Coincidence -this is freaking me out!!!!! - GOOD ONE

[Guest guest]

Dear Shiva,

 

Great Story!! Personally, I think your "coincidences" is much of

what Ramakrishna meant when he said God, Guru, Self are One. The

signs we sometimes seem to get. But following our intuition is a

difficult thing for sure. I think the deeper we dig, the easier it

gets. Though at times it's hard. I wish like hell someone would

whack me on the head like that, someone other than my wife that is.

 

I guess we just keep going, and have faith that we are headed in the

right direction. Thank God people like Shree Maa and Swamiji are

around to help us do the "digging." A hard road, but it's THE road.

 

Ram

 

 

 

, "ecjensen_us" <ecjensen_us>

wrote:

>

>

> OM NAMAH SIVAYA

>

> Dear Swamiji,

>

> the story below is an example of what i mean. originally the

story

> caught my eye because the author's spiritual name is the same as

one

> that a Neem Karoli Baba devotee once gave me. but there are so

many

> coincidences or parallels meaningful to me in this article, i

can't

> list them all, and every time i read it i seem to find another

one.

> it makes me think that pondering whether I am in the right place,

in

> the best situation is a waste of energy. i mean, what if in

life's

> coincidences is where the real meaning and lessons lay. is the

> symbolism we see in life's events just the tip of the iceberg,

with

> increased awareness maybe the answers are always there. i mean,

not

> all of us have the advantage of the guru manifest in a single

> person. you know, someone we can hang out with and learn from,

etc.

>

> now i realize that you may be reluctant to entertain the question,

> as it can be dangerous to philosophize in general terms. things

are

> not so easy in the world of spirituality. knowing when to trust

our

> instincts, and have faith in someone is very difficult in this

Kali

> Yuga. i understand completely. this story is a specific example

of

> where i am coming from when i asked the question about

coincidence.

>

> i also thought the article may benefit others in this group. it is

> from Neem Karoli Baba Ashram's newsletter. oh, and i'd like to

> mention i never signed up for the newsletter it just came in the

> mail one day. You know, just by coincidence.

>

> JAI MA

>

> THE DAY I MET MAHARAJ-JI

>

> I went to India in the winter of 1971. I had been studying Indian

> music for a number of years and had wanted to go to India for some

> time. I was also a member of a yoga society call Ananda Marga

> (the "Path of Bliss"). I wanted to sit at the feet of the guru,

to

> have him hit me on the head and put me into the state of samadhi.

I

> had an extreme longing to experience the darshan of a realized

being.

>

> There were five of us, the day we landed in Delhi we were met at

the

> airport by another member of the qroup, who told us that the

leader

> of the Yoga Society had been thrown into jail, purportedly for

> murder. Furthermore, the police were looking for western Ananda

> Margiis, as we were considered terrorists. It seemed like a good

> time to quit the yoga society and focus on our Indian music

studies.

>

> A few days after we arrived, we walked into the Piccadilly

bookstore

> in Connaught Circus. The bookseller called us over and pulled out

a

> picture of Ram Dass. "Do you know this man?" he asked. "Yes I

do,"

> I answered. I remembered thinking that Ram Dass was one of the

few

> spiritual leaders I still trusted, because he talked about wanting

> to eat pizza. The bookseller pulled out a picture of Maharaj-ji

and

> said, "This is his guru." Then he said, "You must go meet him.

Ram

> Dass is around the corner at the Palace Hotel.

>

> We immediately headed to the Palace Hotel; don't ask me why. The

> desk clerk said, "You just missed him. Tomorrow morning you take

> the Taj Express to Brindaban and see him there." I wasn't so sure

> we needed to do this. I mean, we had just gotten rid of one guru;

> did we really need another?

>

> The next day we boarded the train to Brindaban. At the Hanuman

> temple, we were told to go to a hotel and come again tomorrow. We

> discovered the hotel was full of Westerners we had known with

> Muktananda, Ram Dass, Krishna Das, Balaram Das, Anjani. It was a

> zoo.

>

> The next morning we woke early and walked to the Hanuman Temple.

I

> was of two minds: I was still feeling that I really didn't need

> another guru, but I also thought, "what if this guru is really the

> one?" Then I spotted him, or so I thought. I pranamed deeply,

but

> it was only the gardener. I saw another fellow. Was that him?

But

> it was the gatekeeper. I was led through a door into the walled

> area in the back. There, sitting on a table in the sun, was a

> little man in a blanket. He seemed to be bouncing around on the

> table, a bundle of energy, surrounded by laughing and smiling

> people. We came right up to him and offered our prasad and

> pranams. We sat down at his feet. He was chattering and seemed

to

> be in continuous motion, filled with life.

