From about 1971 to 1995, I would say that my experience on the path was fulfilled through love and devotion. My love for Guru – doing meditation, praying – and my devotion to Guru – servicing him in whatever way I could – taught me everything I needed to know about Guru.

Almost.

One day Guru asked me to come downstairs and tell him how I was serving him. I told him that I was taking his Jharna-Kala pictures and setting up galleries around the city. One of the ways was to set them up on an easel on the sidewalk. Guru looked at me and remained silent for a little while. Then he said, "Vajra, you should tie the pictures down on the easel so that they don't fall from the easel onto the sidewalk."

On one occasion, I was out on the street and I was setting up the pictures on the easel. I chose to ignore Guru's request to tie the pictures down. All of a sudden, a wind came and blew every picture I had on the easel to the sidewalk, glass flying everywhere. This was my first experience learning that when Guru tells you to do something, you do it yesterday.

You can shorten your spirituality-road
And quicken your speed
If you are under the guidance
Of a true, able and spiritually rich Master.

Sri Chinmoy 1

• 1. Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, part 192, Agni Press, 1993

When Guru came to London, especially in the later years, he did some concerts in the Royal Albert Hall. Then he would do some weightlifting events. We were lucky in London; he came to London quite a few times.

It was very, very hard to find hotel rooms because we were so short of hotel rooms. Guru wanted us to find a nice hotel because he had many guests that would come as well. I would go to literally every hotel in London and check it out to make sure it was nice enough for Guru first, and second of all, whether we can get it at a good price, and whether they have enough rooms. One time I was trying for a few weeks and there was nothing. There was absolutely nothing. We were desperate because we needed to find hotel rooms.

Either we were just lucky, lucky, lucky—or it was Guru: a really nice hotel suddenly said we could have the number of rooms—50 rooms, 30 rooms, however many we wanted—at a price that we needed. It was a miracle.

Imagine the chances. It was when Guru was meeting Princess Diana, but we didn't know that he was meeting Princess Diana. It was secret. The hotel was next to her house.

Guru does everything for you. I just kind of live, and Guru does everything.

Because Guru was coming on the flight very early from New York to London, we had to have the room ready. We had to have it the night before so we could make it nice. You put towels and flowers, Indian sweets and all sorts of nice things in Guru's rooms—notebooks, pens.

We paid for the room but we didn't have the key. The hotel decided to be really, really strict—very, very top security—and not let us have Guru's room. They needed Guru to be in person with his passport in order to have the keys to his room.

So we have this problem. We had to get into the room to get it ready, to make it nice for Guru. But they're not allowing us to. There was nothing we could do.

At that precise minute, a young boy came from behind the counter, came from somewhere and said, "Oh, I'll take care of them."

Then he says to me, "I'm Guru's disciple." He got us the key and let us in. I had never seen him before and I had been a disciple in London all my life. He came out of nowhere. It turned out that his mother had been a disciple of a meditation group outside of London. I call him an angel. It was like a hotel angel came to help us.

When God swiftly wants to offer me
His blessingful Hand,
He always employs an angel.

Sri Chinmoy 1

• 1. Angels, Jharna-Kala Card Co., 1995