly or in part, to the saint\u2019s body. Having harvested God on\nthe physical field, a master no longer cares what happens to that\nmaterial form. Though he may allow it to register a certain disease\nin order to relieve others, his mind is never affected; he considers\nhimself fortunate in being able to render such aid.\n\nThe devotee who has achieved final salvation in the Lord finds that\nhis body has completely fulfilled its purpose; he can then use it\nin any way he deems fit. His work in the world is to alleviate the\nsorrows of mankind, whether through spiritual means or by intellectual\ncounsel or through will power or by the physical transfer of disease.\nEscaping to the superconsciousness whenever he so desires, a master\ncan remain oblivious of physical suffering; sometimes he chooses to\nbear bodily pain stoically, as an example to disciples. By putting\non the ailments of others, a yogi can satisfy, for them, the karmic\nlaw of cause and effect. This law is mechanically or mathematically\noperative; its workings can be scientifically manipulated by men\nof divine wisdom.\n\nThe spiritual law does not require a master to become ill whenever\nhe heals another person. Healings ordinarily take place through\nthe saint\u2019s knowledge of various methods of instantaneous cure in\nwhich no hurt to the spiritual healer is involved. On rare occasions,\nhowever, a master who wishes to greatly quicken his disciples\u2019\nevolution may then voluntarily work out on his own body a large\nmeasure of their undesirable karma.\n\nJesus signified himself as a ransom for the sins of many. With his\ndivine powers, {FN21-4} his body could never have been subjected\nto death by crucifixion if he had not willingly cooperated with\nthe subtle cosmic law of cause and effect. He thus took on himself\nthe consequences of others\u2019 karma, especially that of his disciples.\nIn this manner they were highly purified and made fit to receive\nthe omnipresent consciousness which later descended on them.\n\nOnly a self-realized master can transfer his life force, or convey\ninto his own body the diseases of others. An ordinary man cannot\nemploy this yogic method of cure, nor is it desirable that he\nshould do so; for an unsound physical instrument is a hindrance to\nGod\u2014meditation. The Hindu scriptures teach that the first duty of\nman is to keep his body in good condition; otherwise his mind is\nunable to remain fixed in devotional concentration.\n\nA very strong mind, however, can transcend all physical difficulties\nand attain to God-realization. Many saints have ignored illness and\nsucceeded in their divine quest. St. Francis of Assisi, severely\nafflicted with ailments, healed others and even raised the dead.\n\nI knew an Indian saint, half of whose body was once festering with\nsores. His diabetic condition was so acute that under ordinary\nconditions he could not sit still at one time for more than fifteen\nminutes. But his spiritual aspiration was undeterrable. \u201cLord,\u201d\nhe prayed, \u201cwilt Thou come into my broken temple?\u201d With ceaseless\ncommand of will, the saint gradually became able to sit daily in\nthe lotus posture for eighteen continuous hours, engrossed in the\necstatic trance.\n\n\u201cAnd,\u201d he told me, \u201cat the end of three years, I found the Infinite\nLight blazing within my shattered form. Rejoicing in the joyful\nsplendour, I forgot the body. Later I saw that it had become whole\nthrough the Divine Mercy.\u201d\n\nA historical healing incident concerns King Baber (1483-1530),\nfounder of the Mogul empire in India. His son, Prince Humayun, was\nmortally ill. The father prayed with anguished determination that\nhe receive the sickness, and that his son be spared. After all\nphysicians had given up hope, Humayun recovered. Baber immediately\nfell sick and died of the same disease which had stricken his son.\nHumayun succeeded Baber as Emperor of Hindustan.\n\nMany people imagine that every spiritual master has, or should have,\nthe health and strength of a Sandow. The assumption is unfounded.\nA sickly body does not indicate that a guru is not in touch with\ndivine powers, any more than lifelong health necessarily indicates an\ninner illumination. The condition of the physical body, in other\nwords, cannot rightfully be made a test of a master. His distinguishing\nqualifications must be sought in his own domain, the spiritual.\n\nNumerous bewildered seekers in the West erroneously think that an\neloquent speaker or writer on metaphysics must be a master. The\nrishis, however, have pointed out that the acid test of a master\nis a man\u2019s ability to enter at will the breathless state, and to\nmaintain the unbroken SAMADHI of NIRBIKALPA. {FN21-5} Only by these\nachievements can a human being prove that he has \u201cmastered\u201d MAYA\nor the dualistic Cosmic Delusion. He alone can say from the depths\nof realization: \u201cEKAM SAT,\u201d-\u201cOnly One exists.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe VEDAS declare that the ignorant man who rests content with\nmaking the slightest distinction between the individual soul and\nthe Supreme Self is exposed to danger,\u201d Shankara the great monist\nhas written.  \u201cWhere there is duality by virtue of ignorance, one\nsees all things as distinct from the Self. When everything is seen\nas the Self, then there is not even an atom other than the Self. . . .\n\n\u201cAs soon as the knowledge of the Reality has sprung up, there\ncan be no fruits of past actions to be experienced, owing to the\nunreality of the body, in the same way as there can be no dream\nafter waking.\u201d\n\nOnly great gurus are able to assume the karma of disciples. Sri\nYukteswar would not have suffered in Kashmir unless he had received\npermission from the Spirit within him to help his disciples in that\nstrange way. Few saints were ever more sensitively equipped with\nwisdom to carry out divine commands than my God-tuned Master.\n\nWhen I ventured a few words of sympathy over his emaciated figure,\nmy guru said gaily:\n\n\u201cIt has its good points; I am able now to get into some small GANJIS\n(undershirts) that I haven\u2019t worn in years!\u201d\n\nListening to Master\u2019s jovial laugh, I remembered the words of St.\nFrancis de Sales: \u201cA saint that is sad is a sad saint!\u201d\n\n{FN21-1} It is a mark of disrespect, in India, to smoke in the\npresence of one\u2019s elders and superiors.\n\n{FN21-2} The Oriental plane tree..\n\n{FN21-3} Many Christian saints, including Therese Neumann (see\nchapter 39), are familiar with the metaphysical transfer of disease.\n\n{FN21-4} Christ said, just before he was led away to be crucified:\n\u201cThinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall\npresently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then\nshall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?\u201d-MATTHEW\n26:53-54.\n\n{FN21-5} See ../chapters 26, 43 NOTES.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 22\n\nTHE HEART OF A STONE IMAGE\n\n\n\u201cAs a loyal Hindu wife, I do not wish to complain of my husband. But\nI yearn to see him turn from his materialistic views. He delights\nin ridiculing the pictures of saints in my meditation room. Dear\nbrother, I have deep faith that you can help him. Will you?\u201d\n\nMy eldest sister Roma gazed beseechingly at me. I was paying\na short visit at her Calcutta home on Girish Vidyaratna Lane. Her\nplea touched me, for she had exercised a profound spiritual influence\nover my early life, and had lovingly tried to fill the void left\nin the family circle by Mother\u2019s death.\n\n\u201cBeloved sister, of course I will do anything I can.\u201d I smiled,\neager to lift the gloom plainly visible on her face, in contrast\nto her usual calm and cheerful expression.\n\nRoma and I sat awhile in silent prayer for guidance. A year earlier,\nmy sister had asked me to initiate her into KRIYA YOGA, in which\nshe was making notable progress.\n\nAn inspiration seized me. \u201cTomorrow,\u201d I said, \u201cI am going to the\nDakshineswar temple. Please come with me, and persuade your husband\nto accompany us. I feel that in the vibrations of that holy place,\nDivine Mother will touch his heart. But don\u2019t disclose our object\nin wanting him to go.\u201d\n\nSister agreed hopefully. Very early the next morning I was pleased\nto find that Roma and her husband were in readiness for the trip.\nAs our hackney carriage rattled along Upper Circular Road toward\nDakshineswar, my brother-in-law, Satish Chandra Bose, amused himself\nby deriding spiritual gurus of the past, present, and future. I\nnoticed that Roma was quietly weeping.\n\n\u201cSister, cheer up!\u201d I whispered. \u201cDon\u2019t give your husband the\nsatisfaction of believing that we take his mockery seriously.\u201d\n\n\u201cMukunda, how can you admire worthless humbugs?\u201d Satish was saying.\n\u201cA SADHU\u2019S very appearance is repulsive. He is either as thin as\na skeleton, or as unholily fat as an elephant!\u201d\n\nI shouted with laughter. My good-natured reaction was annoying\nto Satish; he retired into sullen silence. As our cab entered the\nDakshineswar grounds, he grinned sarcastically.\n\n\u201cThis excursion, I suppose, is a scheme to reform me?\u201d\n\nAs I turned away without reply, he caught my arm. \u201cYoung Mr. Monk,\u201d\nhe said, \u201cdon\u2019t forget to make proper arrangements with the temple\nauthorities to provide for our noon meal.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am going to meditate now. Do not worry about your lunch,\u201d I\nreplied sharply. \u201cDivine Mother will look after it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t trust Divine Mother to do a single thing for me. But I do\nhold you responsible for my food.\u201d Satish\u2019s tones were threatening.\n\nI proceeded alone to the colonnaded hall which fronts the large\ntemple of Kali, or Mother Nature. Selecting a shady spot near one\nof the pillars, I arranged my body in the lotus posture. Although\nit was only about seven o\u2019clock, the morning sun would soon be\noppressive.\n\nThe world receded as I became devotionally entranced. My mind was\nconcentrated on Goddess Kali, whose image at Dakshineswar had been\nthe special object of adoration by the great master, Sri Ramakrishna\nParamhansa. In answer to his anguished demands, the stone image of\nthis very temple had often taken a living form and conversed with\nhim.\n\n\u201cSilent Mother with stony heart,\u201d I prayed, \u201cThou becamest filled\nwith life at the request of Thy beloved devotee Ramakrishna; why\ndost Thou not also heed the wails of this yearning son of Thine?\u201d\n\nMy aspiring zeal increased boundlessly, accompanied by a divine\npeace.  Yet, when five hours had passed, and the Goddess whom\nI was inwardly visualizing had made no response, I felt slightly\ndisheartened.  Sometimes it is a test by God to delay the fulfillment\nof prayers. But He eventually appears to the persistent devotee\nin whatever form he holds dear. A devout Christian sees Jesus; a\nHindu beholds Krishna, or the Goddess Kali, or an expanding Light\nif his worship takes an impersonal turn.\n\nReluctantly I opened my eyes, and saw that the temple doors were\nbeing locked by a priest, in conformance with a noon-hour custom.\nI rose from my secluded seat under the open, roofed hall, and stepped\ninto the courtyard. Its stone floor was scorching under the midday\nsun; my bare feet were painfully burned.\n\n\u201cDivine Mother,\u201d I silently remonstrated, \u201cThou didst not come to\nme in vision, and now Thou art hidden in the temple behind closed\ndoors.  I wanted to offer a special prayer to Thee today on behalf\nof my brother-in-law.\u201d\n\nMy inward petition was instantly acknowledged. First, a delightful\ncold wave descended over my back and under my feet, banishing\nall discomfort. Then, to my amazement, the temple became greatly\nmagnified. Its large door slowly opened, revealing the stone figure\nof Goddess Kali. Gradually it changed into a living form, smilingly\nnodding in greeting, thrilling me with joy indescribable. As if by\na mystic syringe, the breath was withdrawn from my lungs; my body\nbecame very still, though not inert.\n\nAn ecstatic enlargement of consciousness followed. I could see\nclearly for several miles over the Ganges River to my left, and\nbeyond the temple into the entire Dakshineswar precincts. The walls\nof all buildings glimmered transparently; through them I observed\npeople walking to and fro over distant acres.\n\nThough I was breathless and my body in a strangely quiet state, yet\nI was able to move my hands and feet freely. For several minutes\nI experimented in closing and opening my eyes; in either state I\nsaw distinctly the whole Dakshineswar panorama.\n\nSpiritual sight, x-raylike, penetrates into all matter; the divine\neye is center everywhere, circumference nowhere. I realized anew,\nstanding there in the sunny courtyard, that when man ceases to be a\nprodigal child of God, engrossed in a physical world indeed dream,\nbaseless as a bubble, he reinherits his eternal realms. If \u201cescapism\u201d\nbe a need of man, cramped in his narrow personality, can any escape\ncompare with the majesty of omnipresence?\n\nIn my sacred experience at Dakshineswar, the only extraordinarily-enlarged\nobjects were the temple and the form of the Goddess.  Everything\nelse appeared in its normal dimensions, although each was enclosed\nin a halo of mellow light-white, blue, and pastel rainbow hues. My\nbody seemed to be of ethereal substance, ready to levitate.  Fully\nconscious of my material surroundings, I was looking about me and\ntaking a few steps without disturbing the continuity of the blissful\nvision.\n\nBehind the temple walls I suddenly glimpsed my brother-in-law\nas he sat under the thorny branches of a sacred BEL tree. I could\neffortlessly discern the course of his thoughts. Somewhat uplifted\nunder the holy influence of Dakshineswar, his mind yet held unkind\nreflections about me. I turned directly to the gracious form of\nthe Goddess.\n\n\u201cDivine Mother,\u201d I prayed, \u201cwilt Thou not spiritually change my\nsister\u2019s husband?\u201d\n\n\nThe beautiful figure, hitherto silent, spoke at last: \u201cThy wish is\ngranted!\u201d\n\nI looked happily at Satish. As though instinctively aware that some\nspiritual power was at work, he rose resentfully from his seat on\nthe ground. I saw him running behind the temple; he approached me,\nshaking his fist.\n\nThe all-embracing vision disappeared. No longer could I see the\nglorious Goddess; the towering temple was reduced to its ordinary\nsize, minus its transparency. Again my body sweltered under the\nfierce rays of the sun. I jumped to the shelter of the pillared\nhall, where Satish pursued me angrily. I looked at my watch. It\nwas one o\u2019clock; the divine vision had lasted an hour.\n\n\u201cYou little fool,\u201d my brother-in-law blurted out, \u201cyou have been\nsitting there cross-legged and cross-eyed for six hours. I have\ngone back and forth watching you. Where is my food? Now the temple\nis closed; you failed to notify the authorities; we are left without\nlunch!\u201d\n\nThe exaltation I had felt at the Goddess\u2019 presence was still vibrant\nwithin my heart. I was emboldened to exclaim, \u201cDivine Mother will\nfeed us!\u201d\n\nSatish was beside himself with rage. \u201cOnce and for all,\u201d he shouted,\n\u201cI would like to see your Divine Mother giving us food here without\nprior arrangements!\u201d\n\nHis words were hardly uttered when a temple priest crossed the\ncourtyard and joined us.\n\n\u201cSon,\u201d he addressed me, \u201cI have been observing your face serenely\nglowing during hours of meditation. I saw the arrival of your party\nthis morning, and felt a desire to put aside ample food for your\nlunch. It is against the temple rules to feed those who do not make\na request beforehand, but I have made an exception for you.\u201d\n\nI thanked him, and gazed straight into Satish\u2019s eyes. He flushed\nwith emotion, lowering his gaze in silent repentance. When we were\nserved a lavish meal, including out-of-season mangoes, I noticed\nthat my brother-in-law\u2019s appetite was meager. He was bewildered,\ndiving deep into the ocean of thought. On the return journey to\nCalcutta, Satish, with softened expression, occasionally glanced at\nme pleadingly. But he did not speak a single word after the moment\nthe priest had appeared to invite us to lunch, as though in direct\nanswer to Satish\u2019s challenge.\n\nThe following afternoon I visited my sister at her home. She greeted\nme affectionately.\n\n\u201cDear brother,\u201d she cried, \u201cwhat a miracle! Last evening my husband\nwept openly before me.\n\n\u201c\u2018Beloved DEVI,\u2019 {FN22-1} he said, \u2018I am happy beyond expression\nthat this reforming scheme of your brother\u2019s has wrought a\ntransformation.  I am going to undo every wrong I have done you. From\ntonight we will use our large bedroom only as a place of worship;\nyour small meditation room shall be changed into our sleeping\nquarters. I am sincerely sorry that I have ridiculed your brother.\nFor the shameful way I have been acting, I will punish myself by\nnot talking to Mukunda until I have progressed in the spiritual\npath. Deeply I will seek the Divine Mother from now on; someday I\nmust surely find Her!\u2019\u201d\n\nYears later, I visited my brother-in-law in Delhi. I was overjoyed\nto perceive that he had developed highly in self-realization, and\nhad been blessed by the vision of Divine Mother. During my stay\nwith him, I noticed that Satish secretly spent the greater part\nof every night in divine meditation, though he was suffering from\na serious ailment, and was engaged during the day at his office.\n\nThe thought came to me that my brother-in-law\u2019s life span would\nnot be a long one. Roma must have read my mind.\n\n\u201cDear brother,\u201d she said, \u201cI am well, and my husband is sick.\nNevertheless, I want you to know that, as a devoted Hindu wife, I\nam going to be the first one to die. {FN22-2} It won\u2019t be long now\nbefore I pass on.\u201d\n\nTaken aback at her ominous words, I yet realized their sting of\ntruth.  I was in America when my sister died, about a year after\nher prediction. My youngest brother Bishnu later gave me the details.\n\n\u201cRoma and Satish were in Calcutta at the time of her death,\u201d Bishnu\ntold me. \u201cThat morning she dressed herself in her bridal finery.\n\n\u201c\u2018Why this special costume?\u2019 Satish inquired.\n\n\u201c\u2018This is my last day of service to you on earth,\u2019 Roma replied.\nA short time later she had a heart attack. As her son was rushing\nout for aid, she said:\n\n\u201c\u2018Son, do not leave me. It is no use; I shall be gone before a\ndoctor could arrive.\u2019 Ten minutes later, holding the feet of her\nhusband in reverence, Roma consciously left her body, happily and\nwithout suffering.\n\n\u201cSatish became very reclusive after his wife\u2019s death,\u201d Bishnu\ncontinued. \u201cOne day he and I were looking at a large smiling\nphotograph of Roma.\n\n\u201c\u2018Why do you smile?\u2019 Satish suddenly exclaimed, as though his wife\nwere present. \u2018You think you were clever in arranging to go before\nme.  I shall prove that you cannot long remain away from me; soon\nI shall join you.\u2019\n\n\u201cAlthough at this time Satish had fully recovered from his sickness,\nand was enjoying excellent health, he died without apparent cause\nshortly after his strange remark before the photograph.\u201d\n\nThus prophetically passed my dearly beloved eldest sister Roma, and\nher husband Satish-he who changed at Dakshineswar from an ordinary\nworldly man to a silent saint.\n\n{FN22-1} Goddess.\n\n{FN22-2} The Hindu wife believes it is a sign of spiritual advancement\nif she dies before her husband, as a proof of her loyal service to\nhim, or \u201cdying in harness.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 23\n\nI RECEIVE MY UNIVERSITY DEGREE\n\n\n\u201cYou ignore your textbook assignments in philosophy. No doubt you\nare depending on an unlaborious \u2018intuition\u2019 to get you through the\nexaminations. But unless you apply yourself in a more scholarly\nmanner, I shall see to it that you don\u2019t pass this course.\u201d\n\nProfessor D. C. Ghoshal of Serampore College was addressing me\nsternly. If I failed to pass his final written classroom test, I\nwould be ineligible to take the conclusive examinations. These are\nformulated by the faculty of Calcutta University, which numbers\nSerampore College among its affiliated branches. A student in Indian\nuniversities who is unsuccessful in one subject in the A.B. finals\nmust be examined anew in ALL his subjects the following year.\n\nMy instructors at Serampore College usually treated me with kindness,\nnot untinged by an amused tolerance. \u201cMukunda is a bit over-drunk\nwith religion.\u201d Thus summing me up, they tactfully spared me the\nembarrassment of answering classroom questions; they trusted the\nfinal written tests to eliminate me from the list of A.B. candidates.\nThe judgment passed by my fellow students was expressed in their\nnickname for me-\u201cMad Monk.\u201d\n\nI took an ingenious step to nullify Professor Ghoshal\u2019s threat to\nme of failure in philosophy. When the results of the final tests\nwere about to be publicly announced, I asked a classmate to accompany\nme to the professor\u2019s study.\n\n\u201cCome along; I want a witness,\u201d I told my companion. \u201cI shall be\nvery much disappointed if I have not succeeded in outwitting the\ninstructor.\u201d\n\nProfessor Ghoshal shook his head after I had inquired what rating\nhe had given my paper.\n\n\u201cYou are not among those who have passed,\u201d he said in triumph. He\nhunted through a large pile on his desk. \u201cYour paper isn\u2019t here at\nall; you have failed, in any case, through non-appearance at the\nexamination.\u201d\n\nI chuckled. \u201cSir, I was there. May I look through the stack myself?\u201d\n\nThe professor, nonplused, gave his permission; I quickly found my\npaper, where I had carefully omitted any identification mark except\nmy roll call number. Unwarned by the \u201cred flag\u201d of my name, the\ninstructor had given a high rating to my answers even though they\nwere unembellished by textbook quotations. {FN23-1}\n\nSeeing through my trick, he now thundered, \u201cSheer brazen luck!\u201d He\nadded hopefully, \u201cYou are sure to fail in the A.B. finals.\u201d\n\nFor the tests in my other subjects, I received some coaching,\nparticularly from my dear friend and cousin, Prabhas Chandra\nGhose, {FN23-2} son of my Uncle Sarada. I staggered painfully but\nsuccessfully-with the lowest possible passing marks-through all my\nfinal tests.\n\nNow, after four years of college, I was eligible to sit for the\nA.B.  examinations. Nevertheless, I hardly expected to avail myself\nof the privilege. The Serampore College finals were child\u2019s play\ncompared to the stiff ones which would be set by Calcutta University\nfor the A.B.  degree. My almost daily visits to Sri Yukteswar had\nleft me little time to enter the college halls. There it was my\npresence rather than my absence that brought forth ejaculations of\namazement from my classmates!\n\nMy customary routine was to set out on my bicycle about nine-thirty\nin the morning. In one hand I would carry an offering for my guru-a\nfew flowers from the garden of my PANTHI boardinghouse. Greeting\nme affably, Master would invite me to lunch. I invariably accepted\nwith alacrity, glad to banish the thought of college for the day.\nAfter hours with Sri Yukteswar, listening to his incomparable flow of\nwisdom, or helping with ashram duties, I would reluctantly depart\naround midnight for the PANTHI. Occasionally I stayed all night with\nmy guru, so happily engrossed in his conversation that I scarcely\nnoticed when darkness changed into dawn.\n\nOne night about eleven o\u2019clock, as I was putting on my shoes\n{FN23-3} in preparation for the ride to the boardinghouse, Master\nquestioned me gravely.\n\n\u201cWhen do your A.B. examinations start?\u201d\n\n\u201cFive days hence, sir.\u201d\n\n\u201cI hope you are in readiness for them.\u201d\n\nTransfixed with alarm, I held one shoe in the air. \u201cSir,\u201d I\nprotested, \u201cyou know how my days have been passed with you rather\nthan with the professors. How can I enact a farce by appearing for\nthose difficult finals?\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s eyes were turned piercingly on mine. \u201cYou must\nappear.\u201d His tone was coldly peremptory. \u201cWe should not give cause\nfor your father and other relatives to criticize your preference\nfor ashram life. Just promise me that you will be present for the\nexaminations; answer them the best way you can.\u201d\n\nUncontrollable tears were coursing down my face. I felt that\nMaster\u2019s command was unreasonable, and that his interest was, to\nsay the least, belated.\n\n\u201cI will appear if you wish it,\u201d I said amidst sobs. \u201cBut no time\nremains for proper preparation.\u201d Under my breath I muttered, \u201cI will\nfill up the sheets with your teachings in answer to the questions!\u201d\n\nWhen I entered the hermitage the following day at my usual hour,\nI presented my bouquet with a certain mournful solemnity. Sri\nYukteswar laughed at my woebegone air.\n\n\u201cMukunda, has the Lord ever failed you, at an examination or\nelsewhere?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, sir,\u201d I responded warmly. Grateful memories came in a revivifying\nflood.\n\n\u201cNot laziness but burning zeal for God has prevented you from\nseeking college honors,\u201d my guru said kindly. After a silence, he\nquoted, \u201c\u2018Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness;\nand all these things shall be added unto you.\u2019\u201d {FN23-4}\n\nFor the thousandth time, I felt my burdens lifted in Master\u2019s\npresence. When we had finished our early lunch, he suggested that\nI return to the PANTHI.\n\n\u201cDoes your friend, Romesh Chandra Dutt, still live in your\nboardinghouse?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir.\u201d\n\n\u201cGet in touch with him; the Lord will inspire him to help you with\nthe examinations.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, sir; but Romesh is unusually busy. He is the honor man\nin our class, and carries a heavier course than the others.\u201d\n\nMaster waved aside my objections. \u201cRomesh will find time for you.\nNow go.\u201d\n\nI bicycled back to the PANTHI. The first person I met in the\nboardinghouse compound was the scholarly Romesh. As though his days\nwere quite free, he obligingly agreed to my diffident request.\n\n\u201cOf course; I am at your service.\u201d He spent several hours of that\nafternoon and of succeeding days in coaching me in my various\nsubjects.\n\n\u201cI believe many questions in English literature will be centered\nin the route of Childe Harold,\u201d he told me. \u201cWe must get an atlas\nat once.\u201d\n\nI hastened to the home of my Uncle Sarada and borrowed an atlas.\nRomesh marked the European map at the places visited by Byron\u2019s\nromantic traveler.\n\nA few classmates had gathered around to listen to the tutoring.\n\u201cRomesh is advising you wrongly,\u201d one of them commented to me at\nthe end of a session. \u201cUsually only fifty per cent of the questions\nare about the books; the other half will involve the authors\u2019\nlives.\u201d\n\nWhen I sat for the examination in English literature the following\nday, my first glance at the questions caused tears of gratitude\nto pour forth, wetting my paper. The classroom monitor came to my\ndesk and made a sympathetic inquiry.\n\n\u201cMy guru foretold that Romesh would help me,\u201d I explained. \u201cLook;\nthe very questions dictated to me by Romesh are here on the examination\nsheet! Fortunately for me, there are very few questions this year\non English authors, whose lives are wrapped in deep mystery so far\nas I am concerned!\u201d\n\nMy boardinghouse was in an uproar when I returned. The boys who\nhad been ridiculing Romesh\u2019s method of coaching looked at me in\nawe, almost deafening me with congratulations. During the week of\nthe examinations, I spent many hours with Romesh, who formulated\nquestions that he thought were likely to be set by the professors.\nDay by day, Romesh\u2019s questions appeared in almost the same form on\nthe examination sheets.\n\nThe news was widely circulated in the college that something resembling\na miracle was occurring, and that success seemed probable for the\nabsent-minded \u201cMad Monk.\u201d I made no attempt to hide the facts of the\ncase. The local professors were powerless to alter the questions,\nwhich had been arranged by Calcutta University.\n\nThinking over the examination in English literature, I realized\none morning that I had made a serious error. One section of the\nquestions had been divided into two parts of A or B, and C or D.\nInstead of answering one question from each part, I had carelessly\nanswered both questions in Group I, and had failed to consider\nanything in Group II.  The best mark I could score in that paper\nwould be 33, three less than the passing mark of 36. I rushed to\nMaster and poured out my troubles.\n\n\u201cSir, I have made an unpardonable blunder. I don\u2019t deserve the\ndivine blessings through Romesh; I am quite unworthy.\u201d\n\n\u201cCheer up, Mukunda.\u201d Sri Yukteswar\u2019s tones were light and unconcerned.\nHe pointed to the blue vault of the heavens. \u201cIt is more possible\nfor the sun and moon to interchange their positions in space than\nit is for you to fail in getting your degree!\u201d\n\nI left the hermitage in a more tranquil mood, though it seemed\nmathematically inconceivable that I could pass. I looked once or\ntwice apprehensively into the sky; the Lord of Day appeared to be\nsecurely anchored in his customary orbit!\n\nAs I reached the PANTHI, I overheard a classmate\u2019s remark: \u201cI\nhave just learned that this year, for the first time, the required\npassing mark in English literature has been lowered.\u201d\n\nI entered the boy\u2019s room with such speed that he looked up in alarm.\nI questioned him eagerly.\n\n\u201cLong-haired monk,\u201d he said laughingly, \u201cwhy this sudden interest\nin scholastic matters? Why cry in the eleventh hour? But it is true\nthat the passing mark has just been lowered to 33 points.\u201d\n\nA few joyous leaps took me into my own room, where I sank to my\nknees and praised the mathematical perfections of my Divine Father.\n\nEvery day I thrilled with the consciousness of a spiritual presence\nthat I clearly felt to be guiding me through Romesh. A significant\nincident occurred in connection with the examination in Bengali.\nRomesh, who had touched little on that subject, called me back\none morning as I was leaving the boardinghouse on my way to the\nexamination hall.\n\n\u201cThere is Romesh shouting for you,\u201d a classmate said to me impatiently.\n\u201cDon\u2019t return; we shall be late at the hall.\u201d\n\nIgnoring the advice, I ran back to the house.\n\n\u201cThe Bengali examination is usually easily passed by our Bengali\nboys,\u201d Romesh told me. \u201cBut I have just had a hunch that this\nyear the professors have planned to massacre the students by asking\nquestions from our ancient literature.\u201d My friend then briefly outlined\ntwo stories from the life of Vidyasagar, a renowned philanthropist.\n\nI thanked Romesh and quickly bicycled to the college hall.\nThe examination sheet in Bengali proved to contain two parts. The\nfirst instruction was: \u201cWrite two instances of the charities of\nVidyasagar.\u201d As I transferred to the paper the lore that I had so\nrecently acquired, I whispered a few words of thanksgiving that\nI had heeded Romesh\u2019s last-minute summons. Had I been ignorant of\nVidyasagar\u2019s benefactions to mankind (including ultimately myself),\nI could not have passed the Bengali examination. Failing in one\nsubject, I would have been forced to stand examination anew in all\nsubjects the following year. Such a prospect was understandably\nabhorrent.\n\nThe second instruction on the sheet read: \u201cWrite an essay in Bengali\non the life of the man who has most inspired you.\u201d Gentle reader,\nI need not inform you what man I chose for my theme. As I covered\npage after page with praise of my guru, I smiled to realize that\nmy muttered prediction was coming true: \u201cI will fill up the sheets\nwith your teachings!\u201d\n\nI had not felt inclined to question Romesh about my course in\nphilosophy. Trusting my long training under Sri Yukteswar, I safely\ndisregarded the textbook explanations. The highest mark given to\nany of my papers was the one in philosophy. My score in all other\nsubjects was just barely within the passing mark.\n\nIt is a pleasure to record that my unselfish friend Romesh received\nhis own degree CUM LAUDE.\n\nFather was wreathed in smiles at my graduation. \u201cI hardly thought\nyou would pass, Mukunda,\u201d he confessed. \u201cYou spend so much time\nwith your guru.\u201d Master had indeed correctly detected the unspoken\ncriticism of my father.\n\nFor years I had been uncertain that I would ever see the day\nwhen an A.B. would follow my name. I seldom use the title without\nreflecting that it was a divine gift, conferred on me for reasons\nsomewhat obscure. Occasionally I hear college men remark that\nvery little of their crammed knowledge remained with them after\ngraduation. That admission consoles me a bit for my undoubted\nacademic deficiencies.\n\nOn the day I received my degree from Calcutta University, I knelt\nat my guru\u2019s feet and thanked him for all the blessings flowing\nfrom his life into mine.\n\n\u201cGet up, Mukunda,\u201d he said indulgently. \u201cThe Lord simply found it\nmore convenient to make you a graduate than to rearrange the sun\nand moon!\u201d\n\n{FN23-1} I must do Professor Ghoshal the justice of admitting\nthat the strained relationship between us was not due to any fault\nof his, but solely to my absences from classes and inattention\nin them. Professor Ghoshal was, and is, a remarkable orator with\nvast philosophical knowledge. In later years we came to a cordial\nunderstanding..\n\n{FN23-2} Although my cousin and I have the same family name of\nGhosh, Prabhas has accustomed himself to transliterating his name\nin English as Ghose; therefore I follow his own spelling here.\n\n{FN23-3} A disciple always removes his shoes in an Indian hermitage.\n\n{FN23-4} MATTHEW 6:33.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 24\n\nI BECOME A MONK OF THE SWAMI ORDER\n\n\n\u201cMaster, my father has been anxious for me to accept an executive\nposition with the Bengal-Nagpur Railway. But I have definitely\nrefused it.\u201d I added hopefully, \u201cSir, will you not make me a monk of\nthe Swami Order?\u201d I looked pleadingly at my guru. During preceding\nyears, in order to test the depth of my determination, he had\nrefused this same request. Today, however, he smiled graciously.\n\n\u201cVery well; tomorrow I will initiate you into swamiship.\u201d He went\non quietly, \u201cI am happy that you have persisted in your desire to\nbe a monk. Lahiri Mahasaya often said: \u2018If you don\u2019t invite God to\nbe your summer Guest, He won\u2019t come in the winter of your life.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cDear master, I could never falter in my goal to belong to the Swami\nOrder like your revered self.\u201d I smiled at him with measureless\naffection.\n\n\u201cHe that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord,\nhow he may please the Lord: but he that is married careth for the\nthings of the world, how he may please his wife.\u201d {FN24-1} I had\nanalyzed the lives of many of my friends who, after undergoing\ncertain spiritual discipline, had then married. Launched on the sea\nof worldly responsibilities, they had forgotten their resolutions\nto meditate deeply.\n\nTo allot God a secondary place in life was, to me, inconceivable.\nThough He is the sole Owner of the cosmos, silently showering us\nwith gifts from life to life, one thing yet remains which He does\nnot own, and which each human heart is empowered to withhold or\nbestow-man\u2019s love. The Creator, in taking infinite pains to shroud\nwith mystery His presence in every atom of creation, could have had\nbut one motive-a sensitive desire that men seek Him only through\nfree will. With what velvet glove of every humility has He not\ncovered the iron hand of omnipotence!\n\nThe following day was one of the most memorable in my life. It\nwas a sunny Thursday, I remember, in July, 1914, a few weeks after\nmy graduation from college. On the inner balcony of his Serampore\nhermitage, Master dipped a new piece of white silk into a dye of\nocher, the traditional color of the Swami Order. After the cloth\nhad dried, my guru draped it around me as a renunciate\u2019s robe.\n\n\u201cSomeday you will go to the West, where silk is preferred,\u201d he said.\n\u201cAs a symbol, I have chosen for you this silk material instead of\nthe customary cotton.\u201d\n\nIn India, where monks embrace the ideal of poverty, a silk-clad\nswami is an unusual sight. Many yogis, however, wear garments of\nsilk, which preserves certain subtle bodily currents better than\ncotton.\n\n\u201cI am averse to ceremonies,\u201d Sri Yukteswar remarked. \u201cI will make\nyou a swami in the BIDWAT (non-ceremonious) manner.\u201d\n\nThe BIBIDISA or elaborate initiation into swamiship includes a fire\nceremony, during which symbolical funeral rites are performed. The\nphysical body of the disciple is represented as dead, cremated in\nthe flame of wisdom. The newly-made swami is then given a chant,\nsuch as: \u201cThis ATMA is Brahma\u201d {FN24-2} or \u201cThou art That\u201d or \u201cI am\nHe.\u201d Sri Yukteswar, however, with his love of simplicity, dispensed\nwith all formal rites and merely asked me to select a new name.\n\n\u201cI will give you the privilege of choosing it yourself,\u201d he said,\nsmiling.\n\n\u201cYogananda,\u201d I replied, after a moment\u2019s thought. The name literally\nmeans \u201cBliss (ANANDA) through divine union (YOGA).\u201d\n\n\u201cBe it so. Forsaking your family name of Mukunda Lal Ghosh,\nhenceforth you shall be called Yogananda of the Giri branch of the\nSwami Order.\u201d\n\nAs I knelt before Sri Yukteswar, and for the first time heard him\npronounce my new name, my heart overflowed with gratitude. How\nlovingly and tirelessly had he labored, that the boy Mukunda be\nsomeday transformed into the monk Yogananda! I joyfully sang a few\nverses from the long Sanskrit chant of Lord Shankara:\n\n  \u201cMind, nor intellect, nor ego, feeling;\n  Sky nor earth nor metals am I.\n  I am He, I am He, Blessed Spirit, I am He!\n  No birth, no death, no caste have I;\n  Father, mother, have I none.\n  I am He, I am He, Blessed Spirit, I am He!\n  Beyond the flights of fancy, formless am I,\n  Permeating the limbs of all life;\n  Bondage I do not fear; I am free, ever free,\n  I am He, I am He, Blessed Spirit, I am He!\u201d\n\nEvery swami belongs to the ancient monastic order which was organized\nin its present form by Shankara. {FN24-3} Because it is a formal\norder, with an unbroken line of saintly representatives serving\nas active leaders, no man can give himself the title of swami.\nHe rightfully receives it only from another swami; all monks thus\ntrace their spiritual lineage to one common guru, Lord Shankara. By\nvows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to the spiritual teacher,\nmany Catholic Christian monastic orders resemble the Order of\nSwamis.\n\nIn addition to his new name, usually ending in ANANDA, the swami\ntakes a title which indicates his formal connection with one of\nthe ten subdivisions of the Swami Order. These DASANAMIS or ten\nagnomens include the GIRI (mountain), to which Sri Yukteswar, and\nhence myself, belong. Among the other branches are the SAGAR (sea),\nBHARATI (land), ARANYA (forest), PURI (tract), TIRTHA (place of\npilgrimage), and SARASWATI (wisdom of nature).\n\nThe new name received by a swami thus has a twofold significance,\nand represents the attainment of supreme bliss (ANANDA) through some\ndivine quality or state-love, wisdom, devotion, service, yoga-and\nthrough a harmony with nature, as expressed in her infinite vastness\nof oceans, mountains, skies.\n\n[Illustration: THE LORD IN HIS ASPECT AS SHIVA, Not a historical\npersonage like Krishna, Shiva is the name given to God in the last\naspect of His threefold nature (Creator-Preserver-Destroyer). Shiva,\nthe Annihilator of maya or delusion, is symbolically represented\nin the scriptures as the Lord of Renunciates, the King of Yogis.\nIn Hindu art He is always shown with the new moon in His hair, and\nwearing a garland of hooded snakes, ancient emblem of evil overcome\nand perfect wisdom. The \u201csingle\u201d eye of omniscience is open on His\nforehead.\u2014see shiva.jpg]\n\nThe ideal of selfless service to all mankind, and of renunciation\nof personal ties and ambitions, leads the majority of swamis to\nengage actively in humanitarian and educational work in India, or\noccasionally in foreign lands. Ignoring all prejudices of caste,\ncreed, class, color, sex, or race, a swami follows the precepts of\nhuman brotherhood. His goal is absolute unity with Spirit. Imbuing\nhis waking and sleeping consciousness with the thought, \u201cI am He,\u201d\nhe roams contentedly, in the world but not of it. Thus only may\nhe justify his title of swami-one who seeks to achieve union with\nthe SWA or Self. It is needless to add that not all formally titled\nswamis are equally successful in reaching their high goal.\n\nSri Yukteswar was both a swami and a yogi. A swami, formally a monk\nby virtue of his connection with the ancient order, is not always\na yogi.  Anyone who practices a scientific technique of God-contact\nis a yogi; he may be either married or unmarried, either a worldly\nman or one of formal religious ties. A swami may conceivably follow\nonly the path of dry reasoning, of cold renunciation; but a yogi\nengages himself in a definite, step-by-step procedure by which\nthe body and mind are disciplined, and the soul liberated. Taking\nnothing for granted on emotional grounds, or by faith, a yogi\npractices a thoroughly tested series of exercises which were first\nmapped out by the early rishis.  Yoga has produced, in every age\nof India, men who became truly free, truly Yogi-Christs.\n\nLike any other science, yoga is applicable to people of every clime\nand time. The theory advanced by certain ignorant writers that yoga\nis \u201cunsuitable for Westerners\u201d is wholly false, and has lamentably\nprevented many sincere students from seeking its manifold blessings.\nYoga is a method for restraining the natural turbulence of thoughts,\nwhich otherwise impartially prevent all men, of all lands, from\nglimpsing their true nature of Spirit. Yoga cannot know a barrier\nof East and West any more than does the healing and equitable\nlight of the sun. So long as man possesses a mind with its restless\nthoughts, so long will there be a universal need for yoga or control.\n\nThe ancient rishi Patanjali defines \u201cyoga\u201d as \u201ccontrol of the\nfluctuations of the mind-stuff.\u201d {FN24-4} His very short and masterly\nexpositions, the YOGA SUTRAS, form one of the six systems of Hindu\nphilosophy. {FN24-5} In contradistinction to Western philosophies,\nall six Hindu systems embody not only theoretical but practical\nteachings.  In addition to every conceivable ontological inquiry,\nthe six systems formulate six definite disciplines aimed at the\npermanent removal of suffering and the attainment of timeless bliss.\n\nThe common thread linking all six systems is the declaration that\nno true freedom for man is possible without knowledge of the ultimate\nReality. The later UPANISHADS uphold the YOGA SUTRAS, among the six\nsystems, as containing the most efficacious methods for achieving\ndirect perception of truth. Through the practical techniques of\nyoga, man leaves behind forever the barren realms of speculation\nand cognizes in experience the veritable Essence.\n\nThe YOGA system as outlined by Patanjali is known as the Eightfold\nPath. The first steps, (1) YAMA and (2) NIYAMA, require observance\nof ten negative and positive moralities-avoidance of injury to others,\nof untruthfulness, of stealing, of incontinence, of gift-receiving\n(which brings obligations); and purity of body and mind, contentment,\nself-discipline, study, and devotion to God.\n\nThe next steps are (3) ASANA (right posture); the spinal column\nmust be held straight, and the body firm in a comfortable position\nfor meditation; (4) PRANAYAMA (control of PRANA, subtle life currents);\nand (5) PRATYAHARA (withdrawal of the senses from external objects).\n\nThe last steps are forms of yoga proper: (6) DHARANA (concentration);\nholding the mind to one thought; (7) DHYANA (meditation), and (8)\nSAMADHI (superconscious perception). This is the Eightfold Path\nof Yoga {FN24-6} which leads one to the final goal of KAIVALYA\n(Absoluteness), a term which might be more comprehensibly put as\n\u201crealization of the Truth beyond all intellectual apprehension.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhich is greater,\u201d one may ask, \u201ca swami or a yogi?\u201d If and when\nfinal oneness with God is achieved, the distinctions of the various\npaths disappear. The BHAGAVAD GITA, however, points out that the\nmethods of yoga are all-embracive. Its techniques are not meant only\nfor certain types and temperaments, such as those few who incline\ntoward the monastic life; yoga requires no formal allegiance.\nBecause the yogic science satisfies a universal need, it has a\nnatural universal applicability.\n\nA true yogi may remain dutifully in the world; there he is like\nbutter on water, and not like the easily-diluted milk of unchurned\nand undisciplined humanity. To fulfill one\u2019s earthly responsibilities\nis indeed the higher path, provided the yogi, maintaining a mental\nuninvolvement with egotistical desires, plays his part as a willing\ninstrument of God.\n\nThere are a number of great souls, living in American or European\nor other non-Hindu bodies today who, though they may never have\nheard the words YOGI and SWAMI, are yet true exemplars of those\nterms. Through their disinterested service to mankind, or through\ntheir mastery over passions and thoughts, or through their single\nhearted love of God, or through their great powers of concentration,\nthey are, in a sense, yogis; they have set themselves the goal of\nyoga-self-control. These men could rise to even greater heights if\nthey were taught the definite science of yoga, which makes possible\na more conscious direction of one\u2019s mind and life.\n\nYoga has been superficially misunderstood by certain Western\nwriters, but its critics have never been its practitioners. Among\nmany thoughtful tributes to yoga may be mentioned one by Dr. C. G.\nJung, the famous Swiss psychologist.\n\n\u201cWhen a religious method recommends itself as \u2018scientific,\u2019 it can\nbe certain of its public in the West. Yoga fulfills this expectation,\u201d\nDr. Jung writes. {FN24-7} \u201cQuite apart from the charm of the new,\nand the fascination of the half-understood, there is good cause\nfor Yoga to have many adherents. It offers the possibility of\ncontrollable experience, and thus satisfies the scientific need\nof \u2018facts,\u2019 and besides this, by reason of its breadth and depth,\nits venerable age, its doctrine and method, which include every\nphase of life, it promises undreamed-of possibilities.\n\n\u201cEvery religious or philosophical practice means a psychological\ndiscipline, that is, a method of mental hygiene. The manifold,\npurely bodily procedures of Yoga {FN24-8} also mean a physiological\nhygiene which is superior to ordinary gymnastics and breathing\nexercises, inasmuch as it is not merely mechanistic and scientific,\nbut also philosophical; in its training of the parts of the body,\nit unites them with the whole of the spirit, as is quite clear,\nfor instance, in the PRANAYAMA exercises where PRANA is both the\nbreath and the universal dynamics of the cosmos.\n\n\u201cWhen the thing which the individual is doing is also a cosmic event,\nthe effect experienced in the body (the innervation), unites with\nthe emotion of the spirit (the universal idea), and out of this there\ndevelops a lively unity which no technique, however scientific, can\nproduce. Yoga practice is unthinkable, and would also be ineffectual,\nwithout the concepts on which Yoga is based. It combines the bodily\nand the spiritual with each other in an extraordinarily complete\nway.\n\n\u201cIn the East, where these ideas and practices have developed, and\nwhere for several thousand years an unbroken tradition has created\nthe necessary spiritual foundations, Yoga is, as I can readily\nbelieve, the perfect and appropriate method of fusing body and\nmind together so that they form a unity which is scarcely to be\nquestioned. This unity creates a psychological disposition which\nmakes possible intuitions that transcend consciousness.\u201d\n\nThe Western day is indeed nearing when the inner science of self-control\nwill be found as necessary as the outer conquest of nature.  This\nnew Atomic Age will see men\u2019s minds sobered and broadened by the\nnow scientifically indisputable truth that matter is in reality a\nconcentrate of energy. Finer forces of the human mind can and must\nliberate energies greater than those within stones and metals, lest\nthe material atomic giant, newly unleashed, turn on the world in\nmindless destruction. {FN24-9}\n\n{FN24-1} I CORINTHIANS 7:32-33.\n\n{FN24-2} Literally, \u201cThis soul is Spirit.\u201d The Supreme Spirit,\nthe Uncreated, is wholly unconditioned (NETI, NETI, not this, not\nthat) but is often referred to in VEDANTA as SAT-CHIT-ANANDA, that\nis, Being-Intelligence-Bliss.\n\n{FN24-3} Sometimes called Shankaracharya. ACHARYA means \u201creligious\nteacher.\u201d Shankara\u2019s date is a center of the usual scholastic dispute.\nA few records indicate that the peerless monist lived from 510 to\n478 B.C.; Western historians assign him to the late eighth century\nA.D.  Readers who are interested in Shankara\u2019s famous exposition\nof the BRAHMA SUTRAS will find a careful English translation in Dr.\nPaul Deussen\u2019s SYSTEM OF THE VEDANTA (Chicago: Open Court Publishing\nCompany, 1912). Short extracts from his writings will be found in\nSELECTED WORKS OF SRI SHANKARACHARYA (Natesan & Co., Madras).\n\n{FN24-4} \u201cCHITTA VRITTI NIRODHA\u201d-YOGA SUTRA I:2. Patanjali\u2019s date\nis unknown, though a number of scholars place him in the second\ncentury B.C. The rishis gave forth treatises on all subjects with\nsuch insight that ages have been powerless to outmode them; yet,\nto the subsequent consternation of historians, the sages made no\neffort to attach their own dates and personalities to their literary\nworks. They knew their lives were only temporarily important as\nflashes of the great infinite Life; and that truth is timeless,\nimpossible to trademark, and no private possession of their own.\n\n{FN24-5} The six orthodox systems (SADDARSANA) are SANKHYA, YOGA,\nVEDANTA, MIMAMSA, NYAYA, and VAISESIKA. Readers of a scholarly bent\nwill delight in the subtleties and broad scope of these ancient\nformulations as summarized, in English, in HISTORY OF INDIAN\nPHILOSOPHY, Vol. I, by Prof. Surendranath DasGupta (Cambridge\nUniversity Press, 1922).\n\n{FN24-6} Not to be confused with the \u201cNoble Eightfold Path\u201d of\nBuddhism, a guide to man\u2019s conduct of life, as follows (1) Right\nIdeals, (2) Right Motive, (3) Right Speech, (4) Right Action, (5)\nRight Means of Livelihood, (6) Right Effort, (7) Right Remembrance\n(of the Self), (8) Right Realization (SAMADHI).\n\n{FN24-7} Dr. Jung attended the Indian Science Congress in 1937 and\nreceived an honorary degree from the University of Calcutta.\n\n{FN24-8} Dr. Jung is here referring to HATHA YOGA, a specialized\nbranch of bodily postures and techniques for health and longevity.\nHATHA is useful, and produces spectacular physical results, but this\nbranch of yoga is little used by yogis bent on spiritual liberation.\n\n{FN24-9} In Plato\u2019s TIMAEUS story of Atlantis, he tells of\nthe inhabitants\u2019 advanced state of scientific knowledge. The lost\ncontinent is believed to have vanished about 9500 B.C. through a\ncataclysm of nature; certain metaphysical writers, however, state\nthat the Atlanteans were destroyed as a result of their misuse of\natomic power. Two French writers have recently compiled a BIBLIOGRAPHY\nOF ATLANTIS, listing over 1700 historical and other references.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 25\n\nBROTHER ANANTA AND SISTER NALINI\n\n\n\u201cAnanta cannot live; the sands of his karma for this life have run\nout.\u201d\n\nThese inexorable words reached my inner consciousness as I sat one\nmorning in deep meditation. Shortly after I had entered the Swami\nOrder, I paid a visit to my birthplace, Gorakhpur, as a guest of\nmy elder brother Ananta. A sudden illness confined him to his bed;\nI nursed him lovingly.\n\nThe solemn inward pronouncement filled me with grief. I felt that\nI could not bear to remain longer in Gorakhpur, only to see my\nbrother removed before my helpless gaze. Amidst uncomprehending\ncriticism from my relatives, I left India on the first available\nboat. It cruised along Burma and the China Sea to Japan. I disembarked\nat Kobe, where I spent only a few days. My heart was too heavy for\nsightseeing.\n\nOn the return trip to India, the boat touched at Shanghai. There\nDr.  Misra, the ship\u2019s physician, guided me to several curio shops,\nwhere I selected various presents for Sri Yukteswar and my family\nand friends.  For Ananta I purchased a large carved bamboo piece.\nNo sooner had the Chinese salesman handed me the bamboo souvenir\nthan I dropped it on the floor, crying out, \u201cI have bought this\nfor my dear dead brother!\u201d\n\nA clear realization had swept over me that his soul was just being\nfreed in the Infinite. The souvenir was sharply and symbolically\ncracked by its fall; amidst sobs, I wrote on the bamboo surface:\n\u201cFor my beloved Ananta, now gone.\u201d\n\nMy companion, the doctor, was observing these proceedings with a\nsardonic smile.\n\n\u201cSave your tears,\u201d he remarked. \u201cWhy shed them until you are sure\nhe is dead?\u201d\n\nWhen our boat reached Calcutta, Dr. Misra again accompanied me. My\nyoungest brother Bishnu was waiting to greet me at the dock.\n\n\u201cI know Ananta has departed this life,\u201d I said to Bishnu, before he\nhad had time to speak. \u201cPlease tell me, and the doctor here, when\nAnanta died.\u201d\n\nBishnu named the date, which was the very day that I had bought\nthe souvenirs in Shanghai.\n\n\u201cLook here!\u201d Dr. Misra ejaculated. \u201cDon\u2019t let any word of this\nget around! The professors will be adding a year\u2019s study of mental\ntelepathy to the medical course, which is already long enough!\u201d\n\nFather embraced me warmly as I entered our Gurpar Road home. \u201cYou\nhave come,\u201d he said tenderly. Two large tears dropped from his\neyes.  Ordinarily undemonstrative, he had never before shown me\nthese signs of affection. Outwardly the grave father, inwardly he\npossessed the melting heart of a mother. In all his dealings with\nthe family, his dual parental role was distinctly manifest.\n\nSoon after Ananta\u2019s passing, my younger sister Nalini was brought\nback from death\u2019s door by a divine healing. Before relating the\nstory, I will refer to a few phases of her earlier life.\n\nThe childhood relationship between Nalini and myself had not been\nof the happiest nature. I was very thin; she was thinner still.\nThrough an unconscious motive or \u201ccomplex\u201d which psychiatrists will\nhave no difficulty in identifying, I often used to tease my sister\nabout her cadaverous appearance. Her retorts were equally permeated\nwith the callous frankness of extreme youth. Sometimes Mother\nintervened, ending the childish quarrels, temporarily, by a gentle\nbox on my ear, as the elder ear.\n\nTime passed; Nalini was betrothed to a young Calcutta physician,\nPanchanon Bose. He received a generous dowry from Father, presumably\n(as I remarked to Sister) to compensate the bridegroom-to-be for\nhis fate in allying himself with a human bean-pole.\n\nElaborate marriage rites were celebrated in due time. On the wedding\nnight, I joined the large and jovial group of relatives in the\nliving room of our Calcutta home. The bridegroom was leaning on an\nimmense gold-brocaded pillow, with Nalini at his side. A gorgeous\npurple silk SARI {FN25-1} could not, alas, wholly hide her angularity.\nI sheltered myself behind the pillow of my new brother-in-law and\ngrinned at him in friendly fashion. He had never seen Nalini until\nthe day of the nuptial ceremony, when he finally learned what he\nwas getting in the matrimonial lottery.\n\nFeeling my sympathy, Dr. Bose pointed unobtrusively to Nalini, and\nwhispered in my ear, \u201cSay, what\u2019s this?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, Doctor,\u201d I replied, \u201cit is a skeleton for your observation!\u201d\n\nConvulsed with mirth, my brother-in-law and I were hard put to it\nto maintain the proper decorum before our assembled relatives.\n\nAs the years went on, Dr. Bose endeared himself to our family, who\ncalled on him whenever illness arose. He and I became fast friends,\noften joking together, usually with Nalini as our target.\n\n\u201cIt is a medical curiosity,\u201d my brother-in-law remarked to me one\nday.  \u201cI have tried everything on your lean sister-cod liver oil,\nbutter, malt, honey, fish, meat, eggs, tonics. Still she fails to\nbulge even one-hundredth of an inch.\u201d We both chuckled.\n\nA few days later I visited the Bose home. My errand there took only\na few minutes; I was leaving, unnoticed, I thought, by Nalini. As\nI reached the front door, I heard her voice, cordial but commanding.\n\n\u201cBrother, come here. You are not going to give me the slip this\ntime.  I want to talk to you.\u201d\n\nI mounted the stairs to her room. To my surprise, she was in tears.\n\n\u201cDear brother,\u201d she said, \u201clet us bury the old hatchet. I see that\nyour feet are now firmly set on the spiritual path. I want to become\nlike you in every way.\u201d She added hopefully, \u201cYou are now robust\nin appearance; can you help me? My husband does not come near me,\nand I love him so dearly! But still more I want to progress in\nGod-realization, even if I must remain thin {FN25-2} and unattractive.\u201d\n\nMy heart was deeply touched at her plea. Our new friendship steadily\nprogressed; one day she asked to become my disciple.\n\n\u201cTrain me in any way you like. I put my trust in God instead of\ntonics.\u201d She gathered together an armful of medicines and poured\nthem down the roof drain.\n\nAs a test of her faith, I asked her to omit from her diet all fish,\nmeat, and eggs.\n\nAfter several months, during which Nalini had strictly followed\nthe various rules I had outlined, and had adhered to her vegetarian\ndiet in spite of numerous difficulties, I paid her a visit.\n\n\u201cSis, you have been conscientiously observing the spiritual\ninjunctions; your reward is near.\u201d I smiled mischievously. \u201cHow\nplump do you want to be-as fat as our aunt who hasn\u2019t seen her feet\nin years?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo! But I long to be as stout as you are.\u201d\n\nI replied solemnly. \u201cBy the grace of God, as I have spoken truth\nalways, I speak truly now. {FN25-3} Through the divine blessings,\nyour body shall verily change from today; in one month it shall\nhave the same weight as mine.\u201d\n\nThese words from my heart found fulfillment. In thirty days, Nalini\u2019s\nweight equalled mine. The new roundness gave her beauty; her husband\nfell deeply in love. Their marriage, begun so inauspiciously, turned\nout to be ideally happy.\n\nOn my return from Japan, I learned that during my absence Nalini\nhad been stricken with typhoid fever. I rushed to her home, and was\naghast to find her reduced to a mere skeleton. She was in a coma.\n\n\u201cBefore her mind became confused by illness,\u201d my brother-in-law\ntold me, \u201cshe often said: \u2018If brother Mukunda were here, I would\nnot be faring thus.\u2019\u201d He added despairingly, \u201cThe other doctors\nand myself see no hope. Blood dysentery has set in, after her long\nbout with typhoid.\u201d\n\nI began to move heaven and earth with my prayers. Engaging\nan Anglo-Indian nurse, who gave me full cooperation, I applied to\nmy sister various yoga techniques of healing. The blood dysentery\ndisappeared.\n\nBut Dr. Bose shook his head mournfully. \u201cShe simply has no more\nblood left to shed.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe will recover,\u201d I replied stoutly. \u201cIn seven days her fever\nwill be gone.\u201d\n\nA week later I was thrilled to see Nalini open her eyes and gaze at\nme with loving recognition. From that day her recovery was swift.\nAlthough she regained her usual weight, she bore one sad scar of her\nnearly fatal illness: her legs were paralyzed. Indian and English\nspecialists pronounced her a hopeless cripple.\n\nThe incessant war for her life which I had waged by prayer had\nexhausted me. I went to Serampore to ask Sri Yukteswar\u2019s help. His\neyes expressed deep sympathy as I told him of Nalini\u2019s plight.\n\n\u201cYour sister\u2019s legs will be normal at the end of one month.\u201d He\nadded, \u201cLet her wear, next to her skin, a band with an unperforated\ntwo-carat pearl, held on by a clasp.\u201d\n\nI prostrated myself at his feet with joyful relief.\n\n\u201cSir, you are a master; your word of her recovery is enough. But if\nyou insist I shall immediately get her a pearl.\u201d\n\nMy guru nodded. \u201cYes, do that.\u201d He went on to correctly describe\nthe physical and mental characteristics of Nalini, whom he had\nnever seen.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d I inquired, \u201cis this an astrological analysis? You do not\nknow her birth day or hour.\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar smiled. \u201cThere is a deeper astrology, not dependent\non the testimony of calendars and clocks. Each man is a part of\nthe Creator, or Cosmic Man; he has a heavenly body as well as one\nof earth. The human eye sees the physical form, but the inward eye\npenetrates more profoundly, even to the universal pattern of which\neach man is an integral and individual part.\u201d\n\nI returned to Calcutta and purchased a pearl for Nalini. A month\nlater, her paralyzed legs were completely healed.\n\nSister asked me to convey her heartfelt gratitude to my guru. He\nlistened to her message in silence. But as I was taking my leave,\nhe made a pregnant comment.\n\n\u201cYour sister has been told by many doctors that she can never bear\nchildren. Assure her that in a few years she will give birth to\ntwo daughters.\u201d\n\nSome years later, to Nalini\u2019s joy, she bore a girl, followed in a\nfew years by another daughter.\n\n\u201cYour master has blessed our home, our entire family,\u201d my sister\nsaid.  \u201cThe presence of such a man is a sanctification on the whole\nof India.  Dear brother, please tell Sri Yukteswarji that, through\nyou, I humbly count myself as one of his KRIYA YOGA disciples.\u201d\n\n{FN25-1} The gracefully draped dress of Indian women.\n\n{FN25-2} Because most persons in India are thin, reasonable plumpness\nis considered very desirable.\n\n{FN25-3} The Hindu scriptures declare that those who habitually\nspeak the truth will develop the power of materializing their words.\nWhat commands they utter from the heart will come true in life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 26\n\nTHE SCIENCE OF KRIYA YOGA\n\n\nThe science of KRIYA YOGA, mentioned so often in these pages, became\nwidely known in modern India through the instrumentality of Lahiri\nMahasaya, my guru\u2019s guru. The Sanskrit root of KRIYA is KRI, to\ndo, to act and react; the same root is found in the word KARMA, the\nnatural principle of cause and effect. KRIYA YOGA is thus \u201cunion\n(yoga) with the Infinite through a certain action or rite.\u201d A yogi\nwho faithfully follows its technique is gradually freed from karma\nor the universal chain of causation.\n\nBecause of certain ancient yogic injunctions, I cannot give a full\nexplanation of KRIYA YOGA in the pages of a book intended for the\ngeneral public. The actual technique must be learned from a KRIYABAN\nor KRIYA YOGI; here a broad reference must suffice.\n\nKRIYA YOGA is a simple, psychophysiological method by which the\nhuman blood is decarbonized and recharged with oxygen. The atoms\nof this extra oxygen are transmuted into life current to rejuvenate\nthe brain and spinal centers. {FN26-1} By stopping the accumulation\nof venous blood, the yogi is able to lessen or prevent the decay of\ntissues; the advanced yogi transmutes his cells into pure energy.\nElijah, Jesus, Kabir and other prophets were past masters in the\nuse of KRIYA or a similar technique, by which they caused their\nbodies to dematerialize at will.\n\nKRIYA is an ancient science. Lahiri Mahasaya received it from his\nguru, Babaji, who rediscovered and clarified the technique after\nit had been lost in the Dark Ages.\n\n\u201cThe KRIYA YOGA which I am giving to the world through you in this\nnineteenth century,\u201d Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya, \u201cis a revival of\nthe same science which Krishna gave, millenniums ago, to Arjuna,\nand which was later known to Patanjali, and to Christ, St. John,\nSt. Paul, and other disciples.\u201d\n\nKRIYA YOGA is referred to by Krishna, India\u2019s greatest prophet, in\na stanza of the BHAGAVAD GITA: \u201cOffering inhaling breath into the\noutgoing breath, and offering the outgoing breath into the inhaling\nbreath, the yogi neutralizes both these breaths; he thus releases\nthe life force from the heart and brings it under his control.\u201d\n{FN26-2} The interpretation is: \u201cThe yogi arrests decay in the body\nby an addition of life force, and arrests the mutations of growth\nin the body by APAN (eliminating current). Thus neutralizing decay\nand growth, by quieting the heart, the yogi learns life control.\u201d\n\nKrishna also relates {FN26-3} that it was he, in a former incarnation,\nwho communicated the indestructible yoga to an ancient illuminato,\nVivasvat, who gave it to Manu, the great legislator. {FN26-4} He,\nin turn, instructed Ikshwaku, the father of India\u2019s solar warrior\ndynasty. Passing thus from one to another, the royal yoga was\nguarded by the rishis until the coming of the materialistic ages.\n{FN26-5} Then, due to priestly secrecy and man\u2019s indifference, the\nsacred knowledge gradually became inaccessible.\n\nKRIYA YOGA is mentioned twice by the ancient sage Patanjali, foremost\nexponent of yoga, who wrote: \u201cKRIYA YOGA consists of body discipline,\nmental control, and meditating on AUM.\u201d {FN26-6} Patanjali speaks\nof God as the actual Cosmic Sound of AUM heard in meditation. {FN26-7}\nAUM is the Creative Word, {FN26-8} the sound of the Vibratory Motor.\nEven the yoga-beginner soon inwardly hears the wondrous sound of\nAUM. Receiving this blissful spiritual encouragement, the devotee\nbecomes assured that he is in actual touch with divine realms.\n\nPatanjali refers a second time to the life-control or KRIYA technique\nthus: \u201cLiberation can be accomplished by that PRANAYAMA which is\nattained by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration.\u201d\n{FN26-9}\n\nSt. Paul knew KRIYA YOGA, or a technique very similar to it, by\nwhich he could switch life currents to and from the senses. He was\ntherefore able to say: \u201cVerily, I protest by our rejoicing which\nI have in Christ, I DIE DAILY.\u201d {FN26-10} By daily withdrawing his\nbodily life force, he united it by yoga union with the rejoicing\n(eternal bliss) of the Christ consciousness. In that felicitous\nstate, he was consciously aware of being dead to the delusive\nsensory world of MAYA.\n\nIn the initial states of God-contact (SABIKALPA SAMADHI) the\ndevotee\u2019s consciousness merges with the Cosmic Spirit; his life\nforce is withdrawn from the body, which appears \u201cdead,\u201d or motionless\nand rigid. The yogi is fully aware of his bodily condition of\nsuspended animation. As he progresses to higher spiritual states\n(NIRBIKALPA SAMADHI), however, he communes with God without bodily\nfixation, and in his ordinary waking consciousness, even in the\nmidst of exacting worldly duties. {FN26-11}\n\n\u201cKRIYA YOGA is an instrument through which human evolution can be\nquickened,\u201d Sri Yukteswar explained to his students. \u201cThe ancient\nyogis discovered that the secret of cosmic consciousness is\nintimately linked with breath mastery. This is India\u2019s unique and\ndeathless contribution to the world\u2019s treasury of knowledge. The life\nforce, which is ordinarily absorbed in maintaining the heart-pump,\nmust be freed for higher activities by a method of calming and\nstilling the ceaseless demands of the breath.\u201d\n\nThe KRIYA YOGI mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward\nand downward, around the six spinal centers (medullary, cervical,\ndorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond\nto the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic\nMan. One-half minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive\nspinal cord of man effects subtle progress in his evolution; that\nhalf-minute of KRIYA equals one year of natural spiritual unfoldment.\n\nThe astral system of a human being, with six (twelve by polarity)\ninner constellations revolving around the sun of the omniscient\nspiritual eye, is interrelated with the physical sun and the twelve\nzodiacal signs. All men are thus affected by an inner and an outer\nuniverse. The ancient rishis discovered that man\u2019s earthly and\nheavenly environment, in twelve-year cycles, push him forward on\nhis natural path. The scriptures aver that man requires a million\nyears of normal, diseaseless evolution to perfect his human brain\nsufficiently to express cosmic consciousness.\n\n\nOne thousand KRIYA practiced in eight hours gives the yogi, in one\nday, the equivalent of one thousand years of natural evolution:\n365,000 years of evolution in one year. In three years, a KRIYA\nYOGI can thus accomplish by intelligent self-effort the same result\nwhich nature brings to pass in a million years. The KRIYA short\ncut, of course, can be taken only by deeply developed yogis. With\nthe guidance of a guru, such yogis have carefully prepared their\nbodies and brains to receive the power created by intensive practice.