Charming stories

A sari story

(Or a lesson in non-attachment and mind-reading)

At one time we were celebrating some very special occasion. Gurudev was seated on a chair beside his house, which was the Centre, with a small pile of saris before him. All the girl disciples, about twenty of us at the time, stood in a line with folded hands. Smiling, he took a sari from the top of the stack and handed it to each girl in turn. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the pile of saris, wondering which one I would receive. I noticed one sari which seemed to be mostly brown and very dark red, and I hoped that I would not receive that one.

When I got to the front of the line, there was still one lovely sari on top of the one that I didn’t want. I thought, “Whew! That was close."

Well, Guru was not going to let me get away with that. He picked up ‘my’ sari, considered it carefully, set it aside and—guess which one he gave to me?

I was reminded of that incident whenever I saw the girl wearing the sari I had been hoping for. For a strong and lasting lesson in non-attachment, I made a point of feeling especially happy and grateful whenever I wore my blessed red-and-brown sari.

Another mind-reading story

From Pulak, who drove Guru everywhere

Guru never wasted a minute. While riding, he would write poems or songs or add to his collection of thousands of bird drawings on an ever-present sketch pad.

One day Pulak was driving Guru around while he was drawing birds. From time to time, Pulak would glance over for a glimpse of Guru’s drawings. He wondered to himself why Guru was drawing all the birds facing in the same direction. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, than Guru started drawing birds facing the other way.

Pulak said, “Guru, are you reading my mind?"

Guru smiled and said, “Reading your mind is as easy as drinking water!"

A Dead Soul

After one meditation session with seekers, I was surprised to learn that Guru had accepted Helen, an elderly yoga student of mine. She had been a big nuisance during class meditations. She always blurted out questions, regardless of anyone else who might want to say something. The most annoying thing for everyone was that she kept asking the same questions, week after week.

Helen was very excited at being accepted. When Guru came downstairs, he took me aside and said, “You are wondering why I accepted Helen". I nodded. He explained, “She is a dead soul." I didn’t know what that meant, so he told me that as a dead soul, she might still live for quite a while or she could die tomorrow, but for purposes of making progress, her life was over. There was nothing more that she could learn in this incarnation. He said that her soul was hoping to get a little more light by staying on earth a little longer. The reason she kept asking the same questions was that she could not absorb the answers.

He had told Helen that she was being allowed to come to the meetings on the condition that she must come on her own and not ask any disciple to bring her. She came once or twice and then, when she asked someone for a ride, she was no longer allowed to attend.

Mornings at the Playground - Guru's gloves

Guru always encouraged us to work on our fitness. Early in the morning he himself would go to the “playground", as he called it, behind Jamaica High School. He played tennis on the volley-ball court or ran around the track with us and we did whatever we chose: playing ball, running or race-walking. While Guru was running on the track, disciples played handball or racquetball. They could also take a break if they wished and just stand around and chat for a bit. Some just watched Guru and meditated.

It was a chilly morning and it happened to be my birthday—my birthday is always chilly, since it falls in December. Gurudev came up to me, pulled off his gloves, and handed them to me with his sweetest smile. I treasured those gloves and wore them until they started to fall apart.

For a number of years I traveled to Manhattan on the subway to teach a weekly yoga class at the United Nations. One time, upon arriving home I discovered that I had lost one of Guru’s precious gloves. Well, I thought to myself, they were very worn. No sense grieving. A week later, on the way to my class once again, I was climbing the same subway stairs I had descended on the way home from the UN the week before. Looking down, I could not believe my eyes. There, lying on the next step, was Guru’s missing glove. In busy Manhattan, after a whole week had passed, I found that glove on the subway stairs! Not an earth-changing miracle, but a mini-miracle nevertheless. I guess that Guru wanted me to keep those gloves, well-worn though they were. I still have them, now tucked safely into a drawer.

Guru's birthday at the Connecticut Centre

Members of the Connecticut Centre had built an excellent outdoor stage for the programme that was planned for Guru’s birthday. The only problem facing us now was the possibility of rain, which seemed more like a probability.

