Homecoming

The morning of 29 March 2006 was an auspicious one, as I stepped into a beautiful hillside property ready to preside over a house-warming ceremony. It was the first day of the soli-lunar Vedic New Year and the start of a new chapter in my life. As I entered the house where I would now reside, I reminisced about the extraordinary events linking this place to my past. This is where I had my first meeting with my spiritual mentor and Master, Paramahamsa Swami Hariharananda, who introduced me to a very special spiritual practice. My divine recollections of Master invariably relate to this part of the Santa Barbara County. Highway 192, the Vedanta Centre, Toro Canyon Road, and the back roads of Montecito and Carpinteria remind me of those joyous meetings and the precious time I spent with my mentor. The seas, the mountains and the azure blue sky meet here amidst this spectacular sanctuary of God’s boundless kingdom. This is where my heart, goals and my awareness had found a new direction. By Master’s astonishing kindness, I have been brought back to where it all began for me. Life has a unique way of turning full circle. Here I was, moving into the same house to perhaps further the legacy of an extraordinary lineage of masters. It was as if my Master handed me the divine baton with the keys to his home hanging from it. In future, many a server, seeker or devotee will negotiate the same short cuts and back roads on a spiritual path to find me and learn about our exalted heritage.

To call it a ‘first meeting’ would not be strictly true; it was a divine reunion fructified from a momentum gathered over many lifetimes. In that moment of divine recognition when I first looked into his eyes, I lost my normal state of wakefulness. When I regained my composure, I found myself slumping against the door frame where I had supported myself to stop from falling over. As soon as I had recovered my senses, I sought permission to bow to His Holiness; he then uttered, “I have been waiting for you for so long.” Thinking that I had waited too long in the doorway, I rushed to offer my humble prostrations. Master signalled me to sit close to him and repeated, “Did you hear? I have been waiting for so long.” It was the beginning of a remarkable reunion.

As I was leaving Master’s room after our meeting, he told me that he could see the bottom of the ocean from his bed. Perhaps he was reassuring me about his hints on how my life would unfold in the coming years. My mother had tutored me during my upbringing about the signs that one should look for while meeting a Master. He had all the telltale signs she had indicated to me: the piercing gaze, compassionate expression, sense of fairness and the pinkish glow. But nothing had prepared me for hearing the destined course of my future that day and about our deep relationship in the coming years. Even though my ideals were firmly rooted in a deeply spiritual life, I had never contemplated or planned for formal monkhood. Master’s directions about my life and its future course still have a surpassing influence on me. Of course, his prophecies have duly fructified.