\n\nThe KRIYA beginner employs his yogic exercise only fourteen to\ntwenty-eight times, twice daily. A number of yogis achieve emancipation\nin six or twelve or twenty-four or forty-eight years. A yogi who\ndies before achieving full realization carries with him the good\nkarma of his past KRIYA effort; in his new life he is harmoniously\npropelled toward his Infinite Goal.\n\nThe body of the average man is like a fifty-watt lamp, which cannot\naccommodate the billion watts of power roused by an excessive practice\nof KRIYA. Through gradual and regular increase of the simple and\n\u201cfoolproof\u201d methods of KRIYA, man\u2019s body becomes astrally transformed\nday by day, and is finally fitted to express the infinite potentials\nof cosmic energy-the first materially active expression of Spirit.\n\nKRIYA YOGA has nothing in common with the unscientific breathing\nexercises taught by a number of misguided zealots. Their attempts\nto forcibly hold breath in the lungs is not only unnatural but\ndecidedly unpleasant. KRIYA, on the other hand, is accompanied\nfrom the very beginning by an accession of peace, and by soothing\nsensations of regenerative effect in the spine.\n\nThe ancient yogic technique converts the breath into mind. By\nspiritual advancement, one is able to cognize the breath as an act\nof mind-a dream-breath.\n\nMany illustrations could be given of the mathematical relationship\nbetween man\u2019s respiratory rate and the variations in his states of\nconsciousness. A person whose attention is wholly engrossed, as in\nfollowing some closely knit intellectual argument, or in attempting\nsome delicate or difficult physical feat, automatically breathes\nvery slowly. Fixity of attention depends on slow breathing; quick\nor uneven breaths are an inevitable accompaniment of harmful\nemotional states: fear, lust, anger. The restless monkey breathes\nat the rate of 32 times a minute, in contrast to man\u2019s average of\n18 times. The elephant, tortoise, snake and other animals noted for\ntheir longevity have a respiratory rate which is less than man\u2019s.\nThe tortoise, for instance, who may attain the age of 300 years,\n{FN26-12} breathes only 4 times per minute.\n\nThe rejuvenating effects of sleep are due to man\u2019s temporary\nunawareness of body and breathing. The sleeping man becomes a yogi;\neach night he unconsciously performs the yogic rite of releasing\nhimself from bodily identification, and of merging the life force\nwith healing currents in the main brain region and the six sub-dynamos\nof his spinal centers. The sleeper thus dips unknowingly into the\nreservoir of cosmic energy which sustains all life.\n\nThe voluntary yogi performs a simple, natural process consciously,\nnot unconsciously like the slow-paced sleeper. The KRIYA YOGI uses\nhis technique to saturate and feed all his physical cells with\nundecaying light and keep them in a magnetized state. He scientifically\nmakes breath unnecessary, without producing the states of subconscious\nsleep or unconsciousness.\n\nBy KRIYA, the outgoing life force is not wasted and abused in the\nsenses, but constrained to reunite with subtler spinal energies.\nBy such reinforcement of life, the yogi\u2019s body and brain cells\nare electrified with the spiritual elixir. Thus he removes himself\nfrom studied observance of natural laws, which can only take him-by\ncircuitous means as given by proper food, sunlight, and harmonious\nthoughts-to a million-year Goal. It needs twelve years of normal\nhealthful living to effect even slight perceptible change in brain\nstructure, and a million solar returns are exacted to sufficiently\nrefine the cerebral tenement for manifestation of cosmic consciousness.\n\nUntying the cord of breath which binds the soul to the body, KRIYA\nserves to prolong life and enlarge the consciousness to infinity.\nThe yoga method overcomes the tug of war between the mind and the\nmatter-bound senses, and frees the devotee to reinherit his eternal\nkingdom.  He knows his real nature is bound neither by physical\nencasement nor by breath, symbol of the mortal enslavement to air,\nto nature\u2019s elemental compulsions.\n\nIntrospection, or \u201csitting in the silence,\u201d is an unscientific\nway of trying to force apart the mind and senses, tied together by\nthe life force. The contemplative mind, attempting its return to\ndivinity, is constantly dragged back toward the senses by the life\ncurrents. KRIYA, controlling the mind DIRECTLY through the life\nforce, is the easiest, most effective, and most scientific avenue\nof approach to the Infinite. In contrast to the slow, uncertain\n\u201cbullock cart\u201d theological path to God, KRIYA may justly be called\nthe \u201cairplane\u201d route.\n\nThe yogic science is based on an empirical consideration of all\nforms of concentration and meditation exercises. Yoga enables the\ndevotee to switch off or on, at will, life current from the five\nsense telephones of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Attaining\nthis power of sense-disconnection, the yogi finds it simple to unite\nhis mind at will with divine realms or with the world of matter.\nNo longer is he unwillingly brought back by the life force to the\nmundane sphere of rowdy sensations and restless thoughts. Master\nof his body and mind, the KRIYA YOGI ultimately achieves victory\nover the \u201clast enemy,\u201d death.\n\nSo shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men: And Death once\ndead, there\u2019s no more dying then. {FN26-13}\n\nThe life of an advanced KRIYA YOGI is influenced, not by effects of\npast actions, but solely by directions from the soul. The devotee\nthus avoids the slow, evolutionary monitors of egoistic actions,\ngood and bad, of common life, cumbrous and snail-like to the eagle\nhearts.\n\nThe superior method of soul living frees the yogi who, shorn of\nhis ego-prison, tastes the deep air of omnipresence. The thralldom\nof natural living is, in contrast, set in a pace humiliating.\nConforming his life to the evolutionary order, a man can command no\nconcessionary haste from nature but, living without error against\nthe laws of his physical and mental endowment, still requires about\na million years of incarnating masquerades to know final emancipation.\n\nThe telescopic methods of yogis, disengaging themselves from physical\nand mental identifications in favor of soul-individuality, thus\ncommend themselves to those who eye with revolt a thousand thousand\nyears. This numerical periphery is enlarged for the ordinary man,\nwho lives in harmony not even with nature, let alone his soul, but\npursues instead unnatural complexities, thus offending in his body\nand thoughts the sweet sanities of nature. For him, two times a\nmillion years can scarce suffice for liberation.\n\nGross man seldom or never realizes that his body is a kingdom,\ngoverned by Emperor Soul on the throne of the cranium, with subsidiary\nregents in the six spinal centers or spheres of consciousness. This\ntheocracy extends over a throng of obedient subjects: twenty-seven\nthousand billion cells-endowed with a sure if automatic intelligence\nby which they perform all duties of bodily growths, transformations,\nand dissolutions-and fifty million substratal thoughts, emotions,\nand variations of alternating phases in man\u2019s consciousness in an\naverage life of sixty years. Any apparent insurrection of bodily\nor cerebral cells toward Emperor Soul, manifesting as disease\nor depression, is due to no disloyalty among the humble citizens,\nbut to past or present misuse by man of his individuality or free\nwill, given to him simultaneous with a soul, and revocable never.\n\nIdentifying himself with a shallow ego, man takes for granted that\nit is he who thinks, wills, feels, digests meals, and keeps himself\nalive, never admitting through reflection (only a little would\nsuffice!) that in his ordinary life he is naught but a puppet\nof past actions (karma) and of nature or environment. Each man\u2019s\nintellectual reactions, feelings, moods, and habits are circumscribed\nby effects of past causes, whether of this or a prior life. Lofty\nabove such influences, however, is his regal soul. Spurning the\ntransitory truths and freedoms, the KRIYA YOGI passes beyond all\ndisillusionment into his unfettered Being. All scriptures declare\nman to be not a corruptible body, but a living soul; by KRIYA he\nis given a method to prove the scriptural truth.\n\n\u201cOutward ritual cannot destroy ignorance, because they are not\nmutually contradictory,\u201d wrote Shankara in his famous CENTURY OF\nVERSES. \u201cRealized knowledge alone destroys ignorance. . . . Knowledge\ncannot spring up by any other means than inquiry. \u2018Who am I? How\nwas this universe born? Who is its maker? What is its material\ncause?\u2019 This is the kind of inquiry referred to.\u201d The intellect\nhas no answer for these questions; hence the rishis evolved yoga\nas the technique of spiritual inquiry.\n\nKRIYA YOGA is the real \u201cfire rite\u201d often extolled in the BHAGAVAD\nGITA. The purifying fires of yoga bring eternal illumination, and\nthus differ much from outward and little-effective religious fire\nceremonies, where perception of truth is oft burnt, to solemn\nchanted accompaniment, along with the incense!\n\nThe advanced yogi, withholding all his mind, will, and feeling from\nfalse identification with bodily desires, uniting his mind with\nsuperconscious forces in the spinal shrines, thus lives in this\nworld as God hath planned, not impelled by impulses from the past\nnor by new witlessnesses of fresh human motivations. Such a yogi\nreceives fulfillment of his Supreme Desire, safe in the final haven\nof inexhaustibly blissful Spirit.\n\nThe yogi offers his labyrinthine human longings to a monotheistic\nbonfire dedicated to the unparalleled God. This is indeed the true\nyogic fire ceremony, in which all past and present desires are fuel\nconsumed by love divine. The Ultimate Flame receives the sacrifice\nof all human madness, and man is pure of dross. His bones stripped\nof all desirous flesh, his karmic skeleton bleached in the antiseptic\nsuns of wisdom, he is clean at last, inoffensive before man and\nMaker.\n\nReferring to yoga\u2019s sure and methodical efficacy, Lord Krishna\npraises the technological yogi in the following words: \u201cThe yogi\nis greater than body-disciplining ascetics, greater even than the\nfollowers of the path of wisdom (JNANA YOGA), or of the path of\naction (KARMA YOGA); be thou, O disciple Arjuna, a yogi!\u201d {FN26-14}\n\n{FN26-1} The noted scientist, Dr. George W. Crile of Cleveland,\nexplained before a 1940 meeting of the American Association for\nthe Advancement of Science the experiments by which he had proved\nthat all bodily tissues are electrically negative, except the\nbrain and nervous system tissues which remain electrically positive\nbecause they take up revivifying oxygen at a more rapid rate.\n\n{FN26-2} BHAGAVAD GITA, IV:29.\n\n{FN26-3} BHAGAVAD GITA IV:1-2.\n\n{FN26-4} The author of MANAVA DHARMA SHASTRAS. These institutes of\ncanonized common law are effective in India to this day. The French\nscholar, Louis Jacolliot, writes that the date of Manu \u201cis lost\nin the night of the ante-historical period of India; and no scholar\nhas dared to refuse him the title of the most ancient lawgiver in the\nworld.\u201d In LA BIBLE DANS L\u2019INDE, pages 33-37, Jacolliot reproduces\nparallel textual references to prove that the Roman CODE OF JUSTINIAN\nfollows closely the LAWS OF MANU.\n\n{FN26-5} The start of the materialistic ages, according to Hindu\nscriptural reckonings, was 3102 B.C. This was the beginning of the\nDescending Dwapara Age (see page 174). Modern scholars, blithely\nbelieving that 10,000 years ago all men were sunk in a barbarous\nStone Age, summarily dismiss as \u201cmyths\u201d all records and traditions\nof very ancient civilizations in India, China, Egypt, and other\nlands.\n\n\n{FN26-6} Patanjali\u2019s APHORISMS, II:1. In using the words KRIYA\nYOGA, Patanjali was referring to either the exact technique taught\nby Babaji, or one very similar to it. That it was a definite\ntechnique of life control is proved by Patanjali\u2019s APHORISM II:49.\n\n{FN26-7} Patanjali\u2019s APHORISMS, I:27.\n\n{FN26-8} \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with\nGod, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by him; and\nwithout him was not any thing made that was made.\u201d-JOHN 1:1-3. AUM\n(OM) of the VEDAS became the sacred word AMIN of the Moslems, HUM\nof the Tibetans, and AMEN of the Christians (its meaning in Hebrew\nbeing SURE, FAITHFUL). \u201cThese things saith the Amen, the faithful\nand true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.\u201d-REVELATIONS\n3:14.\n\n{FN26-9} APHORISMS II:49..\n\n{FN26-10} I CORINTHIANS 15:31. \u201cOur rejoicing\u201d is the correct\ntranslation; not, as usually given, \u201cyour rejoicing.\u201d St. Paul was\nreferring to the OMNIPRESENCE of the Christ consciousness..\n\n{FN26-11} KALPA means time or aeon. SABIKALPA means subject to time\nor change; some link with PRAKRITI or matter remains. NIRBIKALPA\nmeans timeless, changeless; this is the highest state of SAMADHI.\n\n{FN26-12} According to the LINCOLN LIBRARY OF ESSENTIAL INFORMATION,\np.  1030, the giant tortoise lives between 200 and 300 years.\n\n{FN26-13} Shakespeare: SONNET #146.\n\n{FN26-14} BHAGAVAD GITA, VI:46.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 27\n\nFOUNDING A YOGA SCHOOL AT RANCHI\n\n\n\u201cWhy are you averse to organizational work?\u201d\n\nMaster\u2019s question startled me a bit. It is true that my private\nconviction at the time was that organizations were \u201chornets\u2019 nests.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is a thankless task, sir,\u201d I answered. \u201cNo matter what the\nleader does or does not, he is criticized.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you want the whole divine CHANNA (milk curd) for yourself alone?\u201d\nMy guru\u2019s retort was accompanied by a stern glance. \u201cCould you or\nanyone else achieve God-contact through yoga if a line of generous-hearted\nmasters had not been willing to convey their knowledge to others?\u201d\nHe added, \u201cGod is the Honey, organizations are the hives; both are\nnecessary. Any FORM is useless, of course, without the spirit, but\nwhy should you not start busy hives full of the spiritual nectar?\u201d\n\nHis counsel moved me deeply. Although I made no outward reply, an\nadamant resolution arose in my breast: I would share with my fellows,\nso far as lay in my power, the unshackling truths I had learned at\nmy guru\u2019s feet. \u201cLord,\u201d I prayed, \u201cmay Thy Love shine forever on\nthe sanctuary of my devotion, and may I be able to awaken that Love\nin other hearts.\u201d\n\nOn a previous occasion, before I had joined the monastic order,\nSri Yukteswar had made a most unexpected remark.\n\n\u201cHow you will miss the companionship of a wife in your old age!\u201d he\nhad said. \u201cDo you not agree that the family man, engaged in useful\nwork to maintain his wife and children, thus plays a rewarding role\nin God\u2019s eyes?\u201d\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d I had protested in alarm, \u201cyou know that my desire in this\nlife is to espouse only the Cosmic Beloved.\u201d\n\nMaster had laughed so merrily that I understood his observation\nwas made merely as a test of my faith.\n\n\u201cRemember,\u201d he had said slowly, \u201cthat he who discards his worldly\nduties can justify himself only by assuming some kind of responsibility\ntoward a much larger family.\u201d\n\nThe ideal of an all-sided education for youth had always been close\nto my heart. I saw clearly the arid results of ordinary instruction,\naimed only at the development of body and intellect. Moral and\nspiritual values, without whose appreciation no man can approach\nhappiness, were yet lacking in the formal curriculum. I determined to\nfound a school where young boys could develop to the full stature\nof manhood. My first step in that direction was made with seven\nchildren at Dihika, a small country site in Bengal.\n\nA year later, in 1918, through the generosity of Sir Manindra\nChandra Nundy, the Maharaja of Kasimbazar, I was able to transfer my\nfast-growing group to Ranchi. This town in Bihar, about two hundred\nmiles from Calcutta, is blessed with one of the most healthful\nclimates in India. The Kasimbazar Palace at Ranchi was transformed\ninto the headquarters for the new school, which I called BRAHMACHARYA\nVIDYALAYA {FN27-1} in accordance with the educational ideals\nof the rishis. Their forest ashrams had been the ancient seats of\nlearning, secular and divine, for the youth of India.\n\nAt Ranchi I organized an educational program for both grammar\nand high school grades. It included agricultural, industrial,\ncommercial, and academic subjects. The students were also taught\nyoga concentration and meditation, and a unique system of physical\ndevelopment, \u201cYogoda,\u201d whose principles I had discovered in 1916.\n\nRealizing that man\u2019s body is like an electric battery, I reasoned\nthat it could be recharged with energy through the direct agency of\nthe human will. As no action, slight or large, is possible without\nWILLING, man can avail himself of his prime mover, will, to renew\nhis bodily tissues without burdensome apparatus or mechanical\nexercises. I therefore taught the Ranchi students my simple \u201cYogoda\u201d\ntechniques by which the life force, centred in man\u2019s medulla\noblongata, can be consciously and instantly recharged from the\nunlimited supply of cosmic energy.\n\n[Illustration: Central building of the Yogoda Sat-Sanga Brahmacharya\nVidyalaya at Ranchi, Bihar, established in 1918 as a yoga school\nfor boys, with grammar and high school education. Connected with\nit is the philanthropic Lahiri Mahasaya Mission.\u2014see ranchi.jpg]\n\nThe boys responded wonderfully to this training, developing\nextraordinary ability to shift the life energy from one part of\nthe body to another part, and to sit in perfect poise in difficult\nbody postures. {FN27-2} They performed feats of strength and\nendurance which many powerful adults could not equal. My youngest\nbrother, Bishnu Charan Ghosh, joined the Ranchi school; he later\nbecame a leading physical culturist in Bengal. He and one of his\nstudents traveled to Europe and America, giving exhibitions of\nstrength and skill which amazed the university savants, including\nthose at Columbia University in New York.\n\nAt the end of the first year at Ranchi, applications for admission\nreached two thousand. But the school, which at that time was solely\nresidential, could accommodate only about one hundred. Instruction\nfor day students was soon added.\n\nIn the VIDYALAYA I had to play father-mother to the little children,\nand to cope with many organizational difficulties. I often remembered\nChrist\u2019s words: \u201cVerily I say unto you, There is no man that hath\nleft house, or brethren or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,\nor children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel\u2019s, but he shall\nreceive an hundredfold now in this time, houses and brethren, and\nsisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions;\nand in the world to come eternal life.\u201d {FN27-3} Sri Yukteswar had\ninterpreted these words: \u201cThe devotee who forgoes the life-experiences\nof marriage and family, and exchanges the problems of a small\nhousehold and limited activities for the larger responsibilities\nof service to society in general, is undertaking a task which is\noften accompanied by persecution from a misunderstanding world,\nbut also by a divine inner contentment.\u201d\n\nOne day my father arrived in Ranchi to bestow a paternal blessing,\nlong withheld because I had hurt him by refusing his offer of a\nposition with the Bengal-Nagpur Railway.\n\n\u201cSon,\u201d he said, \u201cI am now reconciled to your choice in life. It gives\nme joy to see you amidst these happy, eager youngsters; you belong\nhere rather than with the lifeless figures of railroad timetables.\u201d\nHe waved toward a group of a dozen little ones who were tagging at\nmy heels. \u201cI had only eight children,\u201d he observed with twinkling\neyes, \u201cbut I can feel for you!\u201d\n\nWith a large fruit orchard and twenty-five fertile acres at our\ndisposal, the students, teachers, and myself enjoyed many happy\nhours of outdoor labor in these ideal surroundings. We had many pets,\nincluding a young deer who was fairly idolized by the children. I\ntoo loved the fawn so much that I allowed it to sleep in my room.\nAt the light of dawn, the little creature would toddle over to my\nbed for a morning caress.\n\nOne day I fed the pet earlier than usual, as I had to attend to\nsome business in the town of Ranchi. Although I cautioned the boys\nnot to feed the fawn until my return, one of them was disobedient,\nand gave the baby deer a large quantity of milk. When I came back\nin the evening, sad news greeted me: \u201cThe little fawn is nearly\ndead, through over feeding.\u201d\n\nIn tears, I placed the apparently lifeless pet on my lap. I prayed\npiteously to God to spare its life. Hours later, the small creature\nopened its eyes, stood up, and walked feebly. The whole school\nshouted for joy.\n\nBut a deep lesson came to me that night, one I can never forget.\nI stayed up with the fawn until two o\u2019clock, when I fell asleep.\nThe deer appeared in a dream, and spoke to me:\n\n\u201cYou are holding me back. Please let me go; let me go!\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d I answered in the dream.\n\nI awoke immediately, and cried out, \u201cBoys, the deer is dying!\u201d The\nchildren rushed to my side.\n\n\nI ran to the corner of the room where I had placed the pet. It\nmade a last effort to rise, stumbled toward me, then dropped at my\nfeet, dead.\n\nAccording to the mass karma which guides and regulates the destinies\nof animals, the deer\u2019s life was over, and it was ready to progress\nto a higher form. But by my deep attachment, which I later realized\nwas selfish, and by my fervent prayers, I had been able to hold\nit in the limitations of the animal form from which the soul was\nstruggling for release. The soul of the deer made its plea in a\ndream because, without my loving permission, it either would not\nor could not go. As soon as I agreed, it departed.\n\nAll sorrow left me; I realized anew that God wants His children to\nlove everything as a part of Him, and not to feel delusively that\ndeath ends all. The ignorant man sees only the unsurmountable wall\nof death, hiding, seemingly forever, his cherished friends. But\nthe man of unattachment, he who loves others as expressions of the\nLord, understands that at death the dear ones have only returned\nfor a breathing-space of joy in Him.\n\nThe Ranchi school grew from small and simple beginnings to an\ninstitution now well-known in India. Many departments of the school\nare supported by voluntary contributions from those who rejoice in\nperpetuating the educational ideals of the rishis. Under the general\nname of YOGODA SAT-SANGA, {FN27-4} flourishing branch schools have\nbeen established at Midnapore, Lakshmanpur, and Puri.\n\nThe Ranchi headquarters maintains a Medical Department where\nmedicines and the services of doctors are supplied freely to the\npoor of the locality. The number treated has averaged more than\n18,000 persons a year. The VIDYALAYA has made its mark, too, in\nIndian competitive sports, and in the scholastic field, where many\nRanchi alumni have distinguished themselves in later university\nlife.\n\nThe school, now in its twenty-eighth year and the center of many\nactivities, {FN27-5} has been honored by visits of eminent men\nfrom the East and the West. One of the earliest great figures to\ninspect the VIDYALAYA in its first year was Swami Pranabananda,\nthe Benares \u201csaint with two bodies.\u201d As the great master viewed\nthe picturesque outdoor classes, held under the trees, and saw in\nthe evening that young boys were sitting motionless for hours in\nyoga meditation, he was profoundly moved.\n\n\u201cJoy comes to my heart,\u201d he said, \u201cto see that Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s\nideals for the proper training of youth are being carried on in\nthis institution. My guru\u2019s blessings be on it.\u201d\n\nA young lad sitting by my side ventured to ask the great yogi a\nquestion.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d he said, \u201cshall I be a monk? Is my life only for God?\u201d\n\nThough Swami Pranabananda smiled gently, his eyes were piercing\nthe future.\n\n\u201cChild,\u201d he replied, \u201cwhen you grow up, there is a beautiful bride\nwaiting for you.\u201d The boy did eventually marry, after having planned\nfor years to enter the Swami Order.\n\nSometime after Swami Pranabananda had visited Ranchi, I accompanied\nmy father to the Calcutta house where the yogi was temporarily\nstaying.  Pranabananda\u2019s prediction, made to me so many years before,\ncame rushing to my mind: \u201cI shall see you, with your father, later\non.\u201d\n\nAs Father entered the swami\u2019s room, the great yogi rose from his\nseat and embraced my parent with loving respect.\n\n\u201cBhagabati,\u201d he said, \u201cwhat are you doing about yourself? Don\u2019t you\nsee your son racing to the Infinite?\u201d I blushed to hear his praise\nbefore my father. The swami went on, \u201cYou recall how often our\nblessed guru used to say: \u2018BANAT, BANAT, BAN JAI.\u2019 {FN26-6} So keep\nup KRIYA YOGA ceaselessly, and reach the divine portals quickly.\u201d\n\nThe body of Pranabananda, which had appeared so well and strong\nduring my amazing first visit to him in Benares, now showed definite\naging, though his posture was still admirably erect.\n\n\u201cSwamiji,\u201d I inquired, looking straight into his eyes, \u201cplease tell\nme the truth: Aren\u2019t you feeling the advance of age? As the body\nis weakening, are your perceptions of God suffering any diminution?\u201d\n\nHe smiled angelically. \u201cThe Beloved is more than ever with me now.\u201d\nHis complete conviction overwhelmed my mind and soul. He went on,\n\u201cI am still enjoying the two pensions-one from Bhagabati here, and\none from above.\u201d Pointing his finger heavenward, the saint fell\ninto an ecstasy, his face lit with a divine glow-an ample answer\nto my question.\n\nNoticing that Pranabananda\u2019s room contained many plants and packages\nof seed, I asked their purpose.\n\n\u201cI have left Benares permanently,\u201d he said, \u201cand am now on my way\nto the Himalayas. There I shall open an ashram for my disciples.\nThese seeds will produce spinach and a few other vegetables. My dear\nones will live simply, spending their time in blissful God-union.\nNothing else is necessary.\u201d\n\nFather asked his brother disciple when he would return to Calcutta.\n\n\u201cNever again,\u201d the saint replied. \u201cThis year is the one in which\nLahiri Mahasaya told me I would leave my beloved Benares forever\nand go to the Himalayas, there to throw off my mortal frame.\u201d\n\nMy eyes filled with tears at his words, but the swami smiled\ntranquilly. He reminded me of a little heavenly child, sitting\nsecurely on the lap of the Divine Mother. The burden of the years\nhas no ill effect on a great yogi\u2019s full possession of supreme\nspiritual powers. He is able to renew his body at will; yet sometimes\nhe does not care to retard the aging process, but allows his karma\nto work itself out on the physical plane, using his old body as a\ntime-saving device to exclude the necessity of working out karma\nin a new incarnation.\n\n\nMonths later I met an old friend, Sanandan, who was one of\nPranabananda\u2019s close disciples.\n\n\u201cMy adorable guru is gone,\u201d he told me, amidst sobs. \u201cHe established\na hermitage near Rishikesh, and gave us loving training. When we\nwere pretty well settled, and making rapid spiritual progress in his\ncompany, he proposed one day to feed a huge crowd from Rishikesh.\nI inquired why he wanted such a large number.\n\n\u201c\u2018This is my last festival ceremony,\u2019 he said. I did not understand\nthe full implications of his words.\n\n\u201cPranabanandaji helped with the cooking of great amounts of food.\nWe fed about 2000 guests. After the feast, he sat on a high platform\nand gave an inspired sermon on the Infinite. At the end, before\nthe gaze of thousands, he turned to me, as I sat beside him on the\ndais, and spoke with unusual force.\n\n\u201c\u2018Sanandan, be prepared; I am going to kick the frame.\u2019 {FN27-7}\n\n\u201cAfter a stunned silence, I cried loudly, \u2018Master, don\u2019t do it!\nPlease, please, don\u2019t do it!\u2019 The crowd was tongue-tied, watching\nus curiously. My guru smiled at me, but his solemn gaze was already\nfixed on Eternity.\n\n\u201c\u2018Be not selfish,\u2019 he said, \u2018nor grieve for me. I have been long\ncheerfully serving you all; now rejoice and wish me Godspeed. I\ngo to meet my Cosmic Beloved.\u2019 In a whisper, Pranabanandaji added,\n\u2018I shall be reborn shortly. After enjoying a short period of the\nInfinite Bliss, I shall return to earth and join Babaji. {FN27-8}\nYou shall soon know when and where my soul has been encased in a\nnew body.\u2019\n\n\u201cHe cried again, \u2018Sanandan, here I kick the frame by the second\nKRIYA YOGA.\u2019 {FN27-9}\n\n\u201cHe looked at the sea of faces before us, and gave a blessing.\nDirecting his gaze inwardly to the spiritual eye, he became immobile.\nWhile the bewildered crowd thought he was meditating in an ecstatic\nstate, he had already left the tabernacle of flesh and plunged\nhis soul into the cosmic vastness. The disciples touched his body,\nseated in the lotus posture, but it was no longer the warm flesh.\nOnly a stiffened frame remained; the tenant had fled to the immortal\nshore.\u201d\n\nI inquired where Pranabananda was to be reborn.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a sacred trust I cannot divulge to anyone,\u201d Sanandan replied.\n\u201cPerhaps you may find out some other way.\u201d\n\nYears later I discovered from Swami Keshabananda {FN27-10} that\nPranabananda, a few years after his birth in a new body, had gone\nto Badrinarayan in the Himalayas, and there joined the group of\nsaints around the great Babaji.\n\n{FN27-1} VIDYALAYA, school. BRAHMACHARYA here refers to one of the\nfour stages in the Vedic plan for man\u2019s life, as comprising that\nof (1) the celibate student (BRAHMACHARI); (2) the householder with\nworldly responsibilities (GRIHASTHA); (3) the hermit (VANAPRASTHA);\n(4) the forest dweller or wanderer, free from all earthly concerns\n(SANNYASI).  This ideal scheme of life, while not widely observed\nin modern India, still has many devout followers. The four stages\nare carried out religiously under the lifelong direction of a guru.\n\n{FN27-2} A number of American students also have mastered various\nASANAS or postures, including Bernard Cole, an instructor in Los\nAngeles of the Self-Realization Fellowship teachings.\n\n{FN27-3} MARK 10:29-30..\n\n{FN27-4} Yogoda: YOGA, union, harmony, equilibrium; DA, that which\nimparts. Sat-Sanga: SAT, truth; SANGA, fellowship. In the West,\nto avoid the use of a Sanskrit name, the YOGODA SAT-SANGA movement\nhas been called the SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP.\n\n{FN27-5} The activities at Ranchi are described more fully in\nchapter 40. The Lakshmanpur school is in the capable charge of Mr.\nG. C. Dey, B.A. The medical department is ably supervised by Dr.\nS. N. Pal and Sasi Bhusan Mullick.\n\n{FN27-6} One of Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s favorite remarks, given as\nencouragement for his students\u2019 perseverance. A free translation\nis: \u201cStriving, striving, one day behold! the Divine Goal!\u201d\n\n{FN27-7} i.e., give up the body.\n\n{FN27-8} Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s guru, who is still living. (See chapter\n33.)\n\n{FN27-9} The second KRIYA, as taught by Lahiri Mahasaya, enables\nthe devotee that has mastered it to leave and return to the\nbody consciously at any time. Advanced yogis use the second Kriya\ntechnique during the last exit of death, a moment they invariably\nknow beforehand.\n\n{FN27-10} My meeting with Keshabananda is described in chapter 42.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 28\n\nKASHI, REBORN AND REDISCOVERED\n\n\n\u201cPlease do not go into the water. Let us bathe by dipping our\nbuckets.\u201d\n\nI was addressing the young Ranchi students who were accompanying\nme on an eight-mile hike to a neighboring hill. The pond before\nus was inviting, but a distaste for it had arisen in my mind. The\ngroup around me followed my example of dipping buckets, but a few\nlads yielded to the temptation of the cool waters. No sooner had\nthey dived than large water snakes wiggled around them. The boys\ncame out of the pond with comical alacrity.\n\nWe enjoyed a picnic lunch after we reached our destination. I sat\nunder a tree, surrounded by a group of students. Finding me in an\ninspirational mood, they plied me with questions.\n\n\u201cPlease tell me, sir,\u201d one youth inquired, \u201cif I shall always stay\nwith you in the path of renunciation.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, no,\u201d I replied, \u201cyou will be forcibly taken away to your home,\nand later you will marry.\u201d\n\nIncredulous, he made a vehement protest. \u201cOnly if I am dead can I\nbe carried home.\u201d But in a few months, his parents arrived to take\nhim away, in spite of his tearful resistance; some years later, he\ndid marry.\n\nAfter answering many questions, I was addressed by a lad named\nKashi.  He was about twelve years old, a brilliant student, and\nbeloved by all.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d he said, \u201cwhat will be my fate?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou shall soon be dead.\u201d The reply came from my lips with an\nirresistible force.\n\nThis unexpected disclosure shocked and grieved me as well as\neveryone present. Silently rebuking myself as an ENFANT TERRIBLE,\nI refused to answer further questions.\n\nOn our return to the school, Kashi came to my room.\n\n\u201cIf I die, will you find me when I am reborn, and bring me again\nto the spiritual path?\u201d He sobbed.\n\nI felt constrained to refuse this difficult occult responsibility.\nBut for weeks afterward, Kashi pressed me doggedly. Seeing him\nunnerved to the breaking point, I finally consoled him.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d I promised. \u201cIf the Heavenly Father lends His aid, I will\ntry to find you.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Kashi, lost and rediscovered\u2014see kashi.jpg]\n\nDuring the summer vacation, I started on a short trip. Regretting\nthat I could not take Kashi with me, I called him to my room\nbefore leaving, and carefully instructed him to remain, against\nall persuasion, in the spiritual vibrations of the school. Somehow\nI felt that if he did not go home, he might avoid the impending\ncalamity.\n\nNo sooner had I left than Kashi\u2019s father arrived in Ranchi. For\nfifteen days he tried to break the will of his son, explaining that\nif Kashi would go to Calcutta for only four days to see his mother,\nhe could then return. Kashi persistently refused. The father finally\nsaid he would take the boy away with the help of the police. The\nthreat disturbed Kashi, who was unwilling to be the cause of any\nunfavorable publicity to the school. He saw no choice but to go.\n\nI returned to Ranchi a few days later. When I heard how Kashi had\nbeen removed, I entrained at once for Calcutta. There I engaged a\nhorse cab. Very strangely, as the vehicle passed beyond the Howrah\nbridge over the Ganges, I beheld Kashi\u2019s father and other relatives\nin mourning clothes. Shouting to my driver to stop, I rushed out\nand glared at the unfortunate father.\n\n\u201cMr. Murderer,\u201d I cried somewhat unreasonably, \u201cyou have killed my\nboy!\u201d\n\nThe father had already realized the wrong he had done in forcibly\nbringing Kashi to Calcutta. During the few days the boy had been\nthere, he had eaten contaminated food, contracted cholera, and\npassed on.\n\nMy love for Kashi, and the pledge to find him after death, night and\nday haunted me. No matter where I went, his face loomed up before\nme.  I began a memorable search for him, even as long ago I had\nsearched for my lost mother.\n\nI felt that inasmuch as God had given me the faculty of reason, I\nmust utilize it and tax my powers to the utmost in order to discover\nthe subtle laws by which I could know the boy\u2019s astral whereabouts.\nHe was a soul vibrating with unfulfilled desires, I realized-a mass\nof light floating somewhere amidst millions of luminous souls in\nthe astral regions. How was I to tune in with him, among so many\nvibrating lights of other souls?\n\nUsing a secret yoga technique, I broadcasted my love to Kashi\u2019s\nsoul through the microphone of the spiritual eye, the inner point\nbetween the eyebrows. With the antenna of upraised hands and\nfingers, I often turned myself round and round, trying to locate\nthe direction in which he had been reborn as an embryo. I hoped to\nreceive response from him in the concentration-tuned radio of my\nheart. {FN28-1}\n\nI intuitively felt that Kashi would soon return to the earth, and\nthat if I kept unceasingly broadcasting my call to him, his soul\nwould reply. I knew that the slightest impulse sent by Kashi would\nbe felt in my fingers, hands, arms, spine, and nerves.\n\nWith undiminished zeal, I practiced the yoga method steadily for\nabout six months after Kashi\u2019s death. Walking with a few friends\none morning in the crowded Bowbazar section of Calcutta, I lifted\nmy hands in the usual manner. For the first time, there was response.\nI thrilled to detect electrical impulses trickling down my fingers\nand palms. These currents translated themselves into one overpowering\nthought from a deep recess of my consciousness: \u201cI am Kashi; I am\nKashi; come to me!\u201d\n\nThe thought became almost audible as I concentrated on my heart\nradio.  In the characteristic, slightly hoarse whisper of Kashi,\n{FN28-2} I heard his summons again and again. I seized the arm\nof one of my companions, Prokash Das, {FN28-3} and smiled at him\njoyfully.\n\n\u201cIt looks as though I have located Kashi!\u201d\n\nI began to turn round and round, to the undisguised amusement of\nmy friends and the passing throng. The electrical impulses tingled\nthrough my fingers only when I faced toward a near-by path, aptly\nnamed \u201cSerpentine Lane.\u201d The astral currents disappeared when I\nturned in other directions.\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d I exclaimed, \u201cKashi\u2019s soul must be living in the womb of some\nmother whose home is in this lane.\u201d\n\nMy companions and I approached closer to Serpentine Lane; the\nvibrations in my upraised hands grew stronger, more pronounced.\nAs if by a magnet, I was pulled toward the right side of the road.\nReaching the entrance of a certain house, I was astounded to find\nmyself transfixed. I knocked at the door in a state of intense\nexcitement, holding my very breath. I felt that the successful end\nhad come for my long, arduous, and certainly unusual quest!\n\nThe door was opened by a servant, who told me her master was at\nhome.  He descended the stairway from the second floor and smiled\nat me inquiringly. I hardly knew how to frame my question, at once\npertinent and impertinent.\n\n\u201cPlease tell me, sir, if you and your wife have been expecting a\nchild for about six months?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, it is so.\u201d Seeing that I was a swami, a renunciate attired\nin the traditional orange cloth, he added politely, \u201cPray inform\nme how you know my affairs.\u201d\n\nWhen he heard about Kashi and the promise I had given, the astonished\nman believed my story.\n\n\u201cA male child of fair complexion will be born to you,\u201d I told him.\n\u201cHe will have a broad face, with a cowlick atop his forehead. His\ndisposition will be notably spiritual.\u201d I felt certain that the\ncoming child would bear these resemblances to Kashi.\n\nLater I visited the child, whose parents had given him his old name\nof Kashi. Even in infancy he was strikingly similar in appearance\nto my dear Ranchi student. The child showed me an instantaneous\naffection; the attraction of the past awoke with redoubled intensity.\n\nYears later the teen-age boy wrote me, during my stay in America.\nHe explained his deep longing to follow the path of a renunciate.\nI directed him to a Himalayan master who, to this day, guides the\nreborn Kashi.\n\n{FN28-1} The will, projected from the point between the eyebrows,\nis known by yogis as the broadcasting apparatus of thought. When the\nfeeling is calmly concentrated on the heart, it acts as a mental\nradio, and can receive the messages of others from far or near.\nIn telepathy the fine vibrations of thoughts in one person\u2019s mind\nare transmitted through the subtle vibrations of astral ether and\nthen through the grosser earthly ether, creating electrical waves\nwhich, in turn, translate themselves into thought waves in the mind\nof the other person.\n\n{FN28-2} Every soul in its pure state is omniscient. Kashi\u2019s soul\nremembered all the characteristics of Kashi, the boy, and therefore\nmimicked his hoarse voice in order to stir my recognition.\n\n{FN28-3} Prokash Das is the present director of our Yogoda Math\n(hermitage) at Dakshineswar in Bengal.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 29\n\nRABINDRANATH TAGORE AND I COMPARE SCHOOLS\n\n\n\u201cRabindranath Tagore taught us to sing, as a natural form of\nself-expression, like the birds.\u201d\n\nBhola Nath, a bright fourteen-year-old lad at my Ranchi school,\ngave me this explanation after I had complimented him one morning\non his melodious outbursts. With or without provocation, the boy\npoured forth a tuneful stream. He had previously attended the famous\nTagore school of \u201cSantiniketan\u201d (Haven of Peace) at Bolpur.\n\n\u201cThe songs of Rabindranath have been on my lips since early youth,\u201d\nI told my companion. \u201cAll Bengal, even the unlettered peasants,\ndelights in his lofty verse.\u201d\n\nBhola and I sang together a few refrains from Tagore, who has set\nto music thousands of Indian poems, some original and others of\nhoary antiquity.\n\n\u201cI met Rabindranath soon after he had received the Nobel Prize\nfor literature,\u201d I remarked after our vocalizing. \u201cI was drawn to\nvisit him because I admired his undiplomatic courage in disposing\nof his literary critics.\u201d I chuckled.\n\nBhola curiously inquired the story.\n\n\u201cThe scholars severely flayed Tagore for introducing a new style\ninto Bengali poetry,\u201d I began. \u201cHe mixed colloquial and classical\nexpressions, ignoring all the prescribed limitations dear to\nthe pundits\u2019 hearts. His songs embody deep philosophic truth in\nemotionally appealing terms, with little regard for the accepted\nliterary forms.\n\n\u201cOne influential critic slightingly referred to Rabindranath\nas a \u2018pigeon-poet who sold his cooings in print for a rupee.\u2019 But\nTagore\u2019s revenge was at hand; the whole Western world paid homage\nat his feet soon after he had translated into English his GITANJALI\n(\u2018Song Offerings\u2019). A trainload of pundits, including his one-time\ncritics, went to Santiniketan to offer their congratulations.\n\n\u201cRabindranath received his guests only after an intentionally long\ndelay, and then heard their praise in stoic silence. Finally he\nturned against them their own habitual weapons of criticism.\n\n\u201c\u2018Gentlemen,\u2019 he said, \u2018the fragrant honors you here bestow are\nincongruously mingled with the putrid odors of your past contempt.\nIs there possibly any connection between my award of the Nobel\nPrize, and your suddenly acute powers of appreciation? I am still\nthe same poet who displeased you when I first offered my humble\nflowers at the shrine of Bengal.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe newspapers published an account of the bold chastisement given\nby Tagore. I admired the outspoken words of a man unhypnotized by\nflattery,\u201d I went on. \u201cI was introduced to Rabindranath in Calcutta\nby his secretary, Mr. C. F. Andrews, {FN29-1} who was simply attired\nin a Bengali DHOTI. He referred lovingly to Tagore as his GURUDEVA.\n\n\u201cRabindranath received me graciously. He emanated a soothing aura\nof charm, culture, and courtliness. Replying to my question about\nhis literary background, Tagore told me that one ancient source of\nhis inspiration, besides our religious epics, had been the classical\npoet, Bidyapati.\u201d\n\nInspired by these memories, I began to sing Tagore\u2019s version of an\nold Bengali song, \u201cLight the Lamp of Thy Love.\u201d Bhola and I chanted\njoyously as we strolled over the VIDYALAYA grounds.\n\nAbout two years after founding the Ranchi school, I received an\ninvitation from Rabindranath to visit him at Santiniketan in order\nto discuss our educational ideals. I went gladly. The poet was\nseated in his study when I entered; I thought then, as at our first\nmeeting, that he was as striking a model of superb manhood as any\npainter could desire. His beautifully chiseled face, nobly patrician,\nwas framed in long hair and flowing beard. Large, melting eyes; an\nangelic smile; and a voice of flutelike quality which was literally\nenchanting.  Stalwart, tall, and grave, he combined an almost\nwomanly tenderness with the delightful spontaneity of a child. No\nidealized conception of a poet could find more suitable embodiment\nthan in this gentle singer.\n\n[Illustration: Rabindranath Tagore, inspired poet of Bengal, and\nNobel Prizeman in literature\u2014see tagore.jpg]\n\nTagore and I were soon deep in a comparative study of our schools,\nboth founded along unorthodox lines. We discovered many identical\nfeatures-outdoor instruction, simplicity, ample scope for the\nchild\u2019s creative spirit. Rabindranath, however, laid considerable\nstress on the study of literature and poetry, and the self-expression\nthrough music and song which I had already noted in the case of\nBhola. The Santiniketan children observed periods of silence, but\nwere given no special yoga training.\n\nThe poet listened with flattering attention to my description of the\nenergizing \u201cYogoda\u201d exercises and the yoga concentration techniques\nwhich are taught to all students at Ranchi.\n\nTagore told me of his own early educational struggles. \u201cI fled from\nschool after the fifth grade,\u201d he said, laughing. I could readily\nunderstand how his innate poetic delicacy had been affronted by\nthe dreary, disciplinary atmosphere of a schoolroom.\n\n\u201cThat is why I opened Santiniketan under the shady trees and\nthe glories of the sky.\u201d He motioned eloquently to a little group\nstudying in the beautiful garden. \u201cA child is in his natural setting\namidst the flowers and songbirds. Only thus may he fully express\nthe hidden wealth of his individual endowment. True education can\nnever be crammed and pumped from without; rather it must aid in\nbringing spontaneously to the surface the infinite hoards of wisdom\nwithin.\u201d {FN29-2}\n\nI agreed. \u201cThe idealistic and hero-worshiping instincts of the young\nare starved on an exclusive diet of statistics and chronological\neras.\u201d\n\nThe poet spoke lovingly of his father, Devendranath, who had inspired\nthe Santiniketan beginnings.\n\n\u201cFather presented me with this fertile land, where he had already\nbuilt a guest house and temple,\u201d Rabindranath told me. \u201cI started\nmy educational experiment here in 1901, with only ten boys. The\neight thousand pounds which came with the Nobel Prize all went for\nthe upkeep of the school.\u201d\n\nThe elder Tagore, Devendranath, known far and wide as \u201cMaharishi,\u201d\nwas a very remarkable man, as one may discover from his AUTOBIOGRAPHY.\nTwo years of his manhood were spent in meditation in the Himalayas. In\nturn, his father, Dwarkanath Tagore, had been celebrated throughout\nBengal for his munificent public benefactions. From this illustrious\ntree has sprung a family of geniuses. Not Rabindranath alone; all\nhis relatives have distinguished themselves in creative expression.\nHis brothers, Gogonendra and Abanindra, are among the foremost artists\n{FN29-3} of India; another brother, Dwijendra, is a deep-seeing\nphilosopher, at whose gentle call the birds and woodland creatures\nrespond.\n\nRabindranath invited me to stay overnight in the guest house. It\nwas indeed a charming spectacle, in the evening, to see the poet\nseated with a group in the patio. Time unfolded backward: the scene\nbefore me was like that of an ancient hermitage-the joyous singer\nencircled by his devotees, all aureoled in divine love. Tagore\nknitted each tie with the cords of harmony. Never assertive, he drew\nand captured the heart by an irresistible magnetism. Rare blossom\nof poesy blooming in the garden of the Lord, attracting others by\na natural fragrance!\n\nIn his melodious voice, Rabindranath read to us a few of his exquisite\npoems, newly created. Most of his songs and plays, written for the\ndelectation of his students, have been composed at Santiniketan.\nThe beauty of his lines, to me, lies in his art of referring to\nGod in nearly every stanza, yet seldom mentioning the sacred Name.\n\u201cDrunk with the bliss of singing,\u201d he wrote, \u201cI forget myself and\ncall thee friend who art my lord.\u201d\n\nThe following day, after lunch, I bade the poet a reluctant farewell.\nI rejoice that his little school has now grown to an international\nuniversity, \u201cViswa-Bharati,\u201d where scholars of all lands have found\nan ideal setting.\n\n  \u201cWhere the mind is without fear and the head is held high;\n  Where knowledge is free;\n  Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by\n       narrow domestic walls;\n  Where words come out from the depth of truth;\n  Where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection;\n  Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the\n       dreary desert sand of dead habit;\n  Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening\n       thought and action;\n  Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country\n       awake!\u201d {FN29-4}\n                                    RABINDRANATH TAGORE\n\n{FN29-1} The English writer and publicist, close friend of Mahatma\nGandhi. Mr. Andrews is honored in India for his many services to\nhis adopted land.\n\n{FN29-2} \u201cThe soul having been often born, or, as the Hindus say,\n\u2018traveling the path of existence through thousands of births\u2019 . .\n.  there is nothing of which she has not gained the knowledge; no\nwonder that she is able to recollect . . . what formerly she knew.\n. . . For inquiry and learning is reminiscence all.\u201d-EMERSON.\n\n{FN29-3} Rabindranath, too, in his sixties, engaged in a serious\nstudy of painting. Exhibitions of his \u201cfuturistic\u201d work were given\nsome years ago in European capitals and New York.\n\n{FN29-4} GITANJALI (New York: Macmillan Co.). A thoughtful study\nof the poet will be found in THE PHILOSOPHY OF RABINDRANATH TAGORE,\nby the celebrated scholar, Sir S. Radhakrishnan (Macmillan, 1918).\nAnother expository volume is B. K. Roy\u2019s RABINDRANATH TAGORE: THE MAN\nAND HIS POETRY (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1915). BUDDHA AND THE GOSPEL\nOF BUDDHISM (New York: Putnam\u2019s, 1916), by the eminent Oriental art\nauthority, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, contains a number of illustrations\nin color by the poet\u2019s brother, Abanindra Nath Tagore.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 30\n\nTHE LAW OF MIRACLES\n\n\nThe great novelist Leo Tolstoy wrote a delightful story, THE THREE\nHERMITS. His friend Nicholas Roerich {FN30-1} has summarized the\ntale, as follows:\n\n\u201cOn an island there lived three old hermits. They were so simple that\nthe only prayer they used was: \u2018We are three; Thou art Three-have\nmercy on us!\u2019 Great miracles were manifested during this naive\nprayer.\n\n\u201cThe local bishop {FN30-2} came to hear about the three hermits\nand their inadmissible prayer, and decided to visit them in order\nto teach them the canonical invocations. He arrived on the island,\ntold the hermits that their heavenly petition was undignified, and\ntaught them many of the customary prayers. The bishop then left\non a boat. He saw, following the ship, a radiant light. As it\napproached, he discerned the three hermits, who were holding hands\nand running upon the waves in an effort to overtake the vessel.\n\n\u201c\u2018We have forgotten the prayers you taught us,\u2019 they cried as they\nreached the bishop, \u2018and have hastened to ask you to repeat them.\u2019\nThe awed bishop shook his head.\n\n\u201c\u2018Dear ones,\u2019 he replied humbly, \u2018continue to live with your old\nprayer!\u2019\u201d\n\nHow did the three saints walk on the water?\n\nHow did Christ resurrect his crucified body?\n\nHow did Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar perform their miracles?\n\nModern science has, as yet, no answer; though with the advent of the\natomic bomb and the wonders of radar, the scope of the world-mind\nhas been abruptly enlarged. The word \u201cimpossible\u201d is becoming less\nprominent in the scientific vocabulary.\n\n[Illustration: A GURU AND DISCIPLE, Forest hermitages were\nthe ancient seats of learning, secular and divine, for the youth\nof India.  Here a venerable guru, leaning on a wooden meditation\nelbow-prop, is initiating his disciple into the august mysteries\nof Spirit.\u2014see guru.jpg]\n\nThe ancient Vedic scriptures declare that the physical world operates\nunder one fundamental law of MAYA, the principle of relativity and\nduality. God, the Sole Life, is an Absolute Unity; He cannot appear\nas the separate and diverse manifestations of a creation except\nunder a false or unreal veil. That cosmic illusion is MAYA. Every\ngreat scientific discovery of modern times has served as a confirmation\nof this simple pronouncement of the rishis.\n\nNewton\u2019s Law of Motion is a law of MAYA: \u201cTo every action there\nis always an equal and contrary reaction; the mutual actions of\nany two bodies are always equal and oppositely directed.\u201d Action\nand reaction are thus exactly equal. \u201cTo have a single force is\nimpossible. There must be, and always is, a pair of forces equal\nand opposite.\u201d\n\nFundamental natural activities all betray their mayic origin.\nElectricity, for example, is a phenomenon of repulsion and attraction;\nits electrons and protons are electrical opposites. Another example:\nthe atom or final particle of matter is, like the earth itself,\na magnet with positive and negative poles. The entire phenomenal\nworld is under the inexorable sway of polarity; no law of physics,\nchemistry, or any other science is ever found free from inherent\nopposite or contrasted principles.\n\nPhysical science, then, cannot formulate laws outside of MAYA, the\nvery texture and structure of creation. Nature herself is MAYA;\nnatural science must perforce deal with her ineluctable quiddity.\nIn her own domain, she is eternal and inexhaustible; future scientists\ncan do no more than probe one aspect after another of her varied\ninfinitude. Science thus remains in a perpetual flux, unable to reach\nfinality; fit indeed to formulate the laws of an already existing\nand functioning cosmos, but powerless to detect the Law Framer\nand Sole Operator. The majestic manifestations of gravitation and\nelectricity have become known, but what gravitation and electricity\nare, no mortal knoweth. {FN30-3}\n\nTo surmount MAYA was the task assigned to the human race by the\nmillennial prophets. To rise above the duality of creation and perceive\nthe unity of the Creator was conceived of as man\u2019s highest goal.\nThose who cling to the cosmic illusion must accept its essential law\nof polarity: flow and ebb, rise and fall, day and night, pleasure\nand pain, good and evil, birth and death. This cyclic pattern\nassumes a certain anguishing monotony, after man has gone through\na few thousand human births; he begins to cast a hopeful eye beyond\nthe compulsions of MAYA.\n\nTo tear the veil of MAYA is to pierce the secret of creation. The\nyogi who thus denudes the universe is the only true monotheist.\nAll others are worshiping heathen images. So long as man remains\nsubject to the dualistic delusions of nature, the Janus-faced MAYA\nis his goddess; he cannot know the one true God.\n\nThe world illusion, MAYA, is individually called AVIDYA, literally,\n\u201cnot-knowledge,\u201d ignorance, delusion. MAYA or AVIDYA can never be\ndestroyed through intellectual conviction or analysis, but solely\nthrough attaining the interior state of NIRBIKALPA SAMADHI. The\nOld Testament prophets, and seers of all lands and ages, spoke from\nthat state of consciousness. Ezekiel says (43:1-2): \u201cAfterwards\nhe brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the\neast: and, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the\nway of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters:\nand the earth shined with his glory.\u201d Through the divine eye in the\nforehead (east), the yogi sails his consciousness into omnipresence,\nhearing the Word or Aum, divine sound of many waters or vibrations\nwhich is the sole reality of creation.\n\nAmong the trillion mysteries of the cosmos, the most phenomenal\nis light. Unlike sound-waves, whose transmission requires air or\nother material media, light-waves pass freely through the vacuum\nof interstellar space. Even the hypothetical ether, held as the\ninterplanetary medium of light in the undulatory theory, can be\ndiscarded on the Einsteinian grounds that the geometrical properties\nof space render the theory of ether unnecessary. Under either\nhypothesis, light remains the most subtle, the freest from material\ndependence, of any natural manifestation.\n\nIn the gigantic conceptions of Einstein, the velocity of light-186,000\nmiles per second-dominates the whole Theory of Relativity. He proves\nmathematically that the velocity of light is, so far as man\u2019s finite\nmind is concerned, the only CONSTANT in a universe of unstayable\nflux.  On the sole absolute of light-velocity depend all human\nstandards of time and space. Not abstractly eternal as hitherto\nconsidered, time and space are relative and finite factors, deriving\ntheir measurement validity only in reference to the yardstick of\nlight-velocity. In joining space as a dimensional relativity, time\nhas surrendered age-old claims to a changeless value. Time is now\nstripped to its rightful nature-a simple essence of ambiguity! With\na few equational strokes of his pen, Einstein has banished from\nthe cosmos every fixed reality except that of light.\n\nIn a later development, his Unified Field Theory, the great physicist\nembodies in one mathematical formula the laws of gravitation and\nof electromagnetism. Reducing the cosmical structure to variations\non a single law, Einstein {FN30-4} reaches across the ages to the\nrishis who proclaimed a sole texture of creation-that of a protean\nMAYA.\n\nOn the epochal Theory of Relativity have arisen the mathematical\npossibilities of exploring the ultimate atom. Great scientists are\nnow boldly asserting not only that the atom is energy rather than\nmatter, but that atomic energy is essentially mind-stuff.\n\n\u201cThe frank realization that physical science is concerned with\na world of shadows is one of the most significant advances,\u201d Sir\nArthur Stanley Eddington writes in THE NATURE OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD.\n\u201cIn the world of physics we watch a shadowgraph performance of the\ndrama of familiar life. The shadow of my elbow rests on the shadow\ntable as the shadow ink flows over the shadow paper. It is all\nsymbolic, and as a symbol the physicist leaves it. Then comes the\nalchemist Mind who transmutes the symbols. . . . To put the conclusion\ncrudely, the stuff of the world is mind-stuff. . . . The realistic\nmatter and fields of force of former physical theory are altogether\nirrelevant except in so far as the mind-stuff has itself spun these\nimaginings. . . . The external world has thus become a world of\nshadows. In removing our illusions we have removed the substance,\nfor indeed we have seen that substance is one of the greatest of\nour illusions.\u201d\n\nWith the recent discovery of the electron microscope came definite\nproof of the light-essence of atoms and of the inescapable duality\nof nature. THE NEW YORK TIMES gave the following report of a 1937\ndemonstration of the electron microscope before a meeting of the\nAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science:\n\n\u201cThe crystalline structure of tungsten, hitherto known only indirectly\nby means of X-rays, stood outlined boldly on a fluorescent screen,\nshowing nine atoms in their correct positions in the space lattice,\na cube, with one atom in each corner and one in the center. The atoms\nin the crystal lattice of the tungsten appeared on the fluorescent\nscreen as points of light, arranged in geometric pattern. Against\nthis crystal cube of light the bombarding molecules of air could\nbe observed as dancing points of light, similar to points\nof sunlight shimmering on moving waters. . . .\n\n\u201cThe principle of the electron microscope was first discovered in\n1927 by Drs. Clinton J. Davisson and Lester H. Germer of the Bell\nTelephone Laboratories, New York City, who found that the electron\nhad a dual personality partaking of the characteristic of both\na particle and a wave. The wave quality gave the electron the\ncharacteristic of light, and a search was begun to devise means for\n\u2018focusing\u2019 electrons in a manner similar to the focusing of light\nby means of a lens.\n\n\u201cFor his discovery of the Jekyll-Hyde quality of the electron,\nwhich corroborated the prediction made in 1924 by De Broglie, French\nNobel Prize winning physicist, and showed that the entire realm of\nphysical nature had a dual personality, Dr. Davisson also received\nthe Nobel Prize in physics.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe stream of knowledge,\u201d Sir James Jeans writes in THE MYSTERIOUS\nUNIVERSE, \u201cis heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the universe\nbegins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine.\u201d\nTwentieth-century science is thus sounding like a page from the\nhoary VEDAS.\n\nFrom science, then, if it must be so, let man learn the philosophic\ntruth that there is no material universe; its warp and woof is MAYA,\nillusion. Its mirages of reality all break down under analysis.\nAs one by one the reassuring props of a physical cosmos crash\nbeneath him, man dimly perceives his idolatrous reliance, his past\ntransgression of the divine command: \u201cThou shalt have no other gods\nbefore Me.\u201d\n\nIn his famous equation outlining the equivalence of mass and energy,\nEinstein proved that the energy in any particle of matter is equal\nto its mass or weight multiplied by the square of the velocity of\nlight.  The release of the atomic energies is brought about through\nthe annihilation of the material particles. The \u201cdeath\u201d of matter\nhas been the \u201cbirth\u201d of an Atomic Age.\n\nLight-velocity is a mathematical standard or constant not because\nthere is an absolute value in 186,000 miles a second, but because\nno material body, whose mass increases with its velocity, can ever\nattain the velocity of light. Stated another way: only a material\nbody whose mass is infinite could equal the velocity of light.\n\nTHIS CONCEPTION BRINGS US TO THE LAW OF MIRACLES.\n\nThe masters who are able to materialize and dematerialize their\nbodies or any other object, and to move with the velocity of light,\nand to utilize the creative light-rays in bringing into instant\nvisibility any physical manifestation, have fulfilled the necessary\nEinsteinian condition: their mass is infinite.\n\nThe consciousness of a perfected yogi is effortlessly identified,\nnot with a narrow body, but with the universal structure. Gravitation,\nwhether the \u201cforce\u201d of Newton or the Einsteinian \u201cmanifestation of\ninertia,\u201d is powerless to COMPEL a master to exhibit the property\nof \u201cweight\u201d which is the distinguishing gravitational condition\nof all material objects. He who knows himself as the omnipresent\nSpirit is subject no longer to the rigidities of a body in time\nand space. Their imprisoning \u201crings-pass-not\u201d have yielded to the\nsolvent: \u201cI am He.\u201d\n\n\u201cFiat lux! And there was light.\u201d God\u2019s first command to His ordered\ncreation (GENESIS 1:3) brought into being the only atomic reality:\nlight. On the beams of this immaterial medium occur all divine\nmanifestations. Devotees of every age testify to the appearance\nof God as flame and light. \u201cThe King of kings, and Lord of lords;\nwho only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can\napproach unto.\u201d {FN30-5}\n\nA yogi who through perfect meditation has merged his consciousness\nwith the Creator perceives the cosmical essence as light; to him\nthere is no difference between the light rays composing water and\nthe light rays composing land. Free from matter-consciousness,\nfree from the three dimensions of space and the fourth dimension\nof time, a master transfers his body of light with equal ease over\nthe light rays of earth, water, fire, or air. Long concentration\non the liberating spiritual eye has enabled the yogi to destroy\nall delusions concerning matter and its gravitational weight;\nthenceforth he sees the universe as an essentially undifferentiated\nmass of light.\n\n\u201cOptical images,\u201d Dr. L. T. Troland of Harvard tells us, \u201care built\nup on the same principle as the ordinary \u2018half-tone\u2019 engravings;\nthat is, they are made up of minute dottings or stripplings far\ntoo small to be detected by the eye. . . . The sensitiveness of\nthe retina is so great that a visual sensation can be produced by\nrelatively few Quanta of the right kind of light.\u201d Through a master\u2019s\ndivine knowledge of light phenomena, he can instantly project into\nperceptible manifestation the ubiquitous light atoms. The actual form\nof the projection-whether it be a tree, a medicine, a human body-is\nin conformance with a yogi\u2019s powers of will and of visualization.\n\nIn man\u2019s dream-consciousness, where he has loosened in sleep his\nclutch on the egoistic limitations that daily hem him round, the\nomnipotence of his mind has a nightly demonstration. Lo! there in\nthe dream stand the long-dead friends, the remotest continents, the\nresurrected scenes of his childhood. With that free and unconditioned\nconsciousness, known to all men in the phenomena of dreams, the\nGod-tuned master has forged a never-severed link. Innocent of all\npersonal motives, and employing the creative will bestowed on him\nby the Creator, a yogi rearranges the light atoms of the universe\nto satisfy any sincere prayer of a devotee. For this purpose were\nman and creation made: that he should rise up as master of MAYA,\nknowing his dominion over the cosmos.\n\n\u201cAnd God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:\nand let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the\nfowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and\nover every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.\u201d {FN30-6}\n\nIn 1915, shortly after I had entered the Swami Order, I witnessed\na vision of violent contrasts. In it the relativity of human\nconsciousness was vividly established; I clearly perceived the\nunity of the Eternal Light behind the painful dualities of MAYA.\nThe vision descended on me as I sat one morning in my little attic\nroom in Father\u2019s Gurpar Road home. For months World War I had been\nraging in Europe; I reflected sadly on the vast toll of death.\n\nAs I closed my eyes in meditation, my consciousness was suddenly\ntransferred to the body of a captain in command of a battleship.\nThe thunder of guns split the air as shots were exchanged between\nshore batteries and the ship\u2019s cannons. A huge shell hit the powder\nmagazine and tore my ship asunder. I jumped into the water, together\nwith the few sailors who had survived the explosion.\n\nHeart pounding, I reached the shore safely. But alas! a stray\nbullet ended its furious flight in my chest. I fell groaning to the\nground.  My whole body was paralyzed, yet I was aware of possessing\nit as one is conscious of a leg gone to sleep.\n\n\u201cAt last the mysterious footstep of Death has caught up with me,\u201d\nI thought. With a final sigh, I was about to sink into unconsciousness\nwhen lo! I found myself seated in the lotus posture in my Gurpar\nRoad room.\n\nHysterical tears poured forth as I joyfully stroked and pinched my\nregained possession-a body free from any bullet hole in the breast.\nI rocked to and fro, inhaling and exhaling to assure myself that\nI was alive. Amidst these self-congratulations, again I found my\nconsciousness transferred to the captain\u2019s dead body by the gory\nshore. Utter confusion of mind came upon me.\n\n\u201cLord,\u201d I prayed, \u201cam I dead or alive?\u201d\n\nA dazzling play of light filled the whole horizon. A soft rumbling\nvibration formed itself into words:\n\n\u201cWhat has life or death to do with Light? In the image of My Light\nI have made you. The relativities of life and death belong to the\ncosmic dream. Behold your dreamless being! Awake, my child, awake!\u201d\n\nAs steps in man\u2019s awakening, the Lord inspires scientists to\ndiscover, at the right time and place, the secrets of His creation.\nMany modern discoveries help men to apprehend the cosmos as a varied\nexpression of one power-light, guided by divine intelligence. The\nwonders of the motion picture, of radio, of television, of radar,\nof the photo-electric cell-the all-seeing \u201celectric eye,\u201d of atomic\nenergies, are all based on the electromagnetic phenomenon of light.\n\nThe motion picture art can portray any miracle. From the impressive\nvisual standpoint, no marvel is barred to trick photography. A man\u2019s\ntransparent astral body can be seen rising from his gross physical\nform, he can walk on the water, resurrect the dead, reverse the\nnatural sequence of developments, and play havoc with time and\nspace.  Assembling the light images as he pleases, the photographer\nachieves optical wonders which a true master produces with actual\nlight rays.