>

> I remember my first thought when I saw him; The poor man is

blind!

> Instantly, Maharaj-ji turned to me and BUGGED his eyes out. I

could

> feel something in my chest, kind of like Superman's X-Ray vision.

> Guess he's not blind.

>

> "Where's you guru? What happened to you guru?" he asked, like it

was

> the biggest joke he'd ever heard. We each gave different

> answers. "We don't have a guru." "Our guru's in jail."

> Maharaj-ji said, "Ah! Krishna is born in jail, now Krishna goes

back

> to jail." I thought to myself, "Oops! Our guru IS really

Krishna!

> We have to get back immediately. Maharaj-ji said, "He used to be

a

> railway clerk." The translator said, "A madman who deceived a lot

> of Americans."

>

> Maharaj-ji said, "Americans will believe anything you tell them."

> He asked me, "Who is the Guru?" Well, I didn't know. I'd already

> been wrong twice that morning on that very subject. A man was

> walking in the distance along with a cow. Maharaj-ji pointed at

> him. "He is the guru." Okay, now I was really confused. Then

> Maharaj-ji said, "Americans are the guru, because they put MILK in

> CARDBOARD BOXES. They put a man on the moon." Everybody was

> laughing now! The translator explained, "You see, the Saint see

> everyone as a Saint." "Sing a song," Maharaj-ji said. So we

sang.

> Maharaj-ji loved it.

>

> He sent us across the courtyard, where we were fed the most

> sumptuous meal I had ever eaten in my life. When we finished,

there

> was more food on our plates than when we had started. I felt

> completely satisfied for the first time in many years. And in my

> mind I wondered, "Who is this guy and how does he know all of

this?"

> We had heard that the guru could slap you on the head and put you

> into the state of samadhi, or God-consciousness. I had also heard

> that you could tell if the state was real by checking the person's

> pulse.

>

> The next day I arrived late for darshan. When Maharaj-ji saw me,

he

> immediately called me to come over to the tucket and told me to

sit

> up front. Guru Datt Sharma was sitting there as well. Maharaj-ji

> slapped him on the head, and he appeared to go into some kind of

> trance state. Maharaj-ji turned to me and said, "Check his

pulse."

> I took his wrist and realized that I didn't really know HOW to

check

> someone's pulse. "Try to wake him up," Maharaj-ji said. He

grabbed

> my hand and poked Guru Datt Sharma in the eyes with my

fingers. "Now

> can you do this?" Maharaj-ji asked me pointedly. "No," I

> replied, "but I'd like to…"

>

> Two fellows lifted the man up by the armpits and carried him over

to

> a room off the courtyard. Throughout the morning Maharaj-ji had

me

> go check on him to see that he was still in his trance state. I

was

> a bit embarrassed by all this attention and thought, "Who is this

> guy and how does he do these things?"

>

> We came back the next day and discovered that Maharaj-ji was gone

> and no one knew where. Somehow we heard that he MIGHT have gone

to

> Allahabad, so we took the overnight train and sure enough we found

> him at a devotee's house. There was no longer any question in my

> mind about who was the guru. I was quite sure that Maharaj-ji was

> the guru, and I was determined to get up close and in his face

until

> I got what I had come for.

>

> For ten days, I went to the house, Maharaj-ji talked to the person

> to the right of me, to the left of me, in front of me, and in back

> of me. I was completely invisible. I spent hours at his feet and

> he completely ignored me.

>

> Finally one day I thought to myself, "Maharaj-ji, if you're

really

> my guru, you better do something. Slap me on the head, show me

some

> attention or I'm out of here." Within minutes, he came into the

> room. I was sitting nearly under his tucket. He looked at me

with

> total love and delight, like a grandfather looking at a small

child,

> and whacked me on the head. "Get Ram Dass quick," he said. I

jumped

> up and found Ram Dass. "Give him your maka," Maharaj-ji told Ram

> Dass, who took off his beads and handed it over. Maharaj-ji took

it

> and did japa and gave me the mala.

>

> And that was it for me. I'd been adopted and felt totally at

home.

>

> Can all this be just a coincidence? Thank you and God bless.

>

> , "Nanda" <chandimaakijai>

> wrote:

> >

> >

> > Question from Eric:

> > Is there such a thing as coincidence?

> >

> > Swamiji's response:

> > Coincidence means a correspondence in position or character

which

> is

> > extremely similar and yet unexplainable, as if by chance.

> Certainly

> > there are a lot of things that we cannot explain.