The Cauliflower Robbery

chapter fifteen of autobi care of a mother nursing her child. I presented the basket of vegetables with a ceremonial flourish. Thank you. Sri Yukteswar's smile was warm with appreciation. Please keep them in your room. I shall need them tomorrow for a special dinner. I had just arrived in Puri to spend my college summer vacation with my guru at his seaside hermitage. Built by master and his disciples, the cheerful little two-storied retreat fronts on the Bay of Bengal. I awoke early the following morning, refreshed by the salty sea breezes and the charm of my surroundings.

Sri Yukteswar's melodious voice was calling. I took a look at my cherished cauliflowers and stored them neatly under my bed. Come, let us go to the beach. Master led the way, several young disciples and myself, followed in a scattered group. Our guru surveyed us in mild criticism. When our western brothers walk, they usually take pride in unison. Now, please march in two rows rows keep rhythmic step with one another sri yukteswar watched us as we obeyed he began to sing boys go to and fro in a pretty little row was able to match the brisk pace of his young students halt my guru's eyes sought mine did you remember to lock the back door of the hermitage i think so sir said finally.

Divine contemplation must not be made an excuse for material carelessness. You have neglected your duty in safeguarding the ashram. You must be punished. I thought he was obscurely joking when he added, your six cauliflowers will soon be only five. We turned around at master's orders and marched back until we were close to the hermitage. Rest a while. Mukundo, look across the compound on our left. 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 manam.

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 cauliflowers. 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 an indignant pursuit i was half-way to the road when master recalled me he was shaking from head to foot with laughter 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, completely hidden from casual sight, one of my cauliflowers had aroused his single-hearted desire. I asked Sri Yukteswar that evening to explain the incident, which had, I thought, a few baffling features. My guru shook his head slowly. You will understand it some day. Science will soon discover a few of these hidden laws.

When the wonders of radio burst some years later on an astounded world, I remembered Master's prediction. Age-old concepts of time and space were annihilated no peasant's home so narrow that london or calcutta could not enter the dullest intelligence enlarged before indisputable proof as one aspect of man's omnipresence the plot of the cauliflower comedy can be best understood by a a radio analogy. Sri Yukteswar was a perfect human radio. Thoughts are no more than very gentle vibrations moving in the ether. Just as a sensitized radio picks up a desired musical number out of thousands of other programs from every direction, so my guru had been able to catch the thought of the half-witted man who hankered for a cauliflower out of the countless thoughts of broadcasting human wills in the world by his powerful will master was also a human broadcasting station intuition is the sole guidance appearing naturally in man during those instants when his mind is calm nearly every one has had the functions of complicated radio mechanisms, sending and receiving thoughts, and tuning out undesirable ones.

As the power of a radio depends on the amount of electrical current it can utilize, so the human radio is energized according to the power of will possessed by each individual. All thoughts vibrate eternally in the cosmos. By deep concentration, a master is able to detect the thoughts of any mind living or dead thoughts are universally without distortion it may mirror the divine vision in the universe radio most barbaric modes conspires in vain to cramp very strange very wonderful seemingly very improbable phenomena may yet appear which when once established will not astonish us more than we are now astonished at all that science has taught us during the last century.

Charles Robert Ruscha, Nobel Prize man in physiology, has declared, It is assumed that the phenomena which we now accept without surprise do not excite our astonishment because they are understood, but this is not the case. If they do not surprise us, it is not because they are understood, it because they are familiar for if that which is not understood ought to surprise us we should be surprised at everything the fall of a stone thrown into the air the acorn which becomes an oak burns when it is rubbed.

The science of today is a light matter. The revolutions and evolutions which it will experience in a hundred thousand years will far exceed the most daring anticipations. The truth, whose surprising, amazing, unforeseen truths which our descendants will discover, are even now all around us, staring us in the eyes, so to speak speak and yet we do not see them but it is not enough to say that we do not see them we do not wish to see them for as soon as an unexpected an unfamiliar fact appears that any one should dare to experiment further a humorous occurrence took place a few days after i had been so implausibly robbed of a cauliflower a certain kerosene lamp could not be found master perceived my expectation without exaggerated gravity he questioned all ashram residents a young disciple confessed that he had used the lamp to go to the well in the back yard shri yukteswar gave the solemn counsel seek the lamp near the well i rushed there no lamp crestfallen i returned to my guru he was now laughingily, without compunction for my disillusionment.