While we were watching the programme, the sky was covered with clouds and scattered raindrops started to fall. Guru went up onto the stage and sat in a chair facing us. He looked up at the sky with great intensity, his eyes gleaming like searchlights. I glanced up and watched as the rain stopped. The clouds parted right over our heads and scudded off in four directions.

Later, when the rain started again, Guru walked out into the field about 200 feet away. He stood there for quite a while with his back to us. Upon returning he explained that he had had to turn his back because the power needed to stop the rain made the expression on his face so horrible that we wouldn’t have wanted to see him looking like that. This was Guru’s explanation for moving away and standing with his back to us for so long.

Shortly before midnight the boys started to set up for a slide show outside. A sheet hanging from the trees served as a screen, since the Centre didn’t have much money for goodies like screens in those days.

As the projector was being set up, drops started falling again, so someone went into the basement of the Centre to tell Guru.

Guru asked, “What time is it?" "Three minutes before 12", someone answered.Guru then told them to bring everything in and set up in the basement. No sooner was the equipment inside than a torrential rain began, exactly at midnight. Outside, a few greedy people snacking on the dinner leftovers got soaked!

Guru's Birthday and Indra's rain-day

For many summers we celebrated Guru’s birthday at the Connecticut Centre and Guru won every “battle" with the rain-god. I guess he decided not to push it any further, because one year we were holding his birthday celebration at the small church on 148th Street, around the corner from my house. We woke up to a heavily clouded sky which soon produced a flooding rainstorm. The programme was to begin at noon, and by then the roads in Connecticut were totally flooded and some nearly impassable. We delayed the start to allow the out-of-town people extra time, but still disciples were trickling in as late as three o’clock in the afternoon. Guru finally allowed Indra to have his day!

Poltergeists

I really can’t say that I believe in poltergeists, but I have seen a lot of strange things happening over the years. I first became aware of them years ago when I was living in New Rochelle.

At that time I habitually carried many different keys—house keys, thrift shop keys and car keys, all on one ring. One day I came home, unlocked the door and came in. The next time I looked for my keys, they were nowhere to be found. Fortunately I found duplicates here and there, but I was reluctant to make a new set, assuming that I would soon find the whole set of missing keys, as I knew they had to be in the house.

As time went by—days, weeks, even a month—I gave up hope. I made a new set and soon forgot all about the missing keys.About six months later I returned home one night around 11:00 P.M. I was tired and quickly got ready for bed. When I threw back the bedcovers, lo and behold— there were the keys, right in the middle of my bed, believe it or not!

Fairies come down

One day Guru said that he was bringing the fairies down for a day on earth. He said that Radha would see them and a few others might get a glimpse. One actually did appear right before her, looking like a leprechaun in a green suit and a peaked hat. She said she reached out and put her hands around him and her hands came together, compressing him like a soft balloon.

One of the boys saw a fairy, similarly outfitted (no wings on these fairies), on top of a chest of drawers beside which he was meditating. He watched it for a while, then suddenly realised he was seeing—a fairy?!—and it immediately disappeared.

These stories are from Rupantar:

Inky:  Sarama had a very old cat named Inky, who was on her last legs. Sarama often came home late, as most days she was out teaching yoga classes. This particular evening, as she opened the door to her house, Inky was lying on the floor waiting, and as Sarama walked in Inky left the body. Inky had waited for Sarama to return home. What a cat!

But that is not the end of the story. Sarama routinely had telephone conversations with Guru in those days, and Guru was aware of Inky’s passing. He told Sarama that he had given Inky’s soul the option of taking a human incarnation in her next life. But Inky had seen a picture of a cow somewhere in the house and wanted to return as a cow. Some cat!

My Spiritual Name: Sometimes when Guru spoke to Sarama on the telephone I had the good fortune to be nearby. What a thrill it was to know that Guru was speaking on the telephone next to me! On this particular occasion, Sarama said Guru wanted to speak with me. Holy cow, this had never happened before! Guru just never spoke to me, as I was a new disciple.

Anyway, Guru told me that I was to get my spiritual name soon, but that if I told anyone, I would have to wait ten years! I kept my big mouth shut and soon received my spiritual name.