From Marge - Written October 9, 1998

[BuddahBoy]

From Marge
Written October 9, 1998

On the  way to India on my first trip in June 1982, in the New York airport, a group of Hare Krishnaˆs approached us and asked about the malas around our necks. They asked how many beads were on the strand. We answered 108, and they went into a big speech about that it should be 101 beads because Shiva is a "demi-god," and only Krishna is the true God, and we were in big trouble. This kind of made us smile because we knew we were on our way to visit a manifestation of Shiva, and it seemed so funny to have these people telling us Shiva is a "nobody." We went on our way to India and didnˆt really have time to think about this experience.

At one point with Babaji, we were in New Delhi in the home of one of His devotees. In the living room of this home a large swing was set up next to an air-conditioner. Babaji was sitting in this swing, and he invited us into this room to sit on the couch next to the swing. We were there alone with Him. He asked someone to bring us some lemon water and let us just relax there with Him to recover from the extreme heat of driving from Haldwani with Him at mid-day.

It was very sweet to sit there with Him, and as He was sitting on the swing like a small child, swinging back and forth, we could hear Him softly singing to Himself, with a sweet smile on His face, just loud enough for us to hear: "Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, they are OK too ... Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, they are OK too."

That's when we knew that Babaji knew of our experience in the airport even though we had shared it with no one.

His acceptance of all worshipers of the Divine with no ill will toward othersˆ form of worship is very important. This all-inclusiveness of all who worship the Divine is one of the cornerstones of Babajiˆs teachings. He often said, "Follow the religion that is in your heart. You must find the religion that really resonates with you and it will take you to God. But you must FOLLOW it."

Om Namah Shivaya

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Marge