\n\nThe lifelike images of the motion picture illustrate many truths\nconcerning creation. The Cosmic Director has written His own plays,\nand assembled the tremendous casts for the pageant of the centuries.\nFrom the dark booth of eternity, He pours His creative beam through\nthe films of successive ages, and the pictures are thrown on the\nscreen of space. Just as the motion-picture images appear to be real,\nbut are only combinations of light and shade, so is the universal\nvariety a delusive seeming. The planetary spheres, with their\ncountless forms of life, are naught but figures in a cosmic motion\npicture, temporarily true to five sense perceptions as the scenes\nare cast on the screen of man\u2019s consciousness by the infinite\ncreative beam.\n\nA cinema audience can look up and see that all screen images are\nappearing through the instrumentality of one imageless beam of\nlight.  The colorful universal drama is similarly issuing from the\nsingle white light of a Cosmic Source. With inconceivable ingenuity\nGod is staging an entertainment for His human children, making them\nactors as well as audience in His planetary theater.\n\nOne day I entered a motion picture house to view a newsreel of the\nEuropean battlefields. World War I was still being waged in the\nWest; the newsreel recorded the carnage with such realism that I\nleft the theater with a troubled heart.\n\n\u201cLord,\u201d I prayed, \u201cwhy dost Thou permit such suffering?\u201d\n\nTo my intense surprise, an instant answer came in the form of\na vision of the actual European battlefields. The horror of the\nstruggle, filled with the dead and dying, far surpassed in ferocity\nany representation of the newsreel.\n\n\u201cLook intently!\u201d A gentle voice spoke to my inner consciousness. \u201cYou\nwill see that these scenes now being enacted in France are nothing\nbut a play of chiaroscuro. They are the cosmic motion picture, as\nreal and as unreal as the theater newsreel you have just seen-a\nplay within a play.\u201d\n\nMy heart was still not comforted. The divine voice went on: \u201cCreation\nis light and shadow both, else no picture is possible. The good\nand evil of MAYA must ever alternate in supremacy. If joy were\nceaseless here in this world, would man ever seek another? Without\nsuffering he scarcely cares to recall that he has forsaken his\neternal home. Pain is a prod to remembrance. The way of escape is\nthrough wisdom! The tragedy of death is unreal; those who shudder\nat it are like an ignorant actor who dies of fright on the stage\nwhen nothing more is fired at him than a blank cartridge. My sons\nare the children of light; they will not sleep forever in delusion.\u201d\n\nAlthough I had read scriptural accounts of MAYA, they had not given\nme the deep insight that came with the personal visions and their\naccompanying words of consolation. One\u2019s values are profoundly\nchanged when he is finally convinced that creation is only a vast\nmotion picture, and that not in it, but beyond it, lies his own\nreality.\n\nAs I finished writing this chapter, I sat on my bed in the lotus\nposture. My room was dimly lit by two shaded lamps. Lifting my gaze,\nI noticed that the ceiling was dotted with small mustard-colored\nlights, scintillating and quivering with a radiumlike luster.\nMyriads of pencilled rays, like sheets of rain, gathered into a\ntransparent shaft and poured silently upon me.\n\nAt once my physical body lost its grossness and became metamorphosed\ninto astral texture. I felt a floating sensation as, barely touching\nthe bed, the weightless body shifted slightly and alternately to\nleft and right. I looked around the room; the furniture and walls\nwere as usual, but the little mass of light had so multiplied that\nthe ceiling was invisible. I was wonder-struck.\n\n\u201cThis is the cosmic motion picture mechanism.\u201d A voice spoke\nas though from within the light. \u201cShedding its beam on the white\nscreen of your bed sheets, it is producing the picture of your\nbody. Behold, your form is nothing but light!\u201d\n\nI gazed at my arms and moved them back and forth, yet could not feel\ntheir weight. An ecstatic joy overwhelmed me. This cosmic stem of\nlight, blossoming as my body, seemed a divine replica of the light\nbeams streaming out of the projection booth in a cinema house and\nmanifesting as pictures on the screen.\n\nFor a long time I experienced this motion picture of my body in the\ndimly lighted theater of my own bedroom. Despite the many visions\nI have had, none was ever more singular. As my illusion of a solid\nbody was completely dissipated, and my realization deepened that\nthe essence of all objects is light, I looked up to the throbbing\nstream of lifetrons and spoke entreatingly.\n\n\u201cDivine Light, please withdraw this, my humble bodily picture, into\nThyself, even as Elijah was drawn up to heaven by a flame.\u201d\n\nThis prayer was evidently startling; the beam disappeared. My body\nresumed its normal weight and sank on the bed; the swarm of dazzling\nceiling lights flickered and vanished. My time to leave this earth\nhad apparently not arrived.\n\n\u201cBesides,\u201d I thought philosophically, \u201cthe prophet Elijah might\nwell be displeased at my presumption!\u201d\n\n{FN30-1} This famous Russian artist and philosopher has been living\nfor many years in India near the Himalayas. \u201cFrom the peaks comes\nrevelation,\u201d he has written. \u201cIn caves and upon the summits lived\nthe rishis. Over the snowy peaks of the Himalayas burns a bright\nglow, brighter than stars and the fantastic flashes of lightning.\u201d\n\n{FN30-2} The story may have a historical basis; an editorial note\ninforms us that the bishop met the three monks while he was sailing\nfrom Archangel to the Slovetsky Monastery, at the mouth of the\nDvina River.\n\n{FN30-3} Marconi, the great inventor, made the following admission\nof scientific inadequacy before the finalities: \u201cThe inability\nof science to solve life is absolute. This fact would be truly\nfrightening were it not for faith. The mystery of life is certainly\nthe most persistent problem ever placed before the thought of man.\u201d\n\n{FN30-4} A clue to the direction taken by Einstein\u2019s genius is given\nby the fact that he is a lifelong disciple of the great philosopher\nSpinoza, whose best-known work is ETHICS DEMONSTRATED IN GEOMETRICAL\nORDER.\n\n{FN30-5} I TIMOTHY 6:15-16.\n\n{FN30-6} GENESIS 1:26.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 31\n\nAN INTERVIEW WITH THE SACRED MOTHER\n\n\n\u201cReverend Mother, I was baptized in infancy by your prophet-husband.\nHe was the guru of my parents and of my own guru Sri Yukteswarji.\nWill you therefore give me the privilege of hearing a few incidents\nin your sacred life?\u201d\n\nI was addressing Srimati Kashi Moni, the life-companion of Lahiri\nMahasaya. Finding myself in Benares for a short period, I was\nfulfilling a long-felt desire to visit the venerable lady. She\nreceived me graciously at the old Lahiri homestead in the Garudeswar\nMohulla section of Benares. Although aged, she was blooming like a\nlotus, silently emanating a spiritual fragrance. She was of medium\nbuild, with a slender neck and fair skin. Large, lustrous eyes\nsoftened her motherly face.\n\n\u201cSon, you are welcome here. Come upstairs.\u201d\n\nKashi Moni led the way to a very small room where, for a time, she\nhad lived with her husband. I felt honored to witness the shrine\nin which the peerless master had condescended to play the human\ndrama of matrimony. The gentle lady motioned me to a pillow seat\nby her side.\n\n\u201cIt was years before I came to realize the divine stature of my\nhusband,\u201d she began. \u201cOne night, in this very room, I had a vivid\ndream. Glorious angels floated in unimaginable grace above me. So\nrealistic was the sight that I awoke at once; the room was strangely\nenveloped in dazzling light.\n\n\u201cMy husband, in lotus posture, was levitated in the center of\nthe room, surrounded by angels who were worshiping him with the\nsupplicating dignity of palm-folded hands. Astonished beyond measure,\nI was convinced that I was still dreaming.\n\n\u201c\u2018Woman,\u2019 Lahiri Mahasaya said, \u2018you are not dreaming. Forsake your\nsleep forever and forever.\u2019 As he slowly descended to the floor,\nI prostrated myself at his feet.\n\n\u201c\u2018Master,\u2019 I cried, \u2018again and again I bow before you! Will you\npardon me for having considered you as my husband? I die with shame\nto realize that I have remained asleep in ignorance by the side of\none who is divinely awakened. From this night, you are no longer\nmy husband, but my guru. Will you accept my insignificant self as\nyour disciple?\u2019 {FN31-1}\n\n\u201cThe master touched me gently. \u2018Sacred soul, arise. You are\naccepted.\u2019 He motioned toward the angels. \u2018Please bow in turn to\neach of these holy saints.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhen I had finished my humble genuflections, the angelic voices\nsounded together, like a chorus from an ancient scripture.\n\n\u201c\u2018Consort of the Divine One, thou art blessed. We salute thee.\u2019\nThey bowed at my feet and lo! their refulgent forms vanished. The\nroom darkened.\n\n\u201cMy guru asked me to receive initiation into KRIYA YOGA.\n\n\u201c\u2018Of course,\u2019 I responded. \u2018I am sorry not to have had its blessing\nearlier in my life.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018The time was not ripe.\u2019 Lahiri Mahasaya smiled consolingly. \u2018Much\nof your karma I have silently helped you to work out. Now you are\nwilling and ready.\u2019\n\n\u201cHe touched my forehead. Masses of whirling light appeared; the\nradiance gradually formed itself into the opal-blue spiritual eye,\nringed in gold and centered with a white pentagonal star.\n\n\u201c\u2018Penetrate your consciousness through the star into the kingdom\nof the Infinite.\u2019 My guru\u2019s voice had a new note, soft like distant\nmusic.\n\n\u201cVision after vision broke as oceanic surf on the shores of\nmy soul.  The panoramic spheres finally melted in a sea of bliss.\nI lost myself in ever-surging blessedness. When I returned hours\nlater to awareness of this world, the master gave me the technique\nof KRIYA YOGA.\n\n\u201cFrom that night on, Lahiri Mahasaya never slept in my room again.\nNor, thereafter, did he ever sleep. He remained in the front room\ndownstairs, in the company of his disciples both by day and by\nnight.\u201d\n\nThe illustrious lady fell into silence. Realizing the uniqueness\nof her relationship with the sublime yogi, I finally ventured to\nask for further reminiscences.\n\n\u201cSon, you are greedy. Nevertheless you shall have one more story.\u201d\nShe smiled shyly. \u201cI will confess a sin which I committed against\nmy guru-husband. Some months after my initiation, I began to feel\nforlorn and neglected. One morning Lahiri Mahasaya entered this\nlittle room to fetch an article; I quickly followed him. Overcome\nby violent delusion, I addressed him scathingly.\n\n\u201c\u2018You spend all your time with the disciples. What about your\nresponsibilities for your wife and children? I regret that you do\nnot interest yourself in providing more money for the family.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe master glanced at me for a moment, then lo! he was gone. Awed\nand frightened, I heard a voice resounding from every part of the\nroom:\n\n\u201c\u2018It is all nothing, don\u2019t you see? How could a nothing like me\nproduce riches for you?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Guruji,\u2019 I cried, \u2018I implore pardon a million times! My sinful\neyes can see you no more; please appear in your sacred form.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I am here.\u2019 This reply came from above me. I looked up and saw\nthe master materialize in the air, his head touching the ceiling.\nHis eyes were like blinding flames. Beside myself with fear, I lay\nsobbing at his feet after he had quietly descended to the floor.\n\n\u201c\u2018Woman,\u2019 he said, \u2018seek divine wealth, not the paltry tinsel of\nearth. After acquiring inward treasure, you will find that outward\nsupply is always forthcoming.\u2019 He added, \u2018One of my spiritual sons\nwill make provision for you.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy guru\u2019s words naturally came true; a disciple did leave a\nconsiderable sum for our family.\u201d\n\nI thanked Kashi Moni for sharing with me her wondrous experiences.\n{FN31-2} On the following day I returned to her home and enjoyed\nseveral hours of philosophical discussion with Tincouri and Ducouri\nLahiri. These two saintly sons of India\u2019s great yogi followed\nclosely in his ideal footsteps. Both men were fair, tall, stalwart,\nand heavily bearded, with soft voices and an old-fashioned charm\nof manner.\n\nHis wife was not the only woman disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya; there\nwere hundreds of others, including my mother. A woman chela once\nasked the guru for his photograph. He handed her a print, remarking,\n\u201cIf you deem it a protection, then it is so; otherwise it is only\na picture.\u201d\n\nA few days later this woman and Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s daughter-in-law\nhappened to be studying the BHAGAVAD GITA at a table behind which\nhung the guru\u2019s photograph. An electrical storm broke out with\ngreat fury.\n\n\u201cLahiri Mahasaya, protect us!\u201d The women bowed before the picture.\nLightning struck the book which they had been reading, but the two\ndevotees were unhurt.\n\n\u201cI felt as though a sheet of ice had been placed around me to ward\noff the scorching heat,\u201d the chela explained.\n\nLahiri Mahasaya performed two miracles in connection with a woman\ndisciple, Abhoya. She and her husband, a Calcutta lawyer, started\none day for Benares to visit the guru. Their carriage was delayed\nby heavy traffic; they reached the Howrah main station only to hear\nthe Benares train whistling for departure.\n\nAbhoya, near the ticket office, stood quietly.\n\n\u201cLahiri Mahasaya, I beseech thee to stop the train!\u201d she silently\nprayed. \u201cI cannot suffer the pangs of delay in waiting another day\nto see thee.\u201d\n\nThe wheels of the snorting train continued to move round and\nround, but there was no onward progress. The engineer and passengers\ndescended to the platform to view the phenomenon. An English\nrailroad guard approached Abhoya and her husband. Contrary to all\nprecedent, he volunteered his services.\n\n\u201cBabu,\u201d he said, \u201cgive me the money. I will buy your tickets while\nyou get aboard.\u201d\n\nAs soon as the couple was seated and had received the tickets, the\ntrain slowly moved forward. In panic, the engineer and passengers\nclambered again to their places, knowing neither how the train\nstarted, nor why it had stopped in the first place.\n\nArriving at the home of Lahiri Mahasaya in Benares, Abhoya silently\nprostrated herself before the master, and tried to touch his feet.\n\n\u201cCompose yourself, Abhoya,\u201d he remarked. \u201cHow you love to bother\nme!  As if you could not have come here by the next train!\u201d\n\nAbhoya visited Lahiri Mahasaya on another memorable occasion. This\ntime she wanted his intercession, not with a train, but with the\nstork.\n\n\u201cI pray you to bless me that my ninth child may live,\u201d she said.\n\u201cEight babies have been born to me; all died soon after birth.\u201d\n\nThe master smiled sympathetically. \u201cYour coming child will live.\nPlease follow my instructions carefully. The baby, a girl, will be\nborn at night. See that the oil lamp is kept burning until dawn.\nDo not fall asleep and thus allow the light to become extinguished.\u201d\n\nAbhoya\u2019s child was a daughter, born at night, exactly as foreseen\nby the omniscient guru. The mother instructed her nurse to keep\nthe lamp filled with oil. Both women kept the urgent vigil far into\nthe early morning hours, but finally fell asleep. The lamp oil was\nalmost gone; the light flickered feebly.\n\nThe bedroom door unlatched and flew open with a violent sound.\nThe startled women awoke. Their astonished eyes beheld the form of\nLahiri Mahasaya.\n\n\u201cAbhoya, behold, the light is almost gone!\u201d He pointed to the lamp,\nwhich the nurse hastened to refill. As soon as it burned again\nbrightly, the master vanished. The door closed; the latch was\naffixed without visible agency.\n\nAbhoya\u2019s ninth child survived; in 1935, when I made inquiry, she\nwas still living.\n\nOne of Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s disciples, the venerable Kali Kumar Roy,\nrelated to me many fascinating details of his life with the master.\n\n\u201cI was often a guest at his Benares home for weeks at a time,\u201d\nRoy told me. \u201cI observed that many saintly figures, DANDA {FN31-3}\nswamis, arrived in the quiet of night to sit at the guru\u2019s feet.\nSometimes they would engage in discussion of meditational and\nphilosophical points. At dawn the exalted guests would depart. I\nfound during my visits that Lahiri Mahasaya did not once lie down\nto sleep.\n\n\u201cDuring an early period of my association with the master, I had\nto contend with the opposition of my employer,\u201d Roy went on. \u201cHe\nwas steeped in materialism.\n\n\u201c\u2018I don\u2019t want religious fanatics on my staff,\u2019 he would sneer.\n\u2018If I ever meet your charlatan guru, I shall give him some words\nto remember.\u2019\n\n\u201cThis alarming threat failed to interrupt my regular program; I spent\nnearly every evening in my guru\u2019s presence. One night my employer\nfollowed me and rushed rudely into the parlor. He was doubtless\nfully bent on uttering the pulverizing remarks he had promised. No\nsooner had the man seated himself than Lahiri Mahasaya addressed\nthe little group of about twelve disciples.\n\n\u201c\u2018Would you all like to see a picture?\u2019\n\n\u201cWhen we nodded, he asked us to darken the room. \u2018Sit behind one\nanother in a circle,\u2019 he said, \u2018and place your hands over the eyes\nof the man in front of you.\u2019\n\n\u201cI was not surprised to see that my employer also was following,\nalbeit unwillingly, the master\u2019s directions. In a few minutes Lahiri\nMahasaya asked us what we were seeing.\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir,\u2019 I replied, \u2018a beautiful woman appears. She wears a\nred-bordered SARI, and stands near an elephant-ear plant.\u2019 All the\nother disciples gave the same description. The master turned to my\nemployer.  \u2018Do you recognize that woman?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Yes.\u2019 The man was evidently struggling with emotions new to his\nnature. \u2018I have been foolishly spending my money on her, though\nI have a good wife. I am ashamed of the motives which brought me\nhere. Will you forgive me, and receive me as a disciple?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018If you lead a good moral life for six months, I shall accept\nyou.\u2019 The master enigmatically added, \u2018Otherwise I won\u2019t have to\ninitiate you.\u2019\n\n\u201cFor three months my employer refrained from temptation; then he\nresumed his former relationship with the woman. Two months later\nhe died. Thus I came to understand my guru\u2019s veiled prophecy about\nthe improbability of the man\u2019s initiation.\u201d\n\nLahiri Mahasaya had a very famous friend, Swami Trailanga, who was\nreputed to be over three hundred years old. The two yogis often\nsat together in meditation. Trailanga\u2019s fame is so widespread that\nfew Hindus would deny the possibility of truth in any story of his\nastounding miracles. If Christ returned to earth and walked the\nstreets of New York, displaying his divine powers, it would cause\nthe same excitement that was created by Trailanga decades ago as\nhe passed through the crowded lanes of Benares.\n\nOn many occasions the swami was seen to drink, with no ill effect,\nthe most deadly poisons. Thousands of people, including a few who\nare still living, have seen Trailanga floating on the Ganges. For\ndays together he would sit on top of the water, or remain hidden\nfor very long periods under the waves. A common sight at the Benares\nbathing GHATS was the swami\u2019s motionless body on the blistering\nstone slabs, wholly exposed to the merciless Indian sun. By these\nfeats Trailanga sought to teach men that a yogi\u2019s life does not\ndepend upon oxygen or ordinary conditions and precautions. Whether\nhe were above water or under it, and whether or not his body lay\nexposed to the fierce solar rays, the master proved that he lived\nby divine consciousness: death could not touch him.\n\nThe yogi was great not only spiritually, but physically. His weight\nexceeded three hundred pounds: a pound for each year of his life!\nAs he ate very seldom, the mystery is increased. A master, however,\neasily ignores all usual rules of health, when he desires to do so\nfor some special reason, often a subtle one known only to himself.\nGreat saints who have awakened from the cosmic mayic dream and\nrealized this world as an idea in the Divine Mind, can do as they\nwish with the body, knowing it to be only a manipulatable form of\ncondensed or frozen energy. Though physical scientists now understand\nthat matter is nothing but congealed energy, fully-illumined masters\nhave long passed from theory to practice in the field of matter-control.\n\nTrailanga always remained completely nude. The harassed police of\nBenares came to regard him as a baffling problem child. The natural\nswami, like the early Adam in the garden of Eden, was utterly\nunconscious of his nakedness. The police were quite conscious of\nit, however, and unceremoniously committed him to jail. General\nembarrassment ensued; the enormous body of Trailanga was soon seen,\nin its usual entirety, on the prison roof. His cell, still securely\nlocked, offered no clue to his mode of escape.\n\nThe discouraged officers of the law once more performed their duty.\nThis time a guard was posted before the swami\u2019s cell. Might again\nretired before right. Trailanga was soon observed in his nonchalant\nstroll over the roof. Justice is blind; the outwitted police decided\nto follow her example.\n\nThe great yogi preserved a habitual silence. {FN31-4} In spite of\nhis round face and huge, barrel-like stomach, Trailanga ate only\noccasionally. After weeks without food, he would break his fast\nwith potfuls of clabbered milk offered to him by devotees. A skeptic\nonce determined to expose Trailanga as a charlatan. A large bucket\nof calcium-lime mixture, used in whitewashing walls, was placed\nbefore the swami.\n\n\u201cMaster,\u201d the materialist said, in mock reverence, \u201cI have brought\nyou some clabbered milk. Please drink it.\u201d\n\nTrailanga unhesitatingly drained, to the last drop, the containerful\nof burning lime. In a few minutes the evildoer fell to the ground\nin agony.\n\n\u201cHelp, swami, help!\u201d he cried. \u201cI am on fire! Forgive my wicked\ntest!\u201d\n\nThe great yogi broke his habitual silence. \u201cScoffer,\u201d he said,\n\u201cyou did not realize when you offered me poison that my life is\none with your own. Except for my knowledge that God is present in\nmy stomach, as in every atom of creation, the lime would have killed\nme. Now that you know the divine meaning of boomerang, never again\nplay tricks on anyone.\u201d\n\nThe well-purged sinner, healed by Trailanga\u2019s words, slunk feebly\naway.\n\nThe reversal of pain was not due to any volition of the master,\nbut came about through unerring application of the law of justice\nwhich upholds creation\u2019s farthest swinging orb. Men of God-realization\nlike Trailanga allow the divine law to operate instantaneously;\nthey have banished forever all thwarting crosscurrents of ego.\n\nThe automatic adjustments of righteousness, often paid in an unexpected\ncoin as in the case of Trailanga and his would be murderer, assuage\nour hasty indignance at human injustice. \u201cVengeance is mine;\nI will repay, saith the Lord.\u201d {FN31-5} What need for man\u2019s brief\nresources? the universe duly conspires for retribution. Dull minds\ndiscredit the possibility of divine justice, love, omniscience,\nimmortality. \u201cAiry scriptural conjectures!\u201d This insensitive\nviewpoint, aweless before the cosmic spectacle, arouses a train of\nevents which brings its own awakening.\n\nThe omnipotence of spiritual law was referred to by Christ on the\noccasion of his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. As the disciples\nand the multitude shouted for joy, and cried, \u201cPeace in heaven, and\nglory in the highest,\u201d certain Pharisees complained of the undignified\nspectacle. \u201cMaster,\u201d they protested, \u201crebuke thy disciples.\u201d\n\n\u201cI tell you,\u201d Jesus replied, \u201cthat, if these should hold their\npeace, the stones would immediately cry out.\u201d {FN31-6}\n\nIn this reprimand to the Pharisees, Christ was pointing out that\ndivine justice is no figurative abstraction, and that a man of\npeace, though his tongue be torn from its roots, will yet find his\nspeech and his defense in the bedrock of creation, the universal\norder itself.\n\n\u201cThink you,\u201d Jesus was saying, \u201cto silence men of peace? As well may\nyou hope to throttle the voice of God, whose very stones sing His\nglory and His omnipresence. Will you demand that men not celebrate\nin honor of the peace in heaven, but should only gather together in\nmultitudes to shout for war on earth? Then make your preparations,\nO Pharisees, to overtopple the foundations of the world; for it is\nnot gentle men alone, but stones or earth, and water and fire and\nair that will rise up against you, to bear witness of His ordered\nharmony.\u201d\n\nThe grace of the Christlike yogi, Trailanga, was once bestowed on\nmy SAJO MAMA (maternal uncle). One morning Uncle saw the master\nsurrounded by a crowd of devotees at a Benares ghat. He managed\nto edge his way close to Trailanga, whose feet he touched humbly.\nUncle was astonished to find himself instantly freed from a painful\nchronic disease. {FN31-7}\n\nThe only known living disciple of the great yogi is a woman, Shankari\nMai Jiew. Daughter of one of Trailanga\u2019s disciples, she received\nthe swami\u2019s training from her early childhood. She lived for\nforty years in a series of lonely Himalayan caves near Badrinath,\nKedarnath, Amarnath, and Pasupatinath. The BRAHMACHARINI (woman\nascetic), born in 1826, is now well over the century mark. Not aged\nin appearance, however, she has retained her black hair, sparkling\nteeth, and amazing energy. She comes out of her seclusion every\nfew years to attend the periodical MELAS or religious fairs.\n\nThis woman saint often visited Lahiri Mahasaya. She has related\nthat one day, in the Barackpur section near Calcutta, while she was\nsitting by Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s side, his great guru Babaji quietly\nentered the room and held converse with them both.\n\nOn one occasion her master Trailanga, forsaking his usual silence,\nhonored Lahiri Mahasaya very pointedly in public. A Benares disciple\nobjected.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d he said, \u201cwhy do you, a swami and a renunciate, show such\nrespect to a householder?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy son,\u201d Trailanga replied, \u201cLahiri Mahasaya is like a divine\nkitten, remaining wherever the Cosmic Mother has placed him.\nWhile dutifully playing the part of a worldly man, he has received\nthat perfect self-realization for which I have renounced even my\nloincloth!\u201d\n\n{FN31-1} One is reminded here of Milton\u2019s line: \u201cHe for God only,\nshe for God in him.\u201d\n\n{FN31-2} The venerable mother passed on at Benares in 1930.\n\n{FN31-3} Staff, symbolizing the spinal cord, carried ritually by\ncertain orders of monks.\n\n{FN31-4} He was a MUNI, a monk who observes MAUNA, spiritual\nsilence.  The Sanskrit root MUNI is akin to Greek MONOS, \u201calone,\nsingle,\u201d from which are derived the English words MONK, MONISM,\netc.\n\n{FN31-5} ROMANS 12:19.\n\n{FN31-6} LUKE 19:37-40.\n\n{FN31-7} The lives of Trailanga and other great masters remind us\nof Jesus\u2019 words: \u201cAnd these signs shall follow them that believe;\nIn my name (the Christ consciousness) they shall cast out devils;\nthey shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents;\nand if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they\nshall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.\u201d-MARK 16:17-18.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 32\n\nRAMA IS RAISED FROM THE DEAD\n\n\n\u201cNow a certain man was sick, named Lazarus. . . . When Jesus heard\nthat, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory\nof God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.\u2019\u201d {FN32-1}\n\nSri Yukteswar was expounding the Christian scriptures one sunny\nmorning on the balcony of his Serampore hermitage. Besides a few\nof Master\u2019s other disciples, I was present with a small group of\nmy Ranchi students.\n\n\u201cIn this passage Jesus calls himself the Son of God. Though he was\ntruly united with God, his reference here has a deep impersonal\nsignificance,\u201d my guru explained. \u201cThe Son of God is the Christ or\nDivine Consciousness in man. No MORTAL can glorify God. The only\nhonor that man can pay his Creator is to seek Him; man cannot glorify\nan Abstraction that he does not know. The \u2018glory\u2019 or nimbus around\nthe head of the saints is a symbolic witness of their CAPACITY to\nrender divine homage.\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar went on to read the marvelous story of Lazarus\u2019\nresurrection. At its conclusion Master fell into a long silence,\nthe sacred book open on his knee.\n\n\u201cI too was privileged to behold a similar miracle.\u201d My guru finally\nspoke with solemn unction. \u201cLahiri Mahasaya resurrected one of my\nfriends from the dead.\u201d\n\nThe young lads at my side smiled with keen interest. There was\nenough of the boy in me, too, to enjoy not only the philosophy\nbut, in particular, any story I could get Sri Yukteswar to relate\nabout his wondrous experiences with his guru.\n\n\u201cMy friend Rama and I were inseparable,\u201d Master began. \u201cBecause he\nwas shy and reclusive, he chose to visit our guru Lahiri Mahasaya\nonly during the hours of midnight and dawn, when the crowd of\ndaytime disciples was absent. As Rama\u2019s closest friend, I served as\na spiritual vent through which he let out the wealth of his spiritual\nperceptions. I found inspiration in his ideal companionship.\u201d My\nguru\u2019s face softened with memories.\n\n\u201cRama was suddenly put to a severe test,\u201d Sri Yukteswar continued.\n\u201cHe contracted the disease of Asiatic cholera. As our master never\nobjected to the services of physicians at times of serious illness,\ntwo specialists were summoned. Amidst the frantic rush of ministering\nto the stricken man, I was deeply praying to Lahiri Mahasaya for\nhelp.  I hurried to his home and sobbed out the story.\n\n\u201c\u2018The doctors are seeing Rama. He will be well.\u2019 My guru smiled\njovially.\n\n\u201cI returned with a light heart to my friend\u2019s bedside, only to find\nhim in a dying state.\n\n\u201c\u2018He cannot last more than one or two hours,\u2019 one of the physicians\ntold me with a gesture of despair. Once more I hastened to Lahiri\nMahasaya.\n\n\u201c\u2018The doctors are conscientious men. I am sure Rama will be well.\u2019\nThe master dismissed me blithely.\n\n\u201cAt Rama\u2019s place I found both doctors gone. One had left me a note:\n\u2018We have done our best, but his case is hopeless.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy friend was indeed the picture of a dying man. I did not understand\nhow Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s words could fail to come true, yet the sight\nof Rama\u2019s rapidly ebbing life kept suggesting to my mind: \u2018All is\nover now.\u2019 Tossing thus on the seas of faith and apprehensive doubt,\nI ministered to my friend as best I could. He roused himself to\ncry out:\n\n\u201c\u2018Yukteswar, run to Master and tell him I am gone. Ask him to\nbless my body before its last rites.\u2019 With these words Rama sighed\nheavily and gave up the ghost. {FN32-2}\n\n\u201cI wept for an hour by his beloved form. Always a lover of quiet,\nnow he had attained the utter stillness of death. Another disciple\ncame in; I asked him to remain in the house until I returned.\nHalf-dazed, I trudged back to my guru.\n\n\u201c\u2018How is Rama now?\u2019 Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s face was wreathed in smiles.\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir, you will soon see how he is,\u2019 I blurted out emotionally.\n\u2018In a few hours you will see his body, before it is carried to the\ncrematory grounds.\u2019 I broke down and moaned openly.\n\n\u201c\u2018Yukteswar, control yourself. Sit calmly and meditate.\u2019 My guru\nretired into SAMADHI. The afternoon and night passed in unbroken\nsilence; I struggled unsuccessfully to regain an inner composure.\n\n\u201cAt dawn Lahiri Mahasaya glanced at me consolingly. \u2018I see you are\nstill disturbed. Why didn\u2019t you explain yesterday that you expected\nme to give Rama tangible aid in the form of some medicine?\u2019 The\nmaster pointed to a cup-shaped lamp containing crude castor oil.\n\u2018Fill a little bottle from the lamp; put seven drops into Rama\u2019s\nmouth.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir,\u2019 I remonstrated, \u2018he has been dead since yesterday noon. Of\nwhat use is the oil now?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Never mind; just do as I ask.\u2019 Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s cheerful\nmood was incomprehensible; I was still in the unassuaged agony of\nbereavement.  Pouring out a small amount of oil, I departed for\nRama\u2019s house.\n\n\u201cI found my friend\u2019s body rigid in the death-clasp. Paying no\nattention to his ghastly condition, I opened his lips with my right\nfinger and managed, with my left hand and the help of the cork, to\nput the oil drop by drop over his clenched teeth.\n\n\u201cAs the seventh drop touched his cold lips, Rama shivered violently.\nHis muscles vibrated from head to foot as he sat up wonderingly.\n\n\u201c\u2018I saw Lahiri Mahasaya in a blaze of light,\u2019 he cried. He shone\nlike the sun. \u2018Arise; forsake your sleep,\u2019 he commanded me. \u2018Come\nwith Yukteswar to see me.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cI could scarcely believe my eyes when Rama dressed himself and\nwas strong enough after that fatal sickness to walk to the home of\nour guru. There he prostrated himself before Lahiri Mahasaya with\ntears of gratitude.\n\n\u201cThe master was beside himself with mirth. His eyes twinkled at me\nmischievously.\n\n\u201c\u2018Yukteswar,\u2019 he said, \u2018surely henceforth you will not fail to\ncarry with you a bottle of castor oil! Whenever you see a corpse,\njust administer the oil! Why, seven drops of lamp oil must surely\nfoil the power of Yama!\u2019 {FN32-3}\n\n\u201c\u2018Guruji, you are ridiculing me. I don\u2019t understand; please point\nout the nature of my error.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I told you twice that Rama would be well; yet you could not fully\nbelieve me,\u2019 Lahiri Mahasaya explained. \u2018I did not mean the doctors\nwould be able to cure him; I remarked only that they were in\nattendance. There was no causal connection between my two statements.\nI didn\u2019t want to interfere with the physicians; they have to live,\ntoo.\u2019 In a voice resounding with joy, my guru added, \u2018Always know\nthat the inexhaustible Paramatman {FN32-4} can heal anyone, doctor\nor no doctor.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I see my mistake,\u2019 I acknowledged remorsefully. \u2018I know now that\nyour simple word is binding on the whole cosmos.\u2019\u201d\n\nAs Sri Yukteswar finished the awesome story, one of the spellbound\nlisteners ventured a question that, from a child, was doubly\nunderstandable.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d he said, \u201cwhy did your guru use castor oil?\u201d\n\n\u201cChild, giving the oil had no meaning except that I expected\nsomething material and Lahiri Mahasaya chose the near-by oil as an\nobjective symbol for awakening my greater faith. The master allowed\nRama to die, because I had partially doubted. But the divine guru\nknew that inasmuch as he had said the disciple would be well, the\nhealing must take place, even though he had to cure Rama of death,\na disease usually final!\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar dismissed the little group, and motioned me to a\nblanket seat at his feet.\n\n\u201cYogananda,\u201d he said with unusual gravity, \u201cyou have been surrounded\nfrom birth by direct disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya. The great\nmaster lived his sublime life in partial seclusion, and steadfastly\nrefused to permit his followers to build any organization around\nhis teachings. He made, nevertheless, a significant prediction.\n\n\u201c\u2018About fifty years after my passing,\u2019 he said, \u2018my life will be written\nbecause of a deep interest in yoga which the West will manifest.\nThe yogic message will encircle the globe, and aid in establishing\nthat brotherhood of man which results from direct perception of\nthe One Father.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy son Yogananda,\u201d Sri Yukteswar went on, \u201cyou must do your part\nin spreading that message, and in writing that sacred life.\u201d\n\nFifty years after Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s passing in 1895 culminated in\n1945, the year of completion of this present book. I cannot but be\nstruck by the coincidence that the year 1945 has also ushered in\na new age-the era of revolutionary atomic energies. All thoughtful\nminds turn as never before to the urgent problems of peace and\nbrotherhood, lest the continued use of physical force banish all\nmen along with the problems.\n\nThough the human race and its works disappear tracelessly by time\nor bomb, the sun does not falter in its course; the stars keep their\ninvariable vigil. Cosmic law cannot be stayed or changed, and man\nwould do well to put himself in harmony with it. If the cosmos is\nagainst might, if the sun wars not with the planets but retires at\ndueful time to give the stars their little sway, what avails our\nmailed fist? Shall any peace indeed come out of it? Not cruelty\nbut good will arms the universal sinews; a humanity at peace will\nknow the endless fruits of victory, sweeter to the taste than any\nnurtured on the soil of blood.\n\nThe effective League of Nations will be a natural, nameless league\nof human hearts. The broad sympathies and discerning insight needed\nfor the healing of earthly woes cannot flow from a mere intellectual\nconsideration of man\u2019s diversities, but from knowledge of man\u2019s\nsole unity-his kinship with God. Toward realization of the world\u2019s\nhighest ideal-peace through brotherhood-may yoga, the science of\npersonal contact with the Divine, spread in time to all men in all\nlands.\n\nThough India\u2019s civilization is ancient above any other, few historians\nhave noted that her feat of national survival is by no means an\naccident, but a logical incident in the devotion to eternal verities\nwhich India has offered through her best men in every generation.\nBy sheer continuity of being, by intransitivity before the ages-can\ndusty scholars truly tell us how many?-India has given the worthiest\nanswer of any people to the challenge of time.\n\nThe Biblical story {FN32-5} of Abraham\u2019s plea to the Lord that the\ncity of Sodom be spared if ten righteous men could be found therein,\nand the divine reply: \u201cI will not destroy it for ten\u2019s sake,\u201d\ngains new meaning in the light of India\u2019s escape from the oblivion\nof Babylon, Egypt and other mighty nations who were once her\ncontemporaries. The Lord\u2019s answer clearly shows that a land lives,\nnot by its material achievements, but in its masterpieces of man.\n\nLet the divine words be heard again, in this twentieth century,\ntwice dyed in blood ere half over: No nation that can produce ten\nmen, great in the eyes of the Unbribable Judge, shall know extinction.\nHeeding such persuasions, India has proved herself not witless\nagainst the thousand cunnings of time. Self-realized masters in\nevery century have hallowed her soil; modern Christlike sages, like\nLahiri Mahasaya and his disciple Sri Yukteswar, rise up to proclaim\nthat the science of yoga is more vital than any material advances\nto man\u2019s happiness and to a nation\u2019s longevity.\n\nVery scanty information about the life of Lahiri Mahasaya and his\nuniversal doctrine has ever appeared in print. For three decades\nin India, America, and Europe, I have found a deep and sincere\ninterest in his message of liberating yoga; a written account of\nthe master\u2019s life, even as he foretold, is now needed in the West,\nwhere lives of the great modern yogis are little known.\n\nNothing but one or two small pamphlets in English has been written\non the guru\u2019s life. One biography in Bengali, SRI SRI {FN32-6}\nSHYAMA CHARAN LAHIRI MAHASAYA, appeared in 1941. It was written\nby my disciple, Swami Satyananda, who for many years has been the\nACHARYA (spiritual preceptor) at our VIDYALAYA in Ranchi. I have\ntranslated a few passages from his book and have incorporated them\ninto this section devoted to Lahiri Mahasaya.\n\nIt was into a pious Brahmin family of ancient lineage that Lahiri\nMahasaya was born September 30, 1828. His birthplace was the village\nof Ghurni in the Nadia district near Krishnagar, Bengal. He was the\nyoungest son of Muktakashi, the second wife of the esteemed Gaur\nMohan Lahiri. (His first wife, after the birth of three sons, had\ndied during a pilgrimage.) The boy\u2019s mother passed away during\nhis childhood; little about her is known except the revealing fact\nthat she was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva, {FN32-7} scripturally\ndesignated as the \u201cKing of Yogis.\u201d\n\nThe boy Lahiri, whose given name was Shyama Charan, spent his early\nyears in the ancestral home at Nadia. At the age of three or four\nhe was often observed sitting under the sands in the posture of a\nyogi, his body completely hidden except for the head.\n\nThe Lahiri estate was destroyed in the winter of 1833, when\nthe nearby Jalangi River changed its course and disappeared into\nthe depths of the Ganges. One of the Shiva temples founded by the\nLahiris went into the river along with the family home. A devotee\nrescued the stone image of Lord Shiva from the swirling waters and\nplaced it in a new temple, now well-known as the Ghurni Shiva Site.\n\nGaur Mohan Lahiri and his family left Nadia and became residents\nof Benares, where the father immediately erected a Shiva temple. He\nconducted his household along the lines of Vedic discipline, with\nregular observance of ceremonial worship, acts of charity, and\nscriptural study. Just and open-minded, however, he did not ignore\nthe beneficial current of modern ideas.\n\nThe boy Lahiri took lessons in Hindi and Urdu in Benares study-groups.\nHe attended a school conducted by Joy Narayan Ghosal, receiving\ninstruction in Sanskrit, Bengali, French, and English. Applying\nhimself to a close study of the VEDAS, the young yogi listened\neagerly to scriptural discussions by learned Brahmins, including\na Marhatta pundit named Nag-Bhatta.\n\nShyama Charan was a kind, gentle, and courageous youth, beloved by\nall his companions. With a well-proportioned, bright, and powerful\nbody, he excelled in swimming and in many skillful activities.\n\nIn 1846 Shyama Charan Lahiri was married to Srimati Kashi Moni,\ndaughter of Sri Debnarayan Sanyal. A model Indian housewife, Kashi\nMoni cheerfully carried on her home duties and the traditional\nhouseholder\u2019s obligation to serve guests and the poor. Two saintly\nsons, Tincouri and Ducouri, blessed the union.\n\nAt the age of 23, in 1851, Lahiri Mahasaya took the post of accountant\nin the Military Engineering Department of the English government.\nHe received many promotions during the time of his service. Thus\nnot only was he a master before God\u2019s eyes, but also a success in\nthe little human drama where he played his given role as an office\nworker in the world.\n\nAs the offices of the Army Department were shifted, Lahiri Mahasaya\nwas transferred to Gazipur, Mirjapur, Danapur, Naini Tal, Benares,\nand other localities. After the death of his father, Lahiri had to\nassume the entire responsibility of his family, for whom he bought\na quiet residence in the Garudeswar Mohulla neighborhood of Benares.\n\nIt was in his thirty-third year that Lahiri Mahasaya saw fulfillment\nof the purpose for which he had been reincarnated on earth.\nThe ash-hidden flame, long smouldering, received its opportunity\nto burst into flame. A divine decree, resting beyond the gaze of\nhuman beings, works mysteriously to bring all things into outer\nmanifestation at the proper time. He met his great guru, Babaji,\nnear Ranikhet, and was initiated by him into KRIYA YOGA.\n\nThis auspicious event did not happen to him alone; it was a\nfortunate moment for all the human race, many of whom were later\nprivileged to receive the soul-awakening gift of KRIYA. The lost,\nor long-vanished, highest art of yoga was again being brought\nto light. Many spiritually thirsty men and women eventually found\ntheir way to the cool waters of KRIYA YOGA. Just as in the Hindu\nlegend, where Mother Ganges offers her divine draught to the parched\ndevotee Bhagirath, so the celestial flood of KRIYA rolled from the\nsecret fastnesses of the Himalayas into the dusty haunts of men.\n\n{FN32-1} JOHN 11:1-4.\n\n{FN32-2} A cholera victim is often rational and fully conscious\nright up to the moment of death.\n\n{FN32-3} The god of death.\n\n{FN32-4} Literally, \u201cSupreme soul.\u201d\n\n{FN32-5} GENESIS 18:23-32.\n\n{FN32-6} SRI, a prefix meaning \u201choly,\u201d is attached (generally twice\nor thrice) to names of great Indian teachers.\n\n{FN32-7} One of the trinity of Godhead-Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva-whose\nuniversal work is, respectively, that of creation, preservation,\nand dissolution-restoration. Shiva (sometimes spelled Siva),\nrepresented in mythology as the Lord of Renunciates, appears in\nvisions to His devotees under various aspects, such as Mahadeva,\nthe matted-haired Ascetic, and Nataraja, the Cosmic Dancer.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 33\n\nBABAJI, THE YOGI-CHRIST OF MODERN INDIA\n\n\nThe northern Himalayan crags near Badrinarayan are still blessed by\nthe living presence of Babaji, guru of Lahiri Mahasaya. The secluded\nmaster has retained his physical form for centuries, perhaps for\nmillenniums. The deathless Babaji is an AVATARA. This Sanskrit word\nmeans \u201cdescent\u201d; its roots are AVA, \u201cdown,\u201d and TRI, \u201cto pass.\u201d\nIn the Hindu scriptures, AVATARA signifies the descent of Divinity\ninto flesh.\n\n\u201cBabaji\u2019s spiritual state is beyond human comprehension,\u201d Sri\nYukteswar explained to me. \u201cThe dwarfed vision of men cannot pierce\nto his transcendental star. One attempts in vain even to picture\nthe avatar\u2019s attainment. It is inconceivable.\u201d\n\nThe UPANISHADS have minutely classified every stage of spiritual\nadvancement. A SIDDHA (\u201cperfected being\u201d) has progressed from the\nstate of a JIVANMUKTA (\u201cfreed while living\u201d) to that of a PARAMUKTA\n(\u201csupremely free\u201d-full power over death); the latter has completely\nescaped from the mayic thralldom and its reincarnational round. The\nPARAMUKTA therefore seldom returns to a physical body; if he does,\nhe is an avatar, a divinely appointed medium of supernal blessings\non the world.\n\nAn avatar is unsubject to the universal economy; his pure body,\nvisible as a light image, is free from any debt to nature. The\ncasual gaze may see nothing extraordinary in an avatar\u2019s form but\nit casts no shadow nor makes any footprint on the ground. These are\noutward symbolic proofs of an inward lack of darkness and material\nbondage.  Such a God-man alone knows the Truth behind the relativities\nof life and death. Omar Khayyam, so grossly misunderstood, sang of\nthis liberated man in his immortal scripture, the RUBAIYAT:\n\n\u201cAh, Moon of my Delight who know\u2019st no wane,\nThe Moon of Heav\u2019n is rising once again;\nHow oft hereafter rising shall she look\nThrough this same Garden after me-in vain!\u201d\n\nThe \u201cMoon of Delight\u201d is God, eternal Polaris, anachronous never.\nThe \u201cMoon of Heav\u2019n\u201d is the outward cosmos, fettered to the law of\nperiodic recurrence. Its chains had been dissolved forever by the\nPersian seer through his self-realization. \u201cHow oft hereafter rising\nshall she look . . . after me-in vain!\u201d What frustration of search\nby a frantic universe for an absolute omission!\n\n[Illustration: BABAJI, THE MAHAVATAR, Guru of Lahiri Mahasaya, I have\nhelped an artist to draw a true likeness of the great Yogi-Christ\nof modern India.\u2014see babaji.jpg]\n\n[Illustration: One of the caves occupied by Babaji in the Drongiri\nMountains near Ranikhet in the Himalayas. A grandson of Lahiri\nMahasaya, Ananda Mohan Lahiri (second from right, in white), and\nthree other devotees are visiting the sacred spot.\u2014see cave.jpg]\n\nChrist expressed his freedom in another way: \u201cAnd a certain scribe\ncame, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever\nthou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the\nbirds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to\nlay his head.\u201d {FN33-1}\n\nSpacious with omnipresence, could Christ indeed be followed except\nin the overarching Spirit?\n\nKrishna, Rama, Buddha, and Patanjali were among the ancient Indian\navatars. A considerable poetic literature in Tamil has grown\nup around Agastya, a South Indian avatar. He worked many miracles\nduring the centuries preceding and following the Christian era,\nand is credited with retaining his physical form even to this day.\n\nBabaji\u2019s mission in India has been to assist prophets in carrying\nout their special dispensations. He thus qualifies for the scriptural\nclassification of MAHAVATAR (Great Avatar). He has stated that\nhe gave yoga initiation to Shankara, ancient founder of the Swami\nOrder, and to Kabir, famous medieval saint. His chief nineteenth-century\ndisciple was, as we know, Lahiri Mahasaya, revivalist of the lost\nKRIYA art.\n\nThe MAHAVATAR is in constant communion with Christ; together they\nsend out vibrations of redemption, and have planned the spiritual\ntechnique of salvation for this age. The work of these two\nfully-illumined masters-one with the body, and one without it-is\nto inspire the nations to forsake suicidal wars, race hatreds,\nreligious sectarianism, and the boomerang-evils of materialism.\nBabaji is well aware of the trend of modern times, especially of\nthe influence and complexities of Western civilization, and realizes\nthe necessity of spreading the self-liberations of yoga equally in\nthe West and in the East.\n\nThat there is no historical reference to Babaji need not surprise\nus.  The great guru has never openly appeared in any century; the\nmisinterpreting glare of publicity has no place in his millennial\nplans. Like the Creator, the sole but silent Power, Babaji works\nin a humble obscurity.\n\nGreat prophets like Christ and Krishna come to earth for a specific\nand spectacular purpose; they depart as soon as it is accomplished.\nOther avatars, like Babaji, undertake work which is concerned more\nwith the slow evolutionary progress of man during the centuries\nthan with any one outstanding event of history. Such masters always\nveil themselves from the gross public gaze, and have the power\nto become invisible at will. For these reasons, and because they\ngenerally instruct their disciples to maintain silence about them, a\nnumber of towering spiritual figures remain world-unknown. I give\nin these pages on Babaji merely a hint of his life-only a few facts\nwhich he deems it fit and helpful to be publicly imparted.\n\nNo limiting facts about Babaji\u2019s family or birthplace, dear to the\nannalist\u2019s heart, have ever been discovered. His speech is generally\nin Hindi, but he converses easily in any language. He has adopted\nthe simple name of Babaji (revered father); other titles of respect\ngiven him by Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s disciples are Mahamuni Babaji Maharaj\n(supreme ecstatic saint), Maha Yogi (greatest of yogis), Trambak\nBaba and Shiva Baba (titles of avatars of Shiva). Does it matter\nthat we know not the patronymic of an earth-released master?\n\n\u201cWhenever anyone utters with reverence the name of Babaji,\u201d Lahiri\nMahasaya said, \u201cthat devotee attracts an instant spiritual blessing.\u201d\n\nThe deathless guru bears no marks of age on his body; he appears to\nbe no more than a youth of twenty-five. Fair-skinned, of medium build\nand height, Babaji\u2019s beautiful, strong body radiates a perceptible\nglow.  His eyes are dark, calm, and tender; his long, lustrous\nhair is copper-colored. A very strange fact is that Babaji bears an\nextraordinarily exact resemblance to his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya.\nThe similarity is so striking that, in his later years, Lahiri\nMahasaya might have passed as the father of the youthful-looking\nBabaji.\n\nSwami Kebalananda, my saintly Sanskrit tutor, spent some time with\nBabaji in the Himalayas.\n\n\u201cThe peerless master moves with his group from place to place in\nthe mountains,\u201d Kebalananda told me. \u201cHis small band contains two\nhighly advanced American disciples. After Babaji has been in one\nlocality for some time, he says: \u2018DERA DANDA UTHAO.\u2019 (\u2018Let us lift\nour camp and staff.\u2019) He carries a symbolic DANDA (bamboo staff).\nHis words are the signal for moving with his group instantaneously\nto another place. He does not always employ this method of astral\ntravel; sometimes he goes on foot from peak to peak.\n\n\u201cBabaji can be seen or recognized by others only when he so\ndesires.  He is known to have appeared in many slightly different\nforms to various devotees-sometimes without beard and moustache,\nand sometimes with them. As his undecaying body requires no food,\nthe master seldom eats. As a social courtesy to visiting disciples,\nhe occasionally accepts fruits, or rice cooked in milk and clarified\nbutter.\n\n\u201cTwo amazing incidents of Babaji\u2019s life are known to me,\u201d Kebalananda\nwent on. \u201cHis disciples were sitting one night around a huge fire\nwhich was blazing for a sacred Vedic ceremony. The master suddenly\nseized a burning log and lightly struck the bare shoulder of a\nchela who was close to the fire.\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir, how cruel!\u2019 Lahiri Mahasaya, who was present, made this\nremonstrance.\n\n\u201c\u2018Would you rather have seen him burned to ashes before your eyes,\naccording to the decree of his past karma?\u2019\n\n\u201cWith these words Babaji placed his healing hand on the chela\u2019s\ndisfigured shoulder. \u2018I have freed you tonight from painful death.\nThe karmic law has been satisfied through your slight suffering by\nfire.\u2019\n\n\u201cOn another occasion Babaji\u2019s sacred circle was disturbed by the\narrival of a stranger. He had climbed with astonishing skill to\nthe nearly inaccessible ledge near the camp of the master.\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir, you must be the great Babaji.\u2019 The man\u2019s face was lit with\ninexpressible reverence. \u2018For months I have pursued a ceaseless\nsearch for you among these forbidding crags. I implore you to accept\nme as a disciple.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhen the great guru made no response, the man pointed to the rocky\nchasm at his feet.\n\n\u201c\u2018If you refuse me, I will jump from this mountain. Life has no\nfurther value if I cannot win your guidance to the Divine.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Jump then,\u2019 Babaji said unemotionally. \u2018I cannot accept you in\nyour present state of development.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe man immediately hurled himself over the cliff. Babaji instructed\nthe shocked disciples to fetch the stranger\u2019s body. When they\nreturned with the mangled form, the master placed his divine hand\non the dead man. Lo! he opened his eyes and prostrated himself\nhumbly before the omnipotent one.\n\n\u201c\u2018You are now ready for discipleship.\u2019 Babaji beamed lovingly on\nhis resurrected chela. \u2018You have courageously passed a difficult\ntest.  Death shall not touch you again; now you are one of our\nimmortal flock.\u2019 Then he spoke his usual words of departure, \u2018DERA\nDANDA UTHAO\u2019; the whole group vanished from the mountain.\u201d\n\nAn avatar lives in the omnipresent Spirit; for him there is no\ndistance inverse to the square. Only one reason, therefore, can\nmotivate Babaji in maintaining his physical form from century to\ncentury: the desire to furnish humanity with a concrete example\nof its own possibilities. Were man never vouchsafed a glimpse of\nDivinity in the flesh, he would remain oppressed by the heavy mayic\ndelusion that he cannot transcend his mortality.\n\nJesus knew from the beginning the sequence of his life; he passed\nthrough each event not for himself, not from any karmic compulsion,\nbut solely for the upliftment of reflective human beings. His\nfour reporter-disciples-Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John-recorded the\nineffable drama for the benefit of later generations.\n\nFor Babaji, also, there is no relativity of past, present, future;\nfrom the beginning he has known all phases of his life. Yet,\naccommodating himself to the limited understanding of men, he has\nplayed many acts of his divine life in the presence of one or more\nwitnesses. Thus it came about that a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya was\npresent when Babaji deemed the time to be ripe for him to proclaim\nthe possibility of bodily immortality. He uttered this promise\nbefore Ram Gopal Muzumdar, that it might finally become known for\nthe inspiration of other seeking hearts. The great ones speak their\nwords and participate in the seemingly natural course of events,\nsolely for the good of man, even as Christ said: \u201cFather . . . I\nknew that thou hearest me always: but BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE WHICH\nSTAND BY I SAID IT, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.\u201d\n{FN33-2} During my visit at Ranbajpur with Ram Gopal, \u201cthe sleepless\nsaint,\u201d {FN33-3} he related the wondrous story of his first meeting\nwith Babaji.\n\n\u201cI sometimes left my isolated cave to sit at Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s feet\nin Benares,\u201d Ram Gopal told me. \u201cOne midnight as I was silently\nmeditating in a group of his disciples, the master made a surprising\nrequest.\n\n\u201c\u2018Ram Gopal,\u2019 he said, \u2018go at once to the Dasasamedh bathing GHAT.\u2019\n\n\u201cI soon reached the secluded spot. The night was bright with moonlight\nand the glittering stars. After I had sat in patient silence for\nawhile, my attention was drawn to a huge stone slab near my feet.\nIt rose gradually, revealing an underground cave. As the stone\nremained balanced in some unknown manner, the draped form of\na young and surpassingly lovely woman was levitated from the cave\nhigh into the air. Surrounded by a soft halo, she slowly descended\nin front of me and stood motionless, steeped in an inner state of\necstasy. She finally stirred, and spoke gently.\n\n\u201c\u2018I am Mataji, {FN33-4} the sister of Babaji. I have asked him and\nalso Lahiri Mahasaya to come to my cave tonight to discuss a matter\nof great importance.\u2019\n\n\u201cA nebulous light was rapidly floating over the Ganges; the strange\nluminescence was reflected in the opaque waters. It approached\nnearer and nearer until, with a blinding flash, it appeared by the\nside of Mataji and condensed itself instantly into the human form\nof Lahiri Mahasaya. He bowed humbly at the feet of the woman saint.\n\n\u201cBefore I had recovered from my bewilderment, I was further\nwonderstruck to behold a circling mass of mystical light traveling\nin the sky. Descending swiftly, the flaming whirlpool neared our\ngroup and materialized itself into the body of a beautiful youth who,\nI understood at once, was Babaji. He looked like Lahiri Mahasaya,\nthe only difference being that Babaji appeared much younger, and\nhad long, bright hair.\n\n\u201cLahiri Mahasaya, Mataji, and myself knelt at the guru\u2019s feet. An\nethereal sensation of beatific glory thrilled every fiber of my\nbeing as I touched his divine flesh.\n\n\u201c\u2018Blessed sister,\u2019 Babaji said, \u2018I am intending to shed my form\nand plunge into the Infinite Current.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I have already glimpsed your plan, beloved master. I wanted to\ndiscuss it with you tonight. Why should you leave your body?\u2019 The\nglorious woman looked at him beseechingly.\n\n\u201c\u2018What is the difference if I wear a visible or invisible wave on\nthe ocean of my Spirit?\u2019\n\n\u201cMataji replied with a quaint flash of wit. \u2018Deathless guru, if it\nmakes no difference, then please do not ever relinquish your form.\u2019\n{FN33-5}\n\n\u201c\u2018Be it so,\u2019 Babaji said solemnly. \u2018I will never leave my physical\nbody. It will always remain visible to at least a small number of\npeople on this earth. The Lord has spoken His own wish through your\nlips.\u2019\n\n\u201cAs I listened in awe to the conversation between these exalted\nbeings, the great guru turned to me with a benign gesture.\n\n\u201c\u2018Fear not, Ram Gopal,\u2019 he said, \u2018you are blessed to be a witness\nat the scene of this immortal promise.\u2019\n\n\u201cAs the sweet melody of Babaji\u2019s voice faded away, his form and\nthat of Lahiri Mahasaya slowly levitated and moved backward over\nthe Ganges. An aureole of dazzling light templed their bodies as\nthey vanished into the night sky. Mataji\u2019s form floated to the cave\nand descended; the stone slab closed of itself, as if working on\nan invisible leverage.\n\n\u201cInfinitely inspired, I wended my way back to Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s\nplace.  As I bowed before him in the early dawn, my guru smiled at\nme understandingly.\n\n\u201c\u2018I am happy for you, Ram Gopal,\u2019 he said. \u2018The desire of meeting\nBabaji and Mataji, which you have often expressed to me, has found\nat last a sacred fulfillment.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy fellow disciples informed me that Lahiri Mahasaya had not moved\nfrom his dais since early the preceding evening.\n\n\u201c\u2018He gave a wonderful discourse on immortality after you had left\nfor the Dasasamedh GHAT,\u2019 one of the chelas told me. For the first\ntime I fully realized the truth in the scriptural verses which state\nthat a man of self-realization can appear at different places in\ntwo or more bodies at the same time.\n\n\u201cLahiri Mahasaya later explained to me many metaphysical points\nconcerning the hidden divine plan for this earth,\u201d Ram Gopal\nconcluded. \u201cBabaji has been chosen by God to remain in his body\nfor the duration of this particular world cycle. Ages shall come\nand go\u2014still the deathless master, {FN33-6} beholding the drama\nof the centuries, shall be present on this stage terrestrial.\u201d\n\n{FN33-1} MATTHEW 8:19-20.\n\n{FN33-2} JOHN 11:41-42.\n\n{FN33-3} The omnipresent yogi who observed that I failed to bow\nbefore the Tarakeswar shrine (../chapter 13).\n\n{FN33-4} \u201cHoly Mother.\u201d Mataji also has lived through the centuries;\nshe is almost as far advanced spiritually as her brother. She remains\nin ecstasy in a hidden underground cave near the Dasasamedh GHAT.\n\n{FN33-5} This incident reminds one of Thales. The great Greek\nphilosopher taught that there was no difference between life and\ndeath. \u201cWhy, then,\u201d inquired a critic, \u201cdo you not die?\u201d \u201cBecause,\u201d\nanswered Thales, \u201cit makes no difference.\u201d\n\n{FN33-6} \u201cVerily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying\n(remain unbrokenly in the Christ Consciousness), he shall never\nsee death.\u201d-JOHN 8:51.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 34\n\nMATERIALIZING A PALACE IN THE HIMALAYAS\n\n\n\u201cBabaji\u2019s first meeting with Lahiri Mahasaya is an enthralling\nstory, and one of the few which gives us a detailed glimpse of the\ndeathless guru.\u201d\n\nThese words were Swami Kebalananda\u2019s preamble to a wondrous tale.\nThe first time he recounted it I was literally spellbound. On many\nother occasions I coaxed my gentle Sanskrit tutor to repeat the\nstory, which was later told me in substantially the same words by\nSri Yukteswar.  Both these Lahiri Mahasaya disciples had heard the\nawesome tale direct from the lips of their guru.\n\n\u201cMy first meeting with Babaji took place in my thirty-third year,\u201d\nLahiri Mahasaya had said. \u201cIn the autumn of 1861 I was stationed\nin Danapur as a government accountant in the Military Engineering\nDepartment. One morning the office manager summoned me.\n\n\u201c\u2018Lahiri,\u2019 he said, \u2018a telegram has just come from our main office.\nYou are to be transferred to Ranikhet, where an army post {FN34-1}\nis now being established.\u2019\n\n\u201cWith one servant, I set out on the 500-mile trip. Traveling by\nhorse and buggy, we arrived in thirty days at the Himalayan site\nof Ranikhet. {FN34-2}\n\n\u201cMy office duties were not onerous; I was able to spend many hours\nroaming in the magnificent hills. A rumor reached me that great saints\nblessed the region with their presence; I felt a strong desire to\nsee them. During a ramble one early afternoon, I was astounded to\nhear a distant voice calling my name. I continued my vigorous upward\nclimb on Drongiri Mountain. A slight uneasiness beset me at the\nthought that I might not be able to retrace my steps before darkness\nhad descended over the jungle.\n\n\u201cI finally reached a small clearing whose sides were dotted\nwith caves. On one of the rocky ledges stood a smiling young man,\nextending his hand in welcome. I noticed with astonishment that,\nexcept for his copper-colored hair, he bore a remarkable resemblance\nto myself.\n\n\u201c\u2018Lahiri, you have come!\u2019 The saint addressed me affectionately in\nHindi. \u2018Rest here in this cave. It was I who called you.\u2019\n\n\u201cI entered a neat little grotto which contained several woolen\nblankets and a few KAMANDULUS (begging bowls).\n\n\u201c\u2018Lahiri, do you remember that seat?\u2019 The yogi pointed to a folded\nblanket in one corner.\n\n\u201c\u2018No, sir.\u2019 Somewhat dazed at the strangeness of my adventure, I\nadded, \u2018I must leave now, before nightfall. I have business in the\nmorning at my office.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe mysterious saint replied in English, \u2018The office was brought\nfor you, and not you for the office.\u2019\n\n\u201cI was dumbfounded that this forest ascetic should not only speak\nEnglish but also paraphrase the words of Christ. {FN34-3}\n\n\u201c\u2018I see my telegram took effect.\u2019 The yogi\u2019s remark was incomprehensible\nto me; I inquired his meaning.\n\n\u201c\u2018I refer to the telegram that summoned you to these isolated parts.\nIt was I who silently suggested to the mind of your superior officer\nthat you be transferred to Ranikhet. When one feels his unity with\nmankind, all minds become transmitting stations through which he\ncan work at will.\u2019 He added gently, \u2018Lahiri, surely this cave seems\nfamiliar to you?\u2019\n\n\u201cAs I maintained a bewildered silence, the saint approached and\nstruck me gently on the forehead. At his magnetic touch, a wondrous\ncurrent swept through my brain, releasing the sweet seed-memories\nof my previous life.\n\n\u201c\u2018I remember!\u2019 My voice was half-choked with joyous sobs. \u2018You are\nmy guru Babaji, who has belonged to me always! Scenes of the past\narise vividly in my mind; here in this cave I spent many years of\nmy last incarnation!\u2019 As ineffable recollections overwhelmed me,\nI tearfully embraced my master\u2019s feet.\n\n\u201c\u2018For more than three decades I have waited for you here-waited\nfor you to return to me!\u2019 Babaji\u2019s voice rang with celestial love.\n\u2018You slipped away and vanished into the tumultuous waves of the life\nbeyond death. The magic wand of your karma touched you, and you\nwere gone!  Though you lost sight of me, never did I lose sight\nof you! I pursued you over the luminescent astral sea where the\nglorious angels sail.  Through gloom, storm, upheaval, and light I\nfollowed you, like a mother bird guarding her young. As you lived\nout your human term of womb-life, and emerged a babe, my eye was\never on you. When you covered your tiny form in the lotus posture\nunder the Nadia sands in your childhood, I was invisibly present!\nPatiently, month after month, year after year, I have watched over\nyou, waiting for this perfect day. Now you are with me! Lo, here\nis your cave, loved of yore! I have kept it ever clean and ready\nfor you. Here is your hallowed ASANA-blanket, where you daily sat\nto fill your expanding heart with God!  Behold there your bowl, from\nwhich you often drank the nectar prepared by me! See how I have\nkept the brass cup brightly polished, that you might drink again\ntherefrom! My own, do you now understand?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018My guru, what can I say?\u2019 I murmured brokenly. \u2018Where has one\never heard of such deathless love?\u2019 I gazed long and ecstatically\non my eternal treasure, my guru in life and death.\n\n\u201c\u2018Lahiri, you need purification. Drink the oil in this bowl and lie\ndown by the river.\u2019 Babaji\u2019s practical wisdom, I reflected with a\nquick, reminiscent smile, was ever to the fore.\n\n\u201cI obeyed his directions. Though the icy Himalayan night was descending,\na comforting warmth, an inner radiation, began to pulsate in every\ncell of my body. I marveled. Was the unknown oil endued with a\ncosmical heat?\n\n\u201cBitter winds whipped around me in the darkness, shrieking a fierce\nchallenge. The chill wavelets of the Gogash River lapped now and\nthen over my body, outstretched on the rocky bank. Tigers howled\nnear-by, but my heart was free of fear; the radiant force newly\ngenerated within me conveyed an assurance of unassailable protection.