Speaker 1: Chapter twenty eight of Autobiography of Yogi. This is a
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
Speaker 1: For more information ought volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Speaker 1: Rabbi Timrow Autobiography of a Yogi by Panamahsi yog Nanda Kashi,
Speaker 1: Reborn and Rediscovered. Please do not go into the water.
Speaker 1: Let us bathe by dipping our buckets. I was addressing
Speaker 1: the young Ranchy's students who were accompanied me on an
Speaker 1: eight mile height to a neighboring hill. The pond before
Speaker 1: us was inviting, but a distaste for it had arisen
Speaker 1: in my mind. The group around me followed my example
Speaker 1: of dipping buckets, but a few lads yielded to the
Speaker 1: temptation of the cool waters. No sooner had they dived
Speaker 1: than large water snakes wiggled around them. The boys comically
Speaker 1: came out of the pond with comical alacrity. We enjoyed
Speaker 1: a picnic lunch after we reached our destination. I sat
Speaker 1: under a tree, surrounded by a group of students. Finding
Speaker 1: me in an inspirational mood, they plied me with questions,
Speaker 1: Please tell me, sir, one youth inquired if I shall
Speaker 1: always stay with you in the path of renunciation. Ah no,
Speaker 1: I replied, you will be forcibly taken away to your home,
Speaker 1: and later you will marry. Incredulous, he made a vehement protest,
Speaker 1: only if I am dead can I be carried home,
Speaker 1: But in a few months his parents arrived to take
Speaker 1: him away in spite of his tearful resistance. Some years
Speaker 1: later he did marry. After answering many questions. I was
Speaker 1: addressed by a lad named Cushi. He was about twelve
Speaker 1: years old, a brilliant student and beloved by all Sir,
Speaker 1: He said, what will be my fate? You shall soon
Speaker 1: be dead? The reply came from my lips with an
Speaker 1: irresistible force. This unexpected disclosure shocked and grieved me as
Speaker 1: well as every one present. Silently rebuking myself as an
Speaker 1: enforterarib I refuse to answer further questions. On our return
Speaker 1: to the school, Kashi came to my room. If I die,
Speaker 1: will you find me when I am reborn and bring
Speaker 1: me again to the spiritual path? He sobbed. I felt
Speaker 1: constrained to refuse this difficulty cult responsibility, but for weeks afterwards,
Speaker 1: Kashi pressed me doggedly. Seeing him unnerved to the breaking point,
Speaker 1: I finally consoled him. Yes, I promised, if the heavenly
Speaker 1: Father lends his aid, I will try to find you.
Speaker 1: During this summer vacation, I started on a short trip,
Speaker 1: regretting that I could not take Kashi with me. I
Speaker 1: called him to my room before leaving, and carefully instructed
Speaker 1: him to remain against all persuasion in the spiritual vibrations
Speaker 1: of the school. Somehow I felt that if he did
Speaker 1: not go home, he might avoid the impending calamity. No
Speaker 1: sooner had I left than Kashi's father arrived in Ranchi
Speaker 1: for fifteen days. He tried to break the will of
Speaker 1: his son, explaining that if Kashi would go to Kolkata
Speaker 1: for only four days to see his mother, he could return.
Speaker 1: Kashi persistently refused. The father finally said he would take
Speaker 1: the boy away with the help of the police. The
Speaker 1: threat disturbed Kashi, who was unwilling to be the cause
Speaker 1: of any unfavorable publicity to the school. He saw no
Speaker 1: choice but to go. I returned to Ranchi a few
Speaker 1: days later. When I heard how Kashi had been removed,
Speaker 1: I and trained at once for Kolcutta. There I engaged
Speaker 1: a horse cab. Very strangely, as the vehicle passed beyond
Speaker 1: the horror bridge over the Ganges, I beheld Kashier's father
Speaker 1: and other relatives in morning clothes. Shouting to my driver
Speaker 1: to stop. I rushed out and glad at the unfortunate father.
Speaker 1: Mister murderer, I cried, somewhat unreasonably, you have killed my boy.
Speaker 1: The father had already realized the wrong he had done
Speaker 1: in forcibly bringing Kashi to Kolcutta. During the few days
Speaker 1: the boy had been there, he had eaten contaminated food,
Speaker 1: contracted cholera, and passed on my love for Kashi and
Speaker 1: the pledge to find him after death. Night and day
Speaker 1: haunted me no matter where I went. Loomed up before me.
