Page 231 - Microsoft Word - SPIRIT AND THE MIND.doc
P. 231

The Making of a New-Age Therapist 207
but exceedingly well. Was it time to move more actively into the
world but remain unaffected by it?
STILL MORE INTO THE OUTER WORLD
One day I was sitting on the porch so-huming, literally spaced out, and Baba came out and said, “Sandweiss.” I looked up and murmured, “Yes, Swami?” He said, “Come along—and your brother (who was along on this trip) also come along.”
So we got into his car and drove with him to the village of Anan- tapur where he has a women’s college. It was pure grace to be with him for that hour-long drive. He put us at ease, almost as if he were an old school chum of ours. When we stopped at a train crossing, everyone on the road would come running. They’d fall to the ground, raise their hands and arms in worship, and weep and pray for a glance or a wave. Then I would be shocked back into the strange realization that we were with the Avatar. Just to be in the car and witness what happened along the road was absolutely amazing. Then we’d move on and maya would return and we’d think we were back with our old school mate.
Riding with Baba that day, I saw the quality of detachment in a way I had never imagined. He seemed actually to be vibrating: energy seemed to be pouring from him with incredible intensity. Much of the time he appeared to be in another dimension. He would draw his gaze inside, making hand movements or sitting in a particular posture, which appeared to reflect a state we weren’t in touch with. Then all of a sudden he’d return his attention to the car—tell us a joke or a simple story—and be with us like old chums. Then off he’d go again.
At one point the road turned to enter a long, flat stretch of countryside. Half a mile down the road I could see a tiny speck which I guessed to be a person stirring. Baba leaned forward. “Look, see the woman? She knows Baba is coming. This woman has been blind from birth but she is in constant joy. Her attention never got attached to the sense of sight, her gaze has always been inward. If she had first had sight and then lost it, she would be grieving for the gratification of that sense. But her attention has always been inward where she has learned to know me. She knows I’m coming. Watch her come to the road to greet me. See?” As we approached the old woman, she rose with excitement and hobbled to the roadside, bowing with reverence and a large smile.


































































































   229   230   231   232   233