\nSeveral hours passed swiftly; faded memories of another life wove\nthemselves into the present brilliant pattern of reunion with my\ndivine guru.\n\n\u201cMy solitary musings were interrupted by the sound of approaching\nfootsteps. In the darkness, a man\u2019s hand gently helped me to my\nfeet, and gave me some dry clothing.\n\n\u201c\u2018Come, brother,\u2019 my companion said. \u2018The master awaits you.\u2019\n\n\u201cHe led the way through the forest. The somber night was suddenly\nlit by a steady luminosity in the distance.\n\n\u201c\u2018Can that be the sunrise?\u2019 I inquired. \u2018Surely the whole night\nhas not passed?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018The hour is midnight.\u2019 My guide laughed softly. \u2018Yonder light\nis the glow of a golden palace, materialized here tonight by the\npeerless Babaji. In the dim past, you once expressed a desire to\nenjoy the beauties of a palace. Our master is now satisfying your\nwish, thus freeing you from the bonds of karma.\u2019 {FN34-4} He added,\n\u2018The magnificent palace will be the scene of your initiation tonight\ninto KRIYA YOGA. All your brothers here join in a paean of welcome,\nrejoicing at the end of your long exile. Behold!\u2019\n\n\u201cA vast palace of dazzling gold stood before us. Studded with\ncountless jewels, and set amidst landscaped gardens, it presented\na spectacle of unparalleled grandeur. Saints of angelic countenance\nwere stationed by resplendent gates, half-reddened by the glitter\nof rubies. Diamonds, pearls, sapphires, and emeralds of great size\nand luster were imbedded in the decorative arches.\n\n\u201cI followed my companion into a spacious reception hall. The odor\nof incense and of roses wafted through the air; dim lamps shed\na multicolored glow. Small groups of devotees, some fair, some\ndark-skinned, chanted musically, or sat in the meditative posture,\nimmersed in an inner peace. A vibrant joy pervaded the atmosphere.\n\n\u201c\u2018Feast your eyes; enjoy the artistic splendors of this palace,\nfor it has been brought into being solely in your honor.\u2019 My guide\nsmiled sympathetically as I uttered a few ejaculations of wonderment.\n\n\u201c\u2018Brother,\u2019 I said, \u2018the beauty of this structure surpasses the\nbounds of human imagination. Please tell me the mystery of its\norigin.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I will gladly enlighten you.\u2019 My companion\u2019s dark eyes sparkled\nwith wisdom. \u2018In reality there is nothing inexplicable about this\nmaterialization. The whole cosmos is a materialized thought of the\nCreator. This heavy, earthly clod, floating in space, is a dream\nof God. He made all things out of His consciousness, even as man\nin his dream consciousness reproduces and vivifies a creation with\nits creatures.\n\n\u201c\u2018God first created the earth as an idea. Then He quickened it;\nenergy atoms came into being. He coordinated the atoms into this\nsolid sphere. All its molecules are held together by the will of\nGod. When He withdraws His will, the earth again will disintegrate\ninto energy.  Energy will dissolve into consciousness; the earth-idea\nwill disappear from objectivity.\n\n\u201c\u2018The substance of a dream is held in materialization by the\nsubconscious thought of the dreamer. When that cohesive thought\nis withdrawn in wakefulness, the dream and its elements dissolve.\nA man closes his eyes and erects a dream-creation which, on awakening,\nhe effortlessly dematerializes. He follows the divine archetypal\npattern.  Similarly, when he awakens in cosmic consciousness, he\nwill effortlessly dematerialize the illusions of the cosmic dream.\n\n\u201c\u2018Being one with the infinite all-accomplishing Will, Babaji can\nsummon the elemental atoms to combine and manifest themselves in\nany form. This golden palace, instantaneously created, is real,\neven as this earth is real. Babaji created this palatial mansion out\nof his mind and is holding its atoms together by the power of his\nwill, even as God created this earth and is maintaining it intact.\u2019\nHe added, \u2018When this structure has served its purpose, Babaji will\ndematerialize it.\u2019\n\n\u201cAs I remained silent in awe, my guide made a sweeping gesture. \u2018This\nshimmering palace, superbly embellished with jewels, has not been\nbuilt by human effort or with laboriously mined gold and gems. It\nstands solidly, a monumental challenge to man. {FN34-5} Whoever\nrealizes himself as a son of God, even as Babaji has done, can\nreach any goal by the infinite powers hidden within him. A common\nstone locks within itself the secret of stupendous atomic energy;\n{FN34-6} even so, a mortal is yet a powerhouse of divinity.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe sage picked up from a near-by table a graceful vase whose handle\nwas blazing with diamonds. \u2018Our great guru created this palace by\nsolidifying myriads of free cosmic rays,\u2019 he went on. \u2018Touch this\nvase and its diamonds; they will satisfy all the tests of sensory\nexperience.\u2019\n\n\u201cI examined the vase, and passed my hand over the smooth room-walls,\nthick with glistening gold. Each of the jewels scattered lavishly\nabout was worthy of a king\u2019s collection. Deep satisfaction spread\nover my mind. A submerged desire, hidden in my subconsciousness\nfrom lives now gone, seemed simultaneously gratified and extinguished.\n\n\u201cMy stately companion led me through ornate arches and corridors\ninto a series of chambers richly furnished in the style of an\nemperor\u2019s palace. We entered an immense hall. In the center stood\na golden throne, encrusted with jewels shedding a dazzling medley\nof colors.  There, in lotus posture, sat the supreme Babaji. I\nknelt on the shining floor at his feet.\n\n\u201c\u2018Lahiri, are you still feasting on your dream desires for a golden\npalace?\u2019 My guru\u2019s eyes were twinkling like his own sapphires.\n\u2018Wake!  All your earthly thirsts are about to be quenched forever.\u2019\nHe murmured some mystic words of blessing. \u2018My son, arise. Receive\nyour initiation into the kingdom of God through KRIYA YOGA.\u2019\n\n\u201cBabaji stretched out his hand; a HOMA (sacrificial) fire appeared,\nsurrounded by fruits and flowers. I received the liberating yogic\ntechnique before this flaming altar.\n\n\u201cThe rites were completed in the early dawn. I felt no need for\nsleep in my ecstatic state, and wandered around the palace, filled\non all sides with treasures and priceless OBJETS D\u2019ART. Descending\nto the gorgeous gardens, I noticed, near-by, the same caves and\nbarren mountain ledges which yesterday had boasted no adjacency to\npalace or flowered terrace.\n\n\u201cReentering the palace, fabulously glistening in the cold Himalayan\nsunlight, I sought the presence of my master. He was still enthroned,\nsurrounded by many quiet disciples.\n\n\u201c\u2018Lahiri, you are hungry.\u2019 Babaji added, \u2018Close your eyes.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhen I reopened them, the enchanting palace and its picturesque\ngardens had disappeared. My own body and the forms of Babaji\nand the cluster of chelas were all now seated on the bare ground\nat the exact site of the vanished palace, not far from the sunlit\nentrances of the rocky grottos. I recalled that my guide had remarked\nthat the palace would be dematerialized, its captive atoms released\ninto the thought-essence from which it had sprung. Although stunned,\nI looked trustingly at my guru. I knew not what to expect next on\nthis day of miracles.\n\n\u201c\u2018The purpose for which the palace was created has now been served,\u2019\nBabaji explained. He lifted an earthen vessel from the ground. \u2018Put\nyour hand there and receive whatever food you desire.\u2019\n\n\u201cAs soon as I touched the broad, empty bowl, it became heaped\nwith hot butter-fried LUCHIS, curry, and rare sweetmeats. I helped\nmyself, observing that the vessel was ever-filled. At the end of my\nmeal I looked around for water. My guru pointed to the bowl before\nme. Lo!  the food had vanished; in its place was water, clear as\nfrom a mountain stream.\n\n\u201c\u2018Few mortals know that the kingdom of God includes the kingdom of\nmundane fulfillments,\u2019 Babaji observed. \u2018The divine realm extends\nto the earthly, but the latter, being illusory, cannot include the\nessence of reality.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Beloved guru, last night you demonstrated for me the link of\nbeauty in heaven and earth!\u2019 I smiled at memories of the vanished\npalace; surely no simple yogi had ever received initiation into the\naugust mysteries of Spirit amidst surroundings of more impressive\nluxury! I gazed tranquilly at the stark contrast of the present\nscene. The gaunt ground, the skyey roof, the caves offering primitive\nshelter-all seemed a gracious natural setting for the seraphic\nsaints around me.\n\n\u201cI sat that afternoon on my blanket, hallowed by associations of\npast-life realizations. My divine guru approached and passed his\nhand over my head. I entered the NIRBIKALPA SAMADHI state, remaining\nunbrokenly in its bliss for seven days. Crossing the successive\nstrata of self-knowledge, I penetrated the deathless realms of\nreality. All delusive limitations dropped away; my soul was fully\nestablished on the eternal altar of the Cosmic Spirit. On the eighth\nday I fell at my guru\u2019s feet and implored him to keep me always\nnear him in this sacred wilderness.\n\n\u201c\u2018My son,\u2019 Babaji said, embracing me, \u2018your role in this incarnation\nmust be played on an outward stage. Prenatally blessed by many lives\nof lonely meditation, you must now mingle in the world of men.\n\n\u201c\u2018A deep purpose underlay the fact that you did not meet me this\ntime until you were already a married man, with modest business\nresponsibilities. You must put aside your thoughts of joining our\nsecret band in the Himalayas; your life lies in the crowded marts,\nserving as an example of the ideal yogi-householder.\n\n\u201c\u2018The cries of many bewildered worldly men and women have not fallen\nunheard on the ears of the Great Ones,\u2019 he went on. \u2018You have been\nchosen to bring spiritual solace through KRIYA YOGA to numerous\nearnest seekers. The millions who are encumbered by family ties and\nheavy worldly duties will take new heart from you, a householder\nlike themselves. You must guide them to see that the highest yogic\nattainments are not barred to the family man. Even in the world,\nthe yogi who faithfully discharges his responsibilities, without\npersonal motive or attachment, treads the sure path of enlightenment.\n\n\u201c\u2018No necessity compels you to leave the world, for inwardly you\nhave already sundered its every karmic tie. Not of this world, you\nmust yet be in it. Many years still remain during which you must\nconscientiously fulfill your family, business, civic, and spiritual\nduties. A sweet new breath of divine hope will penetrate the\narid hearts of worldly men. From your balanced life, they will\nunderstand that liberation is dependent on inner, rather than outer,\nrenunciations.\u2019\n\n\u201cHow remote seemed my family, the office, the world, as I listened\nto my guru in the high Himalayan solitudes. Yet adamantine truth\nrang in his words; I submissively agreed to leave this blessed\nhaven of peace.  Babaji instructed me in the ancient rigid rules\nwhich govern the transmission of the yogic art from guru to disciple.\n\n\u201c\u2018Bestow the KRIYA key only on qualified chelas,\u2019 Babaji said.\n\u2018He who vows to sacrifice all in the quest of the Divine is fit to\nunravel the final mysteries of life through the science of meditation.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Angelic guru, as you have already favored mankind by resurrecting\nthe lost KRIYA art, will you not increase that benefit by relaxing\nthe strict requirements for discipleship?\u2019 I gazed beseechingly\nat Babaji.  \u2018I pray that you permit me to communicate KRIYA to all\nseekers, even though at first they cannot vow themselves to complete\ninner renunciation. The tortured men and women of the world, pursued\nby the threefold suffering, {FN34-7} need special encouragement.\nThey may never attempt the road to freedom if KRIYA initiation be\nwithheld from them.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Be it so. The divine wish has been expressed through you.\u2019 With\nthese simple words, the merciful guru banished the rigorous safeguards\nthat for ages had hidden KRIYA from the world. \u2018Give KRIYA freely\nto all who humbly ask for help.\u2019\n\n\u201cAfter a silence, Babaji added, \u2018Repeat to each of your disciples\nthis majestic promise from the BHAGAVAD GITA: \u201cSWALPAMASYA DHARMASYA,\nTRAYATA MAHATO BHOYAT\u201d\u2014\u201cEven a little bit of the practice of this\nreligion will save you from dire fears and colossal sufferings.\u201d\u2019\n{FN34-8}\n\n\u201cAs I knelt the next morning at my guru\u2019s feet for his farewell\nblessing, he sensed my deep reluctance to leave him.\n\n\u201c\u2018There is no separation for us, my beloved child.\u2019 He touched my\nshoulder affectionately. \u2018Wherever you are, whenever you call me,\nI shall be with you instantly.\u2019\n\n\u201cConsoled by his wondrous promise, and rich with the newly found gold\nof God-wisdom, I wended my way down the mountain. At the office I\nwas welcomed by my fellow employees, who for ten days had thought\nme lost in the Himalayan jungles. A letter soon arrived from the\nhead office.\n\n\u201c\u2018Lahiri should return to the Danapur {FN34-9} office,\u2019 it read.\n\u2018His transfer to Ranikhet occurred by error. Another man should\nhave been sent to assume the Ranikhet duties.\u2019\n\n\u201cI smiled, reflecting on the hidden crosscurrents in the events\nwhich had led me to this furthermost spot of India.\n\n\u201cBefore returning to Danapur, I spent a few days with a Bengali\nfamily at Moradabad. A party of six friends gathered to greet me.\nAs I turned the conversation to spiritual subjects, my host observed\ngloomily:\n\n\u201c\u2018Oh, in these days India is destitute of saints!\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Babu,\u2019 I protested warmly, \u2018of course there are still great\nmasters in this land!\u2019\n\n\u201cIn a mood of exalted fervor, I felt impelled to relate my miraculous\nexperiences in the Himalayas. The little company was politely\nincredulous.\n\n\u201c\u2018Lahiri,\u2019 one man said soothingly, \u2018your mind has been under a\nstrain in those rarefied mountain airs. This is some daydream you\nhave recounted.\u2019\n\n\u201cBurning with the enthusiasm of truth, I spoke without due thought.\n\u2018If I call him, my guru will appear right in this house.\u2019\n\n\u201cInterest gleamed in every eye; it was no wonder that the group\nwas eager to behold a saint materialized in such a strange way.\nHalf-reluctantly, I asked for a quiet room and two new woolen\nblankets.\n\n\u201c\u2018The master will materialize from the ether,\u2019 I said. \u2018Remain\nsilently outside the door; I shall soon call you.\u2019\n\n\u201cI sank into the meditative state, humbly summoning my guru. The\ndarkened room soon filled with a dim aural moonlight; the luminous\nfigure of Babaji emerged.\n\n\u201c\u2018Lahiri, do you call me for a trifle?\u2019 The master\u2019s gaze was stern.\n\u2018Truth is for earnest seekers, not for those of idle curiosity. It\nis easy to believe when one sees; there is nothing then to deny.\nSupersensual truth is deserved and discovered by those who overcome\ntheir natural materialistic skepticism.\u2019 He added gravely, \u2018Let me\ngo!\u2019\n\n\u201cI fell entreatingly at his feet. \u2018Holy guru, I realize my serious\nerror; I humbly ask pardon. It was to create faith in these\nspiritually blinded minds that I ventured to call you. Because you\nhave graciously appeared at my prayer, please do not depart without\nbestowing a blessing on my friends. Unbelievers though they be,\nat least they were willing to investigate the truth of my strange\nassertions.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Very well; I will stay awhile. I do not wish your word discredited\nbefore your friends.\u2019 Babaji\u2019s face had softened, but he added\ngently, \u2018Henceforth, my son, I shall come when you need me, and\nnot always when you call me. {FN34-10}\u2019\n\n\u201cTense silence reigned in the little group when I opened the door.\nAs if mistrusting their senses, my friends stared at the lustrous\nfigure on the blanket seat.\n\n\u201c\u2018This is mass-hypnotism!\u2019 One man laughed blatantly. \u2018No one could\npossibly have entered this room without our knowledge!\u2019\n\n\u201cBabaji advanced smilingly and motioned to each one to touch the\nwarm, solid flesh of his body. Doubts dispelled, my friends prostrated\nthemselves on the floor in awed repentance.\n\n\u201c\u2018Let HALUA {FN34-11} be prepared.\u2019 Babaji made this request,\nI knew, to further assure the group of his physical reality. While\nthe porridge was boiling, the divine guru chatted affably. Great\nwas the metamorphosis of these doubting Thomases into devout St.\nPauls. After we had eaten, Babaji blessed each of us in turn. There\nwas a sudden flash; we witnessed the instantaneous dechemicalization\nof the electronic elements of Babaji\u2019s body into a spreading vaporous\nlight.  The God-tuned will power of the master had loosened its\ngrasp of the ether atoms held together as his body; forthwith the\ntrillions of tiny lifetronic sparks faded into the infinite reservoir.\n\n\u201c\u2018With my own eyes I have seen the conqueror of death.\u2019 Maitra,\n{FN34-12} one of the group, spoke reverently. His face was\ntransfigured with the joy of his recent awakening. \u2018The supreme\nguru played with time and space, as a child plays with bubbles. I\nhave beheld one with the keys of heaven and earth.\u2019\n\n\u201cI soon returned to Danapur. Firmly anchored in the Spirit, again I\nassumed the manifold business and family obligations of a householder.\u201d\n\nLahiri Mahasaya also related to Swami Kebalananda and Sri Yukteswar\nthe story of another meeting with Babaji, under circumstances which\nrecalled the guru\u2019s promise: \u201cI shall come whenever you need me.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe scene was a KUMBHA MELA at Allahabad,\u201d Lahiri Mahasaya told\nhis disciples. \u201cI had gone there during a short vacation from my\noffice duties. As I wandered amidst the throng of monks and sadhus\nwho had come from great distances to attend the holy festival, I\nnoticed an ash-smeared ascetic who was holding a begging bowl. The\nthought arose in my mind that the man was hypocritical, wearing\nthe outward symbols of renunciation without a corresponding inward\ngrace.\n\n\u201cNo sooner had I passed the ascetic than my astounded eye fell on\nBabaji. He was kneeling in front of a matted-haired anchorite.\n\n\u201c\u2018Guruji!\u2019 I hastened to his side. \u2018Sir, what are you doing here?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I am washing the feet of this renunciate, and then I shall clean\nhis cooking utensils.\u2019 Babaji smiled at me like a little child; I\nknew he was intimating that he wanted me to criticize no one, but\nto see the Lord as residing equally in all body-temples, whether of\nsuperior or inferior men. The great guru added, \u2018By serving wise\nand ignorant sadhus, I am learning the greatest of virtues, pleasing\nto God above all others-humility.\u2019\u201d\n\n{FN34-1} Now a military sanatorium. By 1861 the British Government\nhad already established certain telegraphic communciations.\n\n{FN34-2} Ranikhet, in the Almora district of United Provinces,\nis situated at the foot of Nanda Devi, the highest Himalayan peak\n(25,661 feet) in British India.\n\n{FN34-3} \u201cThe sabbath was made for man, and not man for the\nsabbath.\u201d\u2014MARK 2:27.\n\n{FN34-4} The karmic law requires that every human wish find\nultimate fulfillment. Desire is thus the chain which binds man to\nthe reincarnational wheel.\n\n{FN34-5} \u201cWhat is a miracle?-\u2019Tis a reproach,\n         \u2019Tis an implicit satire on mankind.\u201d\n                     \u2014Edward Young, in NIGHT THOUGHTS.\n\n{FN34-5} The theory of the atomic structure of matter was expounded\nin the ancient Indian VAISESIKA and NYAYA treatises. \u201cThere are vast\nworlds all placed away within the hollows of each atom, multifarious\nas the motes in a sunbeam.\u201d\u2014YOGA VASISHTHA.\n\n{FN34-7} Physical, mental, and spiritual suffering; manifested,\nrespectively, in disease, in psychological inadequacies or \u201ccomplexes,\u201d\nand in soul-ignorance.\n\n{FN34-8} Chapter II:40.\n\n{FN34-9} A town near Benares.\n\n{FN34-10} In the path to the Infinite, even illumined masters like\nLahiri Mahasaya may suffer from an excess of zeal, and be subject\nto discipline. In the BHAGAVAD GITA, we read many passages where the\ndivine guru Krishna gives chastisement to the prince of devotees,\nArjuna.\n\n{FN34-11} A porridge made of cream of wheat fried in butter, and\nboiled with milk.\n\n{FN34-12} The man, Maitra, to whom Lahiri Mahasaya is here referring,\nafterward became highly advanced in self-realization. I met Maitra\nshortly after my graduation from high school; he visited the\nMahamandal hermitage in Benares while I was a resident. He told\nme then of Babaji\u2019s materialization before the group in Moradabad.\n\u201cAs a result of the miracle,\u201d Maitra explained to me, \u201cI became a\nlifelong disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 35\n\nTHE CHRISTLIKE LIFE OF LAHIRI MAHASAYA\n\n\n\u201cThus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.\u201d {FN35-1} In\nthese words to John the Baptist, and in asking John to baptize him,\nJesus was acknowledging the divine rights of his guru.\n\nFrom a reverent study of the Bible from an Oriental viewpoint,\n{FN35-2} and from intuitional perception, I am convinced that\nJohn the Baptist was, in past lives, the guru of Christ. There are\nnumerous passages in the Bible which infer that John and Jesus in\ntheir last incarnations were, respectively, Elijah and his disciple\nElisha. (These are the spellings in the Old Testament. The Greek\ntranslators spelled the names as Elias and Eliseus; they reappear\nin the New Testament in these changed forms.)\n\nThe very end of the Old Testament is a prediction of the reincarnation\nof Elijah and Elisha: \u201cBehold, I will send you Elijah the prophet\nbefore the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.\u201d\n{FN35-3} Thus John (Elijah), sent \u201cbefore the coming . . . of the\nLord,\u201d was born slightly earlier to serve as a herald for Christ.\nAn angel appeared to Zacharias the father to testify that his coming\nson John would be no other than Elijah (Elias).\n\n\u201cBut the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer\nis heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou\nshalt call his name John. . . . And many of the children of Israel\nshall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him\n{FN35-4} IN THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF ELIAS, to turn the hearts of\nthe fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of\nthe just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.\u201d {FN35-5}\nJesus twice unequivocally identified Elijah (Elias) as John: \u201cElias\nis come already, and they knew him not. . . . Then the disciples\nunderstood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.\u201d {FN35-6}\nAgain, Christ says: \u201cFor all the prophets and the law prophesied\nuntil John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was\nfor to come.\u201d {FN35-7} When John denied that he was Elias (Elijah),\n{FN35-8} he meant that in the humble garb of John he came no longer\nin the outward elevation of Elijah the great guru. In his former\nincarnation he had given the \u201cmantle\u201d of his glory and his spiritual\nwealth to his disciple Elisha. \u201cAnd Elisha said, I pray thee, let\na double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast\nasked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken\nfrom thee, it shall be so unto thee. . . . And he took the MANTLE\nof Elijah that fell from him.\u201d {FN35-9}\n\nThe roles became reversed, because Elijah-John was no longer needed\nto be the ostensible guru of Elisha-Jesus, now perfected in divine\nrealization.\n\nWhen Christ was transfigured on the mountain {FN35-10} it was his\nguru Elias, with Moses, whom he saw. Again, in his hour of extremity\non the cross, Jesus cried out the divine name: \u201cELI, ELI, LAMA\nSABACHTHANI?  that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken\nme? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This\nman calleth for Elias. . . . Let us see whether Elias will come to\nsave him.\u201d {FN35-11}\n\nThe eternal bond of guru and disciple that existed between John and\nJesus was present also for Babaji and Lahiri Mahasaya. With tender\nsolicitude the deathless guru swam the Lethean waters that swirled\nbetween the last two lives of his chela, and guided the successive\nsteps taken by the child and then by the man Lahiri Mahasaya.\nIt was not until the disciple had reached his thirty-third year\nthat Babaji deemed the time to be ripe to openly reestablish the\nnever-severed link. Then, after their brief meeting near Ranikhet,\nthe selfless master banished his dearly-beloved disciple from the\nlittle mountain group, releasing him for an outward world mission.\n\u201cMy son, I shall come whenever you need me.\u201d What mortal lover can\nbestow that infinite promise?\n\nUnknown to society in general, a great spiritual renaissance began\nto flow from a remote corner of Benares. Just as the fragrance of\nflowers cannot be suppressed, so Lahiri Mahasaya, quietly living\nas an ideal householder, could not hide his innate glory. Slowly,\nfrom every part of India, the devotee-bees sought the divine nectar\nof the liberated master.\n\nThe English office superintendent was one of the first to notice a\nstrange transcendental change in his employee, whom he endearingly\ncalled \u201cEcstatic Babu.\u201d\n\n\u201cSir, you seem sad. What is the trouble?\u201d Lahiri Mahasaya made this\nsympathetic inquiry one morning to his employer.\n\n\u201cMy wife in England is critically ill. I am torn by anxiety.\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall get you some word about her.\u201d Lahiri Mahasaya left the\nroom and sat for a short time in a secluded spot. On his return he\nsmiled consolingly.\n\n\u201cYour wife is improving; she is now writing you a letter.\u201d The\nomniscient yogi quoted some parts of the missive.\n\n\u201cEcstatic Babu, I already know that you are no ordinary man. Yet I\nam unable to believe that, at will, you can banish time and space!\u201d\n\nThe promised letter finally arrived. The astounded superintendent\nfound that it contained not only the good news of his wife\u2019s\nrecovery, but also the same phrases which, weeks earlier, Lahiri\nMahasaya had repeated.\n\nThe wife came to India some months later. She visited the office,\nwhere Lahiri Mahasaya was quietly sitting at his desk. The woman\napproached him reverently.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d she said, \u201cit was your form, haloed in glorious light, that\nI beheld months ago by my sickbed in London. At that moment I was\ncompletely healed! Soon after, I was able to undertake the long\nocean voyage to India.\u201d\n\nDay after day, one or two devotees besought the sublime guru for\nKRIYA initiation. In addition to these spiritual duties, and to\nthose of his business and family life, the great master took an\nenthusiastic interest in education. He organized many study groups,\nand played an active part in the growth of a large high school in\nthe Bengalitola section of Benares. His regular discourses on the\nscriptures came to be called his \u201cGITA Assembly,\u201d eagerly attended\nby many truth-seekers.\n\nBy these manifold activities, Lahiri Mahasaya sought to answer the\ncommon challenge: \u201cAfter performing one\u2019s business and social duties,\nwhere is the time for devotional meditation?\u201d The harmoniously balanced\nlife of the great householder-guru became the silent inspiration\nof thousands of questioning hearts. Earning only a modest salary,\nthrifty, unostentatious, accessible to all, the master carried on\nnaturally and happily in the path of worldly life.\n\nThough ensconced in the seat of the Supreme One, Lahiri Mahasaya\nshowed reverence to all men, irrespective of their differing\nmerits.  When his devotees saluted him, he bowed in turn to them.\nWith a childlike humility, the master often touched the feet\nof others, but seldom allowed them to pay him similar honor, even\nthough such obeisance toward the guru is an ancient Oriental custom.\n\nA significant feature of Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s life was his gift\nof KRIYA initiation to those of every faith. Not Hindus only, but\nMoslems and Christians were among his foremost disciples. Monists\nand dualists, those of all faiths or of no established faith, were\nimpartially received and instructed by the universal guru. One of\nhis highly advanced chelas was Abdul Gufoor Khan, a Mohammedan. It\nshows great courage on the part of Lahiri Mahasaya that, although\na high-caste Brahmin, he tried his utmost to dissolve the rigid\ncaste bigotry of his time. Those from every walk of life found\nshelter under the master\u2019s omnipresent wings. Like all God-inspired\nprophets, Lahiri Mahasaya gave new hope to the outcastes and\ndown-trodden of society.\n\n\u201cAlways remember that you belong to no one, and no one belongs to\nyou.  Reflect that some day you will suddenly have to leave everything\nin this world-so make the acquaintanceship of God now,\u201d the great\nguru told his disciples. \u201cPrepare yourself for the coming astral\njourney of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception.\nThrough delusion you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh\nand bones, which at best is a nest of troubles. {FN35-12} Meditate\nunceasingly, that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite\nEssence, free from every form of misery. Cease being a prisoner\nof the body; using the secret key of KRIYA, learn to escape into\nSpirit.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: LAHIRI MAHASAYA, Disciple of Babaji and Guru of Sri\nYukteswar\u2014see lahiri.jpg]\n\nThe great guru encouraged his various students to adhere to\nthe good traditional discipline of their own faith. Stressing the\nall-inclusive nature of KRIYA as a practical technique of liberation,\nLahiri Mahasaya then gave his chelas liberty to express their lives\nin conformance with environment and up bringing.\n\n\u201cA Moslem should perform his NAMAJ {FN35-13} worship four times\ndaily,\u201d the master pointed out. \u201cFour times daily a Hindu should\nsit in meditation. A Christian should go down on his knees four\ntimes daily, praying to God and then reading the Bible.\u201d\n\nWith wise discernment the guru guided his followers into the paths\nof BHAKTI (devotion), KARMA (action), JNANA (wisdom), or RAJA (royal\nor complete) YOGAS, according to each man\u2019s natural tendencies. The\nmaster, who was slow to give his permission to devotees wishing to\nenter the formal path of monkhood, always cautioned them to first\nreflect well on the austerities of the monastic life.\n\nThe great guru taught his disciples to avoid theoretical discussion\nof the scriptures. \u201cHe only is wise who devotes himself to realizing,\nnot reading only, the ancient revelations,\u201d he said. \u201cSolve all\nyour problems through meditation. {FN35-14} Exchange unprofitable\nreligious speculations for actual God-contact. Clear your mind of\ndogmatic theological debris; let in the fresh, healing waters of\ndirect perception. Attune yourself to the active inner Guidance;\nthe Divine Voice has the answer to every dilemma of life. Though\nman\u2019s ingenuity for getting himself into trouble appears to be\nendless, the Infinite Succor is no less resourceful.\u201d\n\nThe master\u2019s omnipresence was demonstrated one day before a group\nof disciples who were listening to his exposition of the BHAGAVAD\nGITA.  As he was explaining the meaning of KUTASTHA CHAITANYA or\nthe Christ Consciousness in all vibratory creation, Lahiri Mahasaya\nsuddenly gasped and cried out:\n\n\u201cI am drowning in the bodies of many souls off the coast of Japan!\u201d\n\nThe next morning the chelas read a newspaper account of the death\nof many people whose ship had foundered the preceding day near\nJapan.\n\nThe distant disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya were often made aware of\nhis enfolding presence. \u201cI am ever with those who practice KRIYA,\u201d\nhe said consolingly to chelas who could not remain near him. \u201cI\nwill guide you to the Cosmic Home through your enlarging perceptions.\u201d\n\nSwami Satyananda was told by a devotee that, unable to go to Benares,\nthe man had nevertheless received precise KRIYA initiation in a\ndream.  Lahiri Mahasaya had appeared to instruct the chela in answer\nto his prayers.\n\nIf a disciple neglected any of his worldly obligations, the master\nwould gently correct and discipline him.\n\n\u201cLahiri Mahasaya\u2019s words were mild and healing, even when he was\nforced to speak openly of a chela\u2019s faults,\u201d Sri Yukteswar once\ntold me. He added ruefully, \u201cNo disciple ever fled from our master\u2019s\nbarbs.\u201d I could not help laughing, but I truthfully assured Sri\nYukteswar that, sharp or not, his every word was music to my ears.\n\nLahiri Mahasaya carefully graded KRIYA into four progressive\ninitiations. {FN35-15} He bestowed the three higher techniques only\nafter the devotee had manifested definite spiritual progress. One\nday a certain chela, convinced that his worth was not being duly\nevaluated, gave voice to his discontent.\n\n\u201cMaster,\u201d he said, \u201csurely I am ready now for the second initiation.\u201d\n\nAt this moment the door opened to admit a humble disciple, Brinda\nBhagat. He was a Benares postman.\n\n\u201cBrinda, sit by me here.\u201d The great guru smiled at him affectionately.\n\u201cTell me, are you ready for the second technique of KRIYA?\u201d\n\nThe little postman folded his hands in supplication. \u201cGurudeva,\u201d he\nsaid in alarm, \u201cno more initiations, please! How can I assimilate\nany higher teachings? I have come today to ask your blessings,\nbecause the first divine KRIYA has filled me with such intoxication\nthat I cannot deliver my letters!\u201d\n\n\u201cAlready Brinda swims in the sea of Spirit.\u201d At these words from\nLahiri Mahasaya, his other disciple hung his head.\n\n\u201cMaster,\u201d he said, \u201cI see I have been a poor workman, finding fault\nwith my tools.\u201d\n\nThe postman, who was an uneducated man, later developed his insight\nthrough KRIYA to such an extent that scholars occasionally sought\nhis interpretation on involved scriptural points. Innocent alike of\nsin and syntax, little Brinda won renown in the domain of learned\npundits.\n\nBesides the numerous Benares disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya, hundreds\ncame to him from distant parts of India. He himself traveled to Bengal\non several occasions, visiting at the homes of the fathers-in-law\nof his two sons. Thus blessed by his presence, Bengal became\nhoneycombed with small KRIYA groups. Particularly in the districts\nof Krishnagar and Bishnupur, many silent devotees to this day have\nkept the invisible current of spiritual meditation flowing.\n\nAmong many saints who received KRIYA from Lahiri Mahasaya may be\nmentioned the illustrious Swami Vhaskarananda Saraswati of Benares,\nand the Deogarh ascetic of high stature, Balananda Brahmachari.\nFor a time Lahiri Mahasaya served as private tutor to the son of\nMaharaja Iswari Narayan Sinha Bahadur of Benares. Recognizing the\nmaster\u2019s spiritual attainment, the maharaja, as well as his son,\nsought KRIYA initiation, as did the Maharaja Jotindra Mohan Thakur.\n\nA number of Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s disciples with influential worldly\nposition were desirous of expanding the KRIYA circle by publicity.\nThe guru refused his permission. One chela, the royal physician\nto the Lord of Benares, started an organized effort to spread the\nmaster\u2019s name as \u201cKashi Baba\u201d (Exalted One of Benares). {FN35-16}\nAgain the guru forbade it.\n\n\u201cLet the fragrance of the KRIYA flower be wafted naturally, without\nany display,\u201d he said. \u201cIts seeds will take root in the soil of\nspiritually fertile hearts.\u201d\n\nAlthough the great master did not adopt the system of preaching\nthrough the modern medium of an organization, or through the\nprinting press, he knew that the power of his message would rise\nlike a resistless flood, inundating by its own force the banks of\nhuman minds. The changed and purified lives of devotees were the\nsimple guarantees of the deathless vitality of KRIYA.\n\nIn 1886, twenty-five years after his Ranikhet initiation, Lahiri\nMahasaya was retired on a pension. {FN35-17} With his availability\nin the daytime, disciples sought him out in ever-increasing numbers.\nThe great guru now sat in silence most of the time, locked in the\ntranquil lotus posture. He seldom left his little parlor, even\nfor a walk or to visit other parts of the house. A quiet stream of\nchelas arrived, almost ceaselessly, for a DARSHAN (holy sight) of\nthe guru.\n\nTo the awe of all beholders, Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s habitual physiological\nstate exhibited the superhuman features of breathlessness, sleeplessness,\ncessation of pulse and heartbeat, calm eyes unblinking for hours,\nand a profound aura of peace. No visitors departed without upliftment\nof spirit; all knew they had received the silent blessing of a true\nman of God.\n\nThe master now permitted his disciple, Panchanon Bhattacharya, to\nopen an \u201cArya Mission Institution\u201d in Calcutta. Here the saintly\ndisciple spread the message of KRIYA YOGA, and prepared for public\nbenefit certain yogic herbal {FN35-18} medicines.\n\nIn accordance with ancient custom, the master gave to people in\ngeneral a NEEM {FN35-19} oil for the cure of various diseases. When\nthe guru requested a disciple to distil the oil, he could easily\naccomplish the task. If anyone else tried, he would encounter strange\ndifficulties, finding that the medicinal oil had almost evaporated\nafter going through the required distilling processes. Evidently\nthe master\u2019s blessing was a necessary ingredient.\n\n[Illustration:\u2014lmwriting.jpg]\n\nLahiri Mahasaya\u2019s handwriting and signature, in Bengali script,\nare shown above. The lines occur in a letter to a chela; the great\nmaster interprets a Sanskrit verse as follows: \u201cHe who has attained\na state of calmness wherein his eyelids do not blink, has achieved\nSAMBHABI MUDRA.\u201d\n\n(SIGNED) \u201cSRI SHYAMA CHARAN DEVA SHARMAN\u201d\n\nThe Arya Mission Institution undertook the publication of many\nof the guru\u2019s scriptural commentaries. Like Jesus and other great\nprophets, Lahiri Mahasaya himself wrote no books, but his penetrating\ninterpretations were recorded and arranged by various disciples.\nSome of these voluntary amanuenses were more discerning than others\nin correctly conveying the profound insight of the guru; yet, on\nthe whole, their efforts were successful. Through their zeal, the\nworld possesses unparalleled commentaries by Lahiri Mahasaya on\ntwenty-six ancient scriptures.\n\nSri Ananda Mohan Lahiri, a grandson of the master, has written an\ninteresting booklet on KRIYA. \u201cThe text of the BHAGAVAD GITA is a\npart of the great epic, the MAHABHARATA, which possesses several\nknot-points (VYAS-KUTAS),\u201d Sri Ananda wrote. \u201cKeep those knot-points\nunquestioned, and we find nothing but mythical stories of a peculiar\nand easily-misunderstood type. Keep those knot-points unexplained,\nand we have lost a science which the East has preserved with\nsuperhuman patience after a quest of thousands of years of experiment.\n{FN35-20} It was the commentaries of Lahiri Mahasaya which brought\nto light, clear of allegories, the very science of religion that\nhad been so cleverly put out of sight in the riddle of scriptural\nletters and imagery. No longer a mere unintelligible jugglery of\nwords, the otherwise unmeaning formulas of Vedic worship have been\nproved by the master to be full of scientific significance. . . .\n\n\u201cWe know that man is usually helpless against the insurgent sway\nof evil passions, but these are rendered powerless and man finds no\nmotive in their indulgence when there dawns on him a consciousness\nof superior and lasting bliss through KRIYA. Here the give-up, the\nnegation of the lower passions, synchronizes with a take-up, the\nassertion of a beatitude. Without such a course, hundreds of moral\nmaxims which run in mere negatives are useless to us.\n\n\u201cOur eagerness for worldly activity kills in us the sense of\nspiritual awe. We cannot comprehend the Great Life behind all names\nand forms, just because science brings home to us how we can use\nthe powers of nature; this familiarity has bred a contempt for her\nultimate secrets.  Our relation with nature is one of practical\nbusiness. We tease her, so to speak, to know how she can be used\nto serve our purposes; we make use of her energies, whose Source\nyet remains unknown. In science our relation with nature is one\nthat exists between a man and his servant, or in a philosophical\nsense she is like a captive in the witness box. We cross-examine\nher, challenge her, and minutely weigh her evidence in human scales\nwhich cannot measure her hidden values.  On the other hand, when\nthe self is in communion with a higher power, nature automatically\nobeys, without stress or strain, the will of man.  This effortless\ncommand over nature is called \u2018miraculous\u2019 by the uncomprehending\nmaterialist.\n\n\u201cThe life of Lahiri Mahasaya set an example which changed the\nerroneous notion that yoga is a mysterious practice. Every man may\nfind a way through KRIYA to understand his proper relation with\nnature, and to feel spiritual reverence for all phenomena, whether\nmystical or of everyday occurrence, in spite of the matter-of-factness\nof physical science. {FN35-21} We must bear in mind that what was\nmystical a thousand years ago is no longer so, and what is mysterious\nnow may become lawfully intelligible a hundred years hence. It is the\nInfinite, the Ocean of Power, that is at the back of all manifestations.\n\n\u201cThe law of KRIYA YOGA is eternal. It is true like mathematics;\nlike the simple rules of addition and subtraction, the law of KRIYA\ncan never be destroyed. Burn to ashes all the books on mathematics,\nthe logically-minded will always rediscover such truths; destroy\nall the sacred books on yoga, its fundamental laws will come out\nwhenever there appears a true yogi who comprises within himself\npure devotion and consequently pure knowledge.\u201d\n\nJust as Babaji is among the greatest of avatars, a MAHAVATAR, and\nSri Yukteswar a JNANAVATAR or Incarnation of Wisdom, so Lahiri\nMahasaya may justly be called YOGAVATAR, or Incarnation of Yoga.\nBy the standards of both qualitative and quantitative good, he\nelevated the spiritual level of society. In his power to raise his\nclose disciples to Christlike stature and in his wide dissemination\nof truth among the masses, Lahiri Mahasaya ranks among the saviors\nof mankind.\n\nHis uniqueness as a prophet lies in his practical stress on\na definite method, KRIYA, opening for the first time the doors of\nyoga freedom to all men. Apart from the miracles of his own life,\nsurely the YOGAVATAR reached the zenith of all wonders in reducing\nthe ancient complexities of yoga to an effective simplicity not\nbeyond the ordinary grasp.\n\nIn reference to miracles, Lahiri Mahasaya often said, \u201cThe operation\nof subtle laws which are unknown to people in general should not\nbe publicly discussed or published without due discrimination.\u201d\nIf in these pages I have appeared to flout his cautionary words,\nit is because he has given me an inward reassurance. Also, in\nrecording the lives of Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Sri Yukteswar,\nI have thought it advisable to omit many true miraculous stories,\nwhich could hardly have been included without writing, also, an\nexplanatory volume of abstruse philosophy.\n\nNew hope for new men! \u201cDivine union,\u201d the YOGAVATAR proclaimed, \u201cis\npossible through self-effort, and is not dependent on theological\nbeliefs or on the arbitrary will of a Cosmic Dictator.\u201d\n\nThrough use of the KRIYA key, persons who cannot bring themselves\nto believe in the divinity of any man will behold at last the full\ndivinity of their own selves.\n\n{FN35-1} MATTHEW 3:15.\n\n{FN35-2} Many Biblical passages reveal that the law of reincarnation\nwas understood and accepted. Reincarnational cycles are a more\nreasonable explanation for the different states of evolution in\nwhich mankind is found, than the common Western theory which assumes\nthat something (consciousness of egoity) came out of nothing, existed\nwith varying degrees of lustihood for thirty or ninety years, and\nthen returned to the original void. The inconceivable nature of\nsuch a void is a problem to delight the heart of a medieval Schoolman.\n\n{FN35-3} MALACHI 4:5.\n\n{FN35-4} \u201cBefore him,\u201d i.e., \u201cbefore the Lord.\u201d\n\n{FN35-5} LUKE 1:13-17.\n\n{FN35-6} MATTHEW 17:12-13.\n\n{FN35-7} MATTHEW 11:13-14.\n\n{FN35-8} JOHN 1:21.\n\n{FN35-9} II KINGS 2:9-14.\n\n{FN35-10} MATTHEW 17:3.\n\n{FN35-11} MATTHEW 27:46-49.\n\n{FN35-12} \u201cHow many sorts of death are in our bodies! Nothing is\ntherein but death.\u201d-MARTIN LUTHER, IN \u201cTABLE-TALK.\u201d\n\n{FN35-13} The chief prayer of the Mohammedans, usually repeated\nfour or five times daily.\n\n{FN35-14} \u201cSeek truth in meditation, not in moldy books. Look in\nthe sky to find the moon, not in the pond.\u201d-PERSIAN PROVERB.\n\n{FN35-15} As KRIYA YOGA is capable of many subdivisions, Lahiri\nMahasaya wisely sifted out four steps which he discerned to be\nthose which contained the essential marrow, and which were of the\nhighest value in actual practice.\n\n{FN35-16} Other titles bestowed on Lahiri Mahasaya by his disciples\nwere YOGIBAR (greatest of yogis), YOGIRAJ (king of yogis), and MUNIBAR\n(greatest of saints), to which I have added YOGAVATAR (incarnation\nof yoga).\n\n{FN35-17} He had given, altogether, thirty-five years of service\nin one department of the government.\n\n{FN35-18} Vast herbal knowledge is found in ancient Sanskrit treatises.\nHimalayan herbs were employed in a rejuvenation treatment which\naroused the attention of the world in 1938 when the method was\nused on Pundit Madan Mohan Malaviya, 77-year-old Vice-Chancellor\nof Benares Hindu University. To a remarkable extent, the noted\nscholar regained in 45 days his health, strength, memory, normal\neyesight; indications of a third set of teeth appeared, while all\nwrinkles vanished. The herbal treatment, known as KAYA KALPA, is\none of 80 rejuvenation methods outlined in Hindu AYURVEDA or medical\nscience. Pundit Malaviya underwent the treatment at the hands of\nSri Kalpacharya Swami Beshundasji, who claims 1766 as his birth\nyear. He possesses documents proving him to be more than 100 years\nold; ASSOCIATED PRESS reporters remarked that he looked about 40.\n\nAncient Hindu treatises divided medical science into 8 branches:\nSALYA (surgery); SALAKYA (diseases above the neck); KAYACHIKITSA\n(medicine proper); BHUTAVIDYA (mental diseases); KAUMARA (care\nof infancy); AGADA (toxicology); RASAYANA (longevity); VAGIKARANA\n(tonics). Vedic physicians used delicate surgical instruments,\nemployed plastic surgery, understood medical methods to counteract\nthe effects of poison gas, performed Caesarean sections and brain\noperations, were skilled in dynamization of drugs. Hippocrates,\nfamous physician of the 5th century B.C., borrowed much of his\nmateria medica from Hindu sources.\n\n{FN35-19} The East Indian margosa tree. Its medicinal values have\nnow become recognized in the West, where the bitter NEEM bark is\nused as a tonic, and the oil from seeds and fruit has been found\nof utmost worth in the treatment of leprosy and other diseases.\n\n{FN35-20} \u201cA number of seals recently excavated from archaeological\nsites of the Indus valley, datable in the third millennium B.C.,\nshow figures seated in meditative postures now used in the system\nof Yoga, and warrant the inference that even at that time some of\nthe rudiments of Yoga were already known. We may not unreasonably\ndraw the conclusion that systematic introspection with the aid of\nstudied methods has been practiced in India for five thousand years.\n. . .  India has developed certain valuable religious attitudes of\nmind and ethical notions which are unique, at least in the wideness\nof their application to life. One of these has been a tolerance in\nquestions of intellectual belief-doctrine-that is amazing to the\nWest, where for many centuries heresy-hunting was common, and bloody\nwars between nations over sectarian rivalries were frequent.\u201d-Extracts\nfrom an article by Professor W. Norman Brown in the May, 1939\nissue of the BULLETIN of the American Council of Learned Societies,\nWashington, D.C.\n\n{FN35-21} One thinks here of Carlyle\u2019s observation in SARTOR RESARTUS:\n\u201cThe man who cannot wonder, who does not habitually wonder (and\nworship), were he president of innumerable Royal Societies and\ncarried . . . the epitome of all laboratories and observatories,\nwith their results, in his single head,-is but a pair of spectacles\nbehind which there is no eye.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 36\n\nBABAJI\u2019S INTEREST IN THE WEST\n\n\n\u201cMaster, did you ever meet Babaji?\u201d\n\nIt was a calm summer night in Serampore; the large stars of the\ntropics gleamed over our heads as I sat by Sri Yukteswar\u2019s side on\nthe second-story balcony of the hermitage.\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d Master smiled at my direct question; his eyes lit with\nreverence. \u201cThree times I have been blessed by the sight of the\ndeathless guru. Our first meeting was in Allahabad at a KUMBHA\nMELA.\u201d\n\nThe religious fairs held in India since time immemorial are known\nas KUMBHA MELAS; they have kept spiritual goals in constant sight\nof the multitude. Devout Hindus gather by the millions every six\nyears to meet thousands of sadhus, yogis, swamis, and ascetics of\nall kinds.  Many are hermits who never leave their secluded haunts\nexcept to attend the MELAS and bestow their blessings on worldly\nmen and women.\n\n\u201cI was not a swami at the time I met Babaji,\u201d Sri Yukteswar went on.\n\u201cBut I had already received KRIYA initiation from Lahiri Mahasaya.\nHe encouraged me to attend the MELA which was convening in January,\n1894 at Allahabad. It was my first experience of a KUMBHA; I felt\nslightly dazed by the clamor and surge of the crowd. In my searching\ngazes around I saw no illumined face of a master. Passing a bridge\non the bank of the Ganges, I noticed an acquaintance standing\nnear-by, his begging bowl extended.\n\n\u201c\u2018Oh, this fair is nothing but a chaos of noise and beggars,\u2019\nI thought in disillusionment. \u2018I wonder if Western scientists,\npatiently enlarging the realms of knowledge for the practical good\nof mankind, are not more pleasing to God than these idlers who\nprofess religion but concentrate on alms.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy smouldering reflections on social reform were interrupted by\nthe voice of a tall sannyasi who halted before me.\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir,\u2019 he said, \u2018a saint is calling you.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Who is he?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Come and see for yourself.\u2019\n\n\u201cHesitantly following this laconic advice, I soon found myself\nnear a tree whose branches were sheltering a guru with an attractive\ngroup of disciples. The master, a bright unusual figure, with\nsparkling dark eyes, rose at my approach and embraced me.\n\n\u201c\u2018Welcome, Swamiji,\u2019 he said affectionately.\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir,\u2019 I replied emphatically, \u2018I am NOT a swami.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Those on whom I am divinely directed to bestow the title\nof \u201cswami\u201d never cast it off.\u2019 The saint addressed me simply, but\ndeep conviction of truth rang in his words; I was engulfed in an\ninstant wave of spiritual blessing. Smiling at my sudden elevation\ninto the ancient monastic order, {FN36-1} I bowed at the feet of\nthe obviously great and angelic being in human form who had thus\nhonored me.\n\n\u201cBabaji-for it was indeed he-motioned me to a seat near him under\nthe tree. He was strong and young, and looked like Lahiri Mahasaya;\nyet the resemblance did not strike me, even though I had often\nheard of the extraordinary similarities in the appearance of the\ntwo masters.  Babaji possesses a power by which he can prevent any\nspecific thought from arising in a person\u2019s mind. Evidently the\ngreat guru wished me to be perfectly natural in his presence, not\noverawed by knowledge of his identity.\n\n\u201c\u2018What do you think of the KUMBHA MELA?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I was greatly disappointed, sir.\u2019 I added hastily, \u2018Up until the\ntime I met you. Somehow saints and this commotion don\u2019t seem to\nbelong together.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Child,\u2019 the master said, though apparently I was nearly twice\nhis own age, \u2018for the faults of the many, judge not the whole.\nEverything on earth is of mixed character, like a mingling of sand\nand sugar. Be like the wise ant which seizes only the sugar, and\nleaves the sand untouched. Though many sadhus here still wander in\ndelusion, yet the MELA is blessed by a few men of God-realization.\u2019\n\n\u201cIn view of my own meeting with this exalted master, I quickly\nagreed with his observation.\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir,\u2019 I commented, \u2018I have been thinking of the scientific\nmen of the West, greater by far in intelligence than most people\ncongregated here, living in distant Europe and America, professing\ndifferent creeds, and ignorant of the real values of such MELAS\nas the present one. They are the men who could benefit greatly by\nmeetings with India\u2019s masters. But, although high in intellectual\nattainments, many Westerners are wedded to rank materialism. Others,\nfamous in science and philosophy, do not recognize the essential\nunity in religion.  Their creeds serve as insurmountable barriers\nthat threaten to separate them from us forever.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I saw that you are interested in the West, as well as the East.\u2019\nBabaji\u2019s face beamed with approval. \u2018I felt the pangs of your heart,\nbroad enough for all men, whether Oriental or Occidental. That is\nwhy I summoned you here.\n\n\u201c\u2018East and West must establish a golden middle path of activity\nand spirituality combined,\u2019 he continued. \u2018India has much to learn\nfrom the West in material development; in return, India can teach\nthe universal methods by which the West will be able to base its\nreligious beliefs on the unshakable foundations of yogic science.\n\n\u201c\u2018You, Swamiji, have a part to play in the coming harmonious exchange\nbetween Orient and Occident. Some years hence I shall send you\na disciple whom you can train for yoga dissemination in the West.\nThe vibrations there of many spiritually seeking souls come floodlike\nto me. I perceive potential saints in America and Europe, waiting\nto be awakened.\u2019\u201d\n\nAt this point in his story, Sri Yukteswar turned his gaze fully on\nmine.\n\n\u201cMy son,\u201d he said, smiling in the moonlight, \u201cyou are the disciple\nthat, years ago, Babaji promised to send me.\u201d\n\nI was happy to learn that Babaji had directed my steps to Sri\nYukteswar, yet it was hard for me to visualize myself in the remote\nWest, away from my beloved guru and the simple hermitage peace.\n\n\u201cBabaji then spoke of the BHAGAVAD GITA,\u201d Sri Yukteswar went on.\n\u201cTo my astonishment, he indicated by a few words of praise that he\nwas aware of the fact that I had written interpretations on various\nGITA chapters.\n\n\u201c\u2018At my request, Swamiji, please undertake another task,\u2019 the great\nmaster said. \u2018Will you not write a short book on the underlying\nbasic unity between the Christian and Hindu scriptures? Show by\nparallel references that the inspired sons of God have spoken the\nsame truths, now obscured by men\u2019s sectarian differences.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Maharaj,\u2019 {FN36-2} I answered diffidently, \u2018what a command! Shall\nI be able to fulfill it?\u2019\n\n\u201cBabaji laughed softly. \u2018My son, why do you doubt?\u2019 he said\nreassuringly. \u2018Indeed, Whose work is all this, and Who is the\nDoer of all actions? Whatever the Lord has made me say is bound to\nmaterialize as truth.\u2019\n\n\u201cI deemed myself empowered by the blessings of the saint, and agreed\nto write the book. Feeling reluctantly that the parting-hour had\narrived, I rose from my leafy seat.\n\n\u201c\u2018Do you know Lahiri?\u2019 {FN36-3} the master inquired. \u2018He is a\ngreat soul, isn\u2019t he? Tell him of our meeting.\u2019 He then gave me a\nmessage for Lahiri Mahasaya.\n\n\u201cAfter I had bowed humbly in farewell, the saint smiled benignly.\n\u2018When your book is finished, I shall pay you a visit,\u2019 he promised.\n\u2018Good-by for the present.\u2019\n\n\u201cI left Allahabad the following day and entrained for Benares.\nReaching my guru\u2019s home, I poured out the story of the wonderful\nsaint at the KUMBHA MELA.\n\n\u201c\u2018Oh, didn\u2019t you recognize him?\u2019 Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s eyes were dancing\nwith laughter. \u2018I see you couldn\u2019t, for he prevented you. He is my\nincomparable guru, the celestial Babaji!\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Babaji!\u2019 I repeated, awestruck. \u2018The Yogi-Christ Babaji! The\ninvisible-visible savior Babaji! Oh, if I could just recall the\npast and be once more in his presence, to show my devotion at his\nlotus feet!\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Never mind,\u2019 Lahiri Mahasaya said consolingly. \u2018He has promised\nto see you again.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Gurudeva, the divine master asked me to give you a message. \u201cTell\nLahiri,\u201d he said, \u201cthat the stored-up power for this life now runs\nlow; it is nearly finished.\u201d\u2019\n\n\u201cAt my utterance of these enigmatic words, Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s figure\ntrembled as though touched by a lightning current. In an instant\neverything about him fell silent; his smiling countenance turned\nincredibly stern. Like a wooden statue, somber and immovable in\nits seat, his body became colorless. I was alarmed and bewildered.\nNever in my life had I seen this joyous soul manifest such awful\ngravity.  The other disciples present stared apprehensively.\n\n\u201cThree hours passed in utter silence. Then Lahiri Mahasaya resumed\nhis natural, cheerful demeanor, and spoke affectionately to each\nof the chelas. Everyone sighed in relief.\n\n\u201cI realized by my master\u2019s reaction that Babaji\u2019s message had been\nan unmistakable signal by which Lahiri Mahasaya understood that his\nbody would soon be untenanted. His awesome silence proved that\nmy guru had instantly controlled his being, cut his last cord\nof attachment to the material world, and fled to his ever-living\nidentity in Spirit.  Babaji\u2019s remark had been his way of saying:\n\u2018I shall be ever with you.\u2019\n\n\u201cThough Babaji and Lahiri Mahasaya were omniscient, and had\nno need of communicating with each other through me or any other\nintermediary, the great ones often condescend to play a part in the\nhuman drama.  Occasionally they transmit their prophecies through\nmessengers in an ordinary way, that the final fulfillment of their\nwords may infuse greater divine faith in a wide circle of men who\nlater learn the story.\n\n\u201cI soon left Benares, and set to work in Serampore on the scriptural\nwritings requested by Babaji,\u201d Sri Yukteswar continued. \u201cNo sooner\nhad I begun my task than I was able to compose a poem dedicated to\nthe deathless guru. The melodious lines flowed effortlessly from\nmy pen, though never before had I attempted Sanskrit poetry.\n\n\u201cIn the quiet of night I busied myself over a comparison of the\nBible and the scriptures of SANATAN DHARMA. {FN36-4} Quoting the\nwords of the blessed Lord Jesus, I showed that his teachings were\nin essence one with the revelations of the VEDAS. To my relief,\nmy book was finished in a short time; I realized that this speedy\nblessing was due to the grace of my PARAM-GURU-MAHARAJ. {FN36-5}\nThe chapters first appeared in the SADHUSAMBAD journal; later they\nwere privately printed as a book by one of my Kidderpore disciples.\n\n\u201cThe morning after I had concluded my literary efforts,\u201d Master\ncontinued, \u201cI went to the Rai Ghat here to bathe in the Ganges.\nThe ghat was deserted; I stood still for awhile, enjoying the sunny\npeace.  After a dip in the sparkling waters, I started for home.\nThe only sound in the silence was that of my Ganges-drenched cloth,\nswish-swashing with every step. As I passed beyond the site of the\nlarge banyan tree near the river bank, a strong impulse urged me\nto look back. There, under the shade of the banyan, and surrounded\nby a few disciples, sat the great Babaji!\n\n\u201c\u2018Greetings, Swamiji!\u2019 The beautiful voice of the master rang\nout to assure me I was not dreaming. \u2018I see you have successfully\ncompleted your book. As I promised, I am here to thank you.\u2019\n\n\u201cWith a fast-beating heart, I prostrated myself fully at his feet.\n\u2018Param-guruji,\u2019 I said imploringly, \u2018will you and your chelas not\nhonor my near-by home with your presence?\u2019\n\n\u201cThe supreme guru smilingly declined. \u2018No, child,\u2019 he said, \u2018we are\npeople who like the shelter of trees; this spot is quite comfortable.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Please tarry awhile, Master.\u2019 I gazed entreatingly at him. \u2018I\nshall be back at once with some special sweetmeats.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhen I returned in a few minutes with a dish of delicacies, lo! the\nlordly banyan no longer sheltered the celestial troupe. I searched\nall around the ghat, but in my heart I knew the little band had\nalready fled on etheric wings.\n\n\u201cI was deeply hurt. \u2018Even if we meet again, I would not care to talk\nto him,\u2019 I assured myself. \u2018He was unkind to leave me so suddenly.\u2019\nThis was a wrath of love, of course, and nothing more.\n\n\u201cA few months later I visited Lahiri Mahasaya in Benares. As I\nentered his little parlor, my guru smiled in greeting.\n\n\u201c\u2018Welcome, Yukteswar,\u2019 he said. \u2018Did you just meet Babaji at the\nthreshold of my room?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Why, no,\u2019 I answered in surprise.\n\n\u201c\u2018Come here.\u2019 Lahiri Mahasaya touched me gently on the forehead;\nat once I beheld, near the door, the form of Babaji, blooming like\na perfect lotus.\n\n\u201cI remembered my old hurt, and did not bow. Lahiri Mahasaya looked\nat me in astonishment.\n\n\u201cThe divine guru gazed at me with fathomless eyes. \u2018You are annoyed\nwith me.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Sir, why shouldn\u2019t I be?\u2019 I answered. \u2018Out of the air you came\nwith your magic group, and into the thin air you vanished.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I told you I would see you, but didn\u2019t say how long I would remain.\u2019\nBabaji laughed softly. \u2018You were full of excitement. I assure you\nthat I was fairly extinguished in the ether by the gust of your\nrestlessness.\u2019\n\n\u201cI was instantly satisfied by this unflattering explanation. I\nknelt at his feet; the supreme guru patted me kindly on the shoulder.\n\n\u201c\u2018Child, you must meditate more,\u2019 he said. \u2018Your gaze is not yet\nfaultless-you could not see me hiding behind the sunlight.\u2019 With\nthese words in the voice of a celestial flute, Babaji disappeared\ninto the hidden radiance.\n\n\u201cThat was one of my last visits to Benares to see my guru,\u201d Sri\nYukteswar concluded. \u201cEven as Babaji had foretold at the KUMBHA\nMELA, the householder-incarnation of Lahiri Mahasaya was drawing\nto a close.  During the summer of 1895 his stalwart body developed\na small boil on the back. He protested against lancing; he was working\nout in his own flesh the evil karma of some of his disciples. Finally\na few chelas became very insistent; the master replied cryptically:\n\n\u201c\u2018The body has to find a cause to go; I will be agreeable to whatever\nyou want to do.\u2019\n\n\u201cA short time later the incomparable guru gave up his body in\nBenares.  No longer need I seek him out in his little parlor; I\nfind every day of my life blessed by his omnipresent guidance.\u201d\n\nYears later, from the lips of Swami Keshabananda, {FN36-6} an\nadvanced disciple, I heard many wonderful details about the passing\nof Lahiri Mahasaya.\n\n\u201cA few days before my guru relinquished his body,\u201d Keshabananda told\nme, \u201che materialized himself before me as I sat in my hermitage at\nHardwar.\n\n\u201c\u2018Come at once to Benares.\u2019 With these words Lahiri Mahasaya\nvanished.\n\n\u201cI entrained immediately for Benares. At my guru\u2019s home I found\nmany disciples assembled. For hours that day {FN36-7} the master\nexpounded the GITA; then he addressed us simply.\n\n\u201c\u2018I am going home.\u2019\n\n\u201cSobs of anguish broke out like an irresistible torrent.\n\n\u201c\u2018Be comforted; I shall rise again.\u2019 After this utterance Lahiri\nMahasaya thrice turned his body around in a circle, faced the north\nin his lotus posture, and gloriously entered the final MAHA-SAMADHI.\n{FN36-8}\n\n\u201cLahiri Mahasaya\u2019s beautiful body, so dear to the devotees, was\ncremated with solemn householder rites at Manikarnika Ghat by the\nholy Ganges,\u201d Keshabananda continued. \u201cThe following day, at ten\no\u2019clock in the morning, while I was still in Benares, my room was\nsuffused with a great light. Lo! before me stood the flesh and\nblood form of Lahiri Mahasaya! It looked exactly like his old body,\nexcept that it appeared younger and more radiant. My divine guru\nspoke to me.\n\n\u201c\u2018Keshabananda,\u2019 he said, \u2018it is I. From the disintegrated atoms\nof my cremated body, I have resurrected a remodeled form. My\nhouseholder work in the world is done; but I do not leave the earth\nentirely.  Henceforth I shall spend some time with Babaji in the\nHimalayas, and with Babaji in the cosmos.\u2019\n\n\u201cWith a few words of blessing to me, the transcendent master\nvanished.  Wondrous inspiration filled my heart; I was uplifted\nin Spirit even as were the disciples of Christ and Kabir {FN36-9}\nwhen they had gazed on their living gurus after physical death.\n\n\u201cWhen I returned to my isolated Hardwar hermitage,\u201d Keshabananda\nwent on, \u201cI carried with me the sacred ashes of my guru. I know he\nhas escaped the spatio-temporal cage; the bird of omnipresence is\nfreed.  Yet it comforted my heart to enshrine his sacred remains.\u201d\n\nAnother disciple who was blessed by the sight of his resurrected\nguru was the saintly Panchanon Bhattacharya, founder of the Calcutta\nArya Mission Institution. {FN36-10}\n\nI visited Panchanon at his Calcutta home, and listened with delight\nto the story of his many years with the master. In conclusion, he\ntold me of the most marvelous event in his life.\n\n\u201cHere in Calcutta,\u201d Panchanon said, \u201cat ten o\u2019clock of the morning\nwhich followed his cremation, Lahiri Mahasaya appeared before me\nin living glory.\u201d\n\nSwami Pranabananda, the \u201csaint with two bodies,\u201d also confided to\nme the details of his own supernal experience.\n\n\u201cA few days before Lahiri Mahasaya left his body,\u201d Pranabananda told\nme at the time he visited my Ranchi school, \u201cI received a letter\nfrom him, requesting me to come at once to Benares. I was delayed,\nhowever, and could not leave immediately. As I was in the midst\nof my travel preparations, about ten o\u2019clock in the morning, I was\nsuddenly overwhelmed with joy to see the shining figure of my guru.\n\n\u201c\u2018Why hurry to Benares?\u2019 Lahiri Mahasaya said, smiling. \u2018You shall\nfind me there no longer.\u2019\n\n\u201cAs the import of his words dawned on me, I sobbed broken-heartedly,\nbelieving that I was seeing him only in a vision.\n\n\u201cThe master approached me comfortingly. \u2018Here, touch my flesh,\u2019\nhe said. \u2018I am living, as always. Do not lament; am I not with you\nforever?\u2019\u201d\n\nFrom the lips of these three great disciples, a story of wondrous\ntruth has emerged: At the morning hour of ten, on the day after\nthe body of Lahiri Mahasaya had been consigned to the flames, the\nresurrected master, in a real but transfigured body, appeared before\nthree disciples, each one in a different city.\n\n\u201cSo when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this\nmortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass\nthe saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O\ndeath, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?\u201d {FN36-11}\n\n{FN36-1} Sri Yukteswar was later formally initiated into the Swami\nOrder by the MAHANT (monastery head) of Buddh Gaya.\n\n{FN36-2} \u201cGreat King\u201d-a title of respect.\n\n{FN36-3} A guru usually refers to his own disciple simply by his\nname, omitting any title. Thus, Babaji said \u201cLahiri,\u201d not \u201cLahiri\nMahasaya.\u201d\n\n{FN36-4} Literally, \u201ceternal religion,\u201d the name given to the body\nof Vedic teachings. SANATAN DHARMA has come to be called HINDUISM\nsince the time of the Greeks who designated the people on the banks\nof the river Indus as INDOOS, or HINDUS. The word HINDU, properly\nspeaking, refers only to followers of SANATAN DHARMA or Hinduism.