I’ve been reading a book recently called Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. I don’t remember how I found this book. It may have just been browsing the religion shelves at Barnes and Noble. But, I really like the quote on the back cover by George Harrison that says, “I keep stacks of Autobiography of a Yogi around the house, and I give it out constantly to people. When people need ‘regrooving’ I say read this, because it cuts right to the heart of every religion.” So, I figure if George Harrison says it’s a good book then it must be a good book. Paramahansa Yogananda came to the United States from India in 1920 and helped introduce the practice of yoga to many people in Western society. The book itself is fascinating. I’m about half way through. He writes very well; simultaneously intelligent and down to earth, but very spiritual. He describes his life in India from birth to young adulthood as full of spiritual, supernatural experiences. He describes many experiences with various gurus and spiritual teachers as he was growing up. These are experiences that modern Western readers might view with skepticism and say are impossible or we might try to find a rational explanation for the things he attributes to spiritual forces. For instance, he describes gurus who are able to intentionally appear in visions at will to others or communicate to disciples over long distances with a kind of mental telepathy. In one of the more absurd accounts to our scientific minds he describes a guru called the “Perfumed Saint” because this person is able to make any object smell like any flower and the author describes his experience meeting this person and smelling for himself.
To our culture these stories may seem ridiculous, but he tells them with such a simple clarity that makes it easy to wonder. Maybe our Western rationality and logic have closed our eyes and minds and noses to certain dimensions of human experience.
Another experience he has with several different gurus is the ability of the guru to predict events in immediate future. Predictions like “When you go to a certain city you will get off the train and it will be raining. Then you will meet two men who will offer to take care of your food and housing for the entire visit. And lo and behold events unfold exactly as the guru predicted.
In one amusing chapter of the book called the Cauliflower Thief, Paramahansa has presented his guru with six humongous Cauliflower that he has grown himself as a gift. His master tells him to put the Cauliflower away for a meal later that evening. So he goes and puts them in his room under his bed. Then the master and the disciples of the ashram decide to go for a walk. Paramahansa is responsible for locking the door of the ashram on the way out but he forgets and leaves it unlocked. They are walking away from the building and I will quote from here,
“Halt!” My guru’s eyes sought mine. “Did you remember to lock the back door of the hermitage?”
“I think so, sir.”
My guru was silent for a few minutes, a half suppressed smile on his lips, “No. You forgot,” he said finally, “Divine contemplation must not be an excuse for material carelessness. You have neglected your duty in safe-guarding the ashram. You must be punished.”
I thought he was obscurely joking when he added, “Your six cauliflower will soon only be five. Rest a while, look across the compound on our left; observe the road beyond. A certain man will arrive there presently; he will be the means of your chastisement.”
I concealed my vexation at these incomprehensible remarks. A peasant soon appeared on the road; he was dancing grotesquely and flinging his arms about with meaningless gestures. Almost paralyzed with curiosity, I glued my eyes on the hilarious spectacle. As the man reached a point in the road where he would vanish from view, my master said, “Now he will return.”
The peasant at once changed his direction and made for the rear of the ashram. Crossing a sandy tract he entered the building by the back door. I had left it unlocked even as my guru had said. The man emerged shortly, holding one of my prized cauliflower. He now strode along, respectably invested with the dignity of possession.
The unfolding farce, in which my role appeared to be that of bewildered victim, was not so disconcerting that I failed indignant pursuit of the thief. I was halfway to the road when master called me back. He was shaking from head to toe with laughter.
“That poor crazy man has been longing for a cauliflower,” he explained through outbursts of mirth. “I thought it would be a good idea if he got one of yours so ill guarded.”
I dashed to my room, where I found that the thief, evidently one with a vegetable fixation, had left untouched my gold rings, watch and money, all lying openly on the blanket. He had crawled instead under the bed, where the basket of cauliflowers, completely hidden from casual sight had yielded the object of his single hearted desire.”
