Early stories

Selfless Service at Guru's house

One early summer day in 1970 Guru announced that he was starting a selfless service project in the Centre. Those who were taking part would meet at Guru’s house in Jamaica every Saturday at 10 AM, bringing whatever equipment was needed for their own particular project. Most of these were light craft projects of one sort or another: candle-making, clay modeling, macrame, leather burning (me), painting, collage, etc. At the end of the summer we would have a small crafts fair.

We worked on the porch and in the living room and, since indoor space was limited, some were in the backyard. This was part of our spiritual sadhana, another opportunity for us to meditate and make progress in Guru’s presence.

Toward the end of summer some people began another project: bringing Guru’s first book, a volume of inspiring aphorisms called Meditations: Food for the Soul, to various bookstores.

On our last Saturday, in the beginning of October, the sky was overcast and by afternoon it became quite threatening. Once the sky had turned quite dark, a disciple came in and asked Guru if those who were working in the backyard should come in, since it seemed that it was surely about to rain. Guru asked if there was space for a few more in the living room. As some of the regular crew had gone out with the book, there was room, so Guru said, "Tell them to come in." As soon as the last person had gathered his stuff and come through the door, the downpour struck.

It was then that it occurred to me that we had had this crafts project at the Centre every Saturday for a whole summer without one single drop of rain. No coincidence, I am quite certain!

The first Sports Day, Alley Pond Park

Our very first annual sports day, in 1970, was a low-key, casual event in a lovely park setting, with a makeshift track along a path through the woods. The whole day was a lot of fun. It was a humble beginning of something that grew into a more elaborate annual event and continued for many years.The sky was overcast as we were walking across the grass in Alley Pond Park and it started to sprinkle lightly. A disciple told Guru that it looked like rain.

Guru looked up at the sky and said, "Do not worry! In fifteen minutes the sun will come out!"

It did. In fifteen minutes!

My first life-saving experience

One day I was driving from my house down a long hill on Eastchester Road when my brakes failed—totally. The light at the bottom was red and Eastchester Road ended at the bottom of the hill. So I had three unattractive options: turn right and hope that no car would come from the left, turn left across traffic that might be coming from both directions, or go straight through the red light and both lanes of traffic as quickly as possible, into the free driveway across the road from the intersection.

I was rapidly approaching my "moment of truth," so I inwardly chanted a spontaneous, "Guru, save me!"

He made the choice. I coasted into a right turn, pulling on the hand-brake with all my strength. No car came through. "Thank you, Guru!"

The Puerto Rico Centre, and Guru's dream

In the old days, Gurudev was invited to give a lecture at the University in Puerto Rico.After returning to New York, he received a letter from a lady in Puerto Rico who had missed his lecture and was eager to come and meet him. He concentrated on her and saw that she was to be the head of a new Centre in Puerto Rico, his first.

He called her and said that she didn’t have to come to New York; he would go down there to see her. That is how he first met Sudha, who devotedly led the Puerto Rico Centre for many years.

The disciples meditated in Puerto Rico on Thursday evenings, always at the same hour that we were meditating in New York. Sudha’s inner connection with Guru was so strong that the Puerto Rican members said that they saw Guru’s face in hers.

I went down to Puerto Rico to spend a few days with Sudha. We had many long, inspiring conversations about our experiences with Guru.

One day we were talking about repetitive dreams and what they meant. Sudha told me about a dream that she had had over and over again in the past. In the dream she received a message that there was an important package waiting for her at the post office, but when she eagerly went to get it, the package was never there. Now she was no longer having that dream, but still wondered what it meant and why it had stopped occurring."You have already received the package." I said. "The package came from New York, didn’t it? So you received it. The package was Sri Chinmoy!"