\nThe term INDIAN applies equally to Hindus and Mohammedans and other\nINHABITANTS of the soil of India (and also through the confusing\ngeographical error of Columbus, to the American Mongoloid aboriginals).\n\nThe ancient name for India is ARYAVARTA, literally, \u201cabode of the\nAryans.\u201d The Sanskrit root of ARYA is \u201cworthy, holy, noble.\u201d The\nlater ethnological misuse of ARYAN to signify not spiritual, but\nphysical, characteristics, led the great Orientalist, Max Muller,\nto say quaintly: \u201cTo me an ethnologist who speaks of an Aryan\nrace, Aryan blood, Aryan eyes and hair, is as great a sinner as a\nlinguist who speaks of a dolichocephalic dictionary or a brachycephalic\ngrammar.\u201d\n\n{FN36-5} PARAM-GURU is literally \u201cguru supreme\u201d or \u201cguru beyond,\u201d\nsignifying a line or succession of teachers. Babaji, the GURU of\nLahiri Mahasaya, was the PARAM-GURU of Sri Yukteswar.\n\n{FN36-6} My visit to Keshabananda\u2019s ashram is described on pp.\n405-408.\n\n{FN36-7} September 26, 1895 is the date on which Lahiri Mahasaya left\nhis body. In a few more days he would have reached his sixty-eighth\nbirthday.\n\n{FN36-8} Facing the north, and thrice revolving the body, are parts\nof a Vedic rite used by masters who know beforehand when the final\nhour is about to strike for the physical body. The last meditation,\nduring which the master merges himself in the Cosmic AUM, is called\nthe MAHA, or great, SAMADHI.\n\n{FN36-9} Kabir was a great sixteenth-century saint whose large\nfollowing included both Hindus and Mohammedans. At the time of his\ndeath, the disciples quarreled over the manner of conducting the\nfuneral ceremonies. The exasperated master rose from his final sleep,\nand gave his instructions. \u201cHalf of my remains shall be buried by\nthe Moslem rites;\u201d he said, \u201clet the other half be cremated with\na Hindu sacrament.\u201d He then vanished. When the disciples opened\nthe coffin which had contained his body, nothing was found but a\ndazzling array of gold-colored champak flowers. Half of these were\nobediently buried by the Moslems, who revere his shrine to this\nday.\n\nIn his youth Kabir was approached by two disciples who wanted minute\nintellectual guidance along the mystic path. The master responded\nsimply:\n\n\u201cPath presupposes distance;\nIf He be near, no path needest thou at all.\nVerily it maketh me smile\nTo hear of a fish in water athirst!\u201d\n\n{FN36-10} Panchanon established, in a seventeen-acre garden\nat Deogarh in Bihar, a temple containing a stone statue of Lahiri\nMahasaya.  Another statue of the great master has been set by\ndisciples in the little parlor of his Benares home.\n\n{FN36-11} I CORINTHIANS 15:54-55.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 37\n\nI GO TO AMERICA\n\n\n\u201cAmerica! Surely these people are Americans!\u201d This was my thought\nas a panoramic vision of Western faces passed before my inward\nview.\n\nImmersed in meditation, I was sitting behind some dusty boxes in\nthe storeroom of the Ranchi school. A private spot was difficult\nto find during those busy years with the youngsters!\n\nThe vision continued; a vast multitude, {FN37-1} gazing at me\nintently, swept actorlike across the stage of consciousness.\n\nThe storeroom door opened; as usual, one of the young lads had\ndiscovered my hiding place.\n\n\u201cCome here, Bimal,\u201d I cried gaily. \u201cI have news for you: the Lord\nis calling me to America!\u201d\n\n\u201cTo America?\u201d The boy echoed my words in a tone that implied I had\nsaid \u201cto the moon.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! I am going forth to discover America, like Columbus. He\nthought he had found India; surely there is a karmic link between\nthose two lands!\u201d\n\nBimal scampered away; soon the whole school was informed by the\ntwo-legged newspaper. {FN37-2} I summoned the bewildered faculty\nand gave the school into its charge.\n\n\u201cI know you will keep Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s yoga ideals of education ever\nto the fore,\u201d I said. \u201cI shall write you frequently; God willing,\nsomeday I shall be back.\u201d\n\nTears stood in my eyes as I cast a last look at the little boys\nand the sunny acres of Ranchi. A definite epoch in my life had now\nclosed, I knew; henceforth I would dwell in far lands. I entrained\nfor Calcutta a few hours after my vision. The following day I\nreceived an invitation to serve as the delegate from India to an\nInternational Congress of Religious Liberals in America. It was\nto convene that year in Boston, under the auspices of the American\nUnitarian Association.\n\nMy head in a whirl, I sought out Sri Yukteswar in Serampore.\n\n\u201cGuruji, I have just been invited to address a religious congress\nin America. Shall I go?\u201d\n\n\u201cAll doors are open for you,\u201d Master replied simply. \u201cIt is now or\nnever.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, sir,\u201d I said in dismay, \u201cwhat do I know about public speaking?\nSeldom have I given a lecture, and never in English.\u201d\n\n\u201cEnglish or no English, your words on yoga shall be heard in the\nWest.\u201d\n\nI laughed. \u201cWell, dear guruji, I hardly think the Americans will\nlearn Bengali! Please bless me with a push over the hurdles of the\nEnglish language.\u201d {FN37-3}\n\nWhen I broke the news of my plans to Father, he was utterly taken\naback. To him America seemed incredibly remote; he feared he might\nnever see me again.\n\n\u201cHow can you go?\u201d he asked sternly. \u201cWho will finance you?\u201d As he\nhad affectionately borne the expenses of my education and whole\nlife, he doubtless hoped that his question would bring my project\nto an embarrassing halt.\n\n\u201cThe Lord will surely finance me.\u201d As I made this reply, I thought\nof the similar one I had given long ago to my brother Ananta in\nAgra.  Without very much guile, I added, \u201cFather, perhaps God will\nput it into your mind to help me.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, never!\u201d He glanced at me piteously.\n\nI was astounded, therefore, when Father handed me, the following\nday, a check made out for a large amount.\n\n\u201cI give you this money,\u201d he said, \u201cnot in my capacity as a father,\nbut as a faithful disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya. Go then to that far\nWestern land; spread there the creedless teachings of KRIYA YOGA.\u201d\n\nI was immensely touched at the selfless spirit in which Father\nhad been able to quickly put aside his personal desires. The just\nrealization had come to him during the preceding night that no\nordinary desire for foreign travel was motivating my voyage.\n\n\u201cPerhaps we shall not meet again in this life.\u201d Father, who was\nsixty-seven at this time, spoke sadly.\n\nAn intuitive conviction prompted me to reply, \u201cSurely the Lord will\nbring us together once more.\u201d\n\nAs I went about my preparations to leave Master and my native\nland for the unknown shores of America, I experienced not a little\ntrepidation.  I had heard many stories about the materialistic\nWestern atmosphere, one very different from the spiritual background\nof India, pervaded with the centuried aura of saints. \u201cAn Oriental\nteacher who will dare the Western airs,\u201d I thought, \u201cmust be hardy\nbeyond the trials of any Himalayan cold!\u201d\n\nOne early morning I began to pray, with an adamant determination\nto continue, to even die praying, until I heard the voice of God.\nI wanted His blessing and assurance that I would not lose myself\nin the fogs of modern utilitarianism. My heart was set to go to\nAmerica, but even more strongly was it resolved to hear the solace\nof divine permission.\n\nI prayed and prayed, muffling my sobs. No answer came. My silent\npetition increased in excruciating crescendo until, at noon, I had\nreached a zenith; my brain could no longer withstand the pressure\nof my agonies. If I cried once more with an increased depth of my\ninner passion, I felt as though my brain would split. At that moment\nthere came a knock outside the vestibule adjoining the Gurpar Road\nroom in which I was sitting. Opening the door, I saw a young man\nin the scanty garb of a renunciate. He came in, closed the door\nbehind him and, refusing my request to sit down, indicated with a\ngesture that he wished to talk to me while standing.\n\n\u201cHe must be Babaji!\u201d I thought, dazed, because the man before me\nhad the features of a younger Lahiri Mahasaya.\n\nHe answered my thought. \u201cYes, I am Babaji.\u201d He spoke melodiously\nin Hindi. \u201cOur Heavenly Father has heard your prayer. He commands\nme to tell you: Follow the behests of your guru and go to America.\nFear not; you will be protected.\u201d\n\nAfter a vibrant pause, Babaji addressed me again. \u201cYou are the one\nI have chosen to spread the message of KRIYA YOGA in the West. Long\nago I met your guru Yukteswar at a KUMBHA MELA; I told him then I\nwould send you to him for training.\u201d\n\nI was speechless, choked with devotional awe at his presence, and\ndeeply touched to hear from his own lips that he had guided me\nto Sri Yukteswar. I lay prostrate before the deathless guru. He\ngraciously lifted me from the floor. Telling me many things about\nmy life, he then gave me some personal instruction, and uttered a\nfew secret prophecies.\n\n\u201cKRIYA YOGA, the scientific technique of God-realization,\u201d he finally\nsaid with solemnity, \u201cwill ultimately spread in all lands, and aid\nin harmonizing the nations through man\u2019s personal, transcendental\nperception of the Infinite Father.\u201d\n\nWith a gaze of majestic power, the master electrified me by a\nglimpse of his cosmic consciousness. In a short while he started\ntoward the door.\n\n\u201cDo not try to follow me,\u201d he said. \u201cYou will not be able to do\nso.\u201d\n\n\u201cPlease, Babaji, don\u2019t go away!\u201d I cried repeatedly. \u201cTake me with\nyou!\u201d\n\nLooking back, he replied, \u201cNot now. Some other time.\u201d\n\nOvercome by emotion, I disregarded his warning. As I tried to pursue\nhim, I discovered that my feet were firmly rooted to the floor.\nFrom the door, Babaji gave me a last affectionate glance. He raised\nhis hand by way of benediction and walked away, my eyes fixed on\nhim longingly.\n\nAfter a few minutes my feet were free. I sat down and went into a\ndeep meditation, unceasingly thanking God not only for answering my\nprayer but for blessing me by a meeting with Babaji. My whole body\nseemed sanctified through the touch of the ancient, ever-youthful\nmaster.  Long had it been my burning desire to behold him.\n\nUntil now, I have never recounted to anyone this story of my meeting\nwith Babaji. Holding it as the most sacred of my human experiences,\nI have hidden it in my heart. But the thought occurred to me that\nreaders of this autobiography may be more inclined to believe in\nthe reality of the secluded Babaji and his world interests if I\nrelate that I saw him with my own eyes. I have helped an artist to\ndraw a true picture of the great Yogi-Christ of modern India; it\nappears in this book.\n\nThe eve of my departure for the United States found me in Sri\nYukteswar\u2019s holy presence.\n\n\u201cForget you were born a Hindu, and don\u2019t be an American. Take the\nbest of them both,\u201d Master said in his calm way of wisdom. \u201cBe your\ntrue self, a child of God. Seek and incorporate into your being\nthe best qualities of all your brothers, scattered over the earth\nin various races.\u201d\n\nThen he blessed me: \u201cAll those who come to you with faith, seeking\nGod, will be helped. As you look at them, the spiritual current\nemanating from your eyes will enter into their brains and change\ntheir material habits, making them more God-conscious.\u201d\n\nHe went on, \u201cYour lot to attract sincere souls is very good.\nEverywhere you go, even in a wilderness, you will find friends.\u201d\n\nBoth of his blessings have been amply demonstrated. I came alone\nto America, into a wilderness without a single friend, but there\nI found thousands ready to receive the time-tested soul-teachings.\n\nI left India in August, 1920, on THE CITY OF SPARTA, the first\npassenger boat sailing for America after the close of World War\nI. I had been able to book passage only after the removal, in ways\nfairly miraculous, of many \u201cred-tape\u201d difficulties concerned with\nthe granting of my passport.\n\nDuring the two-months\u2019 voyage a fellow passenger found out that I\nwas the Indian delegate to the Boston congress.\n\n\u201cSwami Yogananda,\u201d he said, with the first of many quaint\npronunciations by which I was later to hear my name spoken by the\nAmericans, \u201cplease favor the passengers with a lecture next Thursday\nnight. I think we would all benefit by a talk on \u2018The Battle of\nLife and How to Fight It.\u2019\u201d\n\nAlas! I had to fight the battle of my own life, I discovered on\nWednesday. Desperately trying to organize my ideas into a lecture\nin English, I finally abandoned all preparations; my thoughts, like\na wild colt eyeing a saddle, refused any cooperation with the laws\nof English grammar. Fully trusting in Master\u2019s past assurances,\nhowever, I appeared before my Thursday audience in the saloon of\nthe steamer.  No eloquence rose to my lips; speechlessly I stood\nbefore the assemblage. After an endurance contest lasting ten\nminutes, the audience realized my predicament and began to laugh.\n\nThe situation was not funny to me at the moment; indignantly I sent\na silent prayer to Master.\n\n\u201cYou CAN! Speak!\u201d His voice sounded instantly within my consciousness.\n\nMy thoughts fell at once into a friendly relation with the English\nlanguage. Forty-five minutes later the audience was still attentive.\nThe talk won me a number of invitations to lecture later before\nvarious groups in America.\n\nI never could remember, afterward, a word that I had spoken. By\ndiscreet inquiry I learned from a number of passengers: \u201cYou gave\nan inspiring lecture in stirring and correct English.\u201d At this\ndelightful news I humbly thanked my guru for his timely help,\nrealizing anew that he was ever with me, setting at naught all\nbarriers of time and space.\n\nOnce in awhile, during the remainder of the ocean trip, I experienced\na few apprehensive twinges about the coming English-lecture ordeal\nat the Boston congress.\n\n\u201cLord,\u201d I prayed, \u201cplease let my inspiration be Thyself, and not\nagain the laughter-bombs of the audience!\u201d\n\n[Illustration: A group of delegates to the 1920 International\nCongress of Religious Liberals at Boston, where I gave my maiden\nspeech in America. (Left to Right) Rev. Clay MacCauley, Rev. T.\nRhondda Williams, Prof. S. Ushigasaki, Rev. Jabez T. Sunderland,\nmyself, Rev. Chas. W.  Wendte, Rev. Samuel A. Eliot, Rev. Basil\nMartin, Rev. Christopher J.  Street, Rev. Samuel M. Crothers.\u2014see\ncongress.jpg]\n\nTHE CITY OF SPARTA docked near Boston in late September. On the\nsixth of October I addressed the congress with my maiden speech in\nAmerica.  It was well received; I sighed in relief. The magnanimous\nsecretary of the American Unitarian Association wrote the following\ncomment in a published account {FN37-4} of the congress proceedings:\n\n\u201cSwami Yogananda, delegate from the Brahmacharya Ashram of Ranchi,\nIndia, brought the greetings of his Association to the Congress.\nIn fluent English and a forcible delivery he gave an address of\na philosophical character on \u2018The Science of Religion,\u2019 which has\nbeen printed in pamphlet form for a wider distribution. Religion,\nhe maintained, is universal and it is one. We cannot possibly\nuniversalize particular customs and convictions, but the common\nelement in religion can be universalized, and we can ask all alike\nto follow and obey it.\u201d\n\nDue to Father\u2019s generous check, I was able to remain in America\nafter the congress was over. Four happy years were spent in humble\ncircumstances in Boston. I gave public lectures, taught classes,\nand wrote a book of poems, SONGS OF THE SOUL, with a preface by\nDr.  Frederick B. Robinson, president of the College of the City\nof New York. {FN37-5}\n\nStarting a transcontinental tour in the summer of 1924, I spoke\nbefore thousands in the principal cities, ending my western trip\nwith a vacation in the beautiful Alaskan north.\n\nWith the help of large-hearted students, by the end of 1925 I had\nestablished an American headquarters on the Mount Washington Estates\nin Los Angeles. The building is the one I had seen years before in\nmy vision at Kashmir. I hastened to send Sri Yukteswar pictures of\nthese distant American activities. He replied with a postcard in\nBengali, which I here translate:\n\n11th August, 1926\n\nChild of my heart, O Yogananda!\n\nSeeing the photos of your school and students, what joy comes in\nmy life I cannot express in words. I am melting in joy to see your\nyoga students of different cities. Beholding your methods in chant\naffirmations, healing vibrations, and divine healing prayers, I\ncannot refrain from thanking you from my heart. Seeing the gate,\nthe winding hilly way upward, and the beautiful scenery spread out\nbeneath the Mount Washington Estates, I yearn to behold it all with\nmy own eyes.\n\nEverything here is going on well. Through the grace of God, may\nyou ever be in bliss.\n\nSRI YUKTESWAR GIRI\n\n[Illustration: Main building at the Mount Washington Estates in\nLos Angeles, established in 1925 as American headquarters for the\nSelf-Realization Fellowship.\u2014see mtwash.jpg]\n\nYears sped by. I lectured in every part of my new land, and\naddressed hundreds of clubs, colleges, churches, and groups of\nevery denomination.\n\n[Illustration: I stand on the dais before one of my classes\nin America.  This class of a thousand yoga students was held in\nWashington, D.C.\u2014see dc.jpg]\n\nTens of thousands of Americans received yoga initiation.  To them all\nI dedicated a new book of prayer thoughts in 1929-WHISPERS FROM\nETERNITY, with a preface by Amelita Galli-Curci. {FN37-6} I give here,\nfrom the book, a poem entitled \u201cGod! God! God!\u201d, composed one night as\nI stood on a lecture platform:\n\n  From the depths of slumber,\n  As I ascend the spiral stairway of wakefulness,\n  I whisper:\n  God! God! God!\n\n  Thou art the food, and when I break my fast\n  Of nightly separation from Thee,\n  I taste Thee, and mentally say:\n  God! God! God!\n\n  No matter where I go, the spotlight of my mind\n  Ever keeps turning on Thee;\n  And in the battle din of activity\n  My silent war cry is ever: God! God! God!\n\n  When boisterous storms of trials shriek,\n  And when worries howl at me,\n  I drown their clamor, loudly chanting:\n  God! God! God!\n\n  When my mind weaves dreams\n  With threads of memories,\n  Then on that magic cloth I find embossed:\n  God! God! God!\n\n  Every night, in time of deepest sleep,\n  My peace dreams and calls, Joy! Joy! Joy!\n  And my joy comes singing evermore:\n  God! God! God!\n\n  In waking, eating, working, dreaming, sleeping,\n  Serving, meditating, chanting, divinely loving,\n  My soul constantly hums, unheard by any:\n  God! God! God!\n\nSometimes-usually on the first of the month when the bills rolled\nin for upkeep of the Mount Washington and other Self-Realization\nFellowship centers!-I thought longingly of the simple peace of\nIndia.  But daily I saw a widening understanding between West and\nEast; my soul rejoiced.\n\nI have found the great heart of America expressed in the wondrous\nlines by Emma Lazarus, carved at the base of the Statue of Liberty,\nthe \u201cMother of Exiles\u201d:\n\n                       From her beacon-hand\n  Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command\n  The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.\n  \u201cKeep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!\u201d cries she\n  With silent lips. \u201cGive me your tired, your poor,\n  Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,\n  The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.\n  Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,\n  I lift my lamp beside the golden door.\n\n{FN37-1} Many of those faces I have since seen in the West, and\ninstantly recognized..\n\n{FN37-2} Swami Premananda, now the leader of the Self-Realization\nChurch of All Religions in Washington, D.C., was one of the students\nat the Ranchi school at the time I left there for America. (He was\nthen Brahmachari Jotin.)\n\n{FN37-3} Sri Yukteswar and I ordinarily conversed in Bengali.\n\n{FN37-4} NEW PILGRIMAGES OF THE SPIRIT (Boston: Beacon Press, 1921).\n\n{FN37-5} Dr. and Mrs. Robinson visited India in 1939, and were\nhonored guests at the Ranchi school.\n\n{FN37-6} Mme. Galli-Curci and her husband, Homer Samuels,\nthe pianist, have been Kriya Yoga students for twenty years. The\ninspiring story of the famous prima donna\u2019s years of music has been\nrecently published (GALLI-CURCI\u2019S LIFE OF SONG, by C. E. LeMassena,\nPaebar Co., New York, 1945).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 38\n\nLUTHER BURBANK\u2014A SAINT AMIDST THE ROSES\n\n\n\u201cThe secret of improved plant breeding, apart from scientific\nknowledge, is love.\u201d Luther Burbank uttered this wisdom as I walked\nbeside him in his Santa Rosa garden. We halted near a bed of edible\ncacti.\n\n\u201cWhile I was conducting experiments to make \u2018spineless\u2019 cacti,\u201d he\ncontinued, \u201cI often talked to the plants to create a vibration of\nlove. \u2018You have nothing to fear,\u2019 I would tell them. \u2018You don\u2019t need\nyour defensive thorns. I will protect you.\u2019 Gradually the useful\nplant of the desert emerged in a thornless variety.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Luther Burbank, beloved friend, poses with me in\nhis Santa Rosa garden.\u2014see burbank.jpg]\n\n[Illustration: Luther Burbank\u2014see burbank2.jpg]\n\nI was charmed at this miracle. \u201cPlease, dear Luther, give me a few\ncacti leaves to plant in my garden at Mount Washington.\u201d\n\nA workman standing near-by started to strip off some leaves; Burbank\nprevented him.\n\n\u201cI myself will pluck them for the swami.\u201d He handed me three leaves,\nwhich later I planted, rejoicing as they grew to huge estate.\n\nThe great horticulturist told me that his first notable triumph was\nthe large potato, now known by his name. With the indefatigability\nof genius, he went on to present the world with hundreds of crossed\nimprovements on nature-his new Burbank varieties of tomato, corn,\nsquash, cherries, plums, nectarines, berries, poppies, lilies,\nroses.\n\nI focused my camera as Luther led me before the famous walnut tree\nby which he had proved that natural evolution can be telescopically\nhastened.\n\n\u201cIn only sixteen years,\u201d he said, \u201cthis walnut tree reached a state\nof abundant nut production to which an unaided nature would have\nbrought the tree in twice that time.\u201d\n\nBurbank\u2019s little adopted daughter came romping with her dog into\nthe garden.\n\n\u201cShe is my human plant.\u201d Luther waved to her affectionately. \u201cI see\nhumanity now as one vast plant, needing for its highest fulfillments\nonly love, the natural blessings of the great outdoors, and\nintelligent crossing and selection. In the span of my own lifetime\nI have observed such wondrous progress in plant evolution that I\nlook forward optimistically to a healthy, happy world as soon as its\nchildren are taught the principles of simple and rational living.\nWe must return to nature and nature\u2019s God.\u201d\n\n\u201cLuther, you would delight in my Ranchi school, with its outdoor\nclasses, and atmosphere of joy and simplicity.\u201d\n\nMy words touched the chord closest to Burbank\u2019s heart-child\neducation.  He plied me with questions, interest gleaming from his\ndeep, serene eyes.\n\n\u201cSwamiji,\u201d he said finally, \u201cschools like yours are the only hope\nof a future millennium. I am in revolt against the educational systems\nof our time, severed from nature and stifling of all individuality.\nI am with you heart and soul in your practical ideals of education.\u201d\n\nAs I was taking leave of the gentle sage, he autographed a small volume\nand presented it to me. {FN38-1} \u201cHere is my book on THE TRAINING\nOF THE HUMAN PLANT,\u201d {FN38-2} he said. \u201cNew types of training are\nneeded-fearless experiments. At times the most daring trials have\nsucceeded in bringing out the best in fruits and flowers. Educational\ninnovations for children should likewise become more numerous, more\ncourageous.\u201d\n\nI read his little book that night with intense interest. His eye\nenvisioning a glorious future for the race, he wrote: \u201cThe most\nstubborn living thing in this world, the most difficult to swerve,\nis a plant once fixed in certain habits. . . . Remember that this\nplant has preserved its individuality all through the ages; perhaps\nit is one which can be traced backward through eons of time in the\nvery rocks themselves, never having varied to any great extent in\nall these vast periods. Do you suppose, after all these ages of\nrepetition, the plant does not become possessed of a will, if you\nso choose to call it, of unparalleled tenacity? Indeed, there are\nplants, like certain of the palms, so persistent that no human\npower has yet been able to change them. The human will is a weak\nthing beside the will of a plant. But see how this whole plant\u2019s\nlifelong stubbornness is broken simply by blending a new life with\nit, making, by crossing, a complete and powerful change in its life.\nThen when the break comes, fix it by these generations of patient\nsupervision and selection, and the new plant sets out upon its new\nway never again to return to the old, its tenacious will broken\nand changed at last.\n\n\u201cWhen it comes to so sensitive and pliable a thing as the nature\nof a child, the problem becomes vastly easier.\u201d\n\nMagnetically drawn to this great American, I visited him again and\nagain. One morning I arrived at the same time as the postman, who\ndeposited in Burbank\u2019s study about a thousand letters. Horticulturists\nwrote him from all parts of the world.\n\n\u201cSwamiji, your presence is just the excuse I need to get out into\nthe garden,\u201d Luther said gaily. He opened a large desk-drawer\ncontaining hundreds of travel folders.\n\n\u201cSee,\u201d he said, \u201cthis is how I do my traveling. Tied down by my\nplants and correspondence, I satisfy my desire for foreign lands\nby a glance now and then at these pictures.\u201d\n\nMy car was standing before his gate; Luther and I drove along the\nstreets of the little town, its gardens bright with his own varieties\nof Santa Rosa, Peachblow, and Burbank roses.\n\n\u201cMy friend Henry Ford and I both believe in the ancient theory of\nreincarnation,\u201d Luther told me. \u201cIt sheds light on aspects of life\notherwise inexplicable. Memory is not a test of truth; just because\nman fails to remember his past lives does not prove he never had\nthem.  Memory is blank concerning his womb-life and infancy, too;\nbut he probably passed through them!\u201d He chuckled.\n\nThe great scientist had received KRIYA initiation during one of my\nearlier visits. \u201cI practice the technique devoutly, Swamiji,\u201d he\nsaid.  After many thoughtful questions to me about various aspects\nof yoga, Luther remarked slowly:\n\n\u201cThe East indeed possesses immense hoards of knowledge which the\nWest has scarcely begun to explore.\u201d\n\nIntimate communion with nature, who unlocked to him many of her\njealously guarded secrets, had given Burbank a boundless spiritual\nreverence.\n\n\u201cSometimes I feel very close to the Infinite Power,\u201d he confided\nshyly. His sensitive, beautifully modeled face lit with his memories.\n\u201cThen I have been able to heal sick persons around me, as well as\nmany ailing plants.\u201d\n\nHe told me of his mother, a sincere Christian. \u201cMany times after\nher death,\u201d Luther said, \u201cI have been blessed by her appearance in\nvisions; she has spoken to me.\u201d\n\nWe drove back reluctantly toward his home and those waiting thousand\nletters.\n\n\u201cLuther,\u201d I remarked, \u201cnext month I am starting a magazine to present\nthe truth-offerings of East and West. Please help me decide on a\ngood name for the journal.\u201d\n\nWe discussed titles for awhile, and finally agreed on EAST-WEST.\nAfter we had reentered his study, Burbank gave me an article he\nhad written on \u201cScience and Civilization.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis will go in the first issue of EAST-WEST,\u201d I said gratefully.\n\nAs our friendship grew deeper, I called Burbank my \u201cAmerican saint.\u201d\n\u201cBehold a man,\u201d I quoted, \u201cin whom there is no guile!\u201d His heart\nwas fathomlessly deep, long acquainted with humility, patience,\nsacrifice.  His little home amidst the roses was austerely simple;\nhe knew the worthlessness of luxury, the joy of few possessions. The\nmodesty with which he wore his scientific fame repeatedly reminded\nme of the trees that bend low with the burden of ripening fruits;\nit is the barren tree that lifts its head high in an empty boast.\n\nI was in New York when, in 1926, my dear friend passed away. In\ntears I thought, \u201cOh, I would gladly walk all the way from here to\nSanta Rosa for one more glimpse of him!\u201d Locking myself away from\nsecretaries and visitors, I spent the next twenty-four hours in\nseclusion.\n\nThe following day I conducted a Vedic memorial rite around a large\npicture of Luther. A group of my American students, garbed in Hindu\nceremonial clothes, chanted the ancient hymns as an offering was\nmade of flowers, water, and fire-symbols of the bodily elements\nand their release in the Infinite Source.\n\nThough the form of Burbank lies in Santa Rosa under a Lebanon cedar\nthat he planted years ago in his garden, his soul is enshrined for\nme in every wide-eyed flower that blooms by the wayside. Withdrawn\nfor a time into the spacious spirit of nature, is that not Luther\nwhispering in her winds, walking her dawns?\n\nHis name has now passed into the heritage of common speech. Listing\n\u201cburbank\u201d as a transitive verb, Webster\u2019s New International Dictionary\ndefines it: \u201cTo cross or graft (a plant). Hence, figuratively, to\nimprove (anything, as a process or institution) by selecting good\nfeatures and rejecting bad, or by adding good features.\u201d\n\n\u201cBeloved Burbank,\u201d I cried after reading the definition, \u201cyour very\nname is now a synonym for goodness!\u201d\n\nLUTHER BURBANK\n\nSANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA\n\nU.S.A.\n\nDecember 22, 1924\n\nI have examined the Yogoda system of Swami Yogananda and in my\nopinion it is ideal for training and harmonizing man\u2019s physical,\nmental, and spiritual natures. Swami\u2019s aim is to establish\n\u201cHow-to-Live\u201d schools throughout the world, wherein education will\nnot confine itself to intellectual development alone, but also\ntraining of the body, will, and feelings.\n\nThrough the Yogoda system of physical, mental, and spiritual\nunfoldment by simple and scientific methods of concentration and\nmeditation, most of the complex problems of life may be solved,\nand peace and good-will come upon earth. The Swami\u2019s idea of\nright education is plain commonsense, free from all mysticism and\nnon-practicality; otherwise it would not have my approval.\n\nI am glad to have this opportunity of heartily joining with the\nSwami in his appeal for international schools on the art of living\nwhich, if established, will come as near to bringing the millennium\nas anything with which I am acquainted.\n\n{FN38-1} Burbank also gave me an autographed picture of himself.\nI treasure it even as a Hindu merchant once treasured a picture of\nLincoln. The Hindu, who was in America during the Civil War years,\nconceived such an admiration for Lincoln that he was unwilling\nto return to India until he had obtained a portrait of the Great\nEmancipator. Planting himself adamantly on Lincoln\u2019s doorstep, the\nmerchant refused to leave until the astonished President permitted\nhim to engage the services of Daniel Huntington, the famous New\nYork artist. When the portrait was finished, the Hindu carried it\nin triumph to Calcutta.\n\n[Illustration: Luther Burbank\u2019s signature\u2014see bsignature.jpg]\n\n{FN38-2} New York: Century Co., 1922.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 39\n\nTHERESE NEUMANN, THE CATHOLIC STIGMATIST\n\n\n\u201cReturn to india. I have waited for you patiently for fifteen\nyears.  Soon I shall swim out of the body and on to the Shining\nAbode.  Yogananda, come!\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s voice sounded startlingly in my inner ear as I sat\nin meditation at my Mt. Washington headquarters. Traversing ten\nthousand miles in the twinkling of an eye, his message penetrated\nmy being like a flash of lightning.\n\nFifteen years! Yes, I realized, now it is 1935; I have spent fifteen\nyears in spreading my guru\u2019s teachings in America. Now he recalls\nme.\n\nThat afternoon I recounted my experience to a visiting disciple.\nHis spiritual development under KRIYA YOGA was so remarkable that\nI often called him \u201csaint,\u201d remembering Babaji\u2019s prophecy that America\ntoo would produce men and women of divine realization through the\nancient yogic path.\n\nThis disciple and a number of others generously insisted on making a\ndonation for my travels. The financial problem thus solved, I made\narrangements to sail, via Europe, for India. Busy weeks of preparations\nat Mount Washington! In March, 1935 I had the Self-Realization\nFellowship chartered under the laws of the State of California as\na non-profit corporation. To this educational institution go all\npublic donations as well as the revenue from the sale of my books,\nmagazine, written courses, class tuition, and every other source\nof income.\n\n\u201cI shall be back,\u201d I told my students. \u201cNever shall I forget\nAmerica.\u201d\n\nAt a farewell banquet given to me in Los Angeles by loving friends,\nI looked long at their faces and thought gratefully, \u201cLord, he who\nremembers Thee as the Sole Giver will never lack the sweetness of\nfriendship among mortals.\u201d\n\nI sailed from New York on June 9, 1935 {FN39-1} in the EUROPA. Two\nstudents accompanied me: my secretary, Mr. C. Richard Wright, and\nan elderly lady from Cincinnati, Miss Ettie Bletch. We enjoyed the\ndays of ocean peace, a welcome contrast to the past hurried weeks.\nOur period of leisure was short-lived; the speed of modern boats\nhas some regrettable features!\n\nLike any other group of inquisitive tourists, we walked around the\nhuge and ancient city of London. The following day I was invited to\naddress a large meeting in Caxton Hall, at which I was introduced\nto the London audience by Sir Francis Younghusband. Our party\nspent a pleasant day as guests of Sir Harry Lauder at his estate\nin Scotland.  We soon crossed the English Channel to the continent,\nfor I wanted to make a special pilgrimage to Bavaria. This would\nbe my only chance, I felt, to visit the great Catholic mystic,\nTherese Neumann of Konnersreuth.\n\nYears earlier I had read an amazing account of Therese. Information\ngiven in the article was as follows:\n\n(1) Therese, born in 1898, had been injured in an accident at the\nage of twenty; she became blind and paralyzed.\n\n(2) She miraculously regained her sight in 1923 through prayers\nto St.  Teresa, \u201cThe Little Flower.\u201d Later Therese Neumann\u2019s limbs\nwere instantaneously healed.\n\n(3) From 1923 onward, Therese has abstained completely from food\nand drink, except for the daily swallowing of one small consecrated\nwafer.\n\n(4) The stigmata, or sacred wounds of Christ, appeared in 1926 on\nTherese\u2019s head, breast, hands, and feet. On Friday of every week\nthereafter, she has passed through the Passion of Christ, suffering\nin her own body all his historic agonies.\n\n(5) Knowing ordinarily only the simple German of her village,\nduring her Friday trances Therese utters phrases which scholars\nhave identified as ancient Aramaic. At appropriate times in her\nvision, she speaks Hebrew or Greek.\n\n(6) By ecclesiastical permission, Therese has several times been\nunder close scientific observation. Dr. Fritz Gerlick, editor of\na Protestant German newspaper, went to Konnersreuth to \u201cexpose the\nCatholic fraud,\u201d but ended up by reverently writing her biography.\n{FN39-2}\n\nAs always, whether in East or West, I was eager to meet a saint.\nI rejoiced as our little party entered, on July 16th, the quaint\nvillage of Konnersreuth. The Bavarian peasants exhibited lively\ninterest in our Ford automobile (brought with us from America) and\nits assorted group-an American young man, an elderly lady, and an\nolive-hued Oriental with long hair tucked under his coat collar.\n\nTherese\u2019s little cottage, clean and neat, with geraniums blooming\nby a primitive well, was alas! silently closed. The neighbors, and\neven the village postman who passed by, could give us no information.\nRain began to fall; my companions suggested that we leave.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d I said stubbornly, \u201cI will stay here until I find some clue\nleading to Therese.\u201d\n\nTwo hours later we were still sitting in our car amidst the dismal\nrain. \u201cLord,\u201d I sighed complainingly, \u201cwhy didst Thou lead me here\nif she has disappeared?\u201d\n\nAn English-speaking man halted beside us, politely offering his\naid.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know for certain where Therese is,\u201d he said, \u201cbut she\noften visits at the home of Professor Wurz, a seminary master of\nEichstatt, eighty miles from here.\u201d\n\nThe following morning our party motored to the quiet village\nof Eichstatt, narrowly lined with cobblestoned streets. Dr. Wurz\ngreeted us cordially at his home; \u201cYes, Therese is here.\u201d He sent\nher word of the visitors. A messenger soon appeared with her reply.\n\n\u201cThough the bishop has asked me to see no one without his permission,\nI will receive the man of God from India.\u201d\n\nDeeply touched at these words, I followed Dr. Wurz upstairs to the\nsitting room. Therese entered immediately, radiating an aura of\npeace and joy. She wore a black gown and spotless white head dress.\nAlthough her age was thirty-seven at this time, she seemed much\nyounger, possessing indeed a childlike freshness and charm. Healthy,\nwell-formed, rosy-cheeked, and cheerful, this is the saint that\ndoes not eat!\n\nTherese greeted me with a very gentle handshaking. We both beamed\nin silent communion, each knowing the other to be a lover of God.\n\nDr. Wurz kindly offered to serve as interpreter. As we seated\nourselves, I noticed that Therese was glancing at me with naive\ncuriosity; evidently Hindus had been rare in Bavaria.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t you eat anything?\u201d I wanted to hear the answer from her own\nlips.\n\n\u201cNo, except a consecrated rice-flour wafer, once every morning at\nsix o\u2019clock.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow large is the wafer?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is paper-thin, the size of a small coin.\u201d She added, \u201cI take\nit for sacramental reasons; if it is unconsecrated, I am unable to\nswallow it.\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly you could not have lived on that, for twelve whole\nyears?\u201d\n\n\u201cI live by God\u2019s light.\u201d How simple her reply, how Einsteinian!\n\n\u201cI see you realize that energy flows to your body from the ether,\nsun, and air.\u201d\n\nA swift smile broke over her face. \u201cI am so happy to know you\nunderstand how I live.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour sacred life is a daily demonstration of the truth uttered by\nChrist: \u2018Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that\nproceedeth out of the mouth of God.\u2019\u201d {FN39-3}\n\nAgain she showed joy at my explanation. \u201cIt is indeed so. One of\nthe reasons I am here on earth today is to prove that man can live\nby God\u2019s invisible light, and not by food only.\u201d\n\n\u201cCan you teach others how to live without food?\u201d\n\nShe appeared a trifle shocked. \u201cI cannot do that; God does not wish\nit.\u201d\n\nAs my gaze fell on her strong, graceful hands, Therese showed me\na little, square, freshly healed wound on each of her palms. On\nthe back of each hand, she pointed out a smaller, crescent-shaped\nwound, freshly healed. Each wound went straight through the hand.\nThe sight brought to my mind distinct recollection of the large\nsquare iron nails with crescent-tipped ends, still used in the\nOrient, but which I do not recall having seen in the West.\n\nThe saint told me something of her weekly trances. \u201cAs a helpless\nonlooker, I observe the whole Passion of Christ.\u201d Each week, from\nThursday midnight until Friday afternoon at one o\u2019clock, her wounds\nopen and bleed; she loses ten pounds of her ordinary 121-pound\nweight.  Suffering intensely in her sympathetic love, Therese yet\nlooks forward joyously to these weekly visions of her Lord.\n\nI realized at once that her strange life is intended by God to reassure\nall Christians of the historical authenticity of Jesus\u2019 life and\ncrucifixion as recorded in the New Testament, and to dramatically\ndisplay the ever-living bond between the Galilean Master and his\ndevotees.\n\nProfessor Wurz related some of his experiences with the saint.\n\n\u201cSeveral of us, including Therese, often travel for days on\nsight-seeing trips throughout Germany,\u201d he told me. \u201cIt is a striking\ncontrast-while we have three meals a day, Therese eats nothing.\nShe remains as fresh as a rose, untouched by the fatigue which the\ntrips cause us. As we grow hungry and hunt for wayside inns, she\nlaughs merrily.\u201d\n\nThe professor added some interesting physiological details: \u201cBecause\nTherese takes no food, her stomach has shrunk. She has no excretions,\nbut her perspiration glands function; her skin is always soft and\nfirm.\u201d\n\nAt the time of parting, I expressed to Therese my desire to be\npresent at her trance.\n\n\u201cYes, please come to Konnersreuth next Friday,\u201d she said graciously.\n\u201cThe bishop will give you a permit. I am very happy you sought me\nout in Eichstatt.\u201d\n\nTherese shook hands gently, many times, and walked with our party\nto the gate. Mr. Wright turned on the automobile radio; the saint\nexamined it with little enthusiastic chuckles. Such a large crowd\nof youngsters gathered that Therese retreated into the house. We\nsaw her at a window, where she peered at us, childlike, waving her\nhand.\n\n[Illustration: THERESE NEUMANN, Famous Catholic Stigmatist who\ninspired my 1935 pilgrimage to Konnersreuth, Bavaria\u2014see neumann.jpg]\n\nFrom a conversation the next day with two of Therese\u2019s brothers,\nvery kind and amiable, we learned that the saint sleeps only one\nor two hours at night. In spite of the many wounds in her body,\nshe is active and full of energy. She loves birds, looks after an\naquarium of fish, and works often in her garden. Her correspondence\nis large; Catholic devotees write her for prayers and healing\nblessings. Many seekers have been cured through her of serious\ndiseases.\n\nHer brother Ferdinand, about twenty-three, explained that Therese\nhas the power, through prayer, of working out on her own body the\nailments of others. The saint\u2019s abstinence from food dates from a\ntime when she prayed that the throat disease of a young man of her\nparish, then preparing to enter holy orders, be transferred to her\nown throat.\n\n[Illustration: Two Brothers of Therese Neumann, I stand with them\nin Konnersreuth, Bavaria.\u2014see nbrothers.jpg]\n\nOn Thursday afternoon our party drove to the home of the bishop,\nwho looked at my flowing locks with some surprise. He readily\nwrote out the necessary permit. There was no fee; the rule made by\nthe Church is simply to protect Therese from the onrush of casual\ntourists, who in previous years had flocked on Fridays by the\nthousands.\n\nWe arrived Friday morning about nine-thirty in Konnersreuth. I\nnoticed that Therese\u2019s little cottage possesses a special glass-roofed\nsection to afford her plenty of light. We were glad to see the\ndoors no longer closed, but wide-open in hospitable cheer. There\nwas a line of about twenty visitors, armed with their permits. Many\nhad come from great distances to view the mystic trance.\n\nTherese had passed my first test at the professor\u2019s house by her\nintuitive knowledge that I wanted to see her for spiritual reasons,\nand not just to satisfy a passing curiosity.\n\nMy second test was connected with the fact that, just before I\nwent upstairs to her room, I put myself into a yogic trance state\nin order to be one with her in telepathic and televisic rapport. I\nentered her chamber, filled with visitors; she was lying in a white\nrobe on the bed. With Mr. Wright following closely behind me, I\nhalted just inside the threshold, awestruck at a strange and most\nfrightful spectacle.\n\nBlood flowed thinly and continuously in an inch-wide stream from\nTherese\u2019s lower eyelids. Her gaze was focused upward on the spiritual\neye within the central forehead. The cloth wrapped around her head\nwas drenched in blood from the stigmata wounds of the crown of\nthorns. The white garment was redly splotched over her heart from\nthe wound in her side at the spot where Christ\u2019s body, long ages\nago, had suffered the final indignity of the soldier\u2019s spear-thrust.\n\nTherese\u2019s hands were extended in a gesture maternal, pleading;\nher face wore an expression both tortured and divine. She appeared\nthinner, changed in many subtle as well as outward ways. Murmuring\nwords in a foreign tongue, she spoke with slightly quivering lips\nto persons visible before her inner sight.\n\nAs I was in attunement with her, I began to see the scenes of\nher vision. She was watching Jesus as he carried the cross amidst\nthe jeering multitude. {FN39-4} Suddenly she lifted her head\nin consternation: the Lord had fallen under the cruel weight. The\nvision disappeared. In the exhaustion of fervid pity, Therese sank\nheavily against her pillow.\n\nAt this moment I heard a loud thud behind me. Turning my head for\na second, I saw two men carrying out a prostrate body. But because\nI was coming out of the deep superconscious state, I did not\nimmediately recognize the fallen person. Again I fixed my eyes on\nTherese\u2019s face, deathly pale under the rivulets of blood, but now\ncalm, radiating purity and holiness. I glanced behind me later\nand saw Mr. Wright standing with his hand against his cheek, from\nwhich blood was trickling.\n\n\u201cDick,\u201d I inquired anxiously, \u201cwere you the one who fell?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I fainted at the terrifying spectacle.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d I said consolingly, \u201cyou are brave to return and look upon\nthe sight again.\u201d\n\nRemembering the patiently waiting line of pilgrims, Mr. Wright and\nI silently bade farewell to Therese and left her sacred presence.\n{FN39-5}\n\nThe following day our little group motored south, thankful that we\nwere not dependent on trains, but could stop the Ford wherever we\nchose throughout the countryside. We enjoyed every minute of a tour\nthrough Germany, Holland, France, and the Swiss Alps. In Italy we\nmade a special trip to Assisi to honor the apostle of humility, St.\nFrancis. The European tour ended in Greece, where we viewed the\nAthenian temples, and saw the prison in which the gentle Socrates\n{FN39-6} had drunk his death potion. One is filled with admiration\nfor the artistry with which the Greeks have everywhere wrought\ntheir very fancies in alabaster.\n\nWe took ship over the sunny Mediterranean, disembarking at\nPalestine.  Wandering day after day over the Holy Land, I was more\nthan ever convinced of the value of pilgrimage. The spirit of Christ\nis all-pervasive in Palestine; I walked reverently by his side at\nBethlehem, Gethsemane, Calvary, the holy Mount of Olives, and by\nthe River Jordan and the Sea of Galilee.\n\nOur little party visited the Birth Manger, Joseph\u2019s carpenter shop,\nthe tomb of Lazarus, the house of Martha and Mary, the hall of the\nLast Supper. Antiquity unfolded; scene by scene, I saw the divine\ndrama that Christ once played for the ages.\n\nOn to Egypt, with its modern Cairo and ancient pyramids. Then a\nboat down the narrow Red Sea, over the vasty Arabian Sea; lo, India!\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Wright, myself, Miss Bletch\u2014in Egypt\u2014see\ncamel.jpg]\n\n{FN39-1} The remarkable inclusion here of a complete date is due\nto the fact that my secretary, Mr. Wright, kept a travel diary.\n\n{FN39-2} Other books on her life are THERESE NEUMANN: A STIGMATIST\nOF OUR DAY, and FURTHER CHRONICLES OF THERESE NEUMANN, both by\nFriedrich Ritter von Lama (Milwaukee: Bruce Pub. Co.).\n\n{FN39-3} MATTHEW 4:4. Man\u2019s body battery is not sustained by gross\nfood (bread) alone, but by the vibratory cosmic energy (word, or\nAUM). The invisible power flows into the human body through the\ngate of the medulla oblongata. This sixth bodily center is located\nat the back of the neck at the top of the five spinal CHAKRAS\n(Sanskrit for \u201cwheels\u201d or centers of radiating force). The medulla\nis the principal entrance for the body\u2019s supply of universal\nlife force (AUM), and is directly connected with man\u2019s power of\nwill, concentrated in the seventh or Christ Consciousness center\n(KUTASTHA) in the third eye between the eyebrows. Cosmic energy is\nthen stored up in the brain as a reservoir of infinite potentialities,\npoetically mentioned in the VEDAS as the \u201cthousand-petaled lotus\nof light.\u201d The Bible invariably refers to AUM as the \u201cHoly Ghost\u201d\nor invisible life force which divinely upholds all creation. \u201cWhat?\nknow ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which\nis in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?\u201d-I\nCORINTHIANS 6:19.\n\n{FN39-4} During the hours preceding my arrival, Therese had already\npassed through many visions of the closing days in Christ\u2019s life.\nHer entrancement usually starts with scenes of the events which\nfollowed the Last Supper. Her visions end with Jesus\u2019 death on the\ncross or, occasionally, with his entombment.\n\n{FN39-5} Therese has survived the Nazi persecution, and is still\npresent in Konnersreuth, according to 1945 American news dispatches\nfrom Germany.\n\n{FN39-6} A passage in Eusebius relates an interesting encounter\nbetween Socrates and a Hindu sage. The passage runs: \u201cAristoxenus,\nthe musician, tells the following story about the Indians. One of\nthese men met Socrates at Athens, and asked him what was the scope\nof his philosophy. \u2018An inquiry into human phenomena,\u2019 replied\nSocrates. At this the Indian burst out laughing. \u2018How can a man\ninquire into human phenomena,\u2019 he said, \u2018when he is ignorant of\ndivine ones?\u2019\u201d The Aristoxenus mentioned was a pupil of Aristotle,\nand a noted writer on harmonics. His date is 330 B.C.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 40\n\nI RETURN TO INDIA\n\n\nGratefully I was inhaling the blessed air of India. Our boat\nRAJPUTANA docked on August 22, 1935 in the huge harbor of Bombay.\nEven this, my first day off the ship, was a foretaste of the year\nahead-twelve months of ceaseless activity. Friends had gathered\nat the dock with garlands and greetings; soon, at our suite in the\nTaj Mahal Hotel, there was a stream of reporters and photographers.\n\nBombay was a city new to me; I found it energetically modern, with\nmany innovations from the West. Palms line the spacious boulevards;\nmagnificent state structures vie for interest with ancient temples.\nVery little time was given to sight-seeing, however; I was impatient,\neager to see my beloved guru and other dear ones. Consigning the\nFord to a baggage car, our party was soon speeding eastward by\ntrain toward Calcutta. {FN40-1}\n\nOur arrival at Howrah Station found such an immense crowd assembled\nto greet us that for awhile we were unable to dismount from the\ntrain.  The young Maharaja of Kasimbazar and my brother Bishnu\nheaded the reception committee; I was unprepared for the warmth\nand magnitude of our welcome.\n\nPreceded by a line of automobiles and motorcycles, and amidst the\njoyous sound of drums and conch shells, Miss Bletch, Mr. Wright,\nand myself, flower-garlanded from head to foot, drove slowly to my\nfather\u2019s home.\n\n[Illustration: My brother Bishnu; Motilal Mukherji of Serampore, a\nhighly advanced disciple of Sri Yukteswar; my father; Mr. Wright;\nmyself; Tulsi Narayan Bose; Swami Satyananda of Ranchi\u2014see\nbishnu.jpg]\n\n[Illustration: I stand with my two sisters, Roma (at left) and\nNalini\u2014see sisters.jpg]\n\nMy aged parent embraced me as one returning from the dead; long\nwe gazed on each other, speechless with joy. Brothers and sisters,\nuncles, aunts, and cousins, students and friends of years long past\nwere grouped around me, not a dry eye among us. Passed now into the\narchives of memory, the scene of loving reunion vividly endures,\nunforgettable in my heart.\n\n[Illustration: My venerable father, seated in the tranquil lotus\nposture, Calcutta, 1936\u2014see father2.jpg]\n\nAs for my meeting with Sri Yukteswar, words fail me; let the\nfollowing description from my secretary suffice.\n\n\u201cToday, filled with the highest anticipations, I drove Yoganandaji\nfrom Calcutta to Serampore,\u201d Mr. Wright recorded in his travel diary.\n\u201cWe passed by quaint shops, one of them the favorite eating haunt\nof Yoganandaji during his college days, and finally entered a narrow,\nwalled lane. A sudden left turn, and there before us towered the\nsimple but inspiring two-story ashram, its Spanish-style balcony\njutting from the upper floor. The pervasive impression was that of\npeaceful solitude.\n\n\u201cIn grave humility I walked behind Yoganandaji into the courtyard\nwithin the hermitage walls. Hearts beating fast, we proceeded up\nsome old cement steps, trod, no doubt, by myriads of truth-seekers.\nThe tension grew keener and keener as on we strode. Before us, near\nthe head of the stairs, quietly appeared the Great One, Swami Sri\nYukteswarji, standing in the noble pose of a sage.\n\n[Illustration: Sri Yukteswar and myself in Calcutta, 1935. He is\ncarrying the gift umbrella-cane\u2014see gurus.jpg]\n\n\u201cMy heart heaved and swelled as I felt myself blessed by the\nprivilege of being in his sublime presence. Tears blurred my eager\nsight when Yoganandaji dropped to his knees, and with bowed head\noffered his soul\u2019s gratitude and greeting, touching with his hand\nhis guru\u2019s feet and then, in humble obeisance, his own head. He rose\nthen and was embraced on both sides of the bosom by Sri Yukteswarji.\n\n\u201cNo words passed at the beginning, but the most intense feeling was\nexpressed in the mute phrases of the soul. How their eyes sparkled\nand were fired with the warmth of renewed soul-union! A tender\nvibration surged through the quiet patio, and even the sun eluded\nthe clouds to add a sudden blaze of glory.\n\n\u201cOn bended knee before the master I gave my own unexpressed love\nand thanks, touching his feet, calloused by time and service,\nand receiving his blessing. I stood then and faced two beautiful\ndeep eyes smouldering with introspection, yet radiant with joy.\nWe entered his sitting room, whose whole side opened to the outer\nbalcony first seen from the street. The master braced himself\nagainst a worn davenport, sitting on a covered mattress on the\ncement floor. Yoganandaji and I sat near the guru\u2019s feet, with\norange-colored pillows to lean against and ease our positions on\nthe straw mat.\n\n\u201cI tried and tried to penetrate the Bengali conversation between\nthe two Swamijis-for English, I discovered, is null and void when\nthey are together, although Swamiji Maharaj, as the great guru\nis called by others, can and often does speak it. But I perceived\nthe saintliness of the Great One through his heart-warming smile\nand twinkling eyes.  One quality easily discernible in his merry,\nserious conversation is a decided positiveness in statement-the\nmark of a wise man, who knows he knows, because he knows God. His\ngreat wisdom, strength of purpose, and determination are apparent\nin every way.\n\n\u201cStudying him reverently from time to time, I noted that he is of\nlarge, athletic stature, hardened by the trials and sacrifices of\nrenunciation. His poise is majestic. A decidedly sloping forehead,\nas if seeking the heavens, dominates his divine countenance. He\nhas a rather large and homely nose, with which he amuses himself\nin idle moments, flipping and wiggling it with his fingers, like a\nchild. His powerful dark eyes are haloed by an ethereal blue ring.\nHis hair, parted in the middle, begins as silver and changes to\nstreaks of silvery-gold and silvery-black, ending in ringlets at\nhis shoulders.  His beard and moustache are scant or thinned out,\nyet seem to enhance his features and, like his character, are deep\nand light at the same time.\n\n\u201cHe has a jovial and rollicking laugh which comes from deep in his\nchest, causing him to shake and quiver throughout his body-very\ncheerful and sincere. His face and stature are striking in their\npower, as are his muscular fingers. He moves with a dignified tread\nand erect posture.\n\n\u201cHe was clad simply in the common DHOTI and shirt, both once dyed\na strong ocher color, but now a faded orange.\n\n\u201cGlancing about, I observed that this rather dilapidated room suggested\nthe owner\u2019s non-attachment to material comforts. The weather-stained\nwhite walls of the long chamber were streaked with fading blue\nplaster. At one end of the room hung a picture of Lahiri Mahasaya,\ngarlanded in simple devotion. There was also an old picture showing\nYoganandaji as he had first arrived in Boston, standing with the\nother delegates to the Congress of Religions.\n\n\u201cI noted a quaint concurrence of modernity and antiquation. A\nhuge, cut-glass, candle-light chandelier was covered with cobwebs\nthrough disuse, and on the wall was a bright, up-to-date calendar.\nThe whole room emanated a fragrance of peace and calmness. Beyond\nthe balcony I could see coconut trees towering over the hermitage\nin silent protection.\n\n\u201cIt is interesting to observe that the master has merely to clap\nhis hands together and, before finishing, he is served or attended\nby some small disciple. Incidentally, I am much attracted to one\nof them-a thin lad, named Prafulla, {FN40-2} with long black hair\nto his shoulders, a most penetrating pair of sparkling black eyes,\nand a heavenly smile; his eyes twinkle, as the corners of his mouth\nrise, like the stars and the crescent moon appearing at twilight.\n\n\u201cSwami Sri Yukteswarji\u2019s joy is obviously intense at the return of\nhis \u2018product\u2019 (and he seems to be somewhat inquisitive about the\n\u2018product\u2019s product\u2019). However, predominance of the wisdom-aspect\nin the Great One\u2019s nature hinders his outward expression of feeling.\n\n\u201cYoganandaji presented him with some gifts, as is the custom when\nthe disciple returns to his guru. We sat down later to a simple\nbut well-cooked meal. All the dishes were vegetable and rice\ncombinations. Sri Yukteswarji was pleased at my use of a number of\nIndian customs, \u2018finger-eating\u2019 for example.\n\n\u201cAfter several hours of flying Bengali phrases and the exchange\nof warm smiles and joyful glances, we paid obeisance at his feet,\nbade adieu with a PRONAM, {FN40-3} and departed for Calcutta with\nan everlasting memory of a sacred meeting and greeting. Although I\nwrite chiefly of my external impressions of him, yet I was always\nconscious of the true basis of the saint-his spiritual glory. I\nfelt his power, and shall carry that feeling as my divine blessing.\u201d\n\nFrom America, Europe, and Palestine I had brought many presents\nfor Sri Yukteswar. He received them smilingly, but without remark.\nFor my own use, I had bought in Germany a combination umbrella-cane.\nIn India I decided to give the cane to Master.\n\n\u201cThis gift I appreciate indeed!\u201d My guru\u2019s eyes were turned on me\nwith affectionate understanding as he made the unwonted comment.\nFrom all the presents, it was the cane that he singled out to\ndisplay to visitors.\n\n\u201cMaster, please permit me to get a new carpet for the sitting room.\u201d\nI had noticed that Sri Yukteswar\u2019s tiger skin was placed over a\ntorn rug.\n\n\u201cDo so if it pleases you.\u201d My guru\u2019s voice was not enthusiastic.\n\u201cBehold, my tiger mat is nice and clean; I am monarch in my own\nlittle kingdom. Beyond it is the vast world, interested only in\nexternals.\u201d\n\nAs he uttered these words I felt the years roll back; once again\nI am a young disciple, purified in the daily fires of chastisement!\n\nAs soon as I could tear myself away from Serampore and Calcutta,\nI set out, with Mr. Wright, for Ranchi. What a welcome there, a\nveritable ovation! Tears stood in my eyes as I embraced the selfless\nteachers who had kept the banner of the school flying during my\nfifteen years\u2019 absence. The bright faces and happy smiles of the\nresidential and day students were ample testimony to the worth of\ntheir many-sided school and yoga training.\n\nYet, alas! the Ranchi institution was in dire financial difficulties.\nSir Manindra Chandra Nundy, the old Maharaja whose Kasimbazar Palace\nhad been converted into the central school building, and who had\nmade many princely donations was now dead. Many free, benevolent\nfeatures of the school were now seriously endangered for lack of\nsufficient public support.\n\nI had not spent years in America without learning some of its\npractical wisdom, its undaunted spirit before obstacles. For one\nweek I remained in Ranchi, wrestling with critical problems. Then\ncame interviews in Calcutta with prominent leaders and educators,\na long talk with the young Maharaja of Kasimbazar, a financial\nappeal to my father, and lo! the shaky foundations of Ranchi began\nto be righted.  Many donations including one huge check arrived in\nthe nick of time from my American students.\n\nWithin a few months after my arrival in India, I had the joy of\nseeing the Ranchi school legally incorporated. My lifelong dream\nof a permanently endowed yoga educational center stood fulfilled.\nThat vision had guided me in the humble beginnings in 1917 with a\ngroup of seven boys.\n\nIn the decade since 1935, Ranchi has enlarged its scope far beyond\nthe boys\u2019 school. Widespread humanitarian activities are now carried\non there in the Shyama Charan Lahiri Mahasaya Mission.\n\nThe school, or Yogoda Sat-Sanga Brahmacharya Vidyalaya, conducts\noutdoor classes in grammar and high school subjects. The residential\nstudents and day scholars also receive vocational training of some\nkind. The boys themselves regulate most of their activities through\nautonomous committees. Very early in my career as an educator I\ndiscovered that boys who impishly delight in outwitting a teacher\nwill cheerfully accept disciplinary rules that are set by their\nfellow students. Never a model pupil myself, I had a ready sympathy\nfor all boyish pranks and problems.\n\nSports and games are encouraged; the fields resound with hockey and\nfootball practice. Ranchi students often win the cup at competitive\nevents. The outdoor gymnasium is known far and wide. Muscle recharging\nthrough will power is the YOGODA feature: mental direction of life\nenergy to any part of the body. The boys are also taught ASANAS\n(postures), sword and LATHI (stick) play, and jujitsu. The Yogoda\nHealth Exhibitions at the Ranchi VIDYALAYA have been attended by\nthousands.\n\nInstruction in primary subjects is given in Hindi to the KOLS,\nSANTALS, and MUNDAS, aboriginal tribes of the province. Classes\nfor girls only have been organized in near-by villages.\n\nThe unique feature at Ranchi is the initiation into KRIYA YOGA.\nThe boys daily practice their spiritual exercises, engage in GITA\nchanting, and are taught by precept and example the virtues of\nsimplicity, self-sacrifice, honor, and truth. Evil is pointed out\nto them as being that which produces misery; good as those actions\nwhich result in true happiness. Evil may be compared to poisoned\nhoney, tempting but laden with death.\n\nOvercoming restlessness of body and mind by concentration techniques\nhas achieved astonishing results: it is no novelty at Ranchi to\nsee an appealing little figure, aged nine or ten years, sitting for\nan hour or more in unbroken poise, the unwinking gaze directed to\nthe spiritual eye. Often the picture of these Ranchi students has\nreturned to my mind, as I observed collegians over the world who\nare hardly able to sit still through one class period. {FN40-4}\n\nRanchi lies 2000 feet above sea level; the climate is mild and\nequable. The twenty-five acre site, by a large bathing pond, includes\none of the finest orchards in India-five hundred fruit trees-mango,\nguava, litchi, jackfruit, date. The boys grow their own vegetables,\nand spin at their CHARKAS.\n\nA guest house is hospitably open for Western visitors. The Ranchi\nlibrary contains numerous magazines, and about a thousand volumes\nin English and Bengali, donations from the West and the East. There\nis a collection of the scriptures of the world. A well-classified\nmuseum displays archeological, geological, and anthropological\nexhibits; trophies, to a great extent, of my wanderings over the\nLord\u2019s varied earth.\n\n[Illustration: A group of Ranchi students and teachers pose with\nthe venerable Maharaja of Kasimbazar (at center, in white). In 1918\nhe gave his Kasimbazar Palace and twenty-five acres in Ranchi as\na permanent site for my yoga school for boys.\u2014see teachers.jpg]\n\nThe charitable hospital and dispensary of the Lahiri Mahasaya\nMission, with many outdoor branches in distant villages, have\nalready ministered to 150,000 of India\u2019s poor. The Ranchi students\nare trained in first aid, and have given praiseworthy service to\ntheir province at tragic times of flood or famine.\n\nIn the orchard stands a Shiva temple, with a statue of the blessed\nmaster, Lahiri Mahasaya. Daily prayers and scripture classes are\nheld in the garden under the mango bowers.\n\nBranch high schools, with the residential and yoga features of Ranchi,\nhave been opened and are now flourishing. These are the Yogoda\nSat-Sanga Vidyapith (School) for Boys, at Lakshmanpur in Bihar;\nand the Yogoda Sat-Sanga High School and hermitage at Ejmalichak\nin Midnapore.\n\nA stately Yogoda Math was dedicated in 1939 at Dakshineswar,\ndirectly on the Ganges. Only a few miles north of Calcutta, the\nnew hermitage affords a haven of peace for city dwellers. Suitable\naccommodations are available for Western guests, and particularly\nfor those seekers who are intensely dedicating their lives to\nspiritual realization. The activities of the Yogoda Math include\na fortnightly mailing of Self-Realization Fellowship teachings to\nstudents in various parts of India.\n\n[Illustration: Yogoda Math, beautiful hermitage of Self-Realization\nFellowship at Dakshineswar on the Ganges. Founded in 1938 as a yoga\nretreat for students of East and West.\u2014see math.jpg]\n\nIt is needless to say that all these educational and humanitarian\nactivities have required the self-sacrificing service and devotion\nof many teachers and workers. I do not list their names here,\nbecause they are so numerous; but in my heart each one has a lustrous\nniche.  Inspired by the ideals of Lahiri Mahasaya, these teachers\nhave abandoned promising worldly goals to serve humbly, to give\ngreatly.\n\nMr. Wright formed many fast friendships with Ranchi boys; clad in\na simple DHOTI, he lived for awhile among them. At Ranchi, Calcutta,\nSerampore, everywhere he went, my secretary, who has a vivid gift\nof description, hauled out his travel diary to record his adventures.\nOne evening I asked him a question.\n\n\u201cDick, what is your impression of India?\u201d\n\n\u201cPeace,\u201d he said thoughtfully. \u201cThe racial aura is peace.\u201d\n\n{FN40-1} We broke our journey in Central Provinces, halfway across\nthe continent, to see Mahatma Gandhi at Wardha. Those days are\ndescribed in chapter 44.\n\n{FN40-2} Prafulla was the lad who had been present with Master when\na cobra approached (see page 116).\n\n{FN40-3} Literally, \u201choly name,\u201d a word of greeting among Hindus,\naccompanied by palm-folded hands lifted from the heart to the\nforehead in salutation. A PRONAM in India takes the place of the\nWestern greeting by handshaking.\n\n{FN40-4} Mental training through certain concentration techniques\nhas produced in each Indian generation men of prodigious memory.\nSir T.  Vijayaraghavachari, in the HINDUSTAN TIMES, has described\nthe tests put to the modern professional \u201cmemory men\u201d of Madras.\n\u201cThese men,\u201d he wrote, \u201cwere unusually learned in Sanskrit literature.\nSeated in the midst of a large audience, they were equal to the\ntests that several members of the audience simultaneously put them\nto. The test would be like this: one person would start ringing\na bell, the number of rings having to be counted by the \u2018memory\nman.\u2019 A second person would dictate from a paper a long exercise\nin arithmetic, involving addition, subtraction, multiplication,\nand division. A third would go on reciting from the RAMAYANA or\nthe MAHABHARATA a long series of poems, which had to be reproduced;\na fourth would set problems in versification which required the\ncomposition of verses in proper meter on a given subject, each\nline to end in a specified word, a fifth man would carry on with\na sixth a theological disputation, the exact language of which had\nto be quoted in the precise order in which the disputants conducted\nit, and a seventh man was all the while turning a wheel, the number\nof revolutions of which had to be counted. The memory expert had\nsimultaneously to do all these feats purely by mental processes,\nas he was allowed no paper and pencil. The strain on the faculties\nmust have been terrific. Ordinarily men in unconscious envy are\napt to depreciate such efforts by affecting to believe that they\ninvolve only the exercise of the lower functionings of the brain.\nIt is not, however, a pure question of memory. The greater factor\nis the immense concentration of mind.