The author then goes on to offer his explanation of the event. His guru, as a result of years of meditation and yoga had been able to sense the desire of the approaching man for some cauliflower. He was also able to send his thoughts out to the man and direct him to the hiding place of his desire. Now whether that is the “right” explanation or not, if we assume these events actually happened then we seem to have a person, the guru ,who is able to predict events before they happen.
Reading this stuff has been very interesting and I love comparative religion and philosophy so its been a great book so far. But, then I was reading our bible passage this morning and was surprised to find a very similar phenomenon. Samuel a Hebrew prophet or spiritual leader or guru from the Jewish and Christian bible does exactly the same thing as this spiritual yoga guru from India. Samuel predicts a series of events in the immediate future as a demonstration of spiritual ability and in this case as a blessing upon the selection of Saul as the first king of Israel.
After anointing Saul as king in a private ceremony, Samuel says this shall be a sign to you that the LORD has anointed you ruler over his heritage: when you depart from me today you’ll meet two men who will give you good news about your lost donkeys. Then you will go from there and meet three men; one will be carrying three goats, one three loaves of bread and one a skin of wine. They will give you two loaves of bread. Then you will meet a band of prophets playing musical instruments and they will be in a prophetic frenzy and then you will go into a prophetic frenzy. Then it says “As Saul turned away to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all these signs were fulfilled.”
The congruity between this story in 1 Samuel and the stories from Autobiography of a Yogi as well as many stories from many faith traditions is that the prediction of future events is spiritually meaningful. It’s not just a good trick. Jesus even does it a couple times in the gospels. The idea in all the stories is that people who are attuned or attentive to something beyond the everyday reality that most of us experience are able to predict future events. I’m not saying this is true. I’m not saying I believe it or you should believe it. I’m just saying that stories across religious traditions describe the same phenomena.
Which means as we read these different stories whether from the Bible or from other sources we must decide what to do with them. We have some options. We can dismiss the stories as fictitious or spiritual make-believe. We can accept that some people accurately predict future events either through luck or through some other means perhaps spiritual power. Or we can suspend our judgment of the historical accuracy of these stories and find deeper truth in them.
You may know me well enough to know what I suggest we do. Or you may have the ability to predict what I am going to say in the next few moments. Or both. I think we should suspend our judgment on the historical accuracy of these stories and we should look for the deeper truth.
The deeper truth may simply be that there is more to life than what we commonly perceive. There is something more going on here. As we go about our day, check things off our list, do our chores, go about our business, there is something more at work all around us and within us. Not necessarily a spiritual intelligence pulling levers and pushing buttons to make us do and think certain things, but something more than we commonly perceive; threads of time, space, emotion, thought and faith weaving us into a larger tapestry than most of us can see with our physical eyes.
As people of faith, as people on a spiritual path, we should be open and attentive to that something more. It may be that that openness and attentiveness is what Saul was given by God when it says he was given, “another heart.” In fact, in the story, form 1 Samuel the prediction comes true, Saul did meet that band of prophets and he did go into a prophetic frenzy which was so out of character for him that it says a proverb was created. The proverb is quoted in verse 12: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” meaning is it possible for ordinary people to experience extraordinary changes and profound spirituality. Is Dickens among the prophets? Is Rich among the prophets?
The answer is yes. The spirit of God is at work all the time, all around us, doing something, whether its moving us around to meet one another at certain times and in certain circumstances or whether that Spirit is inspiring love and forgiveness in our harden hearts or whether the Spirit is calling us to take action and make change, the Spirit is at work all the time, all around us. So much more is happening that we know.
The hymn we are about to sing is a prayer and it says is well, “Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth” that are so commonly hidden from my sight. “Open ears that I may hear, Voices of truth” that I so often ignore in friends and strangers. “Open my heart and let me prepare,” to love more than I am loving now. “Open my eyes, my ears, my heart, to something greater than me, illumine me, Spirit divine.”