Too bad I couldn't direct you to the vanished lamp. I'm not a fortune-teller, with twinkling eyes he added. I'm not even a satisfactory Sherlock Holmes. I realized that Master would never display his powers when challenged or for a triviality. Delightful weeks sped by. Sri Yukteswar was planning a religious procession. He asked me to lead the disciples over the town and beach of Puri. The festive day dawned as one of the hottest of the summer. Guruji, how can I take the barefooted students over the fiery sands?

I spoke despairingly. I will tell you a secret, Master responded. The Lord will send an umbrella of clouds you all shall walk in comfort i happily organized the procession our group started from the ashram with a satsang banner gaze of intuition. No sooner had we left the hermitage than the part of the sky which was overhead became filled with clouds as though by magic. To the accompaniment of astonished ejaculations from all sides, a very light shower fell, cooling the city streets and the burning seashore. The soothing drops descended during the two hours of the parade.

The exact instant at which our group returned to the ashram, the clouds and rain passed away tracelessly you see how god feels for us master replied after i had expressed my gratitude the lord responds to all and works for all just as he sent rain at my plea so he fulfils any sincere desire of the devotee. Seldom do men realize how often God heeds their prayers. He is not partial to a few, but listens to everyone who approaches him trustingly. His children should ever have implicit faith in the loving kindness of their omniscient father.

Sri Yukteswar sponsored four yearly festivals at the equinoxes and solstices when his students gathered from far and near. The winter solstice celebration was held in Serampur. The first one I attended left me with a permanent blessing. The festivities started in the morning with a barefoot procession along the streets. The voices of a hundred students rang out with sweet religious songs. A few musicians played the flute and kolkhar taal drums and cymbals enthusiastic townspeople strewed the path with flowers glad to be summoned from prosaic tasks by a resounding praise of the lord's blessed name the hermitage.

There we encircled our guru while students on upper balconies showered us with marigold blossoms. Many guests went upstairs to receive a pudding of chana and oranges. I made my way to a group of brother disciples who were serving today as cooks. Food for such large gatherings had to be cooked outdoors in large cauldrons. The improvised wood-burning brick stoves were smoky and tear-provoking, but we laughed merrily at our work. Religious festivals in India are never considered troublesome. Each one does his part, supplying money, rice, vegetables, or his personal services.

Master was soon in our midst, supervising the details of the feast. Busy every moment, he kept pace with the most energetic young student a sankirtan group chanting accompanied by the harmonium and hand-played indian cooks and joined the artists the melody was heard again this time of rhythm in his cosmic dance of universal creation preservation and dissolution of Vishnu is always shown in Hindu art with a flute on which he plays the enrapturing song that recalls to their true home the human souls wandering in maya, delusion.

Saraswati, goddess of wisdom, is symbolized as performing on the Veena, mother of all stringed instruments. The Sam Veda of India contains the world's earliest writings in musical science. The foundation stone of Hindu music is the ragas, or fixed melodic scales. The six basic rags branch out into 126 derivatic raginis, wives, and putras, sons. Each rag has a minimum of five notes, a leading note, vadi or king, a secondary note, samvadi or prime minister helping notes anuvadi attendance and a dissonant note vivadi the enemy each one of the six basic rags has a natural correspondence with a certain hour of the day season of the year and a presiding deity who bestows a particular potency.

Thus, 1. The Hindol Raag is heard only at dawn in the spring to evoke the mood of universal love. 2. Deepak Raag is played during the evening in summer to arouse compassion. 3. Megh Raag is a melody for a midday in the rainy season to summon courage four bear of rag is played in the mornings of august september october to achieve tranquillity five shri rag is reserved for autumn twilights to attain pure love six mal is heard at midnights in winter for valour the ancient rishis discovered these laws of sound alliance between nature and man because nature is an objectification of om the primal sound or vibratory word man can obtain control over all natural manifestations through the use of certain mantras or chants.

