O, Thy Love is my nest.
Thy Smile is my rest.
Thy Grace is my goal.
This poem, hand-written by Guru, is framed and hanging in the vestibule of my "nest". Let me tell you how I came to have my house. It is a story that shows Guru's power, sweetness and love.
Right after being accepted as a disciple, Guru asked my son, Dhanu, to telephone me and tell me to come to New York. I thought, "Isn't that nice. He wants me to come for a visit." But Dhanu quickly corrected me by saying, "No, not for a visit. He wants you to move to New York." This was startling to me since I knew nothing about spiritual Masters, having been a devout Roman Catholic. In fact, my best friends were priests and nuns. I did not realise that I should not hesitate. Dhanu reminded me that when your spiritual Master asks you to do something, you should do it immediately. This was news to me.
Weeks ran into months and then one day, almost unnoticed, I realised that I had been on the path for nearly five years—still living away from Guru. My birthday was coming up and Dhanu called to tell me that Guru really meant that I should move to New York and why was I delaying? In a few days I would be coming to celebrate my birthday, and Guru wanted me to stay and not return home, Dhanu told me sternly. When I packed I did not feel in my heart that I could stay in New York, so I took only a few belongings and very little money.
The day of my birthday was a very special one. Guru was going to Woodstock—one of his most favourite spots on earth—to give a Peace Concert, and he had invited me to be on the bus with him. As I boarded the bus, Guru said, "Anne, Anne, this is your birthday, and tonight as a birthday celebration, I am inviting all the disciples who have come to this concert to come to my home. I am cooking an Indian feast just to celebrate your birthday."
I was very happy and I thought, "Isn't that nice. On this path when you have a birthday, Guru cooks a feast to honour you." Little did I realise that this was an unusual event.
That night of July 12, 1980, we were all sitting in Guru's back yard when he approached me with a heaping plate of Indian food, a veritable feast, and presented it to me. Yes, it was delicious. The girls later told me that he had actually done all the cooking, that they had just done the chopping of the vegetables. After the meal, there was a cake which Databir had brought and Dhanu presented to me. After blowing out the candles, Guru said that since it was my birthday, I could ask him one question.
Lots of thoughts flashed through my mind. It was like in a fairy tale where you are allowed one boon. I didn't want to waste it. After some thought I found myself saying, "Guru, for years you have been asking me to move to New York. Why can't I do it?" Guru's answer really shocked me. Because of my Christian background, he said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich woman to get into Heaven."
Guru made it clear to me that I was staying away from New York because I didn't want to give up my security and money. I knew my husband very well and realised that he would never part with any money, but these words were just what I needed to finally leave him. Who needs money if you have such a caring, loving Teacher to guide you? I didn't want to be one of those who chose money over God, so I never went back home.
One day soon after, Ashrita called and said that Guru wanted me to buy a house. I asked, "How can I buy a house? Doesn't Guru know that I have no money?"
He answered, "I don't know, Anne. All I can say is that Guru said, ‘Tell Anne to go buy a house.' " So I started looking for a house. I felt in my heart that there was a house out there that I could get if I just believed this.
Every day I went out looking, knocking on doors. One day when Guru was in the Smile of the Beyond, he called me up to his table and asked, "How are you doing? Are you so fussy that you can't find a house?" I told him that I didn't want to spend a lot of time making repairs, and so many of the houses were in disrepair.
From time to time I would find a house that I might be happy with and would ask Ashrita to ask Guru about it. The answers were, "That one is too big, the other is too small," or "That one is too close to my house," and then "That one is too far away." It seemed that I would never find a place.
Then one night at a function at Progress-Promise, Guru asked me to come up and tell of my latest house experiences. That night when I returned home, the phone rang. It was a disciple who had heard my tales of woe. He said that when he came into the house where he rents a top floor apartment, he overheard his landlord, Mr. B., on the phone with a realtor. He called me very excited and told me that I should look at this house, which was in beautiful condition. It even had a twelve-foot stained glass window.
The next day when I saw the window, I had to admit that it was pretty impressive and beautiful. It seems that a Catholic priest had this house built in 1900 for his widowed sister and her eight children. I set up an appointment with Mr. B. to view the inside.
When I arrived, I wasn't very impressed by the interior for some reason. It seemed too dark. I did not want to hurt the man's feelings, but I really didn't think that this was the house for me. He, meanwhile, wanted very much to sell to a disciple because he had seen the change that Guru had brought about in the neighbourhood.
He saw that I did not want the house and offered to take off $5,000 because I was a disciple. That still wouldn't do. Then he asked what it was about the house that I didn't care for. I answered that it had to be completely painted and wallpapered. He then took off another $5,000 for that. I still wasn't going to buy it. Then he asked me, did I like flowers? Of course, I love flowers and always had a huge garden in the home that I had left to move to New York. So he said, "Let's go out and I'll show you the garden."
I thought, "What is there to see? It's January; in the winter all the plants are asleep!" But I didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I agreed.
We went outdoors and right there, on this very brisk, cold day, sat a beautiful blue flower. I asked him, "Mr. B., what kind of flower is this? I've never seen such a bloom before." He was just as surprised as I was and said that he had never seen it in his garden although he had lived there since 1925. I took this as a sign from God that this was finally the house for me to buy.
Now all I had to do was convince him that I could handle it financially, even though I did not have any money. It was a total surprise when he said, "Could you come up with $1,000? Can't you borrow that much from one of your friends?" I called Ashrita and told him about this house and Guru's answer came back in 20 minutes: "If Anne doesn't buy that house, she will never have a house." This man was willing to let me have a house that is worth something like $250,000 today for only one thousand dollars down, and he was willing to wait years for the rest. Can you see the miracle that our Guru has wrought?
Snehashila (New York)
