Talk at Ananda Ashram

It was late afternoon when some of Swamiji’s followers gathered by the lake and began talking candidly about Swamiji and speculating about his relation to God and their relation to him. 

“Well,” said Wally, “Swami never claimed to be God or an incarnation, but he says that he is a servant of God, teaching love of God.”

“But he says that the spiritual master is not different from God,” said Howard.  They stood at the edge of the mirror calm lake and concluded that it was not necessary to talk about this.  The answers would be revealed later.  None of them really had much spiritual knowledge, but they wanted their faith to deepen.

Afterward, Keith, Wally, and Howard wandered into the meditation room.  There was a seat with a picture of Dr. Mishra, who was away in Europe.  But the most remarkable thing was a blinking strobe light.  “I feel like I’m in a head shop on St. Mark’s Place,” said Wally.  “What kind of spiritual meditation is this?” Howard asked.  A Mishra follower, wearing a white kurta and white bell-bottoms, replied that their guru had said they could sit and meditate on this light.  “Swamiji says you should meditate on Krishna,” said Keith.