AW: Me and Yogananda

[Guest guest]

Mazie,

how nice to know that you, too, had the good fortune of meeting

Brother Turiyananda. I have many fond memories of him. If I may

relate the rest of that story when he nearly drowned, as soon as he

had uttered that prayer you mention he saw a giant wave forming out

in the ocean, and that wave carried him back to the beach and into

safety. Then when he had climbed up the cliff and gone back to the

hermitage, Paramahansa Yogananda called him. He scolded him for being

disobedient, saying, "I had to pray very hard to bring you in today;

your time had come. I had to argue with the Father."

Brother often reminded us of the fact that Yogandaji had called TV

"the pest of the household". "You can't ascend higher," he said, "if

you take regular baths in low vibrations."

Another favorite topic of his was strength of character. "Complaints

are for the weak!", he used to say. "God will help you much more if

you discipline yourself. Otherwise He will use the two-by-four!"

One day, Brother thought of the pranks Sri Krishna had played on his

devotees. "Lord," he prayed, "you played with them, why not with

me?". And the very same day his fellow monks unwittingly locked him

into the pantry three times. He told us he sometimes prayed like

this: "Lord, if you will forgive me the little jokes I played on you,

then I will forgive you the big one you played on me!"

Well, it's been twelve years now that he has gone. God bless his soul.

Michael

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----Von: sraddha54 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com

[sraddha54 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com]Gesendet: Sunday, March 18, 2001

23:27An: Betreff: Re:

Me and Yogananda, MikeSuesserott@t...

wrote:> Mazie,> > the late Brother Turiyananda used to tell this

story of his meeting > with the saintly Swami Ramdas. Brother T. had

read > Yoganandaji's "Autobiographi of a Yogi", and he told Swami

Ramdas > about his longing for a Guru, and how wonderful it would

have been to > have Paramahansa Yogananda teach him, but, he added

sadly, "he is > dead now, unfortunately." Whereupon the usually

gentle Swami Ramdas > thundered, "YOU are dead! Paramahansa Yogananda

is alive!"> > MichaelDear Michael,What a delight to hear that story! I

was blessed also to meet Brother Turiyananda. What a presence he had.

Those penetrating eyes and great humor he had. His story of

disobeying Master and swimming in the ocean at Encinites and nearly

drowning was a great one. His prayer was, as he was about to lose all

strength and drown in those treacherous undertows, "Lord, if you have

anything else You want me yo do in this life, You better help me!" He

told us once, "If you could feel one drop of God's love for you, so

great would be your joy, that you could not contain it." Isn't it so?

With Love,