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 41\n\nAN IDYL IN SOUTH INDIA\n\n\n\u201cYou are the first Westerner, Dick, ever to enter that shrine. Many\nothers have tried in vain.\u201d\n\nAt my words Mr. Wright looked startled, then pleased. We had just\nleft the beautiful Chamundi Temple in the hills overlooking Mysore\nin southern India. There we had bowed before the gold and silver\naltars of the Goddess Chamundi, patron deity of the family of the\nreigning maharaja.\n\n\u201cAs a souvenir of the unique honor,\u201d Mr. Wright said, carefully\nstowing away a few blessed rose petals, \u201cI will always preserve\nthis flower, sprinkled by the priest with rose water.\u201d\n\nMy companion and I {FN41-1} were spending the month of November,\n1935, as guests of the State of Mysore. The Maharaja, H.H.\nSri Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, is a model prince with intelligent\ndevotion to his people.  A pious Hindu, the Maharaja has empowered\na Mohammedan, the able Mirza Ismail, as his Dewan or Premier.\nPopular representation is given to the seven million inhabitants\nof Mysore in both an Assembly and a Legislative Council.\n\nThe heir to the Maharaja, H.H. the Yuvaraja, Sir Sri Krishna\nNarasingharaj Wadiyar, had invited my secretary and me to visit\nhis enlightened and progressive realm. During the past fortnight\nI had addressed thousands of Mysore citizens and students, at the\nTown Hall, the Maharajah\u2019s College, the University Medical School;\nand three mass meetings in Bangalore, at the National High School,\nthe Intermediate College, and the Chetty Town Hall where over\nthree thousand persons had assembled. Whether the eager listeners\nhad been able to credit the glowing picture I drew of America,\nI know not; but the applause had always been loudest when I spoke\nof the mutual benefits that could flow from exchange of the best\nfeatures in East and West.\n\nMr. Wright and I were now relaxing in the tropical peace. His travel\ndiary gives the following account of his impressions of Mysore:\n\n\u201cBrilliantly green rice fields, varied by tasseled sugar cane\npatches, nestle at the protective foot of rocky hills-hills dotting\nthe emerald panorama like excrescences of black stone-and the play\nof colors is enhanced by the sudden and dramatic disappearance of\nthe sun as it seeks rest behind the solemn hills.\n\n\u201cMany rapturous moments have been spent in gazing, almost absent-mindedly,\nat the ever-changing canvas of God stretched across the firmament,\nfor His touch alone is able to produce colors that vibrate with the\nfreshness of life. That youth of colors is lost when man tries to\nimitate with mere pigments, for the Lord resorts to a more simple\nand effective medium-oils that are neither oils nor pigments, but\nmere rays of light. He tosses a splash of light here, and it reflects\nred; He waves the brush again and it blends gradually into orange\nand gold; then with a piercing thrust He stabs the clouds with a\nstreak of purple that leaves a ringlet or fringe of red oozing out\nof the wound in the clouds; and so, on and on, He plays, night and\nmorning alike, ever-changing, ever-new, ever-fresh; no patterns,\nno duplicates, no colors just the same. The beauty of the Indian\nchange in day to night is beyond compare elsewhere; often the sky\nlooks as if God had taken all the colors in His kit and given them\none mighty kaleidoscopic toss into the heavens.\n\n\u201cI must relate the splendor of a twilight visit to the huge\nKrishnaraja Sagar Dam, {FN41-2} constructed twelve miles outside\nof Mysore. Yoganandaji and I boarded a small bus and, with a small\nboy as official cranker or battery substitute, started off over a\nsmooth dirt road, just as the sun was setting on the horizon and\nsquashing like an overripe tomato.\n\n\u201cOur journey led past the omnipresent square rice fields, through\na line of comforting banyan trees, in between a grove of towering\ncoconut palms, with vegetation nearly as thick as in a jungle,\nand finally, approaching the crest of a hill, we came face-to-face\nwith an immense artificial lake, reflecting the stars and fringe\nof palms and other trees, surrounded by lovely terraced gardens\nand a row of electric lights on the brink of the dam-and below\nit our eyes met a dazzling spectacle of colored beams playing on\ngeyserlike fountains, like so many streams of brilliant ink pouring\nforth-gorgeously blue waterfalls, arresting red cataracts, green\nand yellow sprays, elephants spouting water, a miniature of the\nChicago World\u2019s Fair, and yet modernly outstanding in this ancient\nland of paddy fields and simple people, who have given us such a\nloving welcome that I fear it will take more than my strength to\nbring Yoganandaji back to America.\n\n\u201cAnother rare privilege-my first elephant ride. Yesterday the\nYuvaraja invited us to his summer palace to enjoy a ride on one of\nhis elephants, an enormous beast. I mounted a ladder provided to\nclimb aloft to the HOWDAH or saddle, which is silk-cushioned and\nboxlike; and then for a rolling, tossing, swaying, and heaving down\ninto a gully, too much thrilled to worry or exclaim, but hanging\non for dear life!\u201d\n\nSouthern India, rich with historical and archaeological remains,\nis a land of definite and yet indefinable charm. To the north of\nMysore is the largest native state in India, Hyderabad, a picturesque\nplateau cut by the mighty Godavari River. Broad fertile plains,\nthe lovely Nilgiris or \u201cBlue Mountains,\u201d other regions with barren\nhills of limestone or granite. Hyderabad history is a long, colorful\nstory, starting three thousand years ago under the Andhra kings,\nand continuing under Hindu dynasties until A.D. 1294, when it passed\nto a line of Moslem rulers who reign to this day.\n\nThe most breath-taking display of architecture, sculpture, and painting\nin all India is found at Hyderabad in the ancient rock-sculptured\ncaves of Ellora and Ajanta. The Kailasa at Ellora, a huge monolithic\ntemple, possesses carved figures of gods, men, and beasts in the\nstupendous proportions of a Michelangelo. Ajanta is the site of\nfive cathedrals and twenty-five monasteries, all rock excavations\nmaintained by tremendous frescoed pillars on which artists and\nsculptors have immortalized their genius.\n\nHyderabad City is graced by the Osmania University and by the\nimposing Mecca Masjid Mosque, where ten thousand Mohammedans may\nassemble for prayer.\n\nMysore State too is a scenic wonderland, three thousand feet above\nsea level, abounding in dense tropical forests, the home of wild\nelephants, bison, bears, panthers, and tigers. Its two chief cities,\nBangalore and Mysore, are clean, attractive, with many parks and\npublic gardens.\n\nHindu architecture and sculpture achieved their highest perfection\nin Mysore under the patronage of Hindu kings from the eleventh to\nthe fifteenth centuries. The temple at Belur, an eleventh-century\nmasterpiece completed during the reign of King Vishnuvardhana, is\nunsurpassed in the world for its delicacy of detail and exuberant\nimagery.\n\nThe rock pillars found in northern Mysore date from the third\ncentury B.C., illuminating the memory of King Asoka. He succeeded\nto the throne of the Maurya dynasty then prevailing; his empire\nincluded nearly all of modern India, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan.\nThis illustrious emperor, considered even by Western historians to\nhave been an incomparable ruler, has left the following wisdom on\na rock memorial:\n\nThis religious inscription has been engraved in order that our sons\nand grandsons may not think a new conquest is necessary; that they\nmay not think conquest by the sword deserves the name of conquest;\nthat they may see in it nothing but destruction and violence; that\nthey may consider nothing as true conquest save the conquest of\nreligion. Such conquests have value in this world and in the next.\n\nAsoka was a grandson of the formidable Chandragupta Maurya (known\nto the Greeks as Sandrocottus), who in his youth had met Alexander\nthe Great. Later Chandragupta destroyed the Macedonian garrisons\nleft in India, defeated the invading Greek army of Seleucus in the\nPunjab, and then received at his Patna court the Hellenic ambassador\nMegasthenes.\n\nIntensely interesting stories have been minutely recorded by Greek\nhistorians and others who accompanied or followed after Alexander\nin his expedition to India. The narratives of Arrian, Diodoros,\nPlutarch, and Strabo the geographer have been translated by Dr. J.\nW.  M\u2019Crindle {FN41-3} to throw a shaft of light on ancient India.\nThe most admirable feature of Alexander\u2019s unsuccessful invasion\nwas the deep interest he displayed in Hindu philosophy and in the\nyogis and holy men whom he encountered from time to time and whose\nsociety he eagerly sought. Shortly after the Greek warrior had\narrived in Taxila in northern India, he sent a messenger, Onesikritos,\na disciple of the Hellenic school of Diogenes, to fetch an Indian\nteacher, Dandamis, a great sannyasi of Taxila.\n\n\u201cHail to thee, O teacher of Brahmins!\u201d Onesikritos said after\nseeking out Dandamis in his forest retreat. \u201cThe son of the mighty\nGod Zeus, being Alexander who is the Sovereign Lord of all men,\nasks you to go to him, and if you comply, he will reward you with\ngreat gifts, but if you refuse, he will cut off your head!\u201d\n\nThe yogi received this fairly compulsive invitation calmly, and\n\u201cdid not so much as lift up his head from his couch of leaves.\u201d\n\n\u201cI also am a son of Zeus, if Alexander be such,\u201d he commented.\n\u201cI want nothing that is Alexander\u2019s, for I am content with what I\nhave, while I see that he wanders with his men over sea and land\nfor no advantage, and is never coming to an end of his wanderings.\n\n\u201cGo and tell Alexander that God the Supreme King is never the Author\nof insolent wrong, but is the Creator of light, of peace, of life,\nof water, of the body of man and of souls; He receives all men when\ndeath sets them free, being in no way subject to evil disease. He\nalone is the God of my homage, who abhors slaughter and instigates\nno wars.\n\n\u201cAlexander is no god, since he must taste of death,\u201d continued the\nsage in quiet scorn. \u201cHow can such as he be the world\u2019s master,\nwhen he has not yet seated himself on a throne of inner universal\ndominion?  Neither as yet has he entered living into Hades, nor\ndoes he know the course of the sun through the central regions of\nthe earth, while the nations on its boundaries have not so much as\nheard his name!\u201d\n\nAfter this chastisement, surely the most caustic ever sent to assault\nthe ears of the \u201cLord of the World,\u201d the sage added ironically,\n\u201cIf Alexander\u2019s present dominions be not capacious enough for\nhis desires, let him cross the Ganges River; there he will find a\nregion able to sustain all his men, if the country on this side be\ntoo narrow to hold him. {FN41-4}\n\n\u201cKnow this, however, that what Alexander offers and the gifts he\npromises are things to me utterly useless; the things I prize and\nfind of real use and worth are these leaves which are my house,\nthese blooming plants which supply me with daily food, and the water\nwhich is my drink; while all other possessions which are amassed\nwith anxious care are wont to prove ruinous to those who gather\nthem, and cause only sorrow and vexation, with which every poor\nmortal is fully fraught. As for me, I lie upon the forest leaves,\nand having nothing which requires guarding, close my eyes in tranquil\nslumber; whereas had I anything to guard, that would banish sleep.\nThe earth supplies me with everything, even as a mother her child\nwith milk. I go wherever I please, and there are no cares with\nwhich I am forced to cumber myself.\n\n\u201cShould Alexander cut off my head, he cannot also destroy my soul.\nMy head alone, then silent, will remain, leaving the body like\na torn garment upon the earth, whence also it was taken. I then,\nbecoming Spirit, shall ascend to my God, who enclosed us all in\nflesh and left us upon earth to prove whether, when here below,\nwe shall live obedient to His ordinances and who also will require\nof us all, when we depart hence to His presence, an account of our\nlife, since He is Judge of all proud wrongdoing; for the groans of\nthe oppressed become the punishment of the oppressor.\n\n\u201cLet Alexander then terrify with these threats those who wish for\nwealth and who dread death, for against us these weapons are both\nalike powerless; the Brahmins neither love gold nor fear death. Go\nthen and tell Alexander this: Dandamis has no need of aught that is\nyours, and therefore will not go to you, and if you want anything\nfrom Dandamis, come you to him.\u201d\n\nWith close attention Alexander received through Onesikritos the\nmessage from the yogi, and \u201cfelt a stronger desire than ever to\nsee Dandamis who, though old and naked, was the only antagonist\nin whom he, the conqueror of many nations, had met more than his\nmatch.\u201d\n\nAlexander invited to Taxila a number of Brahmin ascetics noted for\ntheir skill in answering philosophical questions with pithy wisdom.\nAn account of the verbal skirmish is given by Plutarch; Alexander\nhimself framed all the questions.\n\n\u201cWhich be the more numerous, the living or the dead?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe living, for the dead are not.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhich breeds the larger animals, the sea or the land?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe land, for the sea is only a part of land.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhich is the cleverest of beasts?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat one with which man is not yet acquainted.\u201d (Man fears the\nunknown.)\n\n\u201cWhich existed first, the day or the night?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe day was first by one day.\u201d This reply caused Alexander to\nbetray surprise; the Brahmin added: \u201cImpossible questions require\nimpossible answers.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow best may a man make himself beloved?\u201d\n\n\u201cA man will be beloved if, possessed with great power, he still\ndoes not make himself feared.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow may a man become a god?\u201d {FN41-5}\n\n\u201cBy doing that which it is impossible for a man to do.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhich is stronger, life or death?\u201d\n\n\u201cLife, because it bears so many evils.\u201d\n\nAlexander succeeded in taking out of India, as his teacher, a true\nyogi. This man was Swami Sphines, called \u201cKalanos\u201d by the Greeks\nbecause the saint, a devotee of God in the form of Kali, greeted\neveryone by pronouncing Her auspicious name.\n\nKalanos accompanied Alexander to Persia. On a stated day, at Susa\nin Persia, Kalanos gave up his aged body by entering a funeral\npyre in view of the whole Macedonian army. The historians record\nthe astonishment of the soldiers who observed that the yogi had no\nfear of pain or death, and who never once moved from his position\nas he was consumed in the flames. Before leaving for his cremation,\nKalanos had embraced all his close companions, but refrained from\nbidding farewell to Alexander, to whom the Hindu sage had merely\nremarked:\n\n\u201cI shall see you shortly in Babylon.\u201d\n\nAlexander left Persia, and died a year later in Babylon. His Indian\nguru\u2019s words had been his way of saying he would be present with\nAlexander in life and death.\n\nThe Greek historians have left us many vivid and inspiring pictures\nof Indian society. Hindu law, Arrian tells us, protects the people\nand \u201cordains that no one among them shall, under any circumstances,\nbe a slave but that, enjoying freedom themselves, they shall respect\nthe equal right to it which all possess. For those, they thought,\nwho have learned neither to domineer over nor cringe to others will\nattain the life best adapted for all vicissitudes of lot.\u201d {FN41-6}\n\n\u201cThe Indians,\u201d runs another text, \u201cneither put out money at usury,\nnor know how to borrow. It is contrary to established usage for an\nIndian either to do or suffer a wrong, and therefore they neither\nmake contracts nor require securities.\u201d Healing, we are told, was\nby simple and natural means. \u201cCures are effected rather by regulating\ndiet than by the use of medicines. The remedies most esteemed are\nointments and plasters. All others are considered to be in great\nmeasure pernicious.\u201d Engagement in war was restricted to the KSHATRIYAS\nor warrior caste. \u201cNor would an enemy coming upon a husbandman at\nhis work on his land, do him any harm, for men of this class being\nregarded as public benefactors, are protected from all injury. The\nland thus remaining unravaged and producing heavy crops, supplies\nthe inhabitants with the requisites to make life enjoyable.\u201d {FN41-7}\n\nThe Emperor Chandragupta who in 305 B.C. had defeated Alexander\u2019s\ngeneral, Seleucus, decided seven years later to hand over the\nreins of India\u2019s government to his son. Traveling to South India,\nChandragupta spent the last twelve years of his life as a penniless\nascetic, seeking self-realization in a rocky cave at Sravanabelagola,\nnow honored as a Mysore shrine. Near-by stands the world\u2019s largest\nstatue, carved out of an immense boulder by the Jains in A.D. 983\nto honor the saint Comateswara.\n\nThe ubiquitous religious shrines of Mysore are a constant reminder\nof the many great saints of South India. One of these masters,\nThayumanavar, has left us the following challenging poem:\n\n  You can control a mad elephant;\n  You can shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger;\n  You can ride a lion;\n  You can play with the cobra;\n  By alchemy you can eke out your livelihood;\n  You can wander through the universe incognito;\n  You can make vassals of the gods;\n  You can be ever youthful;\n  You can walk on water and live in fire;\n  But control of the mind is better and more difficult.\n\nIn the beautiful and fertile State of Travancore in the extreme\nsouth of India, where traffic is conveyed over rivers and canals,\nthe Maharaja assumes every year a hereditary obligation to expiate\nthe sin incurred by wars and the annexation in the distant past\nof several petty states to Travancore. For fifty-six days annually\nthe Maharaja visits the temple thrice daily to hear Vedic hymns\nand recitations; the expiation ceremony ends with the LAKSHADIPAM\nor illumination of the temple by a hundred thousand lights.\n\nThe great Hindu lawgiver Manu {FN41-8} has outlined the duties of\na king. \u201cHe should shower amenities like Indra (lord of the gods);\ncollect taxes gently and imperceptibly as the sun obtains vapor\nfrom water; enter into the life of his subjects as the wind goes\neverywhere; mete out even justice to all like Yama (god of death);\nbind transgressors in a noose like Varuna (Vedic deity of sky and\nwind); please all like the moon, burn up vicious enemies like the\ngod of fire; and support all like the earth goddess.\n\n\u201cIn war a king should not fight with poisonous or fiery weapons nor\nkill weak or unready or weaponless foes or men who are in fear or\nwho pray for protection or who run away. War should be resorted to\nonly as a last resort. Results are always doubtful in war.\u201d\n\nMadras Presidency on the southeast coast of India contains the\nflat, spacious, sea-girt city of Madras, and Conjeeveram, the Golden\nCity, capital site of the Pallava dynasty whose kings ruled during\nthe early centuries of the Christian era. In modern Madras Presidency\nthe nonviolent ideals of Mahatma Gandhi have made great headway;\nthe white distinguishing \u201cGandhi caps\u201d are seen everywhere. In\nthe south generally the Mahatma has effected many important temple\nreforms for \u201cuntouchables\u201d as well as caste-system reforms.\n\nThe origin of the caste system, formulated by the great legislator\nManu, was admirable. He saw clearly that men are distinguished by\nnatural evolution into four great classes: those capable of offering\nservice to society through their bodily labor (SUDRAS); those who\nserve through mentality, skill, agriculture, trade, commerce, business\nlife in general (VAISYAS); those whose talents are administrative,\nexecutive, and protective-rulers and warriors (KSHATRIYAS);\nthose of contemplative nature, spiritually inspired and inspiring\n(BRAHMINS).  \u201cNeither birth nor sacraments nor study nor ancestry\ncan decide whether a person is twice-born (i.e., a BRAHMIN);\u201d the\nMAHABHARATA declares, \u201ccharacter and conduct only can decide.\u201d\n{FN41-9} Manu instructed society to show respect to its members\ninsofar as they possessed wisdom, virtue, age, kinship or, lastly,\nwealth. Riches in Vedic India were always despised if they were\nhoarded or unavailable for charitable purposes. Ungenerous men of\ngreat wealth were assigned a low rank in society.\n\nSerious evils arose when the caste system became hardened through\nthe centuries into a hereditary halter. Social reformers like\nGandhi and the members of very numerous societies in India today\nare making slow but sure progress in restoring the ancient values\nof caste, based solely on natural qualification and not on birth.\nEvery nation on earth has its own distinctive misery-producing\nkarma to deal with and remove; India, too, with her versatile\nand invulnerable spirit, shall prove herself equal to the task of\ncaste-reformation.\n\nSo entrancing is southern India that Mr. Wright and I yearned to\nprolong our idyl. But time, in its immemorial rudeness, dealt us no\ncourteous extensions. I was scheduled soon to address the concluding\nsession of the Indian Philosophical Congress at Calcutta University.\nAt the end of the visit to Mysore, I enjoyed a talk with Sir C. V.\nRaman, president of the Indian Academy of Sciences. This brilliant\nHindu physicist was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930 for his important\ndiscovery in the diffusion of light-the \u201cRaman Effect\u201d now known\nto every schoolboy.\n\nWaving a reluctant farewell to a crowd of Madras students and\nfriends, Mr. Wright and I set out for the north. On the way we\nstopped before a little shrine sacred to the memory of Sadasiva\nBrahman, {FN41-10} in whose eighteenth-century life story miracles\ncluster thickly. A larger Sadasiva shrine at Nerur, erected by\nthe Raja of Pudukkottai, is a pilgrimage spot which has witnessed\nnumerous divine healings.\n\nMany quaint stories of Sadasiva, a lovable and fully-illumined\nmaster, are still current among the South Indian villagers. Immersed\none day in SAMADHI on the bank of the Kaveri River, Sadasiva was\nseen to be carried away by a sudden flood. Weeks later he was found\nburied deep beneath a mound of earth. As the villagers\u2019 shovels\nstruck his body, the saint rose and walked briskly away.\n\nSadasiva never spoke a word or wore a cloth. One morning the nude\nyogi unceremoniously entered the tent of a Mohammedan chieftain. His\nladies screamed in alarm; the warrior dealt a savage sword thrust\nat Sadasiva, whose arm was severed. The master departed unconcernedly.\nOvercome by remorse, the Mohammedan picked up the arm from the floor\nand followed Sadasiva. The yogi quietly inserted his arm into the\nbleeding stump. When the warrior humbly asked for some spiritual\ninstruction, Sadasiva wrote with his finger on the sands:\n\n\u201cDo not do what you want, and then you may do what you like.\u201d\n\nThe Mohammedan was uplifted to an exalted state of mind, and\nunderstood the saint\u2019s paradoxical advice to be a guide to soul\nfreedom through mastery of the ego.\n\nThe village children once expressed a desire in Sadasiva\u2019s presence\nto see the Madura religious festival, 150 miles away. The yogi\nindicated to the little ones that they should touch his body. Lo!\ninstantly the whole group was transported to Madura. The children\nwandered happily among the thousands of pilgrims. In a few hours\nthe yogi brought his small charges home by his simple mode of\ntransportation. The astonished parents heard the vivid tales of the\nprocession of images, and noted that several children were carrying\nbags of Madura sweets.\n\nAn incredulous youth derided the saint and the story. The following\nmorning he approached Sadasiva.\n\n\u201cMaster,\u201d he said scornfully, \u201cwhy don\u2019t you take me to the festival,\neven as you did yesterday for the other children?\u201d\n\nSadasiva complied; the boy immediately found himself among the\ndistant city throng. But alas! where was the saint when the youth\nwanted to leave? The weary boy reached his home by the ancient and\nprosaic method of foot locomotion.\n\n{FN41-1} Miss Bletch, unable to maintain the active pace set by Mr.\nWright and myself, remained happily with my relatives in Calcutta.\n\n{FN41-2} This dam, a huge hydro-electric installation, lights Mysore\nCity and gives power to factories for silks, soaps, and sandalwood\noil. The sandalwood souvenirs from Mysore possess a delightful\nfragrance which time does not exhaust; a slight pinprick revives\nthe odor. Mysore boasts some of the largest pioneer industrial\nundertakings in India, including the Kolar Gold Mines, the Mysore\nSugar Factory, the huge iron and steel works at Bhadravati, and\nthe cheap and efficient Mysore State Railway which covers many of\nthe state\u2019s 30,000 square miles.\n\nThe Maharaja and Yuvaraja who were my hosts in Mysore in 1935 have\nboth recently died. The son of the Yuvaraja, the present Maharaja,\nis an enterprising ruler, and has added to Mysore\u2019s industries a\nlarge airplane factory.\n\n{FN41-3} Six volumes on ANCIENT INDIA (Calcutta, 1879).\n\n{FN41-5} Neither Alexander nor any of his generals ever crossed\nthe Ganges. Finding determined resistance in the northwest, the\nMacedonian army refused to penetrate farther; Alexander was forced\nto leave India and seek his conquests in Persia.\n\n{FN41-5} From this question we may surmise that the \u201cSon of Zeus\u201d\nhad an occasional doubt that he had already attained perfection.\n\n{FN41-6} All Greek observers comment on the lack of slavery in\nIndia, a feature at complete variance with the structure of Hellenic\nsociety.\n\n{FN41-7} CREATIVE INDIA by Prof. Benoy Kumar Sarkar gives a\ncomprehensive picture of India\u2019s ancient and modern achievements\nand distinctive values in economics, political science, literature,\nart, and social philosophy. (Lahore: Motilal Banarsi Dass, Publishers,\n1937, 714 pp., $5.00.)\n\nAnother recommended volume is INDIAN CULTURE THROUGH THE AGES, by\nS.  V. Venatesvara (New York: Longmans, Green & Co., $5.00).\n\n{FN41-8} Manu is the universal lawgiver; not alone for Hindu society,\nbut for the world. All systems of wise social regulations and even\njustice are patterned after Manu. Nietzsche has paid the following\ntribute: \u201cI know of no book in which so many delicate and kindly\nthings are said to woman as in the LAWBOOK OF MANU; those old\ngraybeards and saints have a manner of being gallant to women which\nperhaps cannot be surpassed . . . an incomparably intellectual and\nsuperior work . . . replete with noble values, it is filled with a\nfeeling of perfection, with a saying of yea to life, and a triumphant\nsense of well-being in regard to itself and to life; the sun shines\nupon the whole book.\u201d\n\n{FN41-9} \u201cInclusion in one of these four castes originally depended\nnot on a man\u2019s birth but on his natural capacities as demonstrated\nby the goal in life he elected to achieve,\u201d an article in EAST-WEST\nfor January, 1935, tells us. \u201cThis goal could be (1) KAMA, desire,\nactivity of the life of the senses (SUDRA stage), (2) ARTHA, gain,\nfulfilling but controlling the desires (VAISYA stage), (3) DHARMA,\nself-discipline, the life of responsibility and right action\n(KSHATRIYA stage), (4) MOKSHA, liberation, the life of spirituality\nand religious teaching (BRAHMIN stage). These four castes render\nservice to humanity by (1) body, (2) mind, (3) will power, (4)\nSpirit.\n\n\u201cThese four stages have their correspondence in the eternal GUNAS\nor qualities of nature, TAMAS, RAJAS, and SATTVA: obstruction,\nactivity, and expansion; or, mass, energy, and intelligence. The four\nnatural castes are marked by the GUNAS as (1) TAMAS (ignorance), (2)\nTAMAS-RAJAS (mixture of ignorance and activity), (3) RAJAS-SATTVA\n(mixture of right activity and enlightenment), (4) SATTVA\n(enlightenment). Thus has nature marked every man with his caste,\nby the predominance in himself of one, or the mixture of two, of the\nGUNAS. Of course every human being has all three GUNAS in varying\nproportions. The guru will be able rightly to determine a man\u2019s\ncaste or evolutionary status.\n\n\u201cTo a certain extent, all races and nations observe in practice, if\nnot in theory, the features of caste. Where there is great license\nor so-called liberty, particularly in intermarriage between extremes\nin the natural castes, the race dwindles away and becomes extinct.\nThe PURANA SAMHITA compares the offspring of such unions to barren\nhybrids, like the mule which is incapable of propagation of its own\nspecies. Artificial species are eventually exterminated. History\noffers abundant proof of numerous great races which no longer have\nany living representatives. The caste system of India is credited\nby her most profound thinkers with being the check or preventive\nagainst license which has preserved the purity of the race and\nbrought it safely through millenniums of vicissitudes, while other\nraces have vanished in oblivion.\u201d\n\n{FN41-10} His full title was Sri Sadasivendra Saraswati Swami. The\nillustrious successor in the formal Shankara line, Jagadguru Sri\nShankaracharya of Sringeri Math, wrote an inspiring ODE dedicated\nto Sadasiva. EAST-WEST for July, 1942, carried an article on\nSadasiva\u2019s life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 42\n\nLAST DAYS WITH MY GURU\n\n\n\u201cGuruji, I am glad to find you alone this morning.\u201d I had just\narrived at the Serampore hermitage, carrying a fragrant burden of\nfruit and roses. Sri Yukteswar glanced at me meekly.\n\n\u201cWhat is your question?\u201d Master looked about the room as though he\nwere seeking escape.\n\n\u201cGuruji, I came to you as a high-school youth; now I am a grown\nman, even with a gray hair or two. Though you have showered me with\nsilent affection from the first hour to this, do you realize that\nonce only, on the day of meeting, have you ever said, \u2018I love you\u2019?\u201d\nI looked at him pleadingly.\n\nMaster lowered his gaze. \u201cYogananda, must I bring out into the cold\nrealms of speech the warm sentiments best guarded by the wordless\nheart?\u201d\n\n\u201cGuruji, I know you love me, but my mortal ears ache to hear you\nsay so.\u201d\n\n\u201cBe it as you wish. During my married life I often yearned for a\nson, to train in the yogic path. But when you came into my life,\nI was content; in you I have found my son.\u201d Two clear teardrops\nstood in Sri Yukteswar\u2019s eyes. \u201cYogananda, I love you always.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour answer is my passport to heaven.\u201d I felt a weight lift from\nmy heart, dissolved forever at his words. Often had I wondered at\nhis silence. Realizing that he was unemotional and self-contained,\nyet sometimes I feared I had been unsuccessful in fully satisfying\nhim.  His was a strange nature, never utterly to be known; a nature\ndeep and still, unfathomable to the outer world, whose values he\nhad long transcended.\n\nA few days later, when I spoke before a huge audience at Albert\nHall in Calcutta, Sri Yukteswar consented to sit beside me on the\nplatform, with the Maharaja of Santosh and the Mayor of Calcutta.\nThough Master made no remark to me, I glanced at him from time to\ntime during my address, and thought I detected a pleased twinkle\nin his eyes.\n\nThen came a talk before the alumni of Serampore College. As I gazed\nupon my old classmates, and as they gazed on their own \u201cMad Monk,\u201d\ntears of joy showed unashamedly. My silver-tongued professor of\nphilosophy, Dr. Ghoshal, came forward to greet me, all our past\nmisunderstandings dissolved by the alchemist Time.\n\nA Winter Solstice Festival was celebrated at the end of December\nin the Serampore hermitage. As always, Sri Yukteswar\u2019s disciples\ngathered from far and near. Devotional SANKIRTANS, solos in the\nnectar-sweet voice of Kristo-da, a feast served by young disciples,\nMaster\u2019s profoundly moving discourse under the stars in the thronged\ncourtyard of the ashram-memories, memories! Joyous festivals of\nyears long past!  Tonight, however, there was to be a new feature.\n\n[Illustration: Last Solstice Festival celebrated by Sri Yukteswar,\nDecember, 1935. My Guru is seated in the center; I am at his\nright, in the large courtyard of his hermitage in Serampore.\u2014see\nfestival.jpg]\n\n\u201cYogananda, please address the assemblage-in English.\u201d Master\u2019s\neyes were twinkling as he made this doubly unusual request; was he\nthinking of the shipboard predicament that had preceded my first\nlecture in English? I told the story to my audience of brother\ndisciples, ending with a fervent tribute to our guru.\n\n\u201cHis omnipresent guidance was with me not alone on the ocean\nsteamer,\u201d I concluded, \u201cbut daily throughout my fifteen years in\nthe vast and hospitable land of America.\u201d\n\nAfter the guests had departed, Sri Yukteswar called me to the same\nbedroom where-once only, after a festival of my early years-I had\nbeen permitted to sleep on his wooden bed. Tonight my guru was\nsitting there quietly, a semicircle of disciples at his feet. He\nsmiled as I quickly entered the room.\n\n\u201cYogananda, are you leaving now for Calcutta? Please return here\ntomorrow. I have certain things to tell you.\u201d\n\nThe next afternoon, with a few simple words of blessing, Sri Yukteswar\nbestowed on me the further monastic title of PARAMHANSA. {FN42-1}\n\n\u201cIt now formally supersedes your former title of SWAMI,\u201d he said as\nI knelt before him. With a silent chuckle I thought of the struggle\nwhich my American students would undergo over the pronunciation of\nPARAMHANSAJI. {FN42-2}\n\n\u201cMy task on earth is now finished; you must carry on.\u201d Master\nspoke quietly, his eyes calm and gentle. My heart was palpitating\nin fear.\n\n\u201cPlease send someone to take charge of our ashram at Puri,\u201d Sri\nYukteswar went on. \u201cI leave everything in your hands. You will be\nable to successfully sail the boat of your life and that of the\norganization to the divine shores.\u201d\n\nIn tears, I was embracing his feet; he rose and blessed me endearingly.\n\nThe following day I summoned from Ranchi a disciple, Swami Sebananda,\nand sent him to Puri to assume the hermitage duties. {FN42-3}\nLater my guru discussed with me the legal details of settling his\nestate; he was anxious to prevent the possibility of litigation by\nrelatives, after his death, for possession of his two hermitages\nand other properties, which he wished to be deeded over solely for\ncharitable purposes.\n\n\u201cArrangements were recently made for Master to visit Kidderpore,\n{FN42-4} but he failed to go.\u201d Amulaya Babu, a brother disciple, made\nthis remark to me one afternoon; I felt a cold wave of premonition.\nTo my pressing inquiries, Sri Yukteswar only replied, \u201cI shall\ngo to Kidderpore no more.\u201d For a moment, Master trembled like a\nfrightened child.\n\n(\u201cAttachment to bodily residence, springing up of its own nature\n[i.e., arising from immemorial roots, past experiences of death],\u201d\nPatanjali wrote, {FN42-5} \u201cis present in slight degree even in great\nsaints.\u201d In some of his discourses on death, my guru had been wont\nto add: \u201cJust as a long-caged bird hesitates to leave its accustomed\nhome when the door is opened.\u201d)\n\n\u201cGuruji,\u201d I entreated him with a sob, \u201cdon\u2019t say that! Never utter\nthose words to me!\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s face relaxed in a peaceful smile. Though nearing\nhis eighty-first birthday, he looked well and strong.\n\nBasking day by day in the sunshine of my guru\u2019s love, unspoken but\nkeenly felt, I banished from my conscious mind the various hints\nhe had given of his approaching passing.\n\n\u201cSir, the KUMBHA MELA is convening this month at Allahabad.\u201d I\nshowed Master the MELA dates in a Bengali almanac. {FN42-6}\n\n\u201cDo you really want to go?\u201d\n\nNot sensing Sri Yukteswar\u2019s reluctance to have me leave him, I went\non, \u201cOnce you beheld the blessed sight of Babaji at an Allahabad\nKUMBHA. Perhaps this time I shall be fortunate enough to see him.\u201d\n\n\n\u201cI do not think you will meet him there.\u201d My guru then fell into\nsilence, not wishing to obstruct my plans.\n\nWhen I set out for Allahabad the following day with a small group,\nMaster blessed me quietly in his usual manner. Apparently I was\nremaining oblivious to implications in Sri Yukteswar\u2019s attitude\nbecause the Lord wished to spare me the experience of being forced,\nhelplessly, to witness my guru\u2019s passing. It has always happened in\nmy life that, at the death of those dearly beloved by me, God has\ncompassionately arranged that I be distant from the scene. {FN42-7}\n\nOur party reached the KUMBHA MELA on January 23, 1936. The surging\ncrowd of nearly two million persons was an impressive sight, even\nan overwhelming one. The peculiar genius of the Indian people is\nthe reverence innate in even the lowliest peasant for the worth of\nthe Spirit, and for the monks and sadhus who have forsaken worldly\nties to seek a diviner anchorage. Imposters and hypocrites there\nare indeed, but India respects all for the sake of the few who\nillumine the whole land with supernal blessings. Westerners who\nwere viewing the vast spectacle had a unique opportunity to feel\nthe pulse of the land, the spiritual ardor to which India owes her\nquenchless vitality before the blows of time.\n\n[Illustration: The woman yogi, Shankari Mai Jiew, only living\ndisciple of the great Trailanga Swami. The turbaned figure seated\ndirectly beside her is Swami Benoyananda, a director of our Ranchi\nyoga school for boys in Bihar. The picture was taken at the Hardwar\nKumbha Mela in 1938; the woman saint was then 112 years old.\u2014see\nmajiew.jpg]\n\n[Illustration: Second-floor dining patio of Sri Yukteswar\u2019s\nSerampore hermitage. I am seated (in center) at my guru\u2019s feet.\u2014see\nserampore.jpg]\n\nThe first day was spent by our group in sheer staring. Here were\ncountless bathers, dipping in the holy river for remission of sins;\nthere we saw solemn rituals of worship; yonder were devotional\nofferings being strewn at the dusty feet of saints; a turn of our\nheads, and a line of elephants, caparisoned horses and slow-paced\nRajputana camels filed by, or a quaint religious parade of naked\nsadhus, waving scepters of gold and silver, or flags and streamers\nof silken velvet.\n\nAnchorites wearing only loincloths sat quietly in little groups,\ntheir bodies besmeared with the ashes that protect them from the\nheat and cold. The spiritual eye was vividly represented on their\nforeheads by a single spot of sandalwood paste. Shaven-headed swamis\nappeared by the thousands, ocher-robed and carrying their bamboo\nstaff and begging bowl. Their faces beamed with the renunciate\u2019s\npeace as they walked about or held philosophical discussions with\ndisciples.\n\nHere and there under the trees, around huge piles of burning logs,\nwere picturesque sadhus, {FN42-8} their hair braided and massed in\ncoils on top of their heads. Some wore beards several feet in length,\ncurled and tied in a knot. They meditated quietly, or extended\ntheir hands in blessing to the passing throng-beggars, maharajas on\nelephants, women in multicolored SARIS\u2014their bangles and anklets\ntinkling, FAKIRS with thin arms held grotesquely aloft, BRAHMACHARIS\ncarrying meditation elbow-props, humble sages whose solemnity hid\nan inner bliss. High above the din we heard the ceaseless summons\nof the temple bells.\n\nOn our second MELA day my companions and I entered various ashrams\nand temporary huts, offering PRONAMS to saintly personages. We\nreceived the blessing of the leader of the GIRI branch of the Swami\nOrder-a thin, ascetical monk with eyes of smiling fire. Our next\nvisit took us to a hermitage whose guru had observed for the past\nnine years the vows of silence and a strict fruitarian diet. On the\ncentral dais in the ashram hall sat a blind sadhu, Pragla Chakshu,\nprofoundly learned in the SHASTRAS and highly revered by all sects.\n\nAfter I had given a brief discourse in Hindi on VEDANTA, our group\nleft the peaceful hermitage to greet a near-by swami, Krishnananda,\na handsome monk with rosy cheeks and impressive shoulders. Reclining\nnear him was a tame lioness. Succumbing to the monk\u2019s spiritual\ncharm\u2014not, I am sure, to his powerful physique!-the jungle animal\nrefuses all meat in favor of rice and milk. The swami has taught\nthe tawny-haired beast to utter \u201cAUM\u201d in a deep, attractive growl-a\ncat devotee!\n\n[Illustration: Krishnananda, at the 1936 Allahabad Kumbha Mela,\nwith his tame vegetarian lioness.\u2014see lion.jpg]\n\nOur next encounter, an interview with a learned young sadhu, is\nwell described in Mr. Wright\u2019s sparkling travel diary.\n\n\u201cWe rode in the Ford across the very low Ganges on a creaking\npontoon bridge, crawling snakelike through the crowds and over\nnarrow, twisting lanes, passing the site on the river bank which\nYoganandaji pointed out to me as the meeting place of Babaji and\nSri Yukteswarji.  Alighting from the car a short time later, we\nwalked some distance through the thickening smoke of the sadhus\u2019\nfires and over the slippery sands to reach a cluster of tiny,\nvery modest mud-and-straw huts. We halted in front of one of these\ninsignificant temporary dwellings, with a pygmy doorless entrance,\nthe shelter of Kara Patri, a young wandering sadhu noted for his\nexceptional intelligence. There he sat, cross-legged on a pile of\nstraw, his only covering-and incidentally his only possession-being\nan ocher cloth draped over his shoulders.\n\n\u201cTruly a divine face smiled at us after we had crawled on all fours\ninto the hut and PRONAMED at the feet of this enlightened soul,\nwhile the kerosene lantern at the entrance flickered weird, dancing\nshadows on the thatched walls. His face, especially his eyes\nand perfect teeth, beamed and glistened. Although I was puzzled\nby the Hindi, his expressions were very revealing; he was full of\nenthusiasm, love, spiritual glory. No one could be mistaken as to\nhis greatness.\n\n\u201cImagine the happy life of one unattached to the material world;\nfree of the clothing problem; free of food craving, never begging,\nnever touching cooked food except on alternate days, never carrying\na begging bowl; free of all money entanglements, never handling\nmoney, never storing things away, always trusting in God; free\nof transportation worries, never riding in vehicles, but always\nwalking on the banks of the sacred rivers; never remaining in one\nplace longer than a week in order to avoid any growth of attachment.\n\n\u201cSuch a modest soul! unusually learned in the VEDAS, and possessing\nan M.A. degree and the title of SHASTRI (master of scriptures) from\nBenares University. A sublime feeling pervaded me as I sat at his\nfeet; it all seemed to be an answer to my desire to see the real,\nthe ancient India, for he is a true representative of this land of\nspiritual giants.\u201d\n\nI questioned Kara Patri about his wandering life. \u201cDon\u2019t you have\nany extra clothes for winter?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, this is enough.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you carry any books?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I teach from memory those people who wish to hear me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat else do you do?\u201d\n\n\u201cI roam by the Ganges.\u201d\n\nAt these quiet words, I was overpowered by a yearning for the simplicity\nof his life. I remembered America, and all the responsibilities\nthat lay on my shoulders.\n\n\u201cNo, Yogananda,\u201d I thought, sadly for a moment, \u201cin this life\nroaming by the Ganges is not for you.\u201d\n\nAfter the sadhu had told me a few of his spiritual realizations,\nI shot an abrupt question.\n\n\u201cAre you giving these descriptions from scriptural lore, or from\ninward experience?\u201d\n\n\u201cHalf from book learning,\u201d he answered with a straightforward smile,\n\u201cand half from experience.\u201d\n\nWe sat happily awhile in meditative silence. After we had left his\nsacred presence, I said to Mr. Wright, \u201cHe is a king sitting on a\nthrone of golden straw.\u201d\n\nWe had our dinner that night on the MELA grounds under the stars,\neating from leaf plates pinned together with sticks. Dishwashings\nin India are reduced to a minimum!\n\nTwo more days of the fascinating KUMBHA; then northwest along the\nJumna banks to Agra. Once again I gazed on the Taj Mahal; in memory\nJitendra stood by my side, awed by the dream in marble. Then on to\nthe Brindaban ashram of Swami Keshabananda.\n\n[Illustration: My companions and I pose before the \u201cdream in marble,\u201d\nthe Taj Mahal at Agra.\u2014see taj.jpg]\n\nMy object in seeking out Keshabananda was connected with this book.\nI had never forgotten Sri Yukteswar\u2019s request that I write the life\nof Lahiri Mahasaya. During my stay in India I was taking every\nopportunity of contacting direct disciples and relatives of the\nYogavatar. Recording their conversations in voluminous notes, I\nverified facts and dates, and collected photographs, old letters,\nand documents. My Lahiri Mahasaya portfolio began to swell; I realized\nwith dismay that ahead of me lay arduous labors in authorship.\nI prayed that I might be equal to my role as biographer of the\ncolossal guru. Several of his disciples feared that in a written\naccount their master might be belittled or misinterpreted.\n\n\u201cOne can hardly do justice in cold words to the life of a divine\nincarnation,\u201d Panchanon Bhattacharya had once remarked to me.\n\nOther close disciples were similarly satisfied to keep the Yogavatar\nhidden in their hearts as the deathless preceptor. Nevertheless,\nmindful of Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s prediction about his biography, I spared\nno effort to secure and substantiate the facts of his outward life.\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Wright and I pose with the venerable Swami\nKeshabananda and a disciple at the stately hermitage in Brindaban\u2014see\nkeshabananda.jpg]\n\nSwami Keshabananda greeted our party warmly at Brindaban in his\nKatayani Peith Ashram, an imposing brick building with massive\nblack pillars, set in a beautiful garden. He ushered us at once\ninto a sitting room adorned with an enlargement of Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s\npicture.  The swami was approaching the age of ninety, but his\nmuscular body radiated strength and health. With long hair and\na snow-white beard, eyes twinkling with joy, he was a veritable\npatriarchal embodiment. I informed him that I wanted to mention\nhis name in my book on India\u2019s masters.\n\n\u201cPlease tell me about your earlier life.\u201d I smiled entreatingly;\ngreat yogis are often uncommunicative.\n\nKeshabananda made a gesture of humility. \u201cThere is little of external\nmoment. Practically my whole life has been spent in the Himalayan\nsolitudes, traveling on foot from one quiet cave to another. For\na while I maintained a small ashram outside Hardwar, surrounded on\nall sides by a grove of tall trees. It was a peaceful spot little\nvisited by travelers, owing to the ubiquitous presence of cobras.\u201d\nKeshabananda chuckled. \u201cLater a Ganges flood washed away the\nhermitage and cobras alike. My disciples then helped me to build\nthis Brindaban ashram.\u201d\n\nOne of our party asked the swami how he had protected himself\nagainst the Himalayan tigers. {FN42-9}\n\nKeshabananda shook his head. \u201cIn those high spiritual altitudes,\u201d\nhe said, \u201cwild beasts seldom molest the yogis. Once in the jungle\nI encountered a tiger face-to-face. At my sudden ejaculation, the\nanimal was transfixed as though turned to stone.\u201d Again the swami\nchuckled at his memories.\n\n\u201cOccasionally I left my seclusion to visit my guru in Benares. He\nused to joke with me over my ceaseless travels in the Himalayan\nwilderness.\n\n\u201c\u2018You have the mark of wanderlust on your foot,\u2019 he told me once.\n\u2018I am glad that the sacred Himalayas are extensive enough to engross\nyou.\u2019\n\n\u201cMany times,\u201d Keshabananda went on, \u201cboth before and after his\npassing, Lahiri Mahasaya has appeared bodily before me. For him no\nHimalayan height is inaccessible!\u201d\n\nTwo hours later he led us to a dining patio. I sighed in silent\ndismay. Another fifteen-course meal! Less than a year of Indian\nhospitality, and I had gained fifty pounds! Yet it would have been\nconsidered the height of rudeness to refuse any of the dishes,\ncarefully prepared for the endless banquets in my honor. In India\n(nowhere else, alas!) a well-padded swami is considered a delightful\nsight. {FN42-10}\n\nAfter dinner, Keshabananda led me to a secluded nook.\n\n\u201cYour arrival is not unexpected,\u201d he said. \u201cI have a message for\nyou.\u201d\n\nI was surprised; no one had known of my plan to visit Keshabananda.\n\n\u201cWhile roaming last year in the northern Himalayas near Badrinarayan,\u201d\nthe swami continued, \u201cI lost my way. Shelter appeared in a spacious\ncave, which was empty, though the embers of a fire glowed in a hole\nin the rocky floor. Wondering about the occupant of this lonely\nretreat, I sat near the fire, my gaze fixed on the sunlit entrance\nto the cave.\n\n\u201c\u2018Keshabananda, I am glad you are here.\u2019 These words came from\nbehind me. I turned, startled, and was dazzled to behold Babaji!\nThe great guru had materialized himself in a recess of the cave.\nOverjoyed to see him again after many years, I prostrated myself\nat his holy feet.\n\n\u201c\u2018I called you here,\u2019 Babaji went on. \u2018That is why you lost your\nway and were led to my temporary abode in this cave. It is a long\ntime since our last meeting; I am pleased to greet you once more.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe deathless master blessed me with some words of spiritual help,\nthen added: \u2018I give you a message for Yogananda. He will pay you a\nvisit on his return to India. Many matters connected with his guru\nand with the surviving disciples of Lahiri will keep Yogananda\nfully occupied. Tell him, then, that I won\u2019t see him this time, as\nhe is eagerly hoping; but I shall see him on some other occasion.\u2019\u201d\n\nI was deeply touched to receive from Keshabananda\u2019s lips this\nconsoling promise from Babaji. A certain hurt in my heart vanished;\nI grieved no longer that, even as Sri Yukteswar had hinted, Babaji\ndid not appear at the KUMBHA MELA.\n\nSpending one night as guests of the ashram, our party set out the\nfollowing afternoon for Calcutta. Riding over a bridge of the Jumna\nRiver, we enjoyed a magnificent view of the skyline of Brindaban\njust as the sun set fire to the sky-a veritable furnace of Vulcan\nin color, reflected below us in the still waters.\n\nThe Jumna beach is hallowed by memories of the child Sri Krishna.\nHere he engaged with innocent sweetness in his LILAS (plays)\nwith the GOPIS (maids), exemplifying the supernal love which ever\nexists between a divine incarnation and his devotees. The life of\nLord Krishna has been misunderstood by many Western commentators.\nScriptural allegory is baffling to literal minds. A hilarious blunder\nby a translator will illustrate this point. The story concerns an\ninspired medieval saint, the cobbler Ravidas, who sang in the simple\nterms of his own trade of the spiritual glory hidden in all mankind:\n\n  Under the vast vault of blue\n  Lives the divinity clothed in hide.\n\nOne turns aside to hide a smile on hearing the pedestrian interpretation\ngiven to Ravidas\u2019 poem by a Western writer:\n\n\u201cHe afterwards built a hut, set up in it an idol which he made from\na hide, and applied himself to its worship.\u201d\n\nRavidas was a brother disciple of the great Kabir. One of Ravidas\u2019\nexalted chelas was the Rani of Chitor. She invited a large number\nof Brahmins to a feast in honor of her teacher, but they refused to\neat with a lowly cobbler. As they sat down in dignified aloofness\nto eat their own uncontaminated meal, lo! each Brahmin found at his\nside the form of Ravidas. This mass vision accomplished a widespread\nspiritual revival in Chitor.\n\nIn a few days our little group reached Calcutta. Eager to see Sri\nYukteswar, I was disappointed to hear that he had left Serampore\nand was now in Puri, about three hundred miles to the south.\n\n\u201cCome to Puri ashram at once.\u201d This telegram was sent on March 8th\nby a brother disciple to Atul Chandra Roy Chowdhry, one of Master\u2019s\nchelas in Calcutta. News of the message reached my ears; anguished\nat its implications, I dropped to my knees and implored God that\nmy guru\u2019s life be spared. As I was about to leave Father\u2019s home\nfor the train, a divine voice spoke within.\n\n\u201cDo not go to Puri tonight. Thy prayer cannot be granted.\u201d\n\n\u201cLord,\u201d I said, grief-stricken, \u201cThou dost not wish to engage\nwith me in a \u2018tug of war\u2019 at Puri, where Thou wilt have to deny\nmy incessant prayers for Master\u2019s life. Must he, then, depart for\nhigher duties at Thy behest?\u201d\n\nIn obedience to the inward command, I did not leave that night for\nPuri. The following evening I set out for the train; on the way,\nat seven o\u2019clock, a black astral cloud suddenly covered the sky.\n{FN42-11} Later, while the train roared toward Puri, a vision of\nSri Yukteswar appeared before me. He was sitting, very grave of\ncountenance, with a light on each side.\n\n\u201cIs it all over?\u201d I lifted my arms beseechingly.\n\nHe nodded, then slowly vanished.\n\nAs I stood on the Puri train platform the following morning, still\nhoping against hope, an unknown man approached me.\n\n\u201cHave you heard that your Master is gone?\u201d He left me without another\nword; I never discovered who he was nor how he had known where to\nfind me.\n\nStunned, I swayed against the platform wall, realizing that in\ndiverse ways my guru was trying to convey to me the devastating\nnews. Seething with rebellion, my soul was like a volcano. By the\ntime I reached the Puri hermitage I was nearing collapse. The inner\nvoice was tenderly repeating: \u201cCollect yourself. Be calm.\u201d\n\nI entered the ashram room where Master\u2019s body, unimaginably lifelike,\nwas sitting in the lotus posture-a picture of health and loveliness.\nA short time before his passing, my guru had been slightly ill with\nfever, but before the day of his ascension into the Infinite, his\nbody had become completely well. No matter how often I looked at\nhis dear form I could not realize that its life had departed. His\nskin was smooth and soft; in his face was a beatific expression of\ntranquillity. He had consciously relinquished his body at the hour\nof mystic summoning.\n\n\u201cThe Lion of Bengal is gone!\u201d I cried in a daze.\n\nI conducted the solemn rites on March 10th. Sri Yukteswar was buried\n{FN42-12} with the ancient rituals of the swamis in the garden of\nhis Puri ashram. His disciples later arrived from far and near to\nhonor their guru at a vernal equinox memorial service. The AMRITA\nBAZAR PATRIKA, leading newspaper of Calcutta, carried his picture\nand the following report:\n\nThe death BHANDARA ceremony for Srimat Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri\nMaharaj, aged 81, took place at Puri on March 21. Many disciples\ncame down to Puri for the rites.\n\nOne of the greatest expounders of the BHAGAVAD GITA, Swami Maharaj\nwas a great disciple of Yogiraj Sri Shyama Charan Lahiri Mahasaya\nof Benares. Swami Maharaj was the founder of several Yogoda Sat-Sanga\n(Self-Realization Fellowship) centers in India, and was the great\ninspiration behind the yoga movement which was carried to the West\nby Swami Yogananda, his principal disciple. It was Sri Yukteswarji\u2019s\nprophetic powers and deep realization that inspired Swami Yogananda\nto cross the oceans and spread in America the message of the masters\nof India.\n\nHis interpretations of the BHAGAVAD GITA and other scriptures testify\nto the depth of Sri Yukteswarji\u2019s command of the philosophy, both\nEastern and Western, and remain as an eye-opener for the unity\nbetween Orient and Occident. As he believed in the unity of all\nreligious faiths, Sri Yukteswar Maharaj established SADHU SABHA\n(Society of Saints) with the cooperation of leaders of various\nsects and faiths, for the inculcation of a scientific spirit in\nreligion. At the time of his demise he nominated Swami Yogananda\nhis successor as the president of SADHU SABHA.\n\nIndia is really poorer today by the passing of such a great man. May\nall fortunate enough to have come near him inculcate in themselves\nthe true spirit of India\u2019s culture and SADHANA which was personified\nin him.\n\nI returned to Calcutta. Not trusting myself as yet to go to the\nSerampore hermitage with its sacred memories, I summoned Prafulla,\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s little disciple in Serampore, and made arrangements\nfor him to enter the Ranchi school.\n\n\u201cThe morning you left for the Allahabad MELA,\u201d Prafulla told me,\n\u201cMaster dropped heavily on the davenport.\n\n\u201c\u2018Yogananda is gone!\u2019 he cried. \u2018Yogananda is gone!\u2019 He added\ncryptically, \u2018I shall have to tell him some other way.\u2019 He sat then\nfor hours in silence.\u201d\n\nMy days were filled with lectures, classes, interviews, and reunions\nwith old friends. Beneath a hollow smile and a life of ceaseless\nactivity, a stream of black brooding polluted the inner river of\nbliss which for so many years had meandered under the sands of all\nmy perceptions.\n\n\u201cWhere has that divine sage gone?\u201d I cried silently from the depths\nof a tormented spirit.\n\nNo answer came.\n\n\u201cIt is best that Master has completed his union with the Cosmic\nBeloved,\u201d my mind assured me. \u201cHe is eternally glowing in the\ndominion of deathlessness.\u201d\n\n\u201cNever again may you see him in the old Serampore mansion,\u201d my\nheart lamented. \u201cNo longer may you bring your friends to meet him,\nor proudly say: \u2018Behold, there sits India\u2019s JNANAVATAR!\u2019\u201d\n\nMr. Wright made arrangements for our party to sail from Bombay\nfor the West in early June. After a fortnight in May of farewell\nbanquets and speeches at Calcutta, Miss Bletch, Mr. Wright and myself\nleft in the Ford for Bombay. On our arrival, the ship authorities\nasked us to cancel our passage, as no room could be found for the\nFord, which we would need again in Europe.\n\n\u201cNever mind,\u201d I said gloomily to Mr. Wright. \u201cI want to return once\nmore to Puri.\u201d I silently added, \u201cLet my tears once again water\nthe grave of my guru.\u201d\n\n{FN42-1} Literally, PARAM, highest; HANSA, swan. The HANSA is\nrepresented in scriptural lore as the vehicle of Brahma, Supreme\nSpirit; as the symbol of discrimination, the white HANSA swan is\nthought of as able to separate the true SOMA nectar from a mixture\nof milk and water. HAM-SA (pronounced HONG-SAU) are two sacred\nSanskrit chant words possessing a vibratory connection with the\nincoming and outgoing breath. AHAM-SA is literally \u201cI am He.\u201d\n\n{FN42-2} They have generally evaded the difficulty by addressing\nme as SIR.\n\n{FN42-3} At the Puri ashram, Swami Sebananda is still conducting\na small, flourishing yoga school for boys, and meditation groups\nfor adults. Meetings of saints and pundits convene there periodically.\n\n{FN42-4} A section of Calcutta.\n\n{FN42-5} APHORISMS: II:9.\n\n{FN42-6} Religious MELAS are mentioned in the ancient MAHABHARATA.\nThe Chinese traveler Hieuen Tsiang has left an account of a vast\nKUMBHA MELA held in A.D. 644 at Allahabad. The largest MELA is held\nevery twelfth year; the next largest (ARDHA or half) KUMBHA occurs\nevery sixth year. Smaller MELAS convene every third year, attracting\nabout a million devotees. The four sacred MELA cities are Allahabad,\nHardwar, Nasik, and Ujjain.\n\nEarly Chinese travelers have left us many striking pictures of\nIndian society. The Chinese priest, Fa-Hsien, wrote an account of\nhis eleven years in India during the reign of Chandragupta II (early\n4th century). The Chinese author relates: \u201cThroughout the country\nno one kills any living thing, nor drinks wine. . . . They do not\nkeep pigs or fowl; there are no dealings in cattle, no butchers\u2019\nshops or distilleries. Rooms with beds and mattresses, food and\nclothes, are provided for resident and traveling priests without fail,\nand this is the same in all places. The priests occupy themselves\nwith benevolent ministrations and with chanting liturgies; or they\nsit in meditation.\u201d Fa-Hsien tells us the Indian people were happy\nand honest; capital punishment was unknown.\n\n{FN42-7} I was not present at the deaths of my mother, elder\nbrother Ananta, eldest sister Roma, Master, Father, or of several\nclose disciples.\n\n(Father passed on at Calcutta in 1942, at the age of eighty-nine.)\n\n{FN42-8} The hundreds of thousands of Indian sadhus are controlled\nby an executive committee of seven leaders, representing seven\nlarge sections of India. The present MAHAMANDALESWAR or president\nis Joyendra Puri. This saintly man is extremely reserved, often\nconfining his speech to three words-Truth, Love, and Work. A\nsufficient conversation!\n\n{FN42-9} There are many methods, it appears, for outwitting a\ntiger. An Australian explorer, Francis Birtles, has recounted that\nhe found the Indian jungles \u201cvaried, beautiful, and safe.\u201d His\nsafety charm was flypaper. \u201cEvery night I spread a quantity of\nsheets around my camp and was never disturbed,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe\nreason is psychological.  The tiger is an animal of great conscious\ndignity. He prowls around and challenges man until he comes to the\nflypaper; he then slinks away. No dignified tiger would dare face\na human being after squatting down upon a sticky flypaper!\u201d\n\n{FN42-10} After I returned to America I took off sixty-five pounds.\n\n{FN42-11} Sri Yukteswar passed at this hour-7:00 P.M., March 9,\n1936.\n\n{FN42-12} Funeral customs in India require cremation for householders;\nswamis and monks of other orders are not cremated, but buried. (There\nare occasional exceptions.) The bodies of monks are symbolically\nconsidered to have undergone cremation in the fire of wisdom at\nthe time of taking the monastic vow.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 43\n\nTHE RESURRECTION OF SRI YUKTESWAR\n\n\n\u201cLord Krishna!\u201d The glorious form of the avatar appeared in a\nshimmering blaze as I sat in my room at the Regent Hotel in Bombay.\nShining over the roof of a high building across the street, the\nineffable vision had suddenly burst on my sight as I gazed out of\nmy long open third-story window.\n\nThe divine figure waved to me, smiling and nodding in greeting.\nWhen I could not understand the exact message of Lord Krishna, he\ndeparted with a gesture of blessing. Wondrously uplifted, I felt\nthat some spiritual event was presaged.\n\n[Illustration: KRISHNA, ANCIENT PROPHET OF INDIA, A modern artist\u2019s\nconception of the divine teacher whose spiritual counsel in the\nBhagavad Gita has become the Hindu Bible. Krishna is portrayed\nin Hindu art with a peacock feather in his hair (symbol of the\nLord\u2019s lila, play or creative sport), and carrying a flute, whose\nenrapturing notes awaken the devotees, one by one, from their sleep\nof maya or cosmic delusion.\u2014see krishna.jpg]\n\nMy Western voyage had, for the time being, been cancelled. I was\nscheduled for several public addresses in Bombay before leaving on\na return visit to Bengal.\n\nSitting on my bed in the Bombay hotel at three o\u2019clock in the\nafternoon of June 19, 1936-one week after the vision of Krishna-I\nwas roused from my meditation by a beatific light. Before my open\nand astonished eyes, the whole room was transformed into a strange\nworld, the sunlight transmuted into supernal splendor.\n\nWaves of rapture engulfed me as I beheld the flesh and blood form\nof Sri Yukteswar!\n\n\u201cMy son!\u201d Master spoke tenderly, on his face an angel-bewitching\nsmile.\n\nFor the first time in my life I did not kneel at his feet in\ngreeting but instantly advanced to gather him hungrily in my arms.\nMoment of moments! The anguish of past months was toll I counted\nweightless against the torrential bliss now descending.\n\n\u201cMaster mine, beloved of my heart, why did you leave me?\u201d I was\nincoherent in an excess of joy. \u201cWhy did you let me go to the KUMBHA\nMELA? How bitterly have I blamed myself for leaving you!\u201d\n\n\u201cI did not want to interfere with your happy anticipation of seeing\nthe pilgrimage spot where first I met Babaji. I left you only for\na little while; am I not with you again?\u201d\n\n\u201cBut is it YOU, Master, the same Lion of God? Are you wearing a\nbody like the one I buried beneath the cruel Puri sands?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my child, I am the same. This is a flesh and blood body.\nThough I see it as ethereal, to your sight it is physical. From\nthe cosmic atoms I created an entirely new body, exactly like that\ncosmic-dream physical body which you laid beneath the dream-sands\nat Puri in your dream-world. I am in truth resurrected-not on\nearth but on an astral planet. Its inhabitants are better able than\nearthly humanity to meet my lofty standards. There you and your\nexalted loved ones shall someday come to be with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cDeathless guru, tell me more!\u201d\n\nMaster gave a quick, mirthful chuckle. \u201cPlease, dear one,\u201d he said,\n\u201cwon\u2019t you relax your hold a little?\u201d\n\n\u201cOnly a little!\u201d I had been embracing him with an octopus grip.\nI could detect the same faint, fragrant, natural odor which had\nbeen characteristic of his body before. The thrilling touch of his\ndivine flesh still persists around the inner sides of my arms and\nin my palms whenever I recall those glorious hours.\n\n\u201cAs prophets are sent on earth to help men work out their physical\nkarma, so I have been directed by God to serve on an astral planet\nas a savior,\u201d Sri Yukteswar explained. \u201cIt is called HIRANYALOKA\nor \u2018Illumined Astral Planet.\u2019 There I am aiding advanced beings\nto rid themselves of astral karma and thus attain liberation from\nastral rebirths. The dwellers on Hiranyaloka are highly developed\nspiritually; all of them had acquired, in their last earth-incarnation,\nthe meditation-given power of consciously leaving their physical\nbodies at death. No one can enter Hiranyaloka unless he has passed\non earth beyond the state of SABIKALPA SAMADHI into the higher\nstate of NIRBIKALPA SAMADHI. {FN43-1}\n\n\u201cThe Hiranyaloka inhabitants have already passed through the\nordinary astral spheres, where nearly all beings from earth must\ngo at death; there they worked out many seeds of their past actions\nin the astral worlds. None but advanced beings can perform such\nredemptive work effectually in the astral worlds. Then, in order\nto free their souls more fully from the cocoon of karmic traces\nlodged in their astral bodies, these higher beings were drawn by\ncosmic law to be reborn with new astral bodies on Hiranyaloka, the\nastral sun or heaven, where I have resurrected to help them. There\nare also highly advanced beings on Hiranyaloka who have come from\nthe superior, subtler, causal world.\u201d\n\nMy mind was now in such perfect attunement with my guru\u2019s that he\nwas conveying his word-pictures to me partly by speech and partly\nby thought-transference. I was thus quickly receiving his idea-tabloids.\n\n\u201cYou have read in the scriptures,\u201d Master went on, \u201cthat God encased\nthe human soul successively in three bodies-the idea, or causal,\nbody; the subtle astral body, seat of man\u2019s mental and emotional\nnatures; and the gross physical body. On earth a man is equipped with\nhis physical senses. An astral being works with his consciousness\nand feelings and a body made of lifetrons. {FN43-2} A causal-bodied\nbeing remains in the blissful realm of ideas. My work is with those\nastral beings who are preparing to enter the causal world.\u201d\n\n\u201cAdorable Master, please tell me more about the astral cosmos.\u201d\nThough I had slightly relaxed my embrace at Sri Yukteswar\u2019s request,\nmy arms were still around him. Treasure beyond all treasures, my\nguru who had laughed at death to reach me!\n\n\u201cThere are many astral planets, teeming with astral beings,\u201d Master\nbegan. \u201cThe inhabitants use astral planes, or masses of light,\nto travel from one planet to another, faster than electricity and\nradioactive energies.\n\n\u201cThe astral universe, made of various subtle vibrations of light\nand color, is hundreds of times larger than the material cosmos.\nThe entire physical creation hangs like a little solid basket\nunder the huge luminous balloon of the astral sphere. Just as many\nphysical suns and stars roam in space, so there are also countless\nastral solar and stellar systems. Their planets have astral suns and\nmoons, more beautiful than the physical ones. The astral luminaries\nresemble the aurora borealis-the sunny astral aurora being more\ndazzling than the mild-rayed moon-aurora. The astral day and night\nare longer than those of earth.\n\n\u201cThe astral world is infinitely beautiful, clean, pure, and\norderly.  There are no dead planets or barren lands. The terrestrial\nblemishes\u2014weeds, bacteria, insects, snakes-are absent. Unlike\nthe variable climates and seasons of the earth, the astral planets\nmaintain the even temperature of an eternal spring, with occasional\nluminous white snow and rain of many-colored lights. Astral planets\nabound in opal lakes and bright seas and rainbow rivers.