Have you heard of these quotes – “Ask and you shall receive” and “When the student is ready, the teacher will show up“? These quotes are related to my story about finding the Autobiography of a Yogi (AY) and they have appeared in many discussions I had with other ‘teachers’.
I started practicing meditation and yoga since 1992 with a Tibetan Buddhist teacher called Rama. My dear friend, Mordy, who worked with me at Phibro Energy in Greenwich, CT back then, introduced me to him. Rama taught his followers and disciples how to meditate. In addition, he also taught them how to be successful in material life. I credit my spiritual and material success to his teachings.
One day when I was working in my Tokyo office, I felt a loss of Rama’s guidance, which I could feel his constant guidance since I became his disciple in 1993 back in New York. Even when we were apart as in him in the West Coast and me in the East Coast, I could feel his presence during my hour-long meditation twice a day. That day in 2003, I did not feel it anymore. I felt like a ship without a rudder in a huge ocean. I asked him in my prayer/meditation what happened. It prompted me to search for him on the Internet and found that he had passed away, which explained my lack of attunement to him.
Upon my return back to New York, I was driving home. When I was stopped at a light, I asked Rama out loud “Who will guide me now, now that you have passed away?” As soon as I asked that question, a radio announcement came on from my car radio informing whoever was listening about a free meditation class in Manhattan and the number to call if interested. I immediately wrote down the number, so I could call when I reached home.
As soon as I arrived home, I wasted no time to call the number thinking I would speak to someone on the phone. Instead, a automated message greeted me to leave my name and my call-back number, so someone can call me back with more details about the meditation, which I did. That following Saturday, I was shopping in a Long Island mall for my business shirts and I received a call from Phil Romano (now Narayan, a spiritual director of Ananda Los Angeles). He provided me the details of the meditation class with when and where it would start.
The meditation class started the following Wednesday at 6 pm. It was held at some dance studio around 14th Street in Manhattan. Phil introduced himself and the other two attendees. They were Rachelle and Pushpendra. He started our class with the Energization Exercises. Then, we chanted for awhile and we meditated for 30 minutes. At the end of our second 30-minutes meditation, he read one of the chapters from the AY. It was about Yogananda’s adventure to the Himalayas. The story immediately connected with me as I had similar desire to go to the Himalayas one day. That weekend, I flew out to Ananda Village in Nevada City, CA to find out more about Paramhansa Yogananda and bought myself a copy of the AY to read on my flight back home to New York City.
And some years later, I finally visited the Himalayas and found the Stairway to Heaven. But, that’s another story for another time.
Hope you enjoy your journey wherever it leads you. Trust in your guru/master/teacher will guide you there.
Aum
