It made itself known by a cold, smooth touch. I
have jealously guarded it for more than two years, and now leave
it in Ananta's keeping. Do not grieve for me, as I shall have been
ushered by my great guru into the arms of the Infinite. Farewell,
my child; the Cosmic Mother will protect you."
A blaze of illumination came over me with possession of the amulet;
many dormant memories awakened. The talisman, round and anciently
quaint, was covered with Sanskrit characters. I understood that it
came from teachers of past lives, who were invisibly guiding my
steps. A further significance there was, indeed; but one does not
reveal fully the heart of an amulet.
How the talisman finally vanished amidst deeply unhappy circumstances
of my life; and how its loss was a herald of my gain of a guru,
cannot be told in this chapter.
But the small boy, thwarted in his attempts to reach the Himalayas,
daily traveled far on the wings of his amulet.
{FN2-1} Sanskrit root meaning of SWAMI is "he who is one with his
Self (SWA)." Applied to a member of the Indian order of monks, the
title has the formal respect of "the reverend."
{FN2-2} The Indian custom, whereby parents choose the life-partner
for their child, has resisted the blunt assaults of time. The
percentage is high of happy Indian marriages.
{FN2-3} An anchorite; one who pursues a SADHANA or path of spiritual
discipline.
{FN2-4} When I discovered by these words that Mother had possessed
secret knowledge of a short life, I understood for the first time
why she had been insistent on hastening the plans for Ananta's
marriage.
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