\n\n\u201cThe ordinary astral universe-not the subtler astral heaven\nof Hiranyaloka-is peopled with millions of astral beings who have\ncome, more or less recently, from the earth, and also with myriads\nof fairies, mermaids, fishes, animals, goblins, gnomes, demigods\nand spirits, all residing on different astral planets in accordance\nwith karmic qualifications. Various spheric mansions or vibratory\nregions are provided for good and evil spirits. Good ones can travel\nfreely, but the evil spirits are confined to limited zones. In the\nsame way that human beings live on the surface of the earth, worms\ninside the soil, fish in water, and birds in air, so astral beings\nof different grades are assigned to suitable vibratory quarters.\n\n\u201cAmong the fallen dark angels expelled from other worlds, friction\nand war take place with lifetronic bombs or mental MANTRIC {FN43-3}\nvibratory rays. These beings dwell in the gloom-drenched regions\nof the lower astral cosmos, working out their evil karma.\n\n\u201cIn the vast realms above the dark astral prison, all is shining\nand beautiful. The astral cosmos is more naturally attuned than\nthe earth to the divine will and plan of perfection. Every astral\nobject is manifested primarily by the will of God, and partially by\nthe will-call of astral beings. They possess the power of modifying\nor enhancing the grace and form of anything already created by the\nLord.  He has given His astral children the freedom and privilege\nof changing or improving at will the astral cosmos. On earth a\nsolid must be transformed into liquid or other form through natural\nor chemical processes, but astral solids are changed into astral\nliquids, gases, or energy solely and instantly by the will of the\ninhabitants.\n\n\u201cThe earth is dark with warfare and murder in the sea, land,\nand air,\u201d my guru continued, \u201cbut the astral realms know a happy\nharmony and equality. Astral beings dematerialize or materialize\ntheir forms at will. Flowers or fish or animals can metamorphose\nthemselves, for a time, into astral men. All astral beings are\nfree to assume any form, and can easily commune together. No fixed,\ndefinite, natural law hems them round-any astral tree, for example,\ncan be successfully asked to produce an astral mango or other\ndesired fruit, flower, or indeed any other object. Certain karmic\nrestrictions are present, but there are no distinctions in the\nastral world about desirability of various forms. Everything is\nvibrant with God\u2019s creative light.\n\n\u201cNo one is born of woman; offspring are materialized by astral beings\nthrough the help of their cosmic will into specially patterned,\nastrally condensed forms. The recently physically disembodied being\narrives in an astral family through invitation, drawn by similar\nmental and spiritual tendencies.\n\n\u201cThe astral body is not subject to cold or heat or other\nnatural conditions. The anatomy includes an astral brain, or the\nthousand-petaled lotus of light, and six awakened centers in the\nSUSHUMNA, or astral cerebro-spinal axis. The heart draws cosmic\nenergy as well as light from the astral brain, and pumps it to\nthe astral nerves and body cells, or lifetrons. Astral beings can\naffect their bodies by lifetronic force or by MANTRIC vibrations.\n\n\u201cThe astral body is an exact counterpart of the last physical form.\nAstral beings retain the same appearance which they possessed in\nyouth in their previous earthly sojourn; occasionally an astral\nbeing chooses, like myself, to retain his old age appearance.\u201d\nMaster, emanating the very essence of youth, chuckled merrily.\n\n\u201cUnlike the spacial, three-dimensional physical world cognized\nonly by the five senses, the astral spheres are visible to the\nall-inclusive sixth sense-intuition,\u201d Sri Yukteswar went on. \u201cBy\nsheer intuitional feeling, all astral beings see, hear, smell,\ntaste, and touch. They possess three eyes, two of which are partly\nclosed. The third and chief astral eye, vertically placed on\nthe forehead, is open. Astral beings have all the outer sensory\norgans-ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and skin-but they employ the\nintuitional sense to experience sensations through any part of the\nbody; they can see through the ear, or nose, or skin. They are able\nto hear through the eyes or tongue, and can taste through the ears\nor skin, and so forth. {FN43-4}\n\n\u201cMan\u2019s physical body is exposed to countless dangers, and is easily\nhurt or maimed; the ethereal astral body may occasionally be cut\nor bruised but is healed at once by mere willing.\u201d\n\n\u201cGurudeva, are all astral persons beautiful?\u201d\n\n\u201cBeauty in the astral world is known to be a spiritual quality,\nand not an outward conformation,\u201d Sri Yukteswar replied. \u201cAstral\nbeings therefore attach little importance to facial features. They\nhave the privilege, however, of costuming themselves at will with\nnew, colorful, astrally materialized bodies. Just as worldly men\ndon new array for gala events, so astral beings find occasions to\nbedeck themselves in specially designed forms.\n\n\u201cJoyous astral festivities on the higher astral planets like\nHiranyaloka take place when a being is liberated from the astral\nworld through spiritual advancement, and is therefore ready to enter\nthe heaven of the causal world. On such occasions the Invisible\nHeavenly Father, and the saints who are merged in Him, materialize\nThemselves into bodies of Their own choice and join the astral\ncelebration. In order to please His beloved devotee, the Lord takes\nany desired form.  If the devotee worshiped through devotion, he\nsees God as the Divine Mother. To Jesus, the Father-aspect of the\nInfinite One was appealing beyond other conceptions. The individuality\nwith which the Creator has endowed each of His creatures makes every\nconceivable and inconceivable demand on the Lord\u2019s versatility!\u201d\nMy guru and I laughed happily together.\n\n\u201cFriends of other lives easily recognize one another in the astral\nworld,\u201d Sri Yukteswar went on in his beautiful, flutelike voice.\n\u201cRejoicing at the immortality of friendship, they realize the\nindestructibility of love, often doubted at the time of the sad,\ndelusive partings of earthly life.\n\n\u201cThe intuition of astral beings pierces through the veil and\nobserves human activities on earth, but man cannot view the astral\nworld unless his sixth sense is somewhat developed. Thousands\nof earth-dwellers have momentarily glimpsed an astral being or an\nastral world.\n\n\u201cThe advanced beings on Hiranyaloka remain mostly awake in ecstasy\nduring the long astral day and night, helping to work out intricate\nproblems of cosmic government and the redemption of prodigal\nsons, earthbound souls. When the Hiranyaloka beings sleep, they\nhave occasional dreamlike astral visions. Their minds are usually\nengrossed in the conscious state of highest NIRBIKALPA bliss.\n\n\u201cInhabitants in all parts of the astral worlds are still subject\nto mental agonies. The sensitive minds of the higher beings on\nplanets like Hiranyaloka feel keen pain if any mistake is made in\nconduct or perception of truth. These advanced beings endeavor to\nattune their every act and thought with the perfection of spiritual\nlaw.\n\n\u201cCommunication among the astral inhabitants is held entirely by\nastral telepathy and television; there is none of the confusion and\nmisunderstanding of the written and spoken word which earth-dwellers\nmust endure. Just as persons on the cinema screen appear to move\nand act through a series of light pictures, and do not actually\nbreathe, so the astral beings walk and work as intelligently guided\nand coordinated images of light, without the necessity of drawing\npower from oxygen. Man depends upon solids, liquids, gases, and\nenergy for sustenance; astral beings sustain themselves principally\nby cosmic light.\u201d\n\n\u201cMaster mine, do astral beings eat anything?\u201d I was drinking in his\nmarvelous elucidations with the receptivity of all my faculties-mind,\nheart, soul. Superconscious perceptions of truth are permanently\nreal and changeless, while fleeting sense experiences and impressions\nare never more than temporarily or relatively true, and soon lose\nin memory all their vividness. My guru\u2019s words were so penetratingly\nimprinted on the parchment of my being that at any time, by\ntransferring my mind to the superconscious state, I can clearly\nrelive the divine experience.\n\n\u201cLuminous raylike vegetables abound in the astral soils,\u201d he answered.\n\u201cThe astral beings consume vegetables, and drink a nectar flowing\nfrom glorious fountains of light and from astral brooks and rivers.\nJust as invisible images of persons on the earth can be dug out of\nthe ether and made visible by a television apparatus, later being\ndismissed again into space, so the God-created, unseen astral\nblueprints of vegetables and plants floating in the ether are\nprecipitated on an astral planet by the will of its inhabitants.\nIn the same way, from the wildest fancy of these beings, whole\ngardens of fragrant flowers are materialized, returning later to\nthe etheric invisibility.  Although dwellers on the heavenly planets\nlike Hiranyaloka are almost freed from any necessity of eating,\nstill higher is the unconditioned existence of almost completely\nliberated souls in the causal world, who eat nothing save the manna\nof bliss.\n\n\u201cThe earth-liberated astral being meets a multitude of relatives,\nfathers, mothers, wives, husbands, and friends, acquired during\ndifferent incarnations on earth, {FN43-5} as they appear from time\nto time in various parts of the astral realms. He is therefore at\na loss to understand whom to love especially; he learns in this way\nto give a divine and equal love to all, as children and individualized\nexpressions of God. Though the outward appearance of loved ones\nmay have changed, more or less according to the development of new\nqualities in the latest life of any particular soul, the astral\nbeing employs his unerring intuition to recognize all those once dear\nto him in other planes of existence, and to welcome them to their\nnew astral home. Because every atom in creation is inextinguishably\ndowered with individuality, {FN43-6} an astral friend will be\nrecognized no matter what costume he may don, even as on earth an\nactor\u2019s identity is discoverable by close observation despite any\ndisguise.\n\n\u201cThe span of life in the astral world is much longer than on earth.\nA normal advanced astral being\u2019s average life period is from five\nhundred to one thousand years, measured in accordance with earthly\nstandards of time. As certain redwood trees outlive most trees by\nmillenniums, or as some yogis live several hundred years though\nmost men die before the age of sixty, so some astral beings live\nmuch longer than the usual span of astral existence. Visitors\nto the astral world dwell there for a longer or shorter period in\naccordance with the weight of their physical karma, which draws\nthem back to earth within a specified time.\n\n\u201cThe astral being does not have to contend painfully with death\nat the time of shedding his luminous body. Many of these beings\nnevertheless feel slightly nervous at the thought of dropping their\nastral form for the subtler causal one. The astral world is free\nfrom unwilling death, disease, and old age. These three dreads\nare the curse of earth, where man has allowed his consciousness to\nidentify itself almost wholly with a frail physical body requiring\nconstant aid from air, food, and sleep in order to exist at all.\n\n\u201cPhysical death is attended by the disappearance of breath and\nthe disintegration of fleshly cells. Astral death consists of the\ndispersement of lifetrons, those manifest units of energy which\nconstitute the life of astral beings. At physical death a being\nloses his consciousness of flesh and becomes aware of his subtle\nbody in the astral world. Experiencing astral death in due time, a\nbeing thus passes from the consciousness of astral birth and death\nto that of physical birth and death. These recurrent cycles of\nastral and physical encasement are the ineluctable destiny of all\nunenlightened beings. Scriptural definitions of heaven and hell\nsometimes stir man\u2019s deeper-than-subconscious memories of his long\nseries of experiences in the blithesome astral and disappointing\nterrestrial worlds.\u201d\n\n\u201cBeloved Master,\u201d I asked, \u201cwill you please describe more in detail\nthe difference between rebirth on the earth and in the astral and\ncausal spheres?\u201d\n\n\u201cMan as an individualized soul is essentially causal-bodied,\u201d my\nguru explained. \u201cThat body is a matrix of the thirty-five IDEAS\nrequired by God as the basic or causal thought forces from which\nHe later formed the subtle astral body of nineteen elements and\nthe gross physical body of sixteen elements.\n\n\u201cThe nineteen elements of the astral body are mental, emotional,\nand lifetronic. The nineteen components are intelligence; ego;\nfeeling; mind (sense-consciousness); five instruments of KNOWLEDGE,\nthe subtle counterparts of the senses of sight, hearing, smell,\ntaste, touch; five instruments of ACTION, the mental correspondence\nfor the executive abilities to procreate, excrete, talk, walk, and\nexercise manual skill; and five instruments of LIFE FORCE, those\nempowered to perform the crystallizing, assimilating, eliminating,\nmetabolizing, and circulating functions of the body. This subtle\nastral encasement of nineteen elements survives the death of the\nphysical body, which is made of sixteen gross metallic and nonmetallic\nelements.\n\n\u201cGod thought out different ideas within Himself and projected them\ninto dreams. Lady Cosmic Dream thus sprang out decorated in all\nher colossal endless ornaments of relativity.\n\n\u201cIn thirty-five thought categories of the causal body, God elaborated\nall the complexities of man\u2019s nineteen astral and sixteen physical\ncounterparts. By condensation of vibratory forces, first subtle,\nthen gross, He produced man\u2019s astral body and finally his physical\nform.  According to the law of relativity, by which the Prime\nSimplicity has become the bewildering manifold, the causal cosmos\nand causal body are different from the astral cosmos and astral body;\nthe physical cosmos and physical body are likewise characteristically\nat variance with the other forms of creation.\n\n\u201cThe fleshly body is made of the fixed, objectified dreams of the\nCreator. The dualities are ever-present on earth: disease and health,\npain and pleasure, loss and gain. Human beings find limitation and\nresistance in three-dimensional matter. When man\u2019s desire to live\nis severely shaken by disease or other causes, death arrives; the\nheavy overcoat of the flesh is temporarily shed. The soul, however,\nremains encased in the astral and causal bodies. {FN43-7} The adhesive\nforce by which all three bodies are held together is desire. The\npower of unfulfilled desires is the root of all man\u2019s slavery.\n\n\u201cPhysical desires are rooted in egotism and sense pleasures. The\ncompulsion or temptation of sensory experience is more powerful\nthan the desire-force connected with astral attachments or causal\nperceptions.\n\n\u201cAstral desires center around enjoyment in terms of vibration. Astral\nbeings enjoy the ethereal music of the spheres and are entranced\nby the sight of all creation as exhaustless expressions of changing\nlight. The astral beings also smell, taste, and touch light.\nAstral desires are thus connected with an astral being\u2019s power to\nprecipitate all objects and experiences as forms of light or as\ncondensed thoughts or dreams.\n\n\u201cCausal desires are fulfilled by perception only. The nearly-free\nbeings who are encased only in the causal body see the whole universe\nas realizations of the dream-ideas of God; they can materialize\nanything and everything in sheer thought. Causal beings therefore\nconsider the enjoyment of physical sensations or astral delights\nas gross and suffocating to the soul\u2019s fine sensibilities. Causal\nbeings work out their desires by materializing them instantly.\n{FN43-8} Those who find themselves covered only by the delicate veil\nof the causal body can bring universes into manifestation even as\nthe Creator.  Because all creation is made of the cosmic dream-texture,\nthe soul thinly clothed in the causal has vast realizations of\npower.\n\n\u201cA soul, being invisible by nature, can be distinguished only by\nthe presence of its body or bodies. The mere presence of a body\nsignifies that its existence is made possible by unfulfilled desires.\n{FN43-9}\n\n\u201cSo long as the soul of man is encased in one, two, or three\nbody-containers, sealed tightly with the corks of ignorance and\ndesires, he cannot merge with the sea of Spirit. When the gross\nphysical receptacle is destroyed by the hammer of death, the other\ntwo coverings-astral and causal-still remain to prevent the soul\nfrom consciously joining the Omnipresent Life. When desirelessness\nis attained through wisdom, its power disintegrates the two remaining\nvessels. The tiny human soul emerges, free at last; it is one with\nthe Measureless Amplitude.\u201d\n\nI asked my divine guru to shed further light on the high and\nmysterious causal world.\n\n\u201cThe causal world is indescribably subtle,\u201d he replied. \u201cIn order\nto understand it, one would have to possess such tremendous powers\nof concentration that he could close his eyes and visualize the\nastral cosmos and the physical cosmos in all their vastness-the\nluminous balloon with the solid basket-as existing in ideas only.\nIf by this superhuman concentration one succeeded in converting or\nresolving the two cosmoses with all their complexities into sheer\nideas, he would then reach the causal world and stand on the\nborderline of fusion between mind and matter. There one perceives\nall created things\u2014solids, liquids, gases, electricity, energy,\nall beings, gods, men, animals, plants, bacteria-as forms of\nconsciousness, just as a man can close his eyes and realize that\nhe exists, even though his body is invisible to his physical eyes\nand is present only as an idea.\n\n\u201cWhatever a human being can do in fancy, a causal being can do in\nreality. The most colossal imaginative human intelligence is able,\nin mind only, to range from one extreme of thought to another,\nto skip mentally from planet to planet, or tumble endlessly down\na pit of eternity, or soar rocketlike into the galaxied canopy,\nor scintillate like a searchlight over milky ways and the starry\nspaces. But beings in the causal world have a much greater freedom,\nand can effortlessly manifest their thoughts into instant objectivity,\nwithout any material or astral obstruction or karmic limitation.\n\n\u201cCausal beings realize that the physical cosmos is not primarily\nconstructed of electrons, nor is the astral cosmos basically\ncomposed of lifetrons-both in reality are created from the minutest\nparticles of God-thought, chopped and divided by MAYA, the law of\nrelativity which intervenes to apparently separate the Noumenon\nfrom His phenomena.\n\n\u201cSouls in the causal world recognize one another as individualized\npoints of joyous Spirit; their thought-things are the only objects\nwhich surround them. Causal beings see the difference between\ntheir bodies and thoughts to be merely ideas. As a man, closing his\neyes, can visualize a dazzling white light or a faint blue haze, so\ncausal beings by thought alone are able to see, hear, feel, taste,\nand touch; they create anything, or dissolve it, by the power of\ncosmic mind.\n\n\u201cBoth death and rebirth in the causal world are in thought.\nCausal-bodied beings feast only on the ambrosia of eternally\nnew knowledge.  They drink from the springs of peace, roam on the\ntrackless soil of perceptions, swim in the ocean-endlessness of\nbliss. Lo! see their bright thought-bodies zoom past trillions of\nSpirit-created planets, fresh bubbles of universes, wisdom-stars,\nspectral dreams of golden nebulae, all over the skiey blue bosom\nof Infinity!\n\n\u201cMany beings remain for thousands of years in the causal cosmos.\nBy deeper ecstasies the freed soul then withdraws itself from the\nlittle causal body and puts on the vastness of the causal cosmos.\nAll the separate eddies of ideas, particularized waves of power,\nlove, will, joy, peace, intuition, calmness, self-control, and\nconcentration melt into the ever-joyous Sea of Bliss. No longer\ndoes the soul have to experience its joy as an individualized wave\nof consciousness, but is merged in the One Cosmic Ocean, with all\nits waves-eternal laughter, thrills, throbs.\n\n\u201cWhen a soul is out of the cocoon of the three bodies it escapes\nforever from the law of relativity and becomes the ineffable\nEver-Existent. {FN43-10} Behold the butterfly of Omnipresence, its\nwings etched with stars and moons and suns! The soul expanded into\nSpirit remains alone in the region of lightless light, darkless\ndark, thoughtless thought, intoxicated with its ecstasy of joy in\nGod\u2019s dream of cosmic creation.\u201d\n\n\u201cA free soul!\u201d I ejaculated in awe.\n\n\u201cWhen a soul finally gets out of the three jars of bodily delusions,\u201d\nMaster continued, \u201cit becomes one with the Infinite without any\nloss of individuality. Christ had won this final freedom even before\nhe was born as Jesus. In three stages of his past, symbolized in\nhis earth-life as the three days of his experience of death and\nresurrection, he had attained the power to fully arise in Spirit.\n\n\u201cThe undeveloped man must undergo countless earthly and astral\nand causal incarnations in order to emerge from his three bodies.\nA master who achieves this final freedom may elect to return\nto earth as a prophet to bring other human beings back to God, or\nlike myself he may choose to reside in the astral cosmos. There a\nsavior assumes some of the burden of the inhabitants\u2019 karma {FN43-11}\nand thus helps them to terminate their cycle of reincarnation in\nthe astral cosmos and go on permanently to the causal spheres. Or\na freed soul may enter the causal world to aid its beings to shorten\ntheir span in the causal body and thus attain the Absolute Freedom.\u201d\n\n\u201cResurrected One, I want to know more about the karma which forces\nsouls to return to the three worlds.\u201d I could listen forever,\nI thought, to my omniscient Master. Never in his earth-life had I\nbeen able at one time to assimilate so much of his wisdom. Now for\nthe first time I was receiving a clear, definite insight into the\nenigmatic interspaces on the checkerboard of life and death.\n\n\u201cThe physical karma or desires of man must be completely worked\nout before his permanent stay in astral worlds becomes possible,\u201d\nmy guru elucidated in his thrilling voice. \u201cTwo kinds of beings\nlive in the astral spheres. Those who still have earthly karma to\ndispose of and who must therefore reinhabit a gross physical body\nin order to pay their karmic debts could be classified, after\nphysical death, as temporary visitors to the astral world rather\nthan as permanent residents.\n\n\u201cBeings with unredeemed earthly karma are not permitted after\nastral death to go to the high causal sphere of cosmic ideas, but\nmust shuttle to and fro from the physical and astral worlds only,\nconscious successively of their physical body of sixteen gross\nelements, and of their astral body of nineteen subtle elements.\nAfter each loss of his physical body, however, an undeveloped being\nfrom the earth remains for the most part in the deep stupor of the\ndeath-sleep and is hardly conscious of the beautiful astral sphere.\nAfter the astral rest, such a man returns to the material plane for\nfurther lessons, gradually accustoming himself, through repeated\njourneys, to the worlds of subtle astral texture.\n\n\u201cNormal or long-established residents of the astral universe,\non the other hand, are those who, freed forever from all material\nlongings, need return no more to the gross vibrations of earth.\nSuch beings have only astral and causal karma to work out. At astral\ndeath these beings pass to the infinitely finer and more delicate\ncausal world. Shedding the thought-form of the causal body at the\nend of a certain span, determined by cosmic law, these advanced\nbeings then return to Hiranyaloka or a similar high astral planet,\nreborn in a new astral body to work out their unredeemed astral\nkarma.\n\n\u201cMy son, you may now comprehend more fully that I am resurrected by\ndivine decree,\u201d Sri Yukteswar continued, \u201cas a savior of astrally\nreincarnating souls coming back from the causal sphere, in\nparticular, rather than of those astral beings who are coming up\nfrom the earth.  Those from the earth, if they still retain vestiges\nof material karma, do not rise to the very high astral planets like\nHiranyaloka.\n\n\u201cJust as most people on earth have not learned through meditation-acquired\nvision to appreciate the superior joys and advantages of astral life\nand thus, after death, desire to return to the limited, imperfect\npleasures of earth, so many astral beings, during the normal\ndisintegration of their astral bodies, fail to picture the advanced\nstate of spiritual joy in the causal world and, dwelling on thoughts\nof the more gross and gaudy astral happiness, yearn to revisit the\nastral paradise. Heavy astral karma must be redeemed by such beings\nbefore they can achieve after astral death a permanent stay in the\ncausal thought-world, so thinly partitioned from the Creator.\n\n\u201cOnly when a being has no further desires for experiences in the\npleasing-to-the-eye astral cosmos, and cannot be tempted to go\nback there, does he remain in the causal world. Completing there\nthe work of redeeming all causal karma or seeds of past desires, the\nconfined soul thrusts out the last of the three corks of ignorance\nand, emerging from the final jar of the causal body, commingles\nwith the Eternal.\n\n\u201cNow do you understand?\u201d Master smiled so enchantingly!\n\n\u201cYes, through your grace. I am speechless with joy and gratitude.\u201d\n\nNever from song or story had I ever received such inspiring knowledge.\nThough the Hindu scriptures refer to the causal and astral worlds\nand to man\u2019s three bodies, how remote and meaningless those pages\ncompared with the warm authenticity of my resurrected Master! For\nhim indeed existed not a single \u201cundiscover\u2019d country from whose\nbourn no traveller returns\u201d!\n\n\u201cThe interpenetration of man\u2019s three bodies is expressed in many\nways through his threefold nature,\u201d my great guru went on. \u201cIn\nthe wakeful state on earth a human being is conscious more or less\nof his three vehicles. When he is sensuously intent on tasting,\nsmelling, touching, listening, or seeing, he is working principally\nthrough his physical body. Visualizing or willing, he is working\nmainly through his astral body. His causal medium finds expression\nwhen man is thinking or diving deep in introspection or meditation;\nthe cosmical thoughts of genius come to the man who habitually\ncontacts his causal body. In this sense an individual may be\nclassified broadly as \u2018a material man,\u2019 \u2018an energetic man,\u2019 or \u2018an\nintellectual man.\u2019\n\n\u201cA man identifies himself about sixteen hours daily with his\nphysical vehicle. Then he sleeps; if he dreams, he remains in his\nastral body, effortlessly creating any object even as do the astral\nbeings. If man\u2019s sleep be deep and dreamless, for several hours he\nis able to transfer his consciousness, or sense of I-ness, to the\ncausal body; such sleep is revivifying. A dreamer is contacting\nhis astral and not his causal body; his sleep is not fully refreshing.\u201d\n\nI had been lovingly observing Sri Yukteswar while he gave his\nwondrous exposition.\n\n\u201cAngelic guru,\u201d I said, \u201cyour body looks exactly as it did when\nlast I wept over it in the Puri ashram.\u201d\n\n\u201cO yes, my new body is a perfect copy of the old one. I materialize\nor dematerialize this form any time at will, much more frequently\nthan I did while on earth. By quick dematerialization, I now travel\ninstantly by light express from planet to planet or, indeed, from\nastral to causal or to physical cosmos.\u201d My divine guru smiled.\n\u201cThough you move about so fast these days, I had no difficulty in\nfinding you at Bombay!\u201d\n\n\u201cO Master, I was grieving so deeply about your death!\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, wherein did I die? Isn\u2019t there some contradiction?\u201d Sri\nYukteswar\u2019s eyes were twinkling with love and amusement.\n\n\u201cYou were only dreaming on earth; on that earth you saw my\ndream-body,\u201d he went on. \u201cLater you buried that dream-image. Now\nmy finer fleshly body-which you behold and are even now embracing\nrather closely!-is resurrected on another finer dream-planet of\nGod. Someday that finer dream-body and finer dream-planet will pass\naway; they too are not forever. All dream-bubbles must eventually\nburst at a final wakeful touch. Differentiate, my son Yogananda,\nbetween dreams and Reality!\u201d\n\nThis idea of VEDANTIC {FN43-12} resurrection struck me with wonder.\nI was ashamed that I had pitied Master when I had seen his lifeless\nbody at Puri. I comprehended at last that my guru had always been\nfully awake in God, perceiving his own life and passing on earth,\nand his present resurrection, as nothing more than relativities of\ndivine ideas in the cosmic dream.\n\n\u201cI have now told you, Yogananda, the truths of my life, death,\nand resurrection. Grieve not for me; rather broadcast everywhere\nthe story of my resurrection from the God-dreamed earth of men to\nanother God-dreamed planet of astrally garbed souls! New hope will\nbe infused into the hearts of misery-mad, death-fearing dreamers\nof the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, Master!\u201d How willingly would I share with others my joy at\nhis resurrection!\n\n\u201cOn earth my standards were uncomfortably high, unsuited to the\nnatures of most men. Often I scolded you more than I should have.\nYou passed my test; your love shone through the clouds of all\nreprimands.\u201d He added tenderly, \u201cI have also come today to tell\nyou: Never again shall I wear the stern gaze of censure. I shall\nscold you no more.\u201d\n\nHow much I had missed the chastisements of my great guru! Each one\nhad been a guardian angel of protection.\n\n\u201cDearest Master! Rebuke me a million times-do scold me now!\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall chide you no more.\u201d His divine voice was grave, yet with\nan undercurrent of laughter. \u201cYou and I shall smile together, so\nlong as our two forms appear different in the MAYA-dream of God.\nFinally we shall merge as one in the Cosmic Beloved; our smiles\nshall be His smile, our unified song of joy vibrating throughout\neternity to be broadcast to God-tuned souls!\u201d\n\nSri Yukteswar gave me light on certain matters which I cannot reveal\nhere. During the two hours that he spent with me in the Bombay hotel\nroom he answered my every question. A number of world prophecies\nuttered by him that June day in 1936 have already come to pass.\n\n\u201cI leave you now, beloved one!\u201d At these words I felt Master melting\naway within my encircling arms.\n\n\u201cMy child,\u201d his voice rang out, vibrating into my very soul-firmament,\n\u201cwhenever you enter the door of NIRBIKALPA SAMADHI and call on me,\nI shall come to you in flesh and blood, even as today.\u201d\n\nWith this celestial promise Sri Yukteswar vanished from my sight.\nA cloud-voice repeated in musical thunder: \u201cTell all! Whosoever\nknows by NIRBIKALPA realization that your earth is a dream of God\ncan come to the finer dream-created planet of Hiranyaloka, and\nthere find me resurrected in a body exactly like my earthly one.\nYogananda, tell all!\u201d\n\nGone was the sorrow of parting. The pity and grief for his death,\nlong robber of my peace, now fled in stark shame. Bliss poured\nforth like a fountain through endless, newly opened soul-pores.\nAnciently clogged with disuse, they now widened in purity at the\ndriving flood of ecstasy. Subconscious thoughts and feelings of my\npast incarnations shed their karmic taints, lustrously renewed by\nSri Yukteswar\u2019s divine visit.\n\nIn this chapter of my autobiography I have obeyed my guru\u2019s behest\nand spread the glad tiding, though it confound once more an incurious\ngeneration. Groveling, man knows well; despair is seldom alien;\nyet these are perversities, no part of man\u2019s true lot. The day he\nwills, he is set on the path to freedom. Too long has he hearkened\nto the dank pessimism of his \u201cdust-thou-art\u201d counselors, heedless\nof the unconquerable soul.\n\nI was not the only one privileged to behold the Resurrected Guru.\n\nOne of Sri Yukteswar\u2019s chelas was an aged woman, affectionately\nknown as MA (Mother), whose home was close to the Puri hermitage.\nMaster had often stopped to chat with her during his morning walk.\nOn the evening of March 16, 1936, Ma arrived at the ashram and\nasked to see her guru.\n\n\u201cWhy, Master died a week ago!\u201d Swami Sebananda, now in charge of\nthe Puri hermitage, looked at her sadly.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s impossible!\u201d She smiled a little. \u201cPerhaps you are just\ntrying to protect the guru from insistent visitors?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo.\u201d Sebananda recounted details of the burial. \u201cCome,\u201d he said,\n\u201cI will take you to the front garden to Sri Yukteswarji\u2019s grave.\u201d\n\nMa shook her head. \u201cThere is no grave for him! This morning at ten\no\u2019clock he passed in his usual walk before my door! I talked to\nhim for several minutes in the bright outdoors.\n\n\u201c\u2018Come this evening to the ashram,\u2019 he said.\n\n\u201cI am here! Blessings pour on this old gray head! The deathless guru\nwanted me to understand in what transcendent body he had visited\nme this morning!\u201d\n\nThe astounded Sebananda knelt before her.\n\n\u201cMa,\u201d he said, \u201cwhat a weight of grief you lift from my heart! He\nis risen!\u201d\n\n{FN43-1} In SABIKALPA SAMADHI the devotee has spiritually progressed\nto a state of inward divine union, but cannot maintain his cosmic\nconsciousness except in the immobile trance-state. By continuous\nmeditation, he reaches the superior state of NIRBIKALPA SAMADHI,\nwhere he moves freely in the world and performs his outward duties\nwithout any loss of God-realization.\n\n{FN43-2} Sri Yukteswar used the word PRANA; I have translated it as\nlifetrons. The Hindu scriptures refer not only to the ANU, \u201catom,\u201d\nand to the PARAMANU, \u201cbeyond the atom,\u201d finer electronic energies;\nbut also to PRANA, \u201ccreative lifetronic force.\u201d Atoms and electrons\nare blind forces; PRANA is inherently intelligent. The pranic\nlifetrons in the spermatozoa and ova, for instance, guide the\nembryonic development according to a karmic design.\n\n\n{FN43-3} Adjective of MANTRA, chanted seed-sounds discharged by\nthe mental gun of concentration. The PURANAS (ancient SHASTRAS or\ntreatises) describe these MANTRIC wars between DEVAS and ASURAS\n(gods and demons). An ASURA once tried to slay a DEVA with a potent\nchant.  But due to mispronunciation the mental bomb acted as a\nboomerang and killed the demon.\n\n{FN43-4} Examples of such powers are not wanting even on earth, as\nin the case of Helen Keller and other rare beings.\n\n{FN43-5} Lord Buddha was once asked why a man should love all\npersons equally. \u201cBecause,\u201d the great teacher replied, \u201cin the\nvery numerous and varied lifespans of each man, every other being\nhas at one time or another been dear to him.\u201d\n\n{FN43-6} The eight elemental qualities which enter into all created\nlife, from atom to man, are earth, water, fire, air, ether, motion,\nmind, and individuality. (BHAGAVAD GITA: VII:4.)\n\n{FN43-7} Body signifies any soul-encasement, whether gross or\nsubtle.  The three bodies are cages for the Bird of Paradise.\n\n{FN43-8} Even as Babaji helped Lahiri Mahasaya to rid himself of a\nsubconscious desire from some past life for a palace, as described\nin chapter 34.\n\n{FN43-9} \u201cAnd he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither\nwill the eagles be gathered together.\u201d-LUKE 17:37. Wherever the\nsoul is encased in the physical body or in the astral body or in\nthe causal body, there the eagles of desires-which prey on human\nsense weaknesses, or on astral and causal attachments-will also\ngather to keep the soul a prisoner.\n\n{FN43-10} \u201cHim that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple\nof my God, and he shall go no more out (i.e., shall reincarnate\nno more). .  . . To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with\nme in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my\nFather in his throne.\u201d-REVELATION 3:12, 21.\n\n{FN43-11} Sri Yukteswar was signifying that, even as in his earthly\nincarnation he had occasionally assumed the weight of disease to\nlighten his disciples\u2019 karma, so in the astral world his mission\nas a savior enabled him to take on certain astral karma of dwellers\non Hiranyaloka, and thus hasten their evolution into the higher\ncausal world.\n\n{FN43-12} Life and death as relativities of thought only. VEDANTA\npoints out that God is the only Reality; all creation or separate\nexistence is MAYA or illusion. This philosophy of monism received\nits highest expression in the UPANISHAD commentaries of Shankara.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 44\n\nWITH MAHATMA GANDHI AT WARDHA\n\n\n\u201cWelcome to Wardha!\u201d Mahadev Desai, secretary to Mahatma Gandhi,\ngreeted Miss Bletch, Mr. Wright, and myself with these cordial words\nand the gift of wreaths of KHADDAR (homespun cotton). Our little\ngroup had just dismounted at the Wardha station on an early morning\nin August, glad to leave the dust and heat of the train. Consigning\nour luggage to a bullock cart, we entered an open motor car with\nMr. Desai and his companions, Babasaheb Deshmukh and Dr. Pingale.\nA short drive over the muddy country roads brought us to MAGANVADI,\nthe ashram of India\u2019s political saint.\n\n[Illustration: MAHATMA GANDHI, I enjoy a quiet lunch with India\u2019s\npolitical saint at his hermitage in Wardha, August, 1935.\u2014see\ngandhi.jpg]\n\nMr. Desai led us at once to the writing room where, cross-legged,\nsat Mahatma Gandhi. Pen in one hand and a scrap of paper in the\nother, on his face a vast, winning, warm-hearted smile!\n\n\u201cWelcome!\u201d he scribbled in Hindi; it was a Monday, his weekly day\nof silence.\n\nThough this was our first meeting, we beamed on each other\naffectionately. In 1925 Mahatma Gandhi had honored the Ranchi school\nby a visit, and had inscribed in its guest-book a gracious tribute.\n\nThe tiny 100-pound saint radiated physical, mental, and spiritual\nhealth. His soft brown eyes shone with intelligence, sincerity,\nand discrimination; this statesman has matched wits and emerged the\nvictor in a thousand legal, social, and political battles. No other\nleader in the world has attained the secure niche in the hearts of\nhis people that Gandhi occupies for India\u2019s unlettered millions.\nTheir spontaneous tribute is his famous title-MAHATMA, \u201cgreat\nsoul.\u201d {FN44-1} For them alone Gandhi confines his attire to the\nwidely-cartooned loincloth, symbol of his oneness with the downtrodden\nmasses who can afford no more.\n\n\u201cThe ashram residents are wholly at your disposal; please call on\nthem for any service.\u201d With characteristic courtesy, the Mahatma\nhanded me this hastily-written note as Mr. Desai led our party from\nthe writing room toward the guest house.\n\nOur guide led us through orchards and flowering fields to\na tile-roofed building with latticed windows. A front-yard well,\ntwenty-five feet across, was used, Mr. Desai said, for watering\nstock; near-by stood a revolving cement wheel for threshing rice.\nEach of our small bedrooms proved to contain only the irreducible\nminimum-a bed, handmade of rope. The whitewashed kitchen boasted a\nfaucet in one corner and a fire pit for cooking in another. Simple\nArcadian sounds reached our ears-the cries of crows and sparrows,\nthe lowing of cattle, and the rap of chisels being used to chip\nstones.\n\nObserving Mr. Wright\u2019s travel diary, Mr. Desai opened a page and\nwrote on it a list of SATYAGRAHA {FN44-2} vows taken by all the\nMahatma\u2019s strict followers (SATYAGRAHIS):\n\n\u201cNonviolence; Truth; Non-Stealing; Celibacy; Non-Possession;\nBody-Labor; Control of the Palate; Fearlessness; Equal Respect for\nall Religions; SWADESHI (use of home manufactures); Freedom from\nUntouchability. These eleven should be observed as vows in a spirit\nof humility.\u201d\n\n(Gandhi himself signed this page on the following day, giving the\ndate also-August 27, 1935.)\n\nTwo hours after our arrival my companions and I were summoned\nto lunch. The Mahatma was already seated under the arcade of the\nashram porch, across the courtyard from his study. About twenty-five\nbarefooted SATYAGRAHIS were squatting before brass cups and plates.\nA community chorus of prayer; then a meal served from large brass\npots containing CHAPATIS (whole-wheat unleavened bread) sprinkled\nwith GHEE; TALSARI (boiled and diced vegetables), and a lemon jam.\n\nThe Mahatma ate CHAPATIS, boiled beets, some raw vegetables, and\noranges. On the side of his plate was a large lump of very bitter\nNEEM leaves, a notable blood cleanser. With his spoon he separated\na portion and placed it on my dish. I bolted it down with water,\nremembering childhood days when Mother had forced me to swallow the\ndisagreeable dose. Gandhi, however, bit by bit was eating the NEEM\npaste with as much relish as if it had been a delicious sweetmeat.\n\nIn this trifling incident I noted the Mahatma\u2019s ability to detach\nhis mind from the senses at will. I recalled the famous appendectomy\nperformed on him some years ago. Refusing anesthetics, the saint\nhad chatted cheerfully with his disciples throughout the operation,\nhis infectious smile revealing his unawareness of pain.\n\nThe afternoon brought an opportunity for a chat with Gandhi\u2019s noted\ndisciple, daughter of an English admiral, Miss Madeleine Slade, now\ncalled Mirabai. {FN44-3} Her strong, calm face lit with enthusiasm\nas she told me, in flawless Hindi, of her daily activities.\n\n\u201cRural reconstruction work is rewarding! A group of us go every\nmorning at five o\u2019clock to serve the near-by villagers and teach\nthem simple hygiene. We make it a point to clean their latrines and\ntheir mud-thatched huts. The villagers are illiterate; they cannot\nbe educated except by example!\u201d She laughed gaily.\n\nI looked in admiration at this highborn Englishwoman whose true\nChristian humility enables her to do the scavengering work usually\nperformed only by \u201cuntouchables.\u201d\n\n\u201cI came to India in 1925,\u201d she told me. \u201cIn this land I feel that\nI have \u2018come back home.\u2019 Now I would never be willing to return to\nmy old life and old interests.\u201d\n\nWe discussed America for awhile. \u201cI am always pleased and amazed,\u201d\nshe said, \u201cto see the deep interest in spiritual subjects exhibited\nby the many Americans who visit India.\u201d {FN44-4}\n\nMirabai\u2019s hands were soon busy at the CHARKA (spinning wheel),\nomnipresent in all the ashram rooms and, indeed, due to the Mahatma,\nomnipresent throughout rural India.\n\nGandhi has sound economic and cultural reasons for encouraging the\nrevival of cottage industries, but he does not counsel a fanatical\nrepudiation of all modern progress. Machinery, trains, automobiles,\nthe telegraph have played important parts in his own colossal life!\nFifty years of public service, in prison and out, wrestling daily\nwith practical details and harsh realities in the political world,\nhave only increased his balance, open-mindedness, sanity, and\nhumorous appreciation of the quaint human spectacle.\n\nOur trio enjoyed a six o\u2019clock supper as guests of Babasaheb Deshmukh.\nThe 7:00 P.M. prayer hour found us back at the MAGANVADI ashram,\nclimbing to the roof where thirty SATYAGRAHIS were grouped in\na semicircle around Gandhi. He was squatting on a straw mat, an\nancient pocket watch propped up before him. The fading sun cast\na last gleam over the palms and banyans; the hum of night and the\ncrickets had started. The atmosphere was serenity itself; I was\nenraptured.\n\nA solemn chant led by Mr. Desai, with responses from the group; then\na GITA reading. The Mahatma motioned to me to give the concluding\nprayer. Such divine unison of thought and aspiration! A memory\nforever: the Wardha roof top meditation under the early stars.\n\nPunctually at eight o\u2019clock Gandhi ended his silence. The herculean\nlabors of his life require him to apportion his time minutely.\n\n\u201cWelcome, Swamiji!\u201d The Mahatma\u2019s greeting this time was not via\npaper. We had just descended from the roof to his writing room,\nsimply furnished with square mats (no chairs), a low desk with books,\npapers, and a few ordinary pens (not fountain pens); a nondescript\nclock ticked in a corner. An all-pervasive aura of peace and\ndevotion.  Gandhi was bestowing one of his captivating, cavernous,\nalmost toothless smiles.\n\n\u201cYears ago,\u201d he explained, \u201cI started my weekly observance\nof a day of silence as a means for gaining time to look after my\ncorrespondence.  But now those twenty-four hours have become a vital\nspiritual need. A periodical decree of silence is not a torture\nbut a blessing.\u201d\n\nI agreed wholeheartedly. {FN44-5} The Mahatma questioned me about\nAmerica and Europe; we discussed India and world conditions.\n\n\u201cMahadev,\u201d Gandhi said as Mr. Desai entered the room, \u201cplease\nmake arrangements at Town Hall for Swamiji to speak there on yoga\ntomorrow night.\u201d\n\nAs I was bidding the Mahatma good night, he considerately handed\nme a bottle of citronella oil.\n\n\u201cThe Wardha mosquitoes don\u2019t know a thing about AHIMSA, {FN44-6}\nSwamiji!\u201d he said, laughing.\n\nThe following morning our little group breakfasted early on a tasty\nwheat porridge with molasses and milk. At ten-thirty we were called\nto the ashram porch for lunch with Gandhi and the SATYAGRAHIS.\nToday the menu included brown rice, a new selection of vegetables,\nand cardamom seeds.\n\nNoon found me strolling about the ashram grounds, on to the grazing\nland of a few imperturbable cows. The protection of cows is a\npassion with Gandhi.\n\n\u201cThe cow to me means the entire sub-human world, extending man\u2019s\nsympathies beyond his own species,\u201d the Mahatma has explained. \u201cMan\nthrough the cow is enjoined to realize his identity with all that\nlives. Why the ancient rishis selected the cow for apotheosis is\nobvious to me. The cow in India was the best comparison; she was\nthe giver of plenty. Not only did she give milk, but she also made\nagriculture possible. The cow is a poem of pity; one reads pity in\nthe gentle animal. She is the second mother to millions of mankind.\nProtection of the cow means protection of the whole dumb creation\nof God. The appeal of the lower order of creation is all the more\nforceful because it is speechless.\u201d\n\nThree daily rituals are enjoined on the orthodox Hindu. One is BHUTA\nYAJNA, an offering of food to the animal kingdom. This ceremony\nsymbolizes man\u2019s realization of his obligations to less evolved\nforms of creation, instinctively tied to bodily identifications which\nalso corrode human life, but lacking in that quality of liberating\nreason which is peculiar to humanity. BHUTA YAJNA thus reinforces\nman\u2019s readiness to succor the weak, as he in turn is comforted by\ncountless solicitudes of higher unseen beings. Man is also under\nbond for rejuvenating gifts of nature, prodigal in earth, sea, and\nsky. The evolutionary barrier of incommunicability among nature,\nanimals, man, and astral angels is thus overcome by offices of\nsilent love.\n\nThe other two daily YAJNAS are PITRI and NRI. PITRI YAJNA is an offering\nof oblations to ancestors, as a symbol of man\u2019s acknowledgment of\nhis debt to the past, essence of whose wisdom illumines humanity\ntoday. NRI YAJNA is an offering of food to strangers or the poor,\nsymbol of the present responsibilities of man, his duties to\ncontemporaries.\n\nIn the early afternoon I fulfilled a neighborly NRI YAJNA by a\nvisit to Gandhi\u2019s ashram for little girls. Mr. Wright accompanied\nme on the ten-minute drive. Tiny young flowerlike faces atop the\nlong-stemmed colorful SARIS! At the end of a brief talk in Hindi\n{FN44-7} which I was giving outdoors, the skies unloosed a sudden\ndownpour. Laughing, Mr.  Wright and I climbed aboard the car and\nsped back to MAGANVADI amidst sheets of driving silver. Such tropical\nintensity and splash!\n\nReentering the guest house I was struck anew by the stark simplicity\nand evidences of self-sacrifice which are everywhere present.\nThe Gandhi vow of non-possession came early in his married life.\nRenouncing an extensive legal practice which had been yielding him\nan annual income of more than $20,000, the Mahatma dispersed all\nhis wealth to the poor.\n\nSri Yukteswar used to poke gentle fun at the commonly inadequate\nconceptions of renunciation.\n\n\u201cA beggar cannot renounce wealth,\u201d Master would say. \u201cIf a man laments:\n\u2018My business has failed; my wife has left me; I will renounce all\nand enter a monastery,\u2019 to what worldly sacrifice is he referring?\nHe did not renounce wealth and love; they renounced him!\u201d\n\nSaints like Gandhi, on the other hand, have made not only tangible\nmaterial sacrifices, but also the more difficult renunciation of\nselfish motive and private goal, merging their inmost being in the\nstream of humanity as a whole.\n\nThe Mahatma\u2019s remarkable wife, Kasturabai, did not object when he\nfailed to set aside any part of his wealth for the use of herself\nand their children. Married in early youth, Gandhi and his wife\ntook the vow of celibacy after the birth of several sons. {FN44-8}\nA tranquil heroine in the intense drama that has been their life\ntogether, Kasturabai has followed her husband to prison, shared\nhis three-week fasts, and fully borne her share of his endless\nresponsibilities. She has paid Gandhi the following tribute:\n\nI thank you for having had the privilege of being your lifelong\ncompanion and helpmate. I thank you for the most perfect marriage\nin the world, based on BRAHMACHARYA (self-control) and not on sex.\nI thank you for having considered me your equal in your life work\nfor India. I thank you for not being one of those husbands who spend\ntheir time in gambling, racing, women, wine, and song, tiring of\ntheir wives and children as the little boy quickly tires of his\nchildhood toys.  How thankful I am that you were not one of those\nhusbands who devote their time to growing rich on the exploitation\nof the labor of others.\n\nHow thankful I am that you put God and country before bribes, that\nyou had the courage of your convictions and a complete and implicit\nfaith in God. How thankful I am for a husband that put God and his\ncountry before me. I am grateful to you for your tolerance of me\nand my shortcomings of youth, when I grumbled and rebelled against\nthe change you made in our mode of living, from so much to so\nlittle.\n\nAs a young child, I lived in your parents\u2019 home; your mother was a\ngreat and good woman; she trained me, taught me how to be a brave,\ncourageous wife and how to keep the love and respect of her son,\nmy future husband. As the years passed and you became India\u2019s most\nbeloved leader, I had none of the fears that beset the wife who may\nbe cast aside when her husband has climbed the ladder of success,\nas so often happens in other countries. I knew that death would\nstill find us husband and wife.\n\nFor years Kasturabai performed the duties of treasurer of the public\nfunds which the idolized Mahatma is able to raise by the millions.\nThere are many humorous stories in Indian homes to the effect that\nhusbands are nervous about their wives\u2019 wearing any jewelry to\na Gandhi meeting; the Mahatma\u2019s magical tongue, pleading for the\ndowntrodden, charms the gold bracelets and diamond necklaces right\noff the arms and necks of the wealthy into the collection basket!\n\nOne day the public treasurer, Kasturabai, could not account for a\ndisbursement of four rupees. Gandhi duly published an auditing in\nwhich he inexorably pointed out his wife\u2019s four rupee discrepancy.\n\nI had often told this story before classes of my American students.\nOne evening a woman in the hall had given an outraged gasp.\n\n\u201cMahatma or no Mahatma,\u201d she had cried, \u201cif he were my husband\nI would have given him a black eye for such an unnecessary public\ninsult!\u201d\n\nAfter some good-humored banter had passed between us on the subject of\nAmerican wives and Hindu wives, I had gone on to a fuller explanation.\n\n\u201cMrs. Gandhi considers the Mahatma not as her husband but as her\nguru, one who has the right to discipline her for even insignificant\nerrors,\u201d I had pointed out. \u201cSometime after Kasturabai had been\npublicly rebuked, Gandhi was sentenced to prison on a political\ncharge. As he was calmly bidding farewell to his wife, she fell at\nhis feet. \u2018Master,\u2019 she said humbly, \u2018if I have ever offended you,\nplease forgive me.\u2019\u201d {FN44-9}\n\nAt three o\u2019clock that afternoon in Wardha, I betook myself,\nby previous appointment, to the writing room of the saint who had\nbeen able to make an unflinching disciple out of his own wife-rare\nmiracle!  Gandhi looked up with his unforgettable smile.\n\n\u201cMahatmaji,\u201d I said as I squatted beside him on the uncushioned\nmat, \u201cplease tell me your definition of AHIMSA.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe avoidance of harm to any living creature in thought or deed.\u201d\n\n\u201cBeautiful ideal! But the world will always ask: May one not kill\na cobra to protect a child, or one\u2019s self?\u201d\n\n\u201cI could not kill a cobra without violating two of my vows\u2014fearlessness,\nand non-killing. I would rather try inwardly to calm the snake by\nvibrations of love. I cannot possibly lower my standards to suit\nmy circumstances.\u201d With his amazing candor, Gandhi added, \u201cI must\nconfess that I could not carry on this conversation were I faced\nby a cobra!\u201d\n\nI remarked on several very recent Western books on diet which lay\non his desk.\n\n\u201cYes, diet is important in the SATYAGRAHA movement-as everywhere\nelse,\u201d he said with a chuckle. \u201cBecause I advocate complete continence\nfor SATYAGRAHIS, I am always trying to find out the best diet for\nthe celibate. One must conquer the palate before he can control the\nprocreative instinct. Semi-starvation or unbalanced diets are not\nthe answer. After overcoming the inward GREED for food, a SATYAGRAHI\nmust continue to follow a rational vegetarian diet with all necessary\nvitamins, minerals, calories, and so forth. By inward and outward\nwisdom in regard to eating, the SATYAGRAHI\u2019S sexual fluid is easily\nturned into vital energy for the whole body.\u201d\n\nThe Mahatma and I compared our knowledge of good meat-substitutes.\n\u201cThe avocado is excellent,\u201d I said. \u201cThere are numerous avocado\ngroves near my center in California.\u201d\n\nGandhi\u2019s face lit with interest. \u201cI wonder if they would grow in\nWardha? The SATYAGRAHIS would appreciate a new food.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will be sure to send some avocado plants from Los Angeles to\nWardha.\u201d {FN44-10} I added, \u201cEggs are a high-protein food; are they\nforbidden to SATYAGRAHIS?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot unfertilized eggs.\u201d The Mahatma laughed reminiscently. \u201cFor\nyears I would not countenance their use; even now I personally\ndo not eat them. One of my daughters-in-law was once dying of\nmalnutrition; her doctor insisted on eggs. I would not agree, and\nadvised him to give her some egg-substitute.\n\n\u201c\u2018Gandhiji,\u2019 the doctor said, \u2018unfertilized eggs contain no life\nsperm; no killing is involved.\u2019\n\n\u201cI then gladly gave permission for my daughter-in-law to eat eggs;\nshe was soon restored to health.\u201d\n\nOn the previous night Gandhi had expressed a wish to receive\nthe KRIYA YOGA of Lahiri Mahasaya. I was touched by the Mahatma\u2019s\nopen-mindedness and spirit of inquiry. He is childlike in his\ndivine quest, revealing that pure receptivity which Jesus praised\nin children, \u201c. .  . of such is the kingdom of heaven.\u201d\n\nThe hour for my promised instruction had arrived; several SATYAGRAHIS\nnow entered the room-Mr. Desai, Dr. Pingale, and a few others who\ndesired the KRIYA technique.\n\nI first taught the little class the physical YOGODA exercises. The\nbody is visualized as divided into twenty parts; the will directs\nenergy in turn to each section. Soon everyone was vibrating before\nme like a human motor. It was easy to observe the rippling effect\non Gandhi\u2019s twenty body parts, at all times completely exposed to\nview!  Though very thin, he is not unpleasingly so; the skin of\nhis body is smooth and unwrinkled.\n\nLater I initiated the group into the liberating technique of KRIYA\nYOGA.\n\nThe Mahatma has reverently studied all world religions. The\nJain scriptures, the Biblical New Testament, and the sociological\nwritings of Tolstoy {FN44-11} are the three main sources of Gandhi\u2019s\nnonviolent convictions. He has stated his credo thus:\n\nI believe the Bible, the KORAN, and the ZEND-AVESTA {FN44-12} to\nbe as divinely inspired as the VEDAS. I believe in the institution\nof Gurus, but in this age millions must go without a Guru, because\nit is a rare thing to find a combination of perfect purity and\nperfect learning. But one need not despair of ever knowing the\ntruth of one\u2019s religion, because the fundamentals of Hinduism as\nof every great religion are unchangeable, and easily understood.\n\nI believe like every Hindu in God and His oneness, in rebirth and\nsalvation. . . . I can no more describe my feeling for Hinduism\nthan for my own wife. She moves me as no other woman in the world\ncan. Not that she has no faults; I daresay she has many more than\nI see myself.  But the feeling of an indissoluble bond is there.\nEven so I feel for and about Hinduism with all its faults and\nlimitations. Nothing delights me so much as the music of the GITA,\nor the RAMAYANA by Tulsidas. When I fancied I was taking my last\nbreath, the GITA was my solace.\n\nHinduism is not an exclusive religion. In it there is room for\nthe worship of all the prophets of the world. {FN44-13} It is not\na missionary religion in the ordinary sense of the term. It has\nno doubt absorbed many tribes in its fold, but this absorption has\nbeen of an evolutionary, imperceptible character. Hinduism tells\neach man to worship God according to his own faith or DHARMA,\n{FN44-14} and so lives at peace with all religions.\n\nOf Christ, Gandhi has written: \u201cI am sure that if He were living\nhere now among men, He would bless the lives of many who perhaps\nhave never even heard His name . . . just as it is written: \u2018Not\nevery one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord . . . but he that doeth\nthe will of my Father.\u2019 {FN44-15} In the lesson of His own life,\nJesus gave humanity the magnificent purpose and the single objective\ntoward which we all ought to aspire. I believe that He belongs not\nsolely to Christianity, but to the entire world, to all lands and\nraces.\u201d\n\nOn my last evening in Wardha I addressed the meeting which had\nbeen called by Mr. Desai in Town Hall. The room was thronged to\nthe window sills with about 400 people assembled to hear the talk\non yoga. I spoke first in Hindi, then in English. Our little group\nreturned to the ashram in time for a good-night glimpse of Gandhi,\nenfolded in peace and correspondence.\n\nNight was still lingering when I rose at 5:00 A.M. Village life was\nalready stirring; first a bullock cart by the ashram gates, then\na peasant with his huge burden balanced precariously on his head.\nAfter breakfast our trio sought out Gandhi for farewell PRONAMS.\nThe saint rises at four o\u2019clock for his morning prayer.\n\n\u201cMahatmaji, good-by!\u201d I knelt to touch his feet. \u201cIndia is safe in\nyour keeping!\u201d\n\nYears have rolled by since the Wardha idyl; the earth, oceans, and\nskies have darkened with a world at war. Alone among great leaders,\nGandhi has offered a practical nonviolent alternative to armed\nmight.  To redress grievances and remove injustices, the Mahatma\nhas employed nonviolent means which again and again have proved\ntheir effectiveness. He states his doctrine in these words:\n\nI have found that life persists in the midst of destruction.\nTherefore there must be a higher law than that of destruction. Only\nunder that law would well-ordered society be intelligible and life\nworth living.\n\nIf that is the law of life we must work it out in daily existence.\nWherever there are wars, wherever we are confronted with an opponent,\nconquer by love. I have found that the certain law of love has\nanswered in my own life as the law of destruction has never done.\n\nIn India we have had an ocular demonstration of the operation of\nthis law on the widest scale possible. I don\u2019t claim that nonviolence\nhas penetrated the 360,000,000 people in India, but I do claim\nit has penetrated deeper than any other doctrine in an incredibly\nshort time.\n\nIt takes a fairly strenuous course of training to attain a mental\nstate of nonviolence. It is a disciplined life, like the life of\na soldier. The perfect state is reached only when the mind, body,\nand speech are in proper coordination. Every problem would lend\nitself to solution if we determined to make the law of truth and\nnonviolence the law of life.\n\nJust as a scientist will work wonders out of various applications\nof the laws of nature, a man who applies the laws of love with\nscientific precision can work greater wonders. Nonviolence is\ninfinitely more wonderful and subtle than forces of nature like,\nfor instance, electricity. The law of love is a far greater science\nthan any modern science.\n\nConsulting history, one may reasonably state that the problems of\nmankind have not been solved by the use of brute force. World War\nI produced a world-chilling snowball of war karma that swelled into\nWorld War II. Only the warmth of brotherhood can melt the present\ncolossal snowball of war karma which may otherwise grow into World\nWar III. This unholy trinity will banish forever the possibility\nof World War IV by a finality of atomic bombs. Use of jungle logic\ninstead of human reason in settling disputes will restore the earth\nto a jungle.  If brothers not in life, then brothers in violent\ndeath.\n\nWar and crime never pay. The billions of dollars that went up in\nthe smoke of explosive nothingness would have been sufficient to\nhave made a new world, one almost free from disease and completely\nfree from poverty. Not an earth of fear, chaos, famine, pestilence,\nthe DANSE MACABRE, but one broad land of peace, of prosperity, and\nof widening knowledge.\n\nThe nonviolent voice of Gandhi appeals to man\u2019s highest conscience.\nLet nations ally themselves no longer with death, but with life; not\nwith destruction, but with construction; not with the Annihilator,\nbut with the Creator.\n\n\u201cOne should forgive, under any injury,\u201d says the MAHABHARATA. \u201cIt\nhath been said that the continuation of species is due to man\u2019s being\nforgiving. Forgiveness is holiness; by forgiveness the universe is\nheld together. Forgiveness is the might of the mighty; forgiveness is\nsacrifice; forgiveness is quiet of mind. Forgiveness and gentleness\nare the qualities of the self-possessed. They represent eternal\nvirtue.\u201d\n\nNonviolence is the natural outgrowth of the law of forgiveness and\nlove. \u201cIf loss of life becomes necessary in a righteous battle,\u201d\nGandhi proclaims, \u201cone should be prepared, like Jesus, to shed his\nown, not others\u2019, blood. Eventually there will be less blood spilt\nin the world.\u201d\n\nEpics shall someday be written on the Indian SATYAGRAHIS who withstood\nhate with love, violence with nonviolence, who allowed themselves\nto be mercilessly slaughtered rather than retaliate. The result on\ncertain historic occasions was that the armed opponents threw down\ntheir guns and fled, shamed, shaken to their depths by the sight\nof men who valued the life of another above their own.\n\n\u201cI would wait, if need be for ages,\u201d Gandhi says, \u201crather than\nseek the freedom of my country through bloody means.\u201d Never does\nthe Mahatma forget the majestic warning: \u201cAll they that take the\nsword shall perish with the sword.\u201d {FN44-16} Gandhi has written:\n\nI call myself a nationalist, but my nationalism is as broad as the\nuniverse. It includes in its sweep all the nations of the earth.\n{FN44-17} My nationalism includes the well-being of the whole world.\nI do not want my India to rise on the ashes of other nations. I\ndo not want India to exploit a single human being. I want India to\nbe strong in order that she can infect the other nations also with\nher strength. Not so with a single nation in Europe today; they do\nnot give strength to the others.\n\nPresident Wilson mentioned his beautiful fourteen points, but said:\n\u201cAfter all, if this endeavor of ours to arrive at peace fails,\nwe have our armaments to fall back upon.\u201d I want to reverse that\nposition, and I say: \u201cOur armaments have failed already. Let us\nnow be in search of something new; let us try the force of love and\nGod which is truth.\u201d When we have got that, we shall want nothing\nelse.\n\n\nBy the Mahatma\u2019s training of thousands of true SATYAGRAHIS (those\nwho have taken the eleven rigorous vows mentioned in the first part\nof this chapter), who in turn spread the message; by patiently\neducating the Indian masses to understand the spiritual and\neventually material benefits of nonviolence; by arming his people\nwith nonviolent weapons\u2014non-cooperation with injustice, the willingness\nto endure indignities, prison, death itself rather than resort to\narms; by enlisting world sympathy through countless examples of\nheroic martyrdom among SATYAGRAHIS, Gandhi has dramatically portrayed\nthe practical nature of nonviolence, its solemn power to settle\ndisputes without war.\n\nGandhi has already won through nonviolent means a greater number\nof political concessions for his land than have ever been won by\nany leader of any country except through bullets. Nonviolent methods\nfor eradication of all wrongs and evils have been strikingly applied\nnot only in the political arena but in the delicate and complicated\nfield of Indian social reform. Gandhi and his followers have removed\nmany longstanding feuds between Hindus and Mohammedans; hundreds\nof thousands of Moslems look to the Mahatma as their leader.\nThe untouchables have found in him their fearless and triumphant\nchampion.  \u201cIf there be a rebirth in store for me,\u201d Gandhi wrote,\n\u201cI wish to be born a pariah in the midst of pariahs, because thereby\nI would be able to render them more effective service.\u201d\n\nThe Mahatma is indeed a \u201cgreat soul,\u201d but it was illiterate millions\nwho had the discernment to bestow the title. This gentle prophet\nis honored in his own land. The lowly peasant has been able to rise\nto Gandhi\u2019s high challenge. The Mahatma wholeheartedly believes in\nthe inherent nobility of man. The inevitable failures have never\ndisillusioned him. \u201cEven if the opponent plays him false twenty times,\u201d\nhe writes, \u201cthe SATYAGRAHI is ready to trust him the twenty-first\ntime, for an implicit trust in human nature is the very essence of\nthe creed.\u201d {FN44-18}\n\n\u201cMahatmaji, you are an exceptional man. You must not expect the\nworld to act as you do.\u201d A critic once made this observation.\n\n\u201cIt is curious how we delude ourselves, fancying that the body can\nbe improved, but that it is impossible to evoke the hidden powers\nof the soul,\u201d Gandhi replied. \u201cI am engaged in trying to show that\nif I have any of those powers, I am as frail a mortal as any of\nus and that I never had anything extraordinary about me nor have I\nnow. I am a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow\nmortal. I own, however, that I have enough humility to confess\nmy errors and to retrace my steps. I own that I have an immovable\nfaith in God and His goodness, and an unconsumable passion for truth\nand love. But is that not what every person has latent in him? If\nwe are to make progress, we must not repeat history but make new\nhistory. We must add to the inheritance left by our ancestors. If we\nmay make new discoveries and inventions in the phenomenal world,\nmust we declare our bankruptcy in the spiritual domain? Is it\nimpossible to multiply the exceptions so as to make them the rule?\nMust man always be brute first and man after, if at all?\u201d {FN44-19}\n\nAmericans may well remember with pride the successful nonviolent\nexperiment of William Penn in founding his 17th century colony in\nPennsylvania. There were \u201cno forts, no soldiers, no militia, even\nno arms.\u201d Amidst the savage frontier wars and the butcheries that\nwent on between the new settlers and the Red Indians, the Quakers\nof Pennsylvania alone remained unmolested. \u201cOthers were slain; others\nwere massacred; but they were safe. Not a Quaker woman suffered\nassault; not a Quaker child was slain, not a Quaker man was tortured.\u201d\nWhen the Quakers were finally forced to give up the government of\nthe state, \u201cwar broke out, and some Pennsylvanians were killed. But\nonly three Quakers were killed, three who had so far fallen from\ntheir faith as to carry weapons of defence.\u201d\n\n\u201cResort to force in the Great War (I) failed to bring tranquillity,\u201d\nFranklin D. Roosevelt has pointed out. \u201cVictory and defeat were\nalike sterile. That lesson the world should have learned.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe more weapons of violence, the more misery to mankind,\u201d Lao-tzu\ntaught. \u201cThe triumph of violence ends in a festival of mourning.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am fighting for nothing less than world peace,\u201d Gandhi\nhas declared. \u201cIf the Indian movement is carried to success on a\nnonviolent SATYAGRAHA basis, it will give a new meaning to patriotism\nand, if I may say so in all humility, to life itself.