Sasi and the Three Sapphires

chapter seventeen of autobiography of a yogi this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot org autobiography of a look at him the tone of voice used by dr narayan chandleroye implied that he was humouring the whim of half a bit on the invisible side dr roy accompanied me the following day to the sarampur hermitage after master had granted him a brief interview marked for the most part by stoic silence on both sides the visitor briskly departed why bring a dead man to the ashram sri yukteswar looked at me inquiringly as soon as the door had closed on the calcutta skeptic sir the doctor is very much alive but in a short time he will be dead i was shocked sir this will be a terrible blow to his son santosh yet hopes for time to change his father's materialistic views i beseech you master to help the man very well for your sake my guru's face was impassive will give him up for lost his natural time to leave this earth is six weeks from to-day due to your intercession however on that date he will recover but there is one condition you must get him to wear an astrological bangle consideration master chuckled after a silence during which i wondered how santosh and i could best employ the arts of cajolery on the recalcitrant doctor sri yukteswar made further disclosures however, and in six months, just as he is feeling at his best, he will drop dead.

Even that six-month extension of life is granted him only because of your plea. The following day I suggested to Santosh that he order an omelette at the jeweller's. It was ready in a week, but Dr. Roy refused to put it on. I am in the best of health. You will never impress me with these astrological superstitions. The doctor glanced at me belligerently. I recalled with amusement that Master had justifiably compared the man to a balky horse. Another seven days passed. The doctor, suddenly ill, meekly consented to wear the bangle.

Two weeks later the physician in attendance told him that his patient's case was hopeless. He supplied harrowing details of the ravages inflicted by diabetes. I shook my head. My guru has said that after a sickness lasting one month, Dr. Roy will be well. The physician stared at me incredulously, but he sought me out a fortnight later with an apologetic air. Dr. Roy has made a complete recovery, he exclaimed. It is the most amazing case in my experience. Never before have I seen a dying man show such an inexplicable comeback.

Your guru must indeed be a healing prophet. After one interview with Dr. Roy, during which I repeated Sri Yukteswar's advice about a meatless diet, I did not see the man again for six months. He stopped for a chat one evening, as I sat on the piazza of my family home on Gopar Road. Tell your teacher that by eating meat frequently, I have wholly regained my strength. His unscientific ideas on diet have not influenced me. It was true that Dr. Roy looked a picture of health, but the next day Santosh came running to me from his home on the next block.

This morning, father dropped dead. This case was one of my strangest experiences with master. He healed the rebellious veterinary surgeon in spite of his disbelief, and extended the man's natural term on earth by six months, just because of my earnest supplication. Sri Yukteswar was boundless in his kindness when confronted by the urgent prayer of a devotee. It was my proudest privilege to bring college friends to meet my guru. Many of them would lay aside, at least in the ashram, their fashionable academic cloak of religious scepticism.

One of my shashi spent a number of happy weekends in sarampur master became immensely fond of the boy and lamented that his private life was wild and disorderly hence you will be dangerously ill sri yukteswar gazed at my friend with affectionate exasperation mukundo is the witness don't say later that i didn't warn you shashi laughed master i will leave it to you to interest the sweet charity of cosmos in my own sad case my spirit is willing but my will is weak You are my only saviour on earth.

I believe in nothing else. At least you should wear a two-carat blue sapphire. It will help you. I can't afford one. Anyhow, dear Guruji, if trouble comes, I fully believe you will protect me. In a year, you will bring three sapphires. Sri Yukteswar replied cryptically. they will be of no use then variations on this conversation took place regularly A year later, I was visiting my guru at the Calcutta home of his disciple, Norin Babu. About ten o'clock in the morning, as Sri Yukteswar and I were sitting quietly in the second-floor parlour, I heard the front door open.

Master straightened stiffly. It is that Shashi, he remarked gravely. The year is now up. Both his lungs are gone. He has ignored my counsel. Tell him i don't want to see him half stunned by sri yukteswar's sternness i raced down theires omniscient guru the doctors say i have galloping tuberculosis they give me no longer than three more months i humbly implore your aid i know you can heal me isn't it a bit late now to be worrying over your life depart with your jewelsrate friend. Get up, Shashi.

