Page 208 - WLMIG_6132004.indd

during one of my early trips (about 1975), when I traveled with Elsie Cowan, whose husband was raised from the dead by Swami. Elsie developed the Sai Baba Book Center of America and constructed the first Sai building in the USA to house the book center. She wanted Swami to come to the USA, and during our trip she offered a plan to him.
During this trip, Swami took me aside and said that he would come to the USA and that I was to work with Elsie to make the necessary arrangements. I was out of my mind with excitement and, even though we were to keep everything quiet, I called my wife long distance in the middle of the night and screamed into the phone that Swami was coming to the USA. I’m sure that everyone in the hotel, as well as everyone in Bangalore, could hear me shrieking and yelling. Then, a few days later, Swami took me aside and said that he couldn’t come because his interpreter wouldn’t be available to travel with him outside of India.
I was devastated. I knew that Swami knew beforehand he would not visit since by this time I knew that he knew everything! How could he lead me on like this? I also intellectually knew that he acted out of pure love and that there was another way of interpreting his actions that I had yet to understand. I was humbled by the interaction and felt myself called on to surrender ever more to his will. I was so shaken that it took me three days before I could think clearly again. So went my first big lesson that disappointments are also gis from Swami, even those turns of events that I didn’t like or understand. This experience was my first major testing from the master teacher of detachment.
A Russian Project
This story, which took place over a three-year period (1988- 1991), illustrates how our love for Swami helps us overcome obstacles. His love leads us to service, makes us confront
208