Ram Dass recounts his first encounter with his master in the above interview. Ram Dass starts to choke up as he begins to talk about his guru. One can see the amount of devotion he had for his guru from the way he narrates about his guru. I have watched this clip numerous times and each time I shed tears thinking of the compassion of the great master.
Nabha Cosley writes about how he found his guru at http://www.ananda.org/a-place-called-ananda/nabha/6574/found-guru/. He writes that his spiritual interest was "fanned by the movie Ghandi and books by Ram Dass such as BE HERE NOW." Later he "re-discovered Yogananda’s AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI". He took discipleship initiation and took Yogananda as his master.
I received a copy of Yogananda's AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI from a colleague in 1994. He was leaving the government service to become a monk at Yogananda's centre at Ranchi, India. As we parted Sekaran passed me a beautiful portrait of Lord Shiva, a copy of Yogananda’s AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI and a few words of advice. He told me if I should be given a task that was not appropriate to my job, he asked that I accept it if I had the time and the knowledge (know how) to accomplish it. I upheld his words and eventually became an asset to the department. I placed Shiva at my altar, I read Yogananda's book and was captivated immediately. I read the book numerous times.
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| Gift's from Sekaran |
Once I was looking for this copy of Yogananda's book but could not locate it. Then I remembered having borrowed it to my wife's aunt, but she denied having it. I left it at that.
When another colleague of mine Gopal Narian Kutty was posted out, I help him pack and load his belongings into his car and bid him farewell too. On returning to his desk at the office, I ensured he had not left anything personal behind. After some time as I walked past his cubicle and work station, I thought I saw something on his desk. I stopped in my tracks and reached out for the "something'. It turned out to be a copy of Yogananda's AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI! I was the only Malaysian of Indian origin there. It puzzled me as to who would have placed it there?
Nabha eventually met up with Ram Dass, "the yogi who had done so much to inspire the start of his search", at a public lecture.
Nabha describes the moment with Ram Dass in his own words,
"After the talk, I went up to him and thanked him sincerely for his impact on my life. What happened after this was rather startling. He didn’t say anything. After a moment, I turned to go, but instead he grabbed my hand and we looked into each other’s eyes. I felt the presence of Yogananda and Swami Kriyananda emanating to me from his heart. What is my guru doing in Ram Dass!?, I wondered. His guru is Neem Karoli Baba! Murmuring thanks, I left, weeping with emotion."Nabha also writes in his blog at http://www.ananda.org/a-place-called-ananda/nabha/6241/steve-jobs-autobiography-yogi/ that "Steve Jobs, the famous founder of Apple was inspired throughout his life by Eastern spirituality". He writes that "Jobs traveled to India with a friend after reading BE HERE NOW and Paramhansa Yogananda’s AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI."
The first encounters of gurus with their masters had always amazed me. These precious and prized moments where the guru identifies the disciple and the disciple makes the decision of accepting the teachings of the guru is always exciting to read again and again. I have compiled these sacred moments when the master meets the disciple and vice versa in the following book entitled ‘FIRST ENCOUNTERS WITH THE MASTERS’. I started with the episode on Swami Sivananda who served in Malaya, my homeland, as a doctor prior to becoming a mendicant, and ended it with me meeting my guru Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal who was directed to preach the path of the Siddhas in present day Malaysia.
Read about the FIRST ENCOUNTERS WITH THE MASTERS at http://www.scribd.com/doc/149168760/First-Encounters-With-the-Masters