Chapter 7:
The Meeting and the “Work”
The long night of almost sleepless
excitement that passed until the next day was to be the last
night of my undisciplined wilderness. From the next day, the
day of meeting with my teacher, I would be unable to live as
liberally as before. The doubts I had formed about my lack
of discipline would be consummated in the will of my
teacher. There would be a practical, moral revolution in my
way of life. But at the time I merely swooned in
expectation, in the joy of my discovery. And I went to meet
my teacher as if I were to be given some sweet free gift of
miracles and love, and coddled home like some eternal loved
– one of the gods.
When the morning came I bathed and
dressed very ceremoniously. My long hair and beard were
combed and trimmed. There was to be no offense in me. I
walked to the store in the bright sun and wondered what
incredible miracles I was to see before evening. From works
like Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi I had learned to
expect some kind of priceless love – meeting and a dear
touch of the teacher’s hand that would shake my mind loose
in a vision of lights and blessed peace. I walked to the
store with the same excitement in which I used to follow a
whore. I went to grasp all the miracles hidden in the secret
parts of this mystery.
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