"Yes." Master smiled at my direct question; his eyes lit with
reverence. "Three times I have been blessed by the sight of the
deathless guru. Our first meeting was in Allahabad at a KUMBHA
MELA."
The religious fairs held in India since time immemorial are known
as KUMBHA MELAS; they have kept spiritual goals in constant sight
of the multitude. Devout Hindus gather by the millions every six
years to meet thousands of sadhus, yogis, swamis, and ascetics of
all kinds. Many are hermits who never leave their secluded haunts
except to attend the MELAS and bestow their blessings on worldly
men and women.
"I was not a swami at the time I met Babaji," Sri Yukteswar went on.
"But I had already received KRIYA initiation from Lahiri Mahasaya.
He encouraged me to attend the MELA which was convening in January,
1894 at Allahabad. It was my first experience of a KUMBHA; I felt
slightly dazed by the clamor and surge of the crowd. In my searching
gazes around I saw no illumined face of a master. Passing a bridge
on the bank of the Ganges, I noticed an acquaintance standing
near-by, his begging bowl extended.
"'Oh, this fair is nothing but a chaos of noise and beggars,'
I thought in disillusionment. 'I wonder if Western scientists,
patiently enlarging the realms of knowledge for the practical good
of mankind, are not more pleasing to God than these idlers who
profess religion but concentrate on alms.
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