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208 SPIRIT AND THE MIND
Baba never makes it easy. My brother Donald and I shared a front bucket seat and were squished together like sardines. The driver was to our right, Baba directly behind us, and Mr. Joga Rao, a contractor who has done much building for Baba, beside him. Of course you can’t just sit looking out the front window with Baba behind you; you can’t take your eyes off him. So we strained our necks to the limit, looking over our shoulders nose to nose, like two big lap dogs. We couldn’t sit that way for long, however. Even though Baba allows people to watch him all day long, day after day, just letting you drink him in, when you’re that close and intent about it, it’s downright embarrassing. But even though we’d turn our gaze aside to relax for a moment, back we’d come to our twisted, staring lap dog impersonations.
About ten minutes to arrival time, Baba looked my way and said,
“Sandweiss.”
“Yes, Swami?” I replied, straining my neck even further to meet
his eyes.
“You’ll give the girls some advice,” he said with a smile. My public
speaking phobia roared with a passion.
“Give the girls some advice, Swami?’ You can’t say no to Baba;
So I just wanted to make absolutely sure. “Y es.”
“What should I talk about Baba?” “Anything,” he said. “Give advice.”
“How many students?” I asked. “A thousand,” he replied.
The rest of the ride was very difficult. Beads of sweat began to form on my forehead as I strained to think of something to say. I was lost in this contemplation when we pulled up to the school. And then everything changed. The devotion of these students was overwhelming. What an event to see: the important personages in the area, all the girls neat and clean, full of devotion and discipline, sitting quietly and singing; people prostrating themselves, hands clasped in a reverential manner in front of the heart—all eyes and souls toward Baba.
It’s like arriving with the greatest celebrity imaginable. What a powerful impression, to see this kind of devotion to someone whom just minutes ago you were feeling almost as comfortable with as an old schoolmate. It was shocking to be drawn back into this reality, to realize again that we were sitting in the car with the Avatar. Baba got