Krishna Das

"A few weeks after Ram Das and I had been at Maharaj-ji's Hanuman temple, tucked in the majestic himalayan mountains, a day came when a curious and soul-searching Canadian entered the front of the temple. Now, Maharaj'ji was a busy man, always organizing the things in the village, ordering monks here and there for temple up-keep, always occupied with something and running around all over the place. The day the Canadian man entered, Maharaj-ji quickly asked, 'What are you looking for here, canadian? What do you seek to learn?' The canadian, who hadn't really thought of exact reasons for coming, suddenly became nervous and hesitant, and decided to say, 'I want to learn how to meditate.' Maharaj-ji let how a sudden, boisterous laugh. He looked at the man, and started to shoo him to the back of the temple, to the small room where Ram Das and I were sitting. Maharaj-ji said with a jovial tone, 'Go! Go back with the rest of your western friends, and meditate like Jesus.' This confused the Canadian, but he followed orders quickly because the short interaction with Maharaj-ji left him shaken and excited about actually being accepted into the temple. He came back to the room where we were all sitting on the floor. We all introduced ourselves and then we began to tell us the story of what had just happened. His account of Maharaj'ji didn't surprise us because we had already come to understand his colorful nature. But as we continued talking we were perplexed at why our Babba, as we called him, had told the canadian to pray like Jesus. We thought maybe he was trying to make him feel more comfortable in this new asian country by referring to this western God, Jesus. But we asked ourselves, 'Why did he say to meditate like Jesus? How did Jesus meditate?' We soon decided to ask Babba as soon as he came back in the room this very question. A few hours later, (he was a busy man) Babba came back into the room in his quick and lively manner to check on us. We greeted him, and then I asked him,'Babba, how did Jesus meditate?' The usually busy and lively man got very still. He slowly closed his eyes, slightly lifted his chin, and raised his arms, palms upward. He stayed like this for a couple minutes, everyone in the room was completely silent, watching him. Babba was so peaceful and calm that it seemed like he was completely removed from us, as if he were the only person in the room. Then, with his arms raised and chin tilted upward, a small, silent tear rolled down his cheek. He slowly opened his eyes and looked to us, and said 'He lost himself in Love.'"

-Krishna Das, stories about his time with Maharaj-ji, and learning what true Love is.