What a commotion you make in other people's houses. Return your sapphires to the jewelers. They are an unnecessary expense now. But get an astrological bangle and wear it. Fear not. In a few weeks you shall be well. Shashi's smile illumined his tear-marred face like sudden sun over a sodden landscape. Beloved guru, shall I take the medicines prescribed by the doctors? Sri Yukteswar's glance was longanimous. Just as you wish. Drink them or discard them. It does not matter. It is more possible for the sun and moon to interchange their positions than for you to die of tuberculosis he added abruptly go now before i change my mind with an agitated bow my friend hastily departed i visited him several times during the next few weeks and was aghast to find his condition increasingly worse.

Shashi cannot last through the night. These words from his physician, and the spectacle of my friend, now reduced almost to a skeleton, sent me post-haste to Sarampur. My guru listened coldly to my tearful report. Why do you come here to bother me? You have already heard me assure Shashi of his recovery. I bowed before him in great awe, and retreated the door sri yukteswar said no parting words but sank into silence his unwinking eyes half open their vision fled to another world i returned at once to shashi's home in calcutta with astonishment i found my friend sitting up drinking milk oh mukundo what a miracle four hours ago i felt master's presence in the room my terrible symptoms immediately disappeared i feel that through his grace i am entirely well in a few weeks shashi was stouter and in better health than ever before but his singular reaction to his healing had an ungrateful tinge.

He seldom visited Sri Yukteswar again. My friend told me one day that he so deeply regretted his previous mode of life that he was ashamed to face Master. I could only conclude that Shashi's illness had had the contrasting effect of stiffening his will and impairing his manners. The first two years of my course at Scottish Church College was drawing to a close. My classroom attendance had been very spasmodic. What little studying I did was only to keep peace with my family. My two private tutors came regularly to my house.

I was regularly absent. I can discern at least this one regularity in my scholastic career in india two successful years of college bring an intermediate arts diploma the student may then look forward to another two years and his a b degree i fled to puri where my guru was spending a few weeks vaguely hoping that he would sanction my non-appearance at the finals i related my embarrassing unpreparedness but master smiled consolingly you have wholeheartedly pursued your spiritual duties and could not help neglecting your college work to your books for the next week.

You shall get through your ordeal without failure. I returned to Calcutta firmly suppressing all reasonable doubts that occasionally arose with unnerving ridicule. Surveying the mountain of books on my table, I felt like a traveler lost in a wilderness. A long period of meditation brought me a labor-saving inspiration. Opening each book at random, I studied only those pages which lay thus exposed pursuing this course during eighteen hours a day for a week i considered myself entitled to advise all succeeding generations on the art of cramming hazzard procedure.

I passed all the tests, though by a hairbreadth. The congratulations of my friends and family were ludicrously mixed with ejaculations betraying their astonishment. On his return from Puri, Sri Yukteswar gave me a pleasant surprise. Your Calcutta studies are now over. I will see that you pursue your last two years of university work right here in Sirampur. I was puzzled. Sir, there is no Bachelor of Arts course in this town. Serampur College, the sole institution of higher learning, offered only a two-year course in Intermediate Arts. Master smiled mischievously.

I am too old to go about collecting donations to establish an A.B. college for you. I guess I shall have to arrange the matter through someone else. Two months later, Professor Howells, president of Serampore College, publicly announced that he had succeeded in raising sufficient funds to offer a four-year course. Serampore College became a branch affiliation of the University of Calcutta. I was one of the first students to enroll in Serampore as an AB candidate. Guruji, how kind you are to me. I have been longing to leave Calcutta and be near you every day in Serampore.

Professor Howells does not dream how much he owes to your silent help. Sri Yukteswar gazed at me with mock severity. Now you won't have to spend so many hours on trains. What a lot of free time for your studies. perhaps you will become less of a last-minute crammer and more of a scholar but somehow his tone lacked conviction chapter