In another minute I was gazing on my
guru's gift which Vivekananda had foreseen for me forty-three years
earlier-a silver cup!"
{FN47-1} The chief disciple of the Christlike master Sri Ramakrishna.
CHAPTER: 48
AT ENCINITAS IN CALIFORNIA
"A surprise, sir! During your absence abroad we have had this
Encinitas hermitage built; it is a 'welcome-home' gift!" Sister
Gyanamata smilingly led me through a gate and up a tree-shaded
walk.
I saw a building jutting out like a great white ocean liner toward
the blue brine. First speechlessly, then with "Oh's!" and "Ah's!",
finally with man's insufficient vocabulary of joy and gratitude,
I examined the ashram-sixteen unusually large rooms, each one
charmingly appointed.
The stately central hall, with immense ceiling-high windows, looks
out on a united altar of grass, ocean, sky-a symphony in emerald,
opal, sapphire. A mantle over the hall's huge fireplace holds the
framed likeness of Lahiri Mahasaya, smiling his blessing over this
far Pacific heaven.
Directly below the hall, built into the very bluff, two solitary
meditation caves confront the infinities of sky and sea. Verandahs,
sun-bathing nooks, acres of orchard, a eucalypti grove, flagstone
paths leading through roses and lilies to quiet arbors, a long
flight of stairs ending on an isolated beach and the vast waters!
Was dream ever more concrete?
"May the good and heroic and bountiful souls of the saints come
here," reads "A Prayer for a Dwelling," from the ZEND-AVESTA,
fastened on one of the hermitage doors, "and may they go hand in
hand with us, giving the healing virtues of their blessed gifts as
widespread as the earth, as far-flung as the rivers, as high-reaching
as the sun, for the furtherance of better men, for the increase of
abundance and glory.
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