\u201d\n\nBefore the West dismisses Gandhi\u2019s program as one of an impractical\ndreamer, let it first reflect on a definition of SATYAGRAHA by the\nMaster of Galilee:\n\n\u201cYe have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and\na tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil:\n{FN44-20} but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn\nto him the other also.\u201d\n\nGandhi\u2019s epoch has extended, with the beautiful precision of\ncosmic timing, into a century already desolated and devastated by\ntwo World Wars. A divine handwriting appears on the granite wall\nof his life: a warning against the further shedding of blood among\nbrothers.\n\nMAHATMA GANDHI\u2019S HANDWRITING IN HINDI\n\n[Illustration\u2014see gandhi2.jpg]\n\nMahatma Gandhi visited my high school with yoga training at Ranchi.\nHe graciously wrote the above lines in the Ranchi guest-book. The\ntranslation is: \u201cThis institution has deeply impressed my mind.\nI cherish high hopes that this school will encourage the further\npractical use of the spinning wheel.\u201d\n\n(SIGNED) MOHANDAS GANDHI September 17, 1925\n\n[Illustration\u2014see gandhiflag.jpg]\n\nA national flag for India was designed in 1921 by Gandhi. The\nstripes are saffron, white and green; the CHARKA (spinning wheel)\nin the center is dark blue.  \u201cThe CHARKA symbolizes energy,\u201d\nhe wrote, \u201cand reminds us that during the past eras of prosperity\nin India\u2019s history, hand spinning and other domestic crafts were\nprominent.\u201d\n\n{FN44-1} His family name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He never\nrefers to himself as \u201cMahatma.\u201d\n\n{FN44-2} The literal translation from Sanskrit is \u201cholding to\ntruth.\u201d SATYAGRAHA is the famous nonviolence movement led by Gandhi.\n\n{FN44-3} False and alas! malicious reports were recently circulated\nthat Miss Slade has severed all her ties with Gandhi and forsaken\nher vows. Miss Slade, the Mahatma\u2019s SATYAGRAHA disciple for twenty\nyears, issued a signed statement to the UNITED PRESS, dated Dec.\n29, 1945, in which she explained that a series of baseless rumors\narose after she had departed, with Gandhi\u2019s blessings, for a small\nsite in northeastern India near the Himalayas, for the purpose of\nfounding there her now-flourishing KISAN ASHRAM (center for medical\nand agricultural aid to peasant farmers). Mahatma Gandhi plans to\nvisit the new ashram during 1946.\n\n{FN44-4} Miss Slade reminded me of another distinguished Western\nwoman, Miss Margaret Woodrow Wilson, eldest daughter of America\u2019s\ngreat president. I met her in New York; she was intensely interested\nin India. Later she went to Pondicherry, where she spent the last\nfive years of her life, happily pursuing a path of discipline at\nthe feet of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh. This sage never speaks; he silently\ngreets his disciples on three annual occasions only.\n\n{FN44-5} For years in America I had been observing periods of\nsilence, to the consternation of callers and secretaries.\n\n{FN44-6} Harmlessness; nonviolence; the foundation rock of Gandhi\u2019s\ncreed. He was born into a family of strict Jains, who revere AHIMSA\nas the root-virtue. Jainism, a sect of Hinduism, was founded in the\n6th century B.C. by Mahavira, a contemporary of Buddha. Mahavira\nmeans \u201cgreat hero\u201d; may he look down the centuries on his heroic\nson Gandhi!\n\n{FN44-7} Hindi is the lingua franca for the whole of India. An\nIndo-Aryan language based largely on Sanskrit roots, Hindi is the\nchief vernacular of northern India. The main dialect of Western\nHindi is Hindustani, written both in the DEVANAGARI (Sanskrit)\ncharacters and in Arabic characters. Its subdialect, Urdu, is spoken\nby Moslems.\n\n{FN44-8} Gandhi has described his life with a devastating candor\nin THE STORY OF MY EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH (Ahmedabad: Navajivan\nPress, 1927-29, 2 vol.) This autobiography has been summarized in\nMAHATMA GANDHI, HIS OWN STORY, edited by C. F. Andrews, with an\nintroduction by John Haynes Holmes (New York: Macmillan Co., 1930).\n\nMany autobiographies replete with famous names and colorful\nevents are almost completely silent on any phase of inner analysis\nor development. One lays down each of these books with a certain\ndissatisfaction, as though saying: \u201cHere is a man who knew many\nnotable persons, but who never knew himself.\u201d This reaction is\nimpossible with Gandhi\u2019s autobiography; he exposes his faults and\nsubterfuges with an impersonal devotion to truth rare in annals of\nany age.\n\n{FN44-9} Kasturabai Gandhi died in imprisonment at Poona on February\n22, 1944. The usually unemotional Gandhi wept silently. Shortly\nafter her admirers had suggested a Memorial Fund in her honor, 125\nlacs of rupees (nearly four million dollars) poured in from all\nover India.  Gandhi has arranged that the fund be used for village\nwelfare work among women and children. He reports his activities\nin his English weekly, HARIJAN.\n\n{FN44-10} I sent a shipment to Wardha, soon after my return to\nAmerica.  The plants, alas! died on the way, unable to withstand\nthe rigors of the long ocean transportation.\n\n{FN44-11} Thoreau, Ruskin, and Mazzini are three other Western\nwriters whose sociological views Gandhi has studied carefully.\n\n{FN44-12} The sacred scripture given to Persia about 1000 B.C. by\nZoroaster.\n\n{FN44-13} The unique feature of Hinduism among the world religions\nis that it derives not from a single great founder but from the\nimpersonal Vedic scriptures. Hinduism thus gives scope for worshipful\nincorporation into its fold of prophets of all ages and all lands.\nThe Vedic scriptures regulate not only devotional practices but all\nimportant social customs, in an effort to bring man\u2019s every action\ninto harmony with divine law.\n\n{FN44-14} A comprehensive Sanskrit word for law; conformity to law\nor natural righteousness; duty as inherent in the circumstances in\nwhich a man finds himself at any given time. The scriptures define\nDHARMA as \u201cthe natural universal laws whose observance enables man\nto save himself from degradation and suffering.\u201d\n\n{FN44-15} MATTHEW 7:21.\n\n{FN44-16} MATTHEW 26:52.\n\n{FN44-17} \u201cLet not a man glory in this, that he love his country;\nLet him rather glory in this, that he love his kind.\u201d-PERSIAN\nPROVERB.\n\n{FN44-18} \u201cThen came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my\nbrother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus\nsaith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until\nseventy times seven.\u201d-MATTHEW 18:21-22.\n\n{FN44-19} Charles P. Steinmetz, the great electrical engineer, was\nonce asked by Mr. Roger W. Babson: \u201cWhat line of research will see\nthe greatest development during the next fifty years?\u201d \u201cI think the\ngreatest discovery will be made along spiritual lines,\u201d Steinmetz\nreplied. \u201cHere is a force which history clearly teaches has been\nthe greatest power in the development of men. Yet we have merely\nbeen playing with it and have never seriously studied it as we\nhave the physical forces. Someday people will learn that material\nthings do not bring happiness and are of little use in making men\nand women creative and powerful. Then the scientists of the world\nwill turn their laboratories over to the study of God and prayer\nand the spiritual forces which as yet have hardly been scratched.\nWhen this day comes, the world will see more advancement in one\ngeneration than it has seen in the past four.\u201d\n\n{FN44-20} That is, resist not evil with evil. (MATTHEW 5:38-39)\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 45\n\nTHE BENGALI \u201cJOY-PERMEATED\u201d MOTHER\n\n\n\u201cSir, please do not leave India without a glimpse of Nirmala Devi.\nHer sanctity is intense; she is known far and wide as Ananda Moyi Ma\n(Joy-Permeated Mother).\u201d My niece, Amiyo Bose, gazed at me earnestly.\n\n\u201cOf course! I want very much to see the woman saint.\u201d I added, \u201cI\nhave read of her advanced state of God-realization. A little article\nabout her appeared years ago in EAST-WEST.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have met her,\u201d Amiyo went on. \u201cShe recently visited my own little\ntown of Jamshedpur. At the entreaty of a disciple, Ananda Moyi Ma\nwent to the home of a dying man. She stood by his bedside; as her\nhand touched his forehead, his death-rattle ceased. The disease\nvanished at once; to the man\u2019s glad astonishment, he was well.\u201d\n\nA few days later I heard that the Blissful Mother was staying at\nthe home of a disciple in the Bhowanipur section of Calcutta. Mr.\nWright and I set out immediately from my father\u2019s Calcutta home. As\nthe Ford neared the Bhowanipur house, my companion and I observed\nan unusual street scene.\n\nAnanda Moyi Ma was standing in an open-topped automobile, blessing\na throng of about one hundred disciples. She was evidently on the\npoint of departure. Mr. Wright parked the Ford some distance away,\nand accompanied me on foot toward the quiet assemblage. The woman\nsaint glanced in our direction; she alit from her car and walked\ntoward us.\n\n\u201cFather, you have come!\u201d With these fervent words she put her arm\naround my neck and her head on my shoulder. Mr. Wright, to whom I\nhad just remarked that I did not know the saint, was hugely enjoying\nthis extraordinary demonstration of welcome. The eyes of the one\nhundred chelas were also fixed with some surprise on the affectionate\ntableau.\n\nI had instantly seen that the saint was in a high state of SAMADHI.\nUtterly oblivious to her outward garb as a woman, she knew herself\nas the changeless soul; from that plane she was joyously greeting\nanother devotee of God. She led me by the hand into her automobile.\n\n\u201cAnanda Moyi Ma, I am delaying your journey!\u201d I protested.\n\n\u201cFather, I am meeting you for the first time in this life, after\nages!\u201d she said. \u201cPlease do not leave yet.\u201d\n\nWe sat together in the rear seats of the car. The Blissful Mother\nsoon entered the immobile ecstatic state. Her beautiful eyes\nglanced heavenward and, half-opened, became stilled, gazing into\nthe near-far inner Elysium. The disciples chanted gently: \u201cVictory\nto Mother Divine!\u201d\n\nI had found many men of God-realization in India, but never before\nhad I met such an exalted woman saint. Her gentle face was burnished\nwith the ineffable joy that had given her the name of Blissful\nMother. Long black tresses lay loosely behind her unveiled head. A\nred dot of sandalwood paste on her forehead symbolized the spiritual\neye, ever open within her. Tiny face, tiny hands, tiny feet-a\ncontrast to her spiritual magnitude!\n\nI put some questions to a near-by woman chela while Ananda Moyi Ma\nremained entranced.\n\n\u201cThe Blissful Mother travels widely in India; in many parts she has\nhundreds of disciples,\u201d the chela told me. \u201cHer courageous efforts\nhave brought about many desirable social reforms. Although a Brahmin,\nthe saint recognizes no caste distinctions. {FN45-1} A group of\nus always travel with her, looking after her comforts. We have to\nmother her; she takes no notice of her body. If no one gave her\nfood, she would not eat, or make any inquiries. Even when meals\nare placed before her, she does not touch them. To prevent her\ndisappearance from this world, we disciples feed her with our own\nhands. For days together she often stays in the divine trance,\nscarcely breathing, her eyes unwinking. One of her chief disciples\nis her husband. Many years ago, soon after their marriage, he took\nthe vow of silence.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Ananda Moyi Ma, the Bengali \u201cJoy-Permeated Mother.\u201d\u2014see\namoyima.jpg]\n\nThe chela pointed to a broad-shouldered, fine-featured man with\nlong hair and hoary beard. He was standing quietly in the midst of\nthe gathering, his hands folded in a disciple\u2019s reverential attitude.\n\nRefreshed by her dip in the Infinite, Ananda Moyi Ma was now focusing\nher consciousness on the material world.\n\n\u201cFather, please tell me where you stay.\u201d Her voice was clear and\nmelodious.\n\n\u201cAt present, in Calcutta or Ranchi; but soon I shall be returning\nto America.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmerica?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes. An Indian woman saint would be sincerely appreciated there\nby spiritual seekers. Would you like to go?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf Father can take me, I will go.\u201d\n\nThis reply caused her near-by disciples to start in alarm.\n\n\u201cTwenty or more of us always travel with the Blissful Mother,\u201d one\nof them told me firmly. \u201cWe could not live without her. Wherever\nshe goes, we must go.\u201d\n\nReluctantly I abandoned the plan, as possessing an impractical\nfeature of spontaneous enlargement!\n\n\u201cPlease come at least to Ranchi, with your disciples,\u201d I said on\ntaking leave of the saint. \u201cAs a divine child yourself, you will\nenjoy the little ones in my school.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhenever Father takes me, I will gladly go.\u201d\n\nA short time later the Ranchi VIDYALAYA was in gala array for the\nsaint\u2019s promised visit. The youngsters looked forward to any day\nof festivity-no lessons, hours of music, and a feast for the climax!\n\n\u201cVictory! Ananda Moyi Ma, ki jai!\u201d This reiterated chant from\nscores of enthusiastic little throats greeted the saint\u2019s party\nas it entered the school gates. Showers of marigolds, tinkle of\ncymbals, lusty blowing of conch shells and beat of the MRIDANGA\ndrum! The Blissful Mother wandered smilingly over the sunny VIDYALAYA\ngrounds, ever carrying within her the portable paradise.\n\n\u201cIt is beautiful here,\u201d Ananda Moyi Ma said graciously as I led her\ninto the main building. She seated herself with a childlike smile\nby my side. The closest of dear friends, she made one feel, yet an\naura of remoteness was ever around her-the paradoxical isolation\nof Omnipresence.\n\n\u201cPlease tell me something of your life.\u201d\n\n\u201cFather knows all about it; why repeat it?\u201d She evidently felt that\nthe factual history of one short incarnation was beneath notice.\n\nI laughed, gently repeating my question.\n\n\u201cFather, there is little to tell.\u201d She spread her graceful hands\nin a deprecatory gesture. \u201cMy consciousness has never associated\nitself with this temporary body. Before I came on this earth, Father,\n\u2018I was the same.\u2019 As a little girl, \u2018I was the same.\u2019 I grew into\nwomanhood, but still \u2018I was the same.\u2019 When the family in which\nI had been born made arrangements to have this body married, \u2018I\nwas the same.\u2019 And when, passion-drunk, my husband came to me and\nmurmured endearing words, lightly touching my body, he received a\nviolent shock, as if struck by lightning, for even then \u2018I was the\nsame.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy husband knelt before me, folded his hands, and implored my\npardon.\n\n\u201c\u2018Mother,\u2019 he said, \u2018because I have desecrated your bodily temple\nby touching it with the thought of lust-not knowing that within it\ndwelt not my wife but the Divine Mother-I take this solemn vow: I\nshall be your disciple, a celibate follower, ever caring for you\nin silence as a servant, never speaking to anyone again as long as\nI live. May I thus atone for the sin I have today committed against\nyou, my guru.\u2019\n\n\u201cEven when I quietly accepted this proposal of my husband\u2019s, \u2018I\nwas the same.\u2019 And, Father, in front of you now, \u2018I am the same.\u2019\nEver afterward, though the dance of creation change around me in\nthe hall of eternity, \u2018I shall be the same.\u2019\u201d\n\nAnanda Moyi Ma sank into a deep meditative state. Her form was\nstatue-still; she had fled to her ever-calling kingdom. The dark\npools of her eyes appeared lifeless and glassy. This expression\nis often present when saints remove their consciousness from the\nphysical body, which is then hardly more than a piece of soulless\nclay. We sat together for an hour in the ecstatic trance. She\nreturned to this world with a gay little laugh.\n\n\u201cPlease, Ananda Moyi Ma,\u201d I said, \u201ccome with me to the garden. Mr.\nWright will take some pictures.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course, Father. Your will is my will.\u201d Her glorious eyes retained\nthe unchanging divine luster as she posed for many photographs.\n\nTime for the feast! Ananda Moyi Ma squatted on her blanket-seat,\na disciple at her elbow to feed her. Like an infant, the saint\nobediently swallowed the food after the chela had brought it to\nher lips. It was plain that the Blissful Mother did not recognize\nany difference between curries and sweetmeats!\n\nAs dusk approached, the saint left with her party amidst a shower\nof rose petals, her hands raised in blessing on the little lads.\nTheir faces shone with the affection she had effortlessly awakened.\n\n\u201cThou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all\nthy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:\u201d Christ\nhas proclaimed, \u201cthis is the first commandment.\u201d {FN45-2}\n\nCasting aside every inferior attachment, Ananda Moyi Ma offers her\nsole allegiance to the Lord. Not by the hairsplitting distinctions\nof scholars but by the sure logic of faith, the childlike saint has\nsolved the only problem in human life-establishment of unity with\nGod.  Man has forgotten this stark simplicity, now befogged by a\nmillion issues. Refusing a monotheistic love to God, the nations\ndisguise their infidelity by punctilious respect before the outward\nshrines of charity. These humanitarian gestures are virtuous, because\nfor a moment they divert man\u2019s attention from himself, but they do\nnot free him from his single responsibility in life, referred to\nby Jesus as the first commandment. The uplifting obligation to love\nGod is assumed with man\u2019s first breath of an air freely bestowed\nby his only Benefactor.\n\nOn one other occasion after her Ranchi visit I had opportunity to\nsee Ananda Moyi Ma. She stood among her disciples some months later\non the Serampore station platform, waiting for the train.\n\n\u201cFather, I am going to the Himalayas,\u201d she told me. \u201cGenerous\ndisciples have built me a hermitage in Dehra Dun.\u201d\n\nAs she boarded the train, I marveled to see that whether amidst a\ncrowd, on a train, feasting, or sitting in silence, her eyes never\nlooked away from God. Within me I still hear her voice, an echo of\nmeasureless sweetness:\n\n\u201cBehold, now and always one with the Eternal, \u2018I am ever the same.\u2019\u201d\n\n{FN45-1} I find some further facts of Ananda Moyi Ma\u2019s life, printed\nin EAST-WEST. The saint was born in 1893 at Dacca in central Bengal.\nIlliterate, she has yet stunned the intellectuals by her wisdom.\nHer verses in Sanskrit have filled scholars with wonderment. She\nhas brought consolation to bereaved persons, and effected miraculous\ncures, by her mere presence.\n\n{FN45-2} MARK 12:30.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 46\n\nTHE WOMAN YOGI WHO NEVER EATS\n\n\n\u201cSir, whither are we bound this morning?\u201d Mr. Wright was driving\nthe Ford; he took his eyes off the road long enough to gaze at me\nwith a questioning twinkle. From day to day he seldom knew what\npart of Bengal he would be discovering next.\n\n\u201cGod willing,\u201d I replied devoutly, \u201cwe are on our way to see an\neighth wonder of the world-a woman saint whose diet is thin air!\u201d\n\n\u201cRepetition of wonders-after Therese Neumann.\u201d But Mr. Wright laughed\neagerly just the same; he even accelerated the speed of the car.\nMore extraordinary grist for his travel diary! Not one of an average\ntourist, that!\n\nThe Ranchi school had just been left behind us; we had risen before\nthe sun. Besides my secretary and myself, three Bengali friends\nwere in the party. We drank in the exhilarating air, the natural\nwine of the morning. Our driver guided the car warily among the\nearly peasants and the two-wheeled carts, slowly drawn by yoked,\nhump-shouldered bullocks, inclined to dispute the road with a\nhonking interloper.\n\n\u201cSir, we would like to know more of the fasting saint.\u201d\n\n\u201cHer name is Giri Bala,\u201d I informed my companions. \u201cI first heard\nabout her years ago from a scholarly gentleman, Sthiti Lal Nundy.\nHe often came to the Gurpar Road home to tutor my brother Bishnu.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018I know Giri Bala well,\u2019 Sthiti Babu told me. \u2018She employs a\ncertain yoga technique which enables her to live without eating. I\nwas her close neighbor in Nawabganj near Ichapur. {FN46-1} I made\nit a point to watch her closely; never did I find evidence that\nshe was taking either food or drink. My interest finally mounted so\nhigh that I approached the Maharaja of Burdwan {FN46-2} and asked\nhim to conduct an investigation. Astounded at the story, he invited\nher to his palace.  She agreed to a test and lived for two months\nlocked up in a small section of his home. Later she returned for a\npalace visit of twenty days; and then for a third test of fifteen\ndays. The Maharaja himself told me that these three rigorous\nscrutinies had convinced him beyond doubt of her non-eating state.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: GIRI BALA, This great woman yogi has not taken food\nor drink since 1880. I am pictured with her, in 1936, at her home\nin the isolated Bengal village of Biur. Her non-eating state has\nbeen rigorously investigated by the Maharaja of Burdwan. She employs\na certain yoga technique to recharge her body with cosmic energy\nfrom the ether, sun, and air.\u2014see giribala.jpg]\n\n\u201cThis story of Sthiti Babu\u2019s has remained in my mind for over\ntwenty-five years,\u201d I concluded. \u201cSometimes in America I wondered\nif the river of time would not swallow the YOGINI {FN46-3} before\nI could meet her. She must be quite aged now. I do not even know\nwhere, or if, she lives. But in a few hours we shall reach Purulia;\nher brother has a home there.\u201d\n\nBy ten-thirty our little group was conversing with the brother,\nLambadar Dey, a lawyer of Purulia.\n\n\u201cYes, my sister is living. She sometimes stays with me here, but at\npresent she is at our family home in Biur.\u201d Lambadar Babu glanced\ndoubtfully at the Ford. \u201cI hardly think, Swamiji, that any automobile\nhas ever penetrated into the interior as far as Biur. It might be\nbest if you all resign yourselves to the ancient jolt of the bullock\ncart!\u201d\n\nAs one voice our party pledged loyalty to the Pride of Detroit.\n\n\u201cThe Ford comes from America,\u201d I told the lawyer. \u201cIt would be a\nshame to deprive it of an opportunity to get acquainted with the\nheart of Bengal!\u201d\n\n\u201cMay Ganesh {FN46-4} go with you!\u201d Lambadar Babu said, laughing.\nHe added courteously, \u201cIf you ever get there, I am sure Giri Bala\nwill be glad to see you. She is approaching her seventies, but\ncontinues in excellent health.\u201d\n\n\u201cPlease tell me, sir, if it is absolutely true that she eats\nnothing?\u201d I looked directly into his eyes, those telltale windows\nof the mind.\n\n\u201cIt is true.\u201d His gaze was open and honorable. \u201cIn more than five\ndecades I have never seen her eat a morsel. If the world suddenly\ncame to an end, I could not be more astonished than by the sight\nof my sister\u2019s taking food!\u201d\n\nWe chuckled together over the improbability of these two cosmic\nevents.\n\n\u201cGiri Bala has never sought an inaccessible solitude for her yoga\npractices,\u201d Lambadar Babu went on. \u201cShe has lived her entire life\nsurrounded by her family and friends. They are all well accustomed\nnow to her strange state. Not one of them who would not be stupefied\nif Giri Bala suddenly decided to eat anything! Sister is naturally\nretiring, as befits a Hindu widow, but our little circle in Purulia\nand in Biur all know that she is literally an \u2018exceptional\u2019 woman.\u201d\n\nThe brother\u2019s sincerity was manifest. Our little party thanked him\nwarmly and set out toward Biur. We stopped at a street shop for\ncurry and LUCHIS, attracting a swarm of urchins who gathered round\nto watch Mr. Wright eating with his fingers in the simple Hindu\nmanner. {FN46-5} Hearty appetites caused us to fortify ourselves\nagainst an afternoon which, unknown at the moment, was to prove\nfairly laborious.\n\nOur way now led east through sun-baked rice fields into the Burdwan\nsection of Bengal. On through roads lined with dense vegetation;\nthe songs of the MAYNAS and the stripe-throated BULBULS streamed\nout from trees with huge, umbrellalike branches. A bullock cart\nnow and then, the RINI, RINI, MANJU, MANJU squeak of its axle and\niron-shod wooden wheels contrasting sharply in mind with the SWISH,\nSWISH of auto tires over the aristocratic asphalt of the cities.\n\n\u201cDick, halt!\u201d My sudden request brought a jolting protest from the\nFord. \u201cThat overburdened mango tree is fairly shouting an invitation!\u201d\n\nThe five of us dashed like children to the mango-strewn earth; the\ntree had benevolently shed its fruits as they had ripened.\n\n\u201cFull many a mango is born to lie unseen,\u201d I paraphrased, \u201cand\nwaste its sweetness on the stony ground.\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing like this in America, Swamiji, eh?\u201d laughed Sailesh\nMazumdar, one of my Bengali students.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d I admitted, covered with mango juice and contentment. \u201cHow\nI have missed this fruit in the West! A Hindu\u2019s heaven without\nmangoes is inconceivable!\u201d\n\nI picked up a rock and downed a proud beauty hidden on the highest\nlimb.\n\n\u201cDick,\u201d I asked between bites of ambrosia, warm with the tropical\nsun, \u201care all the cameras in the car?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir; in the baggage compartment.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf Giri Bala proves to be a true saint, I want to write about her\nin the West. A Hindu YOGINI with such inspiring powers should not\nlive and die unknown-like most of these mangoes.\u201d\n\nHalf an hour later I was still strolling in the sylvan peace.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d Mr. Wright remarked, \u201cwe should reach Giri Bala before the\nsun sets, to have enough light for photographs.\u201d He added with a\ngrin, \u201cThe Westerners are a skeptical lot; we can\u2019t expect them to\nbelieve in the lady without any pictures!\u201d\n\nThis bit of wisdom was indisputable; I turned my back on temptation\nand reentered the car.\n\n\u201cYou are right, Dick,\u201d I sighed as we sped along, \u201cI sacrifice the\nmango paradise on the altar of Western realism. Photographs we must\nhave!\u201d\n\nThe road became more and more sickly: wrinkles of ruts, boils of\nhardened clay, the sad infirmities of old age! Our group dismounted\noccasionally to allow Mr. Wright to more easily maneuver the Ford,\nwhich the four of us pushed from behind.\n\n\u201cLambadar Babu spoke truly,\u201d Sailesh acknowledged. \u201cThe car is not\ncarrying us; we are carrying the car!\u201d\n\nOur climb-in, climb-out auto tedium was beguiled ever and anon by\nthe appearance of a village, each one a scene of quaint simplicity.\n\n\u201cOur way twisted and turned through groves of palms among ancient,\nunspoiled villages nestling in the forest shade,\u201d Mr. Wright has\nrecorded in his travel diary, under date of May 5, 1936. \u201cVery\nfascinating are these clusters of thatched mud huts, decorated with\none of the names of God on the door; many small, naked children\ninnocently playing about, pausing to stare or run wildly from\nthis big, black, bullockless carriage tearing madly through their\nvillage.  The women merely peep from the shadows, while the men\nlazily loll beneath the trees along the roadside, curious beneath\ntheir nonchalance. In one place, all the villagers were gaily\nbathing in the large tank (in their garments, changing by draping\ndry cloths around their bodies, dropping the wet ones). Women\nbearing water to their homes, in huge brass jars.\n\n\u201cThe road led us a merry chase over mount and ridge; we bounced and\ntossed, dipped into small streams, detoured around an unfinished\ncauseway, slithered across dry, sandy river beds and finally, about\n5:00 P.M., we were close to our destination, Biur. This minute\nvillage in the interior of Bankura District, hidden in the protection\nof dense foliage, is unapproachable by travelers during the rainy\nseason, when the streams are raging torrents and the roads serpentlike\nspit the mud-venom.\n\n\u201cAsking for a guide among a group of worshipers on their way home\nfrom a temple prayer (out in the lonely field), we were besieged by\na dozen scantily clad lads who clambered on the sides of the car,\neager to conduct us to Giri Bala.\n\n\u201cThe road led toward a grove of date palms sheltering a group of\nmud huts, but before we had reached it, the Ford was momentarily\ntipped at a dangerous angle, tossed up and dropped down. The narrow\ntrail led around trees and tank, over ridges, into holes and deep\nruts. The car became anchored on a clump of bushes, then grounded\non a hillock, requiring a lift of earth clods; on we proceeded,\nslowly and carefully; suddenly the way was stopped by a mass of\nbrush in the middle of the cart track, necessitating a detour down\na precipitous ledge into a dry tank, rescue from which demanded some\nscraping, adzing, and shoveling. Again and again the road seemed\nimpassable, but the pilgrimage must go on; obliging lads fetched\nspades and demolished the obstacles (shades of Ganesh!) while\nhundreds of children and parents stared.\n\n\u201cSoon we were threading our way along the two ruts of antiquity,\nwomen gazing wide-eyed from their hut doors, men trailing alongside\nand behind us, children scampering to swell the procession. Ours\nwas perhaps the first auto to traverse these roads; the \u2018bullock\ncart union\u2019 must be omnipotent here! What a sensation we created-a\ngroup piloted by an American and pioneering in a snorting car\nright into their hamlet fastness, invading the ancient privacy and\nsanctity!\n\n\u201cHalting by a narrow lane we found ourselves within a hundred feet\nof Giri Bala\u2019s ancestral home. We felt the thrill of fulfillment\nafter the long road struggle crowned by a rough finish. We approached\na large, two-storied building of brick and plaster, dominating the\nsurrounding adobe huts; the house was under the process of repair,\nfor around it was the characteristically tropical framework of\nbamboos.\n\n\u201cWith feverish anticipation and suppressed rejoicing we stood\nbefore the open doors of the one blessed by the Lord\u2019s \u2018hungerless\u2019\ntouch.  Constantly agape were the villagers, young and old, bare\nand dressed, women aloof somewhat but inquisitive too, men and\nboys unabashedly at our heels as they gazed on this unprecedented\nspectacle.\n\n\u201cSoon a short figure came into view in the doorway-Giri Bala! She\nwas swathed in a cloth of dull, goldish silk; in typically Indian\nfashion, she drew forward modestly and hesitatingly, peering\nslightly from beneath the upper fold of her SWADESHI cloth. Her\neyes glistened like smouldering embers in the shadow of her head\npiece; we were enamored by a most benevolent and kindly face, a face\nof realization and understanding, free from the taint of earthly\nattachment.\n\n\u201cMeekly she approached and silently assented to our snapping a\nnumber of pictures with our \u2018still\u2019 and \u2018movie\u2019 cameras. {FN46-6}\nPatiently and shyly she endured our photo techniques of posture\nadjustment and light arrangement. Finally we had recorded for\nposterity many photographs of the only woman in the world who is\nknown to have lived without food or drink for over fifty years.\n(Therese Neumann, of course, has fasted since 1923.) Most motherly\nwas Giri Bala\u2019s expression as she stood before us, completely\ncovered in the loose-flowing cloth, nothing of her body visible\nbut her face with its downcast eyes, her hands, and her tiny feet.\nA face of rare peace and innocent poise-a wide, childlike, quivering\nlip, a feminine nose, narrow, sparkling eyes, and a wistful smile.\u201d\n\nMr. Wright\u2019s impression of Giri Bala was shared by myself; spirituality\nenfolded her like her gently shining veil. She PRONAMED before me\nin the customary gesture of greeting from a householder to a monk.\nHer simple charm and quiet smile gave us a welcome beyond that of\nhoneyed oratory; forgotten was our difficult, dusty trip.\n\nThe little saint seated herself cross-legged on the verandah. Though\nbearing the scars of age, she was not emaciated; her olive-colored\nskin had remained clear and healthy in tone.\n\n\u201cMother,\u201d I said in Bengali, \u201cfor over twenty-five years I have\nthought eagerly of this very pilgrimage! I heard about your sacred\nlife from Sthiti Lal Nundy Babu.\u201d\n\nShe nodded in acknowledgment. \u201cYes, my good neighbor in Nawabganj.\u201d\n\n\u201cDuring those years I have crossed the oceans, but I never forgot\nmy early plan to someday see you. The sublime drama that you are\nhere playing so inconspicuously should be blazoned before a world\nthat has long forgotten the inner food divine.\u201d\n\nThe saint lifted her eyes for a minute, smiling with serene interest.\n\n\u201cBaba (honored father) knows best,\u201d she answered meekly.\n\nI was happy that she had taken no offense; one never knows how\ngreat yogis or yoginis will react to the thought of publicity. They\nshun it, as a rule, wishing to pursue in silence the profound soul\nresearch. An inner sanction comes to them when the proper time\narrives to display their lives openly for the benefit of seeking\nminds.\n\n\u201cMother,\u201d I went on, \u201cplease forgive me, then, for burdening you\nwith many questions. Kindly answer only those that please you; I\nshall understand your silence, also.\u201d\n\nShe spread her hands in a gracious gesture. \u201cI am glad to reply,\ninsofar as an insignificant person like myself can give satisfactory\nanswers.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no, not insignificant!\u201d I protested sincerely. \u201cYou are a\ngreat soul.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am the humble servant of all.\u201d She added quaintly, \u201cI love to\ncook and feed people.\u201d\n\nA strange pastime, I thought, for a non-eating saint!\n\n\u201cTell me, Mother, from your own lips-do you live without food?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is true.\u201d She was silent for a few moments; her next remark\nshowed that she had been struggling with mental arithmetic. \u201cFrom\nthe age of twelve years four months down to my present age of\nsixty-eight\u2014a period of over fifty-six years\u2014I have not eaten\nfood or taken liquids.\u201d\n\n\u201cAre you never tempted to eat?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf I felt a craving for food, I would have to eat.\u201d Simply yet\nregally she stated this axiomatic truth, one known too well by a\nworld revolving around three meals a day!\n\n\u201cBut you do eat something!\u201d My tone held a note of remonstrance.\n\n\u201cOf course!\u201d She smiled in swift understanding.\n\n\u201cYour nourishment derives from the finer energies of the air and\nsunlight, {FN46-7} and from the cosmic power which recharges your\nbody through the medulla oblongata.\u201d\n\n\u201cBaba knows.\u201d Again she acquiesced, her manner soothing and\nunemphatic.\n\n\u201cMother, please tell me about your early life. It holds a deep\ninterest for all of India, and even for our brothers and sisters\nbeyond the seas.\u201d\n\nGiri Bala put aside her habitual reserve, relaxing into a conversational\nmood.\n\n\u201cSo be it.\u201d Her voice was low and firm. \u201cI was born in these forest\nregions. My childhood was unremarkable save that I was possessed\nby an insatiable appetite. I had been betrothed in early years.\n\n\u201c\u2018Child,\u2019 my mother often warned me, \u2018try to control your greed.\nWhen the time comes for you to live among strangers in your husband\u2019s\nfamily, what will they think of you if your days are spent in\nnothing but eating?\u2019\n\n\u201cThe calamity she had foreseen came to pass. I was only twelve\nwhen I joined my husband\u2019s people in Nawabganj. My mother-in-law\nshamed me morning, noon, and night about my gluttonous habits.\nHer scoldings were a blessing in disguise, however; they roused my\ndormant spiritual tendencies. One morning her ridicule was merciless.\n\n\u201c\u2018I shall soon prove to you,\u2019 I said, stung to the quick, \u2018that I\nshall never touch food again as long as I live.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy mother-in-law laughed in derision. \u2018So!\u2019 she said, \u2018how can\nyou live without eating, when you cannot live without overeating?\u2019\n\n\u201cThis remark was unanswerable! Yet an iron resolution scaffolded\nmy spirit. In a secluded spot I sought my Heavenly Father.\n\n\u201c\u2018Lord,\u2019 I prayed incessantly, \u2018please send me a guru, one who can\nteach me to live by Thy light and not by food.\u2019\n\n\u201cA divine ecstasy fell over me. Led by a beatific spell, I set out\nfor the Nawabganj GHAT on the Ganges. On the way I encountered the\npriest of my husband\u2019s family.\n\n\u201c\u2018Venerable sir,\u2019 I said trustingly, \u2018kindly tell me how to live\nwithout eating.\u2019\n\n\u201cHe stared at me without reply. Finally he spoke in a consoling\nmanner. \u2018Child,\u2019 he said, \u2018come to the temple this evening; I will\nconduct a special VEDIC ceremony for you.\u2019\n\n\u201cThis vague answer was not the one I was seeking; I continued toward\nthe GHAT. The morning sun pierced the waters; I purified myself in\nthe Ganges, as though for a sacred initiation. As I left the river\nbank, my wet cloth around me, in the broad glare of day my master\nmaterialized himself before me!\n\n\u201c\u2018Dear little one,\u2019 he said in a voice of loving compassion, \u2018I\nam the guru sent here by God to fulfill your urgent prayer. He was\ndeeply touched by its very unusual nature! From today you shall\nlive by the astral light, your bodily atoms fed from the infinite\ncurrent.\u2019\u201d\n\nGiri Bala fell into silence. I took Mr. Wright\u2019s pencil and pad\nand translated into English a few items for his information.\n\nThe saint resumed the tale, her gentle voice barely audible. \u201cThe\nGHAT was deserted, but my guru cast round us an aura of guarding\nlight, that no stray bathers later disturb us. He initiated me\ninto a KRIA technique which frees the body from dependence on the\ngross food of mortals. The technique includes the use of a certain\nMANTRA {FN46-8} and a breathing exercise more difficult than the\naverage person could perform. No medicine or magic is involved;\nnothing beyond the KRIA.\u201d\n\nIn the manner of the American newspaper reporter, who had unknowingly\ntaught me his procedure, I questioned Giri Bala on many matters\nwhich I thought would be of interest to the world. She gave me,\nbit by bit, the following information:\n\n\u201cI have never had any children; many years ago I became a widow.\nI sleep very little, as sleep and waking are the same to me. I\nmeditate at night, attending to my domestic duties in the daytime. I\nslightly feel the change in climate from season to season. I have\nnever been sick or experienced any disease. I feel only slight\npain when accidentally injured. I have no bodily excretions. I\ncan control my heart and breathing. I often see my guru as well as\nother great souls, in vision.\u201d\n\n\u201cMother,\u201d I asked, \u201cwhy don\u2019t you teach others the method of living\nwithout food?\u201d\n\nMy ambitious hopes for the world\u2019s starving millions were nipped\nin the bud.\n\n\u201cNo.\u201d She shook her head. \u201cI was strictly commanded by my guru\nnot to divulge the secret. It is not his wish to tamper with God\u2019s\ndrama of creation. The farmers would not thank me if I taught\nmany people to live without eating! The luscious fruits would lie\nuselessly on the ground. It appears that misery, starvation, and\ndisease are whips of our karma which ultimately drive us to seek\nthe true meaning of life.\u201d\n\n\u201cMother,\u201d I said slowly, \u201cwhat is the use of your having been\nsingled out to live without eating?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo prove that man is Spirit.\u201d Her face lit with wisdom. \u201cTo\ndemonstrate that by divine advancement he can gradually learn to\nlive by the Eternal Light and not by food.\u201d\n\nThe saint sank into a deep meditative state. Her gaze was directed\ninward; the gentle depths of her eyes became expressionless. She\ngave a certain sigh, the prelude to the ecstatic breathless trance.\nFor a time she had fled to the questionless realm, the heaven of\ninner joy.\n\nThe tropical darkness had fallen. The light of a small kerosene\nlamp flickered fitfully over the faces of a score of villagers\nsquatting silently in the shadows. The darting glowworms and distant\noil lanterns of the huts wove bright eerie patterns into the velvet\nnight.  It was the painful hour of parting; a slow, tedious journey\nlay before our little party.\n\n\u201cGiri Bala,\u201d I said as the saint opened her eyes, \u201cplease give me\na keepsake-a strip of one of your SARIS.\u201d\n\nShe soon returned with a piece of Benares silk, extending it in\nher hand as she suddenly prostrated herself on the ground.\n\n\u201cMother,\u201d I said reverently, \u201crather let me touch your own blessed\nfeet!\u201d\n\n{FN46-1} In northern Bengal.\n\n{FN46-2} H. H. Sir Bijay Chand Mahtab, now dead. His family doubtless\npossesses some record of the Maharaja\u2019s three investigations of\nGiri Bala.\n\n{FN46-3} Woman yogi.\n\n{FN46-4} \u201cRemover of Obstacles,\u201d the god of good fortune.\n\n{FN46-5} Sri Yukteswar used to say: \u201cThe Lord has given us the fruits\nof the good earth. We like to see our food, to smell it, to taste\nit\u2014the Hindu likes also to touch it!\u201d One does not mind HEARING\nit, either, if no one else is present at the meal!\n\n{FN46-6} Mr. Wright also took moving pictures of Sri Yukteswar\nduring his last Winter Solstice Festival in Serampore.\n\n{FN46-7} \u201cWhat we eat is radiation; our food is so much quanta\nof energy,\u201d Dr. George W. Crile of Cleveland told a gathering of\nmedical men on May 17, 1933 in Memphis. \u201cThis all-important radiation,\nwhich releases electrical currents for the body\u2019s electrical circuit,\nthe nervous system, is given to food by the sun\u2019s rays. Atoms, Dr.\nCrile says, are solar systems. Atoms are the vehicles that are\nfilled with solar radiance as so many coiled springs. These countless\natomfuls of energy are taken in as food. Once in the human body,\nthese tense vehicles, the atoms, are discharged in the body\u2019s\nprotoplasm, the radiance furnishing new chemical energy, new\nelectrical currents.  \u2018Your body is made up of such atoms,\u2019 Dr.\nCrile said. \u2018They are your muscles, brains, and sensory organs,\nsuch as the eyes and ears.\u2019\u201d\n\nSomeday scientists will discover how man can live directly on solar\nenergy. \u201cChlorophyll is the only substance known in nature that\nsomehow possesses the power to act as a \u2018sunlight trap,\u2019\u201d William\nL.  Laurence writes in the NEW YORK TIMES. \u201cIt \u2018catches\u2019 the energy\nof sunlight and stores it in the plant. Without this no life could\nexist.  We obtain the energy we need for living from the solar\nenergy stored in the plant-food we eat or in the flesh of the\nanimals that eat the plants. The energy we obtain from coal or oil\nis solar energy trapped by the chlorophyll in plant life millions\nof years ago. We live by the sun through the agency of chlorophyll.\u201d\n\n{FN46-8} Potent vibratory chant. The literal translation of Sanskrit\nMANTRA is \u201cinstrument of thought,\u201d signifying the ideal, inaudible\nsounds which represent one aspect of creation; when vocalized as\nsyllables, a MANTRA constitutes a universal terminology. The infinite\npowers of sound derive from AUM, the \u201cWord\u201d or creative hum of the\nCosmic Motor.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 47\n\nI RETURN TO THE WEST\n\n\n\u201cI have given many yoga lessons in India and America; but I must\nconfess that, as a Hindu, I am unusually happy to be conducting a\nclass for English students.\u201d\n\nMy London class members laughed appreciatively; no political turmoils\never disturbed our yoga peace.\n\nIndia was now a hallowed memory. It is September, 1936; I am\nin England to fulfill a promise, given sixteen months earlier, to\nlecture again in London.\n\nEngland, too, is receptive to the timeless yoga message. Reporters\nand newsreel cameramen swarmed over my quarters at Grosvenor House.\nThe British National Council of the World Fellowship of Faiths\norganized a meeting on September 29th at Whitefield\u2019s Congregational\nChurch where I addressed the audience on the weighty subject of\n\u201cHow Faith in Fellowship may Save Civilization.\u201d The eight o\u2019clock\nlectures at Caxton Hall attracted such crowds that on two nights\nthe overflow waited in Windsor House auditorium for my second talk\nat nine-thirty.  Yoga classes during the following weeks grew so\nlarge that Mr. Wright was obliged to arrange a transfer to another\nhall.\n\nThe English tenacity has admirable expression in a spiritual\nrelationship. The London yoga students loyally organized themselves,\nafter my departure, into a Self-Realization Fellowship center,\nholding their meditation meetings weekly throughout the bitter war\nyears.\n\nUnforgettable weeks in England; days of sight-seeing in London,\nthen over the beautiful countryside. Mr. Wright and I summoned the\ntrusty Ford to visit the birthplaces and tombs of the great poets\nand heroes of British history.\n\nOur little party sailed from Southampton for America in late October\non the BREMEN. The majestic Statue of Liberty in New York harbor\nbrought a joyous emotional gulp not only to the throats of Miss\nBletch and Mr. Wright, but to my own.\n\nThe Ford, a bit battered from struggles with ancient soils, was\nstill puissant; it now took in its stride the transcontinental trip\nto California. In late 1936, lo! Mount Washington.\n\nThe year-end holidays are celebrated annually at the Los Angeles\ncenter with an eight-hour group meditation on December 24th\n(Spiritual Christmas), followed the next day by a banquet (Social\nChristmas). The festivities this year were augmented by the presence\nof dear friends and students from distant cities who had arrived\nto welcome home the three world travelers.\n\nThe Christmas Day feast included delicacies brought fifteen thousand\nmiles for this glad occasion: GUCCHI mushrooms from Kashmir, canned\nRASAGULLA and mango pulp, PAPAR biscuits, and an oil of the Indian\nKEORA flower which flavored our ice cream. The evening found us\ngrouped around a huge sparkling Christmas tree, the near-by fireplace\ncrackling with logs of aromatic cypress.\n\nGift-time! Presents from the earth\u2019s far corners-Palestine, Egypt,\nIndia, England, France, Italy. How laboriously had Mr. Wright\ncounted the trunks at each foreign junction, that no pilfering hand\nreceive the treasures intended for loved ones in America! Plaques\nof the sacred olive tree from the Holy Land, delicate laces and\nembroideries from Belgium and Holland, Persian carpets, finely\nwoven Kashmiri shawls, everlastingly fragrant sandalwood trays from\nMysore, Shiva \u201cbull\u2019s eye\u201d stones from Central Provinces, old Indian\ncoins of dynasties long fled, bejeweled vases and cups, miniatures,\ntapestries, temple incense and perfumes, SWADESHI cotton prints,\nlacquer work, Mysore ivory carvings, Persian slippers with their\ninquisitive long toe, quaint old illuminated manuscripts, velvets,\nbrocades, Gandhi caps, potteries, tiles, brasswork, prayer rugs-booty\nof three continents!\n\nOne by one I distributed the gaily wrapped packages from the immense\npile under the tree.\n\n\u201cSister Gyanamata!\u201d I handed a long box to the saintly American\nlady of sweet visage and deep realization who, during my absence,\nhad been in charge at Mt. Washington. From the paper tissues she\nlifted a SARI of golden Benares silk.\n\n\u201cThank you, sir; it brings the pageant of India before my eyes.\u201d\n\n\u201cMr. Dickinson!\u201d The next parcel contained a gift which I had\nbought in a Calcutta bazaar. \u201cMr. Dickinson will like this,\u201d I had\nthought at the time. A dearly beloved disciple, Mr. Dickinson had\nbeen present at every Christmas festivity since the 1925 founding\nof Mt. Washington.  At this eleventh annual celebration, he was\nstanding before me, untying the ribbons of his square little package.\n\n\u201cThe silver cup!\u201d Struggling with emotion, he stared at the present,\na tall drinking cup. He seated himself some distance away, apparently\nin a daze. I smiled at him affectionately before resuming my role\nas Santa Claus.\n\nThe ejaculatory evening closed with a prayer to the Giver of all\ngifts; then a group singing of Christmas carols.\n\nMr. Dickinson and I were chatting together sometime later.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d he said, \u201cplease let me thank you now for the silver cup.\nI could not find any words on Christmas night.\u201d\n\n\u201cI brought the gift especially for you.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor forty-three years I have been waiting for that silver cup! It\nis a long story, one I have kept hidden within me.\u201d Mr. Dickinson\nlooked at me shyly. \u201cThe beginning was dramatic: I was drowning.\nMy older brother had playfully pushed me into a fifteen-foot pool\nin a small town in Nebraska. I was only five years old then. As I\nwas about to sink for the second time under the water, a dazzling\nmulticolored light appeared, filling all space. In the midst was\nthe figure of a man with tranquil eyes and a reassuring smile.\nMy body was sinking for the third time when one of my brother\u2019s\ncompanions bent a tall slender willow tree in such a low dip that\nI could grasp it with my desperate fingers. The boys lifted me to\nthe bank and successfully gave me first-aid treatment.\n\n\u201cTwelve years later, a youth of seventeen, I visited Chicago with\nmy mother. It was 1893; the great World Parliament of Religions\nwas in session. Mother and I were walking down a main street, when\nagain I saw the mighty flash of light. A few paces away, strolling\nleisurely along, was the same man I had seen years before in vision.\nHe approached a large auditorium and vanished within the door.\n\n\u201c\u2018Mother,\u2019 I cried, \u2018that was the man who appeared at the time I\nwas drowning!\u2019\n\n\u201cShe and I hastened into the building; the man was seated on a\nlecture platform. We soon learned that he was Swami Vivekananda of\nIndia. {FN47-1} After he had given a soul-stirring talk, I went\nforward to meet him. He smiled on me graciously, as though we\nwere old friends. I was so young that I did not know how to give\nexpression to my feelings, but in my heart I was hoping that he\nwould offer to be my teacher. He read my thought.\n\n\u201c\u2018No, my son, I am not your guru.\u2019 Vivekananda gazed with his\nbeautiful, piercing eyes deep into my own. \u2018Your teacher will come\nlater. He will give you a silver cup.\u2019 After a little pause, he\nadded, smiling, \u2018He will pour out to you more blessings than you\nare now able to hold.\u2019\n\n\u201cI left Chicago in a few days,\u201d Mr. Dickinson went on, \u201cand never\nsaw the great Vivekananda again. But every word he had uttered\nwas indelibly written on my inmost consciousness. Years passed; no\nteacher appeared. One night in 1925 I prayed deeply that the Lord\nwould send me my guru. A few hours later, I was awakened from sleep\nby soft strains of melody. A band of celestial beings, carrying\nflutes and other instruments, came before my view. After filling\nthe air with glorious music, the angels slowly vanished.\n\n\u201cThe next evening I attended, for the first time, one of your lectures\nhere in Los Angeles, and knew then that my prayer had been granted.\u201d\n\nWe smiled at each other in silence.\n\n\u201cFor eleven years now I have been your KRIYA YOGA disciple,\u201d Mr.\nDickinson continued. \u201cSometimes I wondered about the silver cup;\nI had almost persuaded myself that Vivekananda\u2019s words were only\nmetaphorical. But on Christmas night, as you handed me the square\nbox by the tree, I saw, for the third time in my life, the same\ndazzling flash of light. In another minute I was gazing on my\nguru\u2019s gift which Vivekananda had foreseen for me forty-three years\nearlier-a silver cup!\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Mr. E. E. Dickinson of Los Angeles; he sought a\nsilver cup\u2014see dickinson.jpg]\n\n{FN47-1} The chief disciple of the Christlike master Sri Ramakrishna.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER: 48\n\nAT ENCINITAS IN CALIFORNIA\n\n\n\u201cA surprise, sir! During your absence abroad we have had this\nEncinitas hermitage built; it is a \u2018welcome-home\u2019 gift!\u201d Sister\nGyanamata smilingly led me through a gate and up a tree-shaded\nwalk.\n\nI saw a building jutting out like a great white ocean liner toward\nthe blue brine. First speechlessly, then with \u201cOh\u2019s!\u201d and \u201cAh\u2019s!\u201d,\nfinally with man\u2019s insufficient vocabulary of joy and gratitude,\nI examined the ashram-sixteen unusually large rooms, each one\ncharmingly appointed.\n\n[Illustration: Encinitas, California, overlooking the Pacific.\nMain building and part of the grounds of the Self-Realization\nFellowship\u2014see encinitas.jpg]\n\nThe stately central hall, with immense ceiling-high windows, looks\nout on a united altar of grass, ocean, sky-a symphony in emerald,\nopal, sapphire. A mantle over the hall\u2019s huge fireplace holds the\nframed likeness of Lahiri Mahasaya, smiling his blessing over this\nfar Pacific heaven.\n\nDirectly below the hall, built into the very bluff, two solitary\nmeditation caves confront the infinities of sky and sea. Verandahs,\nsun-bathing nooks, acres of orchard, a eucalypti grove, flagstone\npaths leading through roses and lilies to quiet arbors, a long\nflight of stairs ending on an isolated beach and the vast waters!\nWas dream ever more concrete?\n\n\u201cMay the good and heroic and bountiful souls of the saints come\nhere,\u201d reads \u201cA Prayer for a Dwelling,\u201d from the ZEND-AVESTA,\nfastened on one of the hermitage doors, \u201cand may they go hand in\nhand with us, giving the healing virtues of their blessed gifts as\nwidespread as the earth, as far-flung as the rivers, as high-reaching\nas the sun, for the furtherance of better men, for the increase of\nabundance and glory.\n\n\u201cMay obedience conquer disobedience within this house; may peace\ntriumph here over discord; free-hearted giving over avarice, truthful\nspeech over deceit, reverence over contempt. That our minds be\ndelighted, and our souls uplifted, let our bodies be glorified as\nwell; and O Light Divine, may we see Thee, and may we, approaching,\ncome round about Thee, and attain unto Thine entire companionship!\u201d\n\nThis Self-Realization Fellowship ashram had been made possible through\nthe generosity of a few American disciples, American businessmen\nof endless responsibilities who yet find time daily for their KRIYA\nYOGA.  Not a word of the hermitage construction had been allowed to\nreach me during my stay in India and Europe. Astonishment, delight!\n\nDuring my earlier years in America I had combed the coast of\nCalifornia in quest of a small site for a seaside ashram; whenever I\nhad found a suitable location, some obstacle had invariably arisen\nto thwart me. Gazing now over the broad acres of Encinitas, {FN48-1}\nhumbly I saw the effortless fulfillment of Sri Yukteswar\u2019s long-ago\nprophecy: \u201ca hermitage by the ocean.\u201d\n\nA few months later, Easter of 1937, I conducted on the smooth lawns\nat Encinitas the first of many Sunrise Services. Like the magi of\nold, several hundred students gazed in devotional awe at the daily\nmiracle, the early solar fire rite in the eastern sky. To the west\nlay the inexhaustible Pacific, booming its solemn praise; in the\ndistance, a tiny white sailing boat, and the lonely flight of a\nseagull. \u201cChrist, thou art risen!\u201d Not alone with the vernal sun,\nbut in the eternal dawn of Spirit!\n\nMany happy months sped by; in the peace of perfect beauty I was\nable to complete at the hermitage a long-projected work, COSMIC\nCHANTS. I set to English words and Western musical notation about\nforty songs, some original, others my adaptations of ancient\nmelodies. Included were the Shankara chant, \u201cNo Birth, No Death\u201d;\ntwo favorites of Sri Yukteswar\u2019s: \u201cWake, Yet Wake, O my Saint!\u201d and\n\u201cDesire, my Great Enemy\u201d; the hoary Sanskrit \u201cHymn to Brahma\u201d; old\nBengali songs, \u201cWhat Lightning Flash!\u201d and \u201cThey Have Heard Thy Name\u201d;\nTagore\u2019s \u201cWho is in my Temple?\u201d; and a number of my compositions:\n\u201cI Will be Thine Always,\u201d \u201cIn the Land Beyond my Dreams,\u201d \u201cCome\nOut of the Silent Sky,\u201d \u201cListen to my Soul Call,\u201d \u201cIn the Temple\nof Silence,\u201d and \u201cThou Art my Life.\u201d\n\nFor a preface to the songbook I recounted my first outstanding\nexperience with the receptivity of Westerners to the quaintly\ndevotional airs of the East. The occasion had been a public lecture;\nthe time, April 18, 1926; the place, Carnegie Hall in New York.\n\n\u201cMr. Hunsicker,\u201d I had confided to an American student, \u201cI am planning\nto ask the audience to sing an ancient Hindu chant, \u2018O God Beautiful!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d Mr. Hunsicker had protested, \u201cthese Oriental songs are alien\nto American understanding. What a shame if the lecture were to be\nmarred by a commentary of overripe tomatoes!\u201d\n\nI had laughingly disagreed. \u201cMusic is a universal language.\nAmericans will not fail to feel the soul-aspiration in this lofty\nchant.\u201d {FN48-2}\n\nDuring the lecture Mr. Hunsicker had sat behind me on the platform,\nprobably fearing for my safety. His doubts were groundless; not\nonly had there been an absence of unwelcome vegetables, but for\none hour and twenty-five minutes the strains of \u201cO God Beautiful!\u201d\nhad sounded uninterruptedly from three thousand throats. Blase\u2019 no\nlonger, dear New Yorkers; your hearts had soared out in a simple\npaean of rejoicing!  Divine healings had taken place that evening\namong the devotees chanting with love the Lord\u2019s blessed name.\n\nThe secluded life of a literary minstrel was not my role for long.\nSoon I was dividing every fortnight between Los Angeles and Encinitas.\nSunday services, classes, lectures before clubs and colleges,\ninterviews with students, ceaseless streams of correspondence, articles\nfor EAST-WEST, direction of activities in India and numerous small\ncenters in American cities. Much time was given, also, to the\narrangement of KRIYA and other Self-Realization Fellowship teachings\ninto a series of studies for the distant yoga seekers whose zeal\nrecognized no limitation of space.\n\nJoyous dedication of a Self-Realization Church of All Religions took\nplace in 1938 at Washington, D.C. Set amidst landscaped grounds,\nthe stately church stands in a section of the city aptly called\n\u201cFriendship Heights.\u201d The Washington leader is Swami Premananda,\neducated at the Ranchi school and Calcutta University. I had summoned\nhim in 1928 to assume leadership of the Washington Self-Realization\nFellowship center.\n\n\u201cPremananda,\u201d I told him during a visit to his new temple, \u201cthis\nEastern headquarters is a memorial in stone to your tireless\ndevotion.  Here in the nation\u2019s capital you have held aloft the\nlight of Lahiri Mahasaya\u2019s ideals.\u201d\n\nPremananda accompanied me from Washington for a brief visit to\nthe Self-Realization Fellowship center in Boston. What joy to see\nagain the KRIYA YOGA band who had remained steadfast since 1920!\nThe Boston leader, Dr. M. W. Lewis, lodged my companion and myself\nin a modern, artistically decorated suite.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d Dr. Lewis said to me, smiling, \u201cduring your early years in\nAmerica you stayed in this city in a single room, without bath. I\nwanted you to know that Boston possesses some luxurious apartments!\u201d\n\nThe shadows of approaching carnage were lengthening over the world;\nalready the acute ear might hear the frightful drums of war. During\ninterviews with thousands in California, and through a world-wide\ncorrespondence, I found that men and women were deeply searching\ntheir hearts; the tragic outer insecurity had emphasized need for\nthe Eternal Anchorage.\n\n\u201cWe have indeed learned the value of meditation,\u201d the leader of the\nLondon Self-Realization Fellowship center wrote me in 1941, \u201cand\nknow that nothing can disturb our inner peace. In the last few weeks\nduring the meetings we have heard air-raid warnings and listened\nto the explosion of delayed-action bombs, but our students still\ngather and thoroughly enjoy our beautiful service.\u201d\n\nAnother letter reached me from war-torn England just before America\nentered the conflict. In nobly pathetic words, Dr. L. Cranmer Byng,\nnoted editor of THE WISDOM OF THE EAST SERIES, wrote:\n\n\u201cWhen I read EAST-WEST I realized how far apart we seemed to be,\napparently living in two different worlds. Beauty, order, calm,\nand peace come to me from Los Angeles, sailing into port as a\nvessel laden with the blessings and comfort of the Holy Grail to\na beleaguered city.\n\n\u201cI see as in a dream your palm tree grove, and the temple at\nEncinitas with its ocean stretches and mountain views, and above\nall its fellowship of spiritually minded men and women, a community\ncomprehended in unity, absorbed in creative work, and replenished\nin contemplation. It is the world of my own vision, in\nthe making of which I hoped to bear my little part, and now . . .\n\n\u201cPerhaps in the body I shall never reach your golden shores nor\nworship in your temple. But it is something and more, to have had\nthe vision and know that in the midst of war there is still a peace\nthat abides in your harbors and among your hills. Greetings to all\nthe Fellowship from a common soldier, written on the watchtower\nwaiting for the dawn.\u201d\n\nThe war years brought a spiritual awakening among men whose diversions\nhad never before included a study of the New Testament. One sweet\ndistillment from the bitter herbs of war! To satisfy a growing\nneed, an inspiring little Self-Realization Church of All Religions\nwas built and dedicated in 1942 at Hollywood. The site faces Olive\nHill and the distant Los Angeles Planetarium. The church, finished\nin blue, white, and gold, is reflected amidst the water hyacinths\nin a large pool. The gardens are gay with flowers, a few startled\nstone deer, a stained-glass pergola, and a quaint wishing well.\nThrown in with the pennies and the kaleidoscopic wishes of man\nhas been many a pure aspiration for the sole treasure of Spirit! A\nuniversal benignity flows from small niches with statues of Lahiri\nMahasaya and Sri Yukteswar, and of Krishna, Buddha, Confucius, St.\nFrancis, and a beautiful mother-of-pearl reproduction of Christ at\nthe Last Supper.\n\n[Illustration: Self-Realization Church of All Religions, Hollywood,\nCalifornia.\u2014see hollywood.jpg]\n\nAnother Self-Realization Church of All Religions was founded in\n1943 at San Diego. A quiet hilltop temple, it stands in a sloping\nvalley of eucalypti, overlooking sparkling San Diego Bay.\n\n[Illustration: Self-Realization Church of All Religions, San Diego,\nCalifornia\u2014see sandiego.jpg]\n\nSitting one evening in this tranquil haven, I was pouring out my\nheart in song. Under my fingers was the sweet-toned organ of the\nchurch, on my lips the yearning plaint of an ancient Bengali devotee\nwho had searched for eternal solace:\n\n  In this world, Mother, none can love me;\n  In this world they do not know love divine.\n  Where is there pure loving love?\n  Where is there truly loving Thee?\n  There my heart longs to be.\n\nMy companion in the chapel, Dr. Lloyd Kennell, the San Diego center\nleader, was smiling a little at the words of the song.\n\n\u201cTell me truly, Paramhansaji, has it been worth it?\u201d He gazed at\nme with an earnest sincerity. I understood his laconic question:\n\u201cHave you been happy in America? What about the disillusionments,\nthe heartaches, the center leaders who could not lead, the students\nwho could not be taught?\u201d\n\n\u201cBlessed is the man whom the Lord doth test, Doctor! He has remembered\nnow and then to put a burden on me!\u201d I thought, then, of all the\nfaithful ones, of the love and devotion and understanding that\nlay in the heart of America. With slow emphasis I went on, \u201cBut my\nanswer is: Yes, a thousand times yes! It has been worth-while; it\nhas been a constant inspiration, more than ever I dreamed, to see\nWest and East brought closer in the only lasting bond, the spiritual!\u201d\n\nSilently I added a prayer: \u201cMay Babaji and Sri Yukteswarji feel\nthat I have done my part, not disappointing the high hope in which\nthey sent me forth.\u201d\n\nI turned again to the organ; this time my song was tinged with a\nmartial valor:\n\n  The grinding wheel of Time doth mar\n  Full many a life of moon and star\n  And many a brightly smiling morn\u2014\n  But still my soul is marching on!\n\n  Darkness, death, and failures vied;\n  To block my path they fiercely tried;\n  My fight with jealous Nature\u2019s strong\u2014\n  But still my soul is marching on!\n\nNew Year\u2019s week of 1945 found me at work in my Encinitas study,\nrevising the manuscript of this book.\n\n\u201cParamhansaji, please come outdoors.\u201d Dr. Lewis, on a visit from\nBoston, smiled at me pleadingly from outside my window. Soon we\nwere strolling in the sunshine. My companion pointed to new towers\nin process of construction along the edge of the Fellowship property\nadjoining the coast highway.\n\n\u201cSir, I see many improvements here since my last visit.\u201d Dr. Lewis\ncomes twice annually from Boston to Encinitas.\n\n\u201cYes, Doctor, a project I have long considered is beginning to\ntake definite form. In these beautiful surroundings I have started\na miniature world colony. Brotherhood is an ideal better understood\nby example than precept! A small harmonious group here may inspire\nother ideal communities over the earth.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: The Self-Realization Church of All Religions in\nWashington, D.C., whose leader, Swami Premananda, is here pictured\nwith me\u2014see premananda.jpg]\n\n\u201cA splendid idea, sir! The colony will surely be a success if\neveryone sincerely does his part!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018World\u2019 is a large term, but man must enlarge his allegiance,\nconsidering himself in the light of a world citizen,\u201d I continued.\n\u201cA person who truly feels: \u2018The world is my homeland; it is my\nAmerica, my India, my Philippines, my England, my Africa,\u2019 will\nnever lack scope for a useful and happy life. His natural local pride\nwill know limitless expansion; he will be in touch with creative\nuniversal currents.\u201d\n\nDr. Lewis and I halted above the lotus pool near the hermitage.\nBelow us lay the illimitable Pacific.\n\n\u201cThese same waters break equally on the coasts of West and East,\nin California and China.\u201d My companion threw a little stone into\nthe first of the oceanic seventy million square miles. \u201cEncinitas\nis a symbolic spot for a world colony.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is true, Doctor. We shall arrange here for many conferences\nand Congresses of Religion, inviting delegates from all lands. Flags\nof the nations will hang in our halls. Diminutive temples will be\nbuilt over the grounds, dedicated to the world\u2019s principal religions.\n\n\u201cAs soon as possible,\u201d I went on, \u201cI plan to open a Yoga Institute\nhere. The blessed role of KRIYA YOGA in the West has hardly more\nthan just begun. May all men come to know that there is a definite,\nscientific technique of self-realization for the overcoming of all\nhuman misery!\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Speakers at a 1945 Interracial Meeting in San Francisco\nduring the convening of the Peace Conference. (Left to right) Dr.\nManeck Anklesaria, John Cohee, myself, Hugh E. MacBeth, Vince M.\nTownsend, Jr., Richard B. Moore\u2014see sanfr.jpg]\n\nFar into the night my dear friend-the first KRIYA YOGI\nin America\u2014discussed with me the need for world colonies founded\non a spiritual basis. The ills attributed to an anthropomorphic\nabstraction called \u201csociety\u201d may be laid more realistically at the\ndoor of Everyman.  Utopia must spring in the private bosom before\nit can flower in civic virtue. Man is a soul, not an institution;\nhis inner reforms alone can lend permanence to outer ones. By stress\non spiritual values, self-realization, a colony exemplifying world\nbrotherhood is empowered to send inspiring vibrations far beyond\nits locale.\n\nAugust 15, 1945, close of Global War II! End of a world; dawn of\nan enigmatic Atomic Age! The hermitage residents gathered in the\nmain hall for a prayer of thanksgiving. \u201cHeavenly Father, may never\nit be again! Thy children go henceforth as brothers!\u201d\n\nGone was the tension of war years; our spirits purred in the sun\nof peace. I gazed happily at each of my American comrades.\n\n\u201cLord,\u201d I thought gratefully, \u201cThou hast given this monk a large\nfamily!\u201d\n\n{FN48-1} A small town on Coast Highway 101, Encinitas is 100 miles\nsouth of Los Angeles, and 25 miles north of San Diego.\n\n{FN48-2} I translate here the words of Guru Nanak\u2019s song:\n\n  O God beautiful! O God beautiful!\n  In the forest, Thou art green,\n  In the mountain, Thou art high,\n  In the river, Thou art restless,\n  In the ocean, Thou art grave!\n  To the serviceful, Thou art service,\n  To the lover, Thou art love,\n  To the sorrowful, Thou art sympathy,\n  To the yogi, Thou art bliss!\n  O God beautiful! O God beautiful!\n  At Thy feet, O I do bow!","title":"Autobiography of a Yogi","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":155152}