Speaker 1: I began a memorable search for him, even as long
Speaker 1: as I had searched for my lost mother. I felt that,
Speaker 1: inasmuch as God had given me the faculty of reason,
Speaker 1: I must utilize it and tax my powers to the
Speaker 1: utmost in order to discover the subtle laws by which
Speaker 1: I could know the boy's astral whereabouts. He was a
Speaker 1: soul vibrating with unfulfilled desires. I realized a mass of
Speaker 1: light floating somewhere amidst millions of luminous souls in the
Speaker 1: astral regions. How was I to tune in with them
Speaker 1: among so many vibrating lights of other souls. Using a
Speaker 1: secret yoga technique, I broadcasted my love to Carshier's soul
Speaker 1: through the microphone of the spiritual eye, the inner point
Speaker 1: between the eyebrows, with the antenna of upraised hands and fingers,
Speaker 1: often turned myself round and round, trying to locate the
Speaker 1: direction in which she had been reborn as an embryo.
Speaker 1: I hoped to receive response from him in the concentration
Speaker 1: tuned radio of my heart. I intuitively felt that Kashi
Speaker 1: would soon return to the Earth, and that if I
Speaker 1: kept unceasingly broadcasting my call to him, his soul would reply.
Speaker 1: I knew that the slightest impulse sent by Kashi would
Speaker 1: be felt in my fingers, hands, arms, spine, and nerves.
Speaker 1: With undiminished zeal, I practiced the yoga methods steadily for
Speaker 1: about six months after Kashi's death. Walking with a few
Speaker 1: friends one morning in the crowded bow Bazaar section of Calcutta,
Speaker 1: I lifted my hands in the usual manner. For the
Speaker 1: first time, there was response. I thrilled to detect electrical
Speaker 1: impulses trickling down my fingers and palms. These currents translated
Speaker 1: themselves into one overpowering thought from a deep recess of
Speaker 1: my consciousness. I am Kashi. I am Kashi. Come to me.
Speaker 1: The thought became almost audible as I concentrated on my
Speaker 1: heart radio in the characteristic slightly hoarse whisper of Kashi.
Speaker 1: I heard his summons again and again. I seized the
Speaker 1: arm of one of my companions, prokash Das, and smiled
Speaker 1: at him joyfully. It looks as though I have located Cushy.
Speaker 1: I began to turn round and round to the undisguised
Speaker 1: amusement of my friends and the passing throng. The electrical
Speaker 1: impulses tingled through my fingers only when I faced towards
Speaker 1: a nearby path aptly named Serpentine Lane. The astral currents disappeared.
Speaker 1: When I turned in other directions. Ah, I exclaimed, Cushy's
Speaker 1: soul must be living in the womb of some mother
Speaker 1: whose home is in the Vein my companions and I
Speaker 1: approached closer to Serpentine Lane, the vibrations in my upraised
Speaker 1: hands grew stronger, more pronounced, as if by a magnet.
Speaker 1: I was pulled toward the right side of the road,
Speaker 1: reaching the entrance of a certain house, I was astounded
Speaker 1: to find myself transfixed. I knocked at the door in
Speaker 1: a state of intense excitement, holding my very breath. I
Speaker 1: felt that the successful end had come for my long,
Speaker 1: arduous and certainly unusual quest. The door was opened by
Speaker 1: a servant who told me her master was at home.
Speaker 1: He descended the step away from the second floor and
Speaker 1: smiled at me inquiringly. I hardly knew how to frame
Speaker 1: my question. At once pertinent and impertinent. Please tell me, sir,
Speaker 1: if you and your wife have been expecting a chart
Speaker 1: for about six months. Yes, it is so, seeing that
Speaker 1: I was a swami or an ancet attired in the
Speaker 1: traditional orange cloth, he added politely, pray inform me how
Speaker 1: you know my affairs. When he heard about Kashi in
Speaker 1: the promise I had given, the astonished man believed my story.
Speaker 1: A male child of fair complexion will be born to you.
Speaker 1: I told him. He will have a broad face with
Speaker 1: a cow lick atop his forehead. His disposition will be
Speaker 1: notably spiritual. I felt certain that the coming child would
Speaker 1: bear these resemblances to Kashi. Later, I visited the child,
Speaker 1: whose parents had given him his old name of Kashi.
Speaker 1: Even in infancy, he was strikingly similar in appearance to
Speaker 1: my dear Ranchi's student. The child showed me an instantaneous affection.
Speaker 1: The attraction of the past awoke with redoubled intensity. Years later,
Speaker 1: a teenage boy wrote me during my stay in America.
Speaker 1: He explained his deep longing to follow the path of Renunciate.
Speaker 1: I directed him to a Himalayan master who to this
Speaker 1: day guidsed the reboron Kashi. End of Chapter twenty eight