This is an e-mail from my precious friend, Diane.
Jai Sai Ram Susan,
See you are utilizing your time to the utmost, despite the challenges! Swami had many purposes to bring us back here and we are all discovering our unique reasons. Yours make interesting reading and will be a help to many I am sure. Everything truly is,"good for me", as Swami says we should say, despite what appears negative thrown at us. We know that's when most of our growth takes place.
See you," back at camp", in July.
Much, much love,
Also this morning, I received a saved voice mail from another friend at the ashram, St. Joan. Many will know her just from that phrase and she’s liable to kill me for saying it. She misses me and loves me and I love and miss her too. Sooo much love and kindness there at the ashram but…there’s plenty love and kindness here also if you just keep your heart open!
I think I have turned a corner and finally rejoined the family, accepting responsibility for past mistakes and lack of kindness on my part. Also I’m trying to change my return ticket to July instead of December. And this next time if there is one, I will ask permission to return to Florida instead of taking it for granted. My best friend, Carol, will be returning on the same date and I hope that we can fly together at least on that long 15 hour flight from New York to Delhi.
This is indeed a lovely day made by the Lord. I saw a friendly squirrel and a large orange butterfly. Both were Swami in fact everything is Swami
More Later.
I went to the Unity Church on Sunday and received this affirmation in a quote from Louise Hay: “All is well, everything is working out for my highest good, I am safe.”
And on Monday I went to the beach. The waves were so strong that they almost pushed me over and I’m not soooo strong anyway. It was like kanyakumari in India, only no Parameshwari temple.
Back to Unity Church. This time there weren’t so many hugs and I was able to Nameste everyone with lots of smiles. I had a few nice surprises this week. I have a problem in India in that all the children….ok some of the children, stare at my sort of strange looking face. They never did that here in the States but those Indian kids actually chased me down the street calling, ‘Mukhudi’ when I was younger. I think that means ‘flat nose’ Anyway I’ve gotten use to all this but was not prepared for the same thing here. At church, a little girl in the first row turned around and stared for at least five minutes. I smiled and patted her head. Then on this Sunday that same little girl came running up to me and threw her arms around me. I think all along the little girl just wanted to be friends. It was a wonderful experience and I’ll never forget it!
A couple of other things happened too. A small choir of about a dozen people sang “ Dona Nobis Pachem, give us peace.” Well, how many of us know that! I think I’ve been singing that for over twenty years and for several Christmases. So as a member of the congregation I raised my voice….maybe a little too much but it was such a welcome surprise.
Something else happened too. Have youall seen the supplement in the Hindu newspaper which was on our Swami? It was fantastic and it’s made the email rounds. I took a copy with me to the church and approached the lady Minister with it. I said, “Please don’t think I’m proselytizing but I thought you should know about what Sathya Sai Baba is doing in India. We consider Him to be an Avatar.” Her face fell when I said that and I thought, “Oh Dear, I made a mistake.” Later I mentioned it to my nephew. He said, “she probably thought an Avatar was one of those blue aliens from that movie.” “Oh my Lord, I’ll bet you’re right. So I approached her again. “UMMM, do you know what an Avatar is?” She said she didn’t. “Well it’s a man who is born perfect, that’s all.” She was relieved!
So that was Sunday when I went to the Unity church.. The five tenets of the Unity religion are: 1. “God is absolute good and present everywhere.” Swami says, “There is only one God and He is omnipresent.” 2. “Human beings have a spark of divinity in them and they are inherently good.” Swami says, “Be good, do good and see good, that is the way to God.”
3. “Human beings create their experiences by the activity of their thinking.” Swami says, “Master your mind, be a Master Mind.”
4. “Prayer is creative thinking which heightens your connection with God.” Swami says, “living in God is true spirituality”
5. “Knowing the truth isn’t enough; you have to live the truth.” Swami says. “Life without knowledge of Self is useless just as a tree without fruit and fruit without juice.”
Anyway it was lovely at the church and so was their pot luck lunch. Oh their potato salad. It had been so very long.
OK that is what I did on Sunday. On Monday afternoon my wonderful nephew and his wife took me to the beach. The previous week they took me to the city where I marvelled at the new sky line of St. Pete and the sophisticated side-walk cafes along the bay front. There was nothing like that 30 or 40 years ago. Come on lets face it, it had been 50 years since I really saw the city. You want to know what else I noticed about St. Pete? Everyone is sooo fat.
The beach was a bit of a disappointment because there was so much wind and the waves were so strong I simply couldn’t go swimming. My nephew would race out past the breakers and find that it was calm out in the deeper waters. I’m sure we could make a lesson out of that if we tried. Something about getting past the worldly turmoil. I sat on a towel playing with shells while they sat on chairs. They marvelled at my ability to sit cross legged until I tried to explain about the usual daily four or five hours sitting, waiting for the Lord every day. The shells were almost all broken but some of their colours hadn’t faded. My white old knees collected a lot of vitamin D and now I hope they will work better. When I got home my sister splashed vinegar all over my back just like the old days. Now it is the next day and it’s no longer painful.
And today I called the Department of Children and Family Welfare and got the nicest lady after waiting for nearly an hour on the phone. In response to my letter they had written to me asking for various proofs of eligibility. But I found out one good thing. Your passport is just as good as a birth certificate. That might be good for you to know also. The $500 a month pension I get from Los Angeles county made me a ‘crorepati” in India but here I can apply for assistance. I wonder if at 75 years old I could get a job as a social worker again. I loved it so much.
Anyway you know I don’t have any teeth and so maybe the
Medicaid card will entitle me for new ones. I’m going to try anyway.
Oh, by the way. I am getting along very well with my sister now because I have shouldered responsibility for myself. But I think what really happened was that my Swami sent my beautiful nephew and his wife here to build me up, remind me of the ‘reality’ and just give me so much acceptance. The humiliation and despair have disappeared. Besides I’ve always worshipped my sister and for good reason. She has only been trying to help me to grow. Did I tell you what I read on Astro.com about our relationship? It said, “ Just being together broadens your material and spiritual horizons. You have a powerful awakening affect on the emotions of each other which may not be altogether comfortable or peaceful. The transformative potential of your relationship may be greater than either of you realize.”
I don’t think my sister realized that I was in a state of shock when I came home. I was fearful and really felt lost. Now with love and warth, AC and TV, a microwave and this blog, I have rejoined the world and this family.
The bad part is that I can’t meditate at all because all I can think about is food and clothes. For 30 years I wore sarees and ate in the canteen which made my thoughts very peaceful ….well most of the time anyway. Sorry, I have to go now as it is time for Oprah Winfrey
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