Historical documents tell of the remarkable powers possessed by Mia Tansen, 16th century court musician for Akbar the Great. Commanded by the emperor to sing a night rag while the sun was overhead, Tansen intoned a mantra which instantly caused the whole palace precincts to become enveloped in darkness. Indian music divides the octave into 22 shruthis or demi-semitones. These microtonal intervals permit fine shades of musical expression unattainable by a western chromatic scale of 12 semitones. Each one of the seven basic notes of the octave is associated in Hindu mythology with a color and the natural cry of a bird or beast.

Do with green and the peacock, re with red and the skylark, mi with golden and the goat, fa with yellowish white and the heron, sol with black and the nightingale, la with yellow and the horse, si with a combination of all colors, and the elephant. Three scales, major, harmonic minor, melodic minor, are the only ones which occidental music employs, but Indian music outlines seventy-two tatas or scales. The musician has a creative scope for endless improvisation around the fixed traditional melody or he concentrates on the sentiment or definitive mode of the structural theme and then embroiders it to the limits of his own originality the hindu musician does not read set notes he clothes anew at each playing the bare skeleton of the rag, often confining himself to a single melodic sequence, stressing by repetition all its subtle microtonal and rhythmic variations.

Bach, among western composers, had an understanding of the charm and power of repetitious sound slightly differentiated in a hundred complex ways. Ancient Sanskrit literature describes 120 taals or time measures. The traditional founder of Hindu music Bharat is said to have isolated 32 kinds of taal in the song of a lark. The origin of taal or rhythm is rooted in human movements, the double time of walking and the triple time of respiration and sleep, when inhalation is twice the length of exhalation. India has always recognized the human voice as the most perfect instrument of sound.

Hindu music, therefore, largely confines itself to the voice range of three octaves. For the same reason, melody, relation of successive notes, is stressed, rather than harmony, relation of simultaneous notes. The deeper aim of the early Rishi musicians was to blend the singer with the cosmic song which can be heard through awakening of man's occult spinal centers. Indian music is a subjective, spiritual, and individualistic art, aiming not at symphonic brilliance, but at personal harmony with the oversoul. The Sanskrit word for musician is Bhagavatar, he who sings the praises of God.

The Sankirtans, or musical gatherings, are an effective form of yoga, or spiritual discipline, necessitating deep concentration, intense absorption in the seed thought and sound. Because man himself is an expression of the creative word, sound has the most potent and immediate effect on him, offering a way to remembrance of his divine origin. The Sankirtan issuing from Sri Yukteswar's second-story sitting-room on the day of the festival was inspiring over the courtyard. Soon the assemblage was squatting under the starry vault, quietly attentive to the wisdom pouring from Sri Yukteswar's lips.

His public speeches emphasized the value of Kriya Yoga and a life of self-respect, calmness, determination, simple diet and regular exercise. A group of young disciples then chanted a few sacred hymns. The meeting concluded with Sankirtan. From ten o'clock until midnight, the ashram residents washed pots and pans and cleared the courtyard. My guru called me to his side. I am pleased over your cheerful labors today and during the past week of preparations. I want you with me. You may sleep in my bed tonight. This was a privilege i had never thought would fall to my lot we sat awhile in a state of intense divine tranquillity hardly ten minutes after we had gotten into bed master rose and began to dress what is the matter sir i felt a tinge of unreality in the unexpected joy of sleeping beside my guru i think a few students who missed their proper train connections will be here soon let us have some food ready guruji no one would come at one o'clock in the morning to cook.

At Sri Yukteswar's resolute tone, I jumped up and followed him to the small, daily-used kitchen adjacent to the second-floor inner balcony. Rice and dal were soon boiling. My guru smiled affectionately. Tonight you have conquered fatigue and fear of hard work. You shall never be bothered by them in the future. As he uttered these words of lifelong blessing, footsteps sounded in the courtyard. I ran downstairs and admitted a group of students dear brother how reluctant we are to disturb master at this hour one man addressed me apologetically he has been expecting you and is even now preparing your food sri ukteswar's welcoming voice rang out i led the astonished visitors to the kitchen master turned to me with twinkling eyes now that you have finished comparing notes no doubt you are satisfied that our guests really did miss their train a half hour later, realizing fully that I was about to sleep beside a godlike guru.