41 replies to this topic

[blue cowboy]

http://www.bluedove.com/bdlist.html

http://www.bluedove....ks/b-quest.html

(off-shoot link from Lily's "Nice Books" thread above. Isn't it great Nik how Master inspires us to the right story!?)

Okay Nik ol pal of lifetimes gone by, here's the story I promised.  And part of it will be old, and part of it will be new.  The person on the series of these books in Lily's thread, Swami Ramdass, is a swami who Bro. Turiyananda met in Switzerland about 1954 while the Swami was doing a tour of Europe.  This Swami had renounced the world and started walking all over India, totally dependent on Sri Rama to provide.  By this rememberance and faith, daily miracles would follow.  

Brotherji, then Marcel Calet, was a Swiss restaurant owner who rode his BMW motorcycle at break-neck speeds throughout the alps.  One day he was sitting in his restaurant reading a book when his friend Brother Santoshananda (then Roger Dumont) found him.  He sat down across from Brother who was enjoying a cigar and a libation.  Brother Santoshananda noticed that Brother was happy and reflective.  Bro. T said, "I have found my Guru."  He was reading "Autobiography of a Yogi."  After that Bro. Santoshananda read it and joined SRF also.  They both applied to become monastics.  

Later, this Swami Ramdass came on tour and both future SRF Brothers attended the satsanga.  Brother T said that the Swami had attained a high state and was a true man of realization.  He granted Brother a very beautiful blessing.  Brother was in tears and told the Swami that he wanted to follow him back to India, anywhere.  Swami Ram Dass said, "but you already have a Guru."  Bro. T replied: "My Guru is dead."  Swami Ramdass said firmly, "YOU ARE DEAD; YOUR GURU IS ALIVE!"  

One day after that high experience, which seemed to have changed Brotherji and galvanized his determination to renounce the world and become an SRF Brother, Bro. T became lost in the Swiss alps - in the wilderness.  For hours and miles Brother walked, becoming exhausted and frozen.  Just when was about to give up, he prayed to the Swami for help.  He heard a voice calling him.  In his delerium, he followed that sound and found a farm house.  

That Swami later came to the United States and was given a banquet of honor by Sri Daya Mata at Mt. Washington.  Funny how far faith can take you...  all the way I'd say.  

in divine Christ-mass fellowship,

bc

PS: Bro. T passed away in his room high in the Lake Shrine Windmill chapel on June 10, 1990.    

Edited by blue cowboy, 09 December 2005 - 12:58 PM.

[vega]

Thanks BC, for sharing this wonderful story...
Tell us more...please...
IDF
     

[blue cowboy]

Amit: If you haven't read the stories about Bro. T, you may do a search for "Turiyananda" here, and I think they were on the old Board One.  

There's a lot on him on all boards - oft quoted even after 15 years post-astral ascension.  "Banat, Banat, Banzai!!!"  

bc

I just tried it here and got:

http://www.yogananda...ite=Turiyananda

Edited by blue cowboy, 08 December 2005 - 09:47 AM.

[vega]

Yes BC, I have read them. I was/am hoping to get some more stories...  
IDF
Amit

[ॐ Chi]

Thankyou BC!!

[haribhakta]

Thank you BC,for wonderful stories.

[vpn]

Thanx BC. Great

[siddhartha]

Dear BC,

Thank you so much for this wonderful, inspring story.


IDF
S

[ॐ Chi]

BC -Why did he say he was born with a wooden spoon in his mouth? was his life that bad?

[blue cowboy]

Part of that was his humor, constant and sharp.  He'd say, "Brother Premamoy was born with a silver spoon in his mouth; well I was born with a wooden spoon in my mouth."  I'm not sure what his father did, nor his mother, but I think that they had restaurants on and off in Geneva.  For a time I know he worked as a maintenance worker at the Geneva Airport.  He said they were very poor and in World War II they were cut off from the world.  He said they planted potatoes all over and subsisted mainly on those.  

Brother Anandamoy was in the Swiss Army and they guarded the border to Germany, shadowing a German Army along there.  Bro. Anandamoy's father was an industrialist, and they were generally well off, but during the war he told me that they too lived very simply.  Bro. T and Bro. Santosh were younger and served their one year mandatory service in the army right after the war.  By 1948, Bro. Anandamoy was in the ashram.  He met Master on the hermitage lawn shortly after he entered the ashram.  In that temple of sea and sky Master asked Brother if he'd become a monk.  Then and there Master had him bow on his knees and take his monastic vows.

No matter how poor a family Brother T was born into, what you have to understand is that he was keenly intelligent, a extremely enthusiastic hard worker - the hardest, and was highly spiritual.  He started work early, and worked with full concentration and quickly.  If you worked with him, he wanted you 100% there and committed.  Working with him was constant monastic training of the ego-crushing variety.  I know even if Brother was born in the lowest, loneliest, and poorest place on earth, he'd rise to be a "star of the show" as Bro. Anandamoy called him. Next time you go to the Lake, look at those rock walls all over and then think of the will power of Bro. T.  Some people went to Sri Daya Mata to complain about Brother T, and she said to them, "you boys just don't understand him.  You don't understand Turiyananda."  She knew his spiritual side - she saw the best of him.

idf, bc

Edited by blue cowboy, 14 December 2005 - 10:35 AM.

[haribhakta]

Thank you again BC,Bro.T is sooooooooooooo inspiring.I wish if you [or anybody else]could post his photo,for I feel sad that I have not met him.

[rama]

Thanks BC for posting those stories. Very nice.

[little bird]

Thanks for the posts, BC.  It's always so nice to hear stories of our beloved monastics.

Here is an old post from another devotee from the old board I had saved and have always found especially inspiring, a little different side of dear brother T.

Mita, here is  a photo of Bro. T.  I may have been BC who first posted it a long time ago.

My first retreat in Encinitas was led by Brother Turiyananda. He told so many cosmic experiences he'd had I was on fire with energy, like the burners on the stove were turned up to high! That was the first week of June 1987.
1) He spoke of chanting OM Christ at the Christ Center and how..."Eventually you'll go into space there at that point."
2) He spoke about going through his chakras in cosmic inner space, and as he went through each one, he saw films of his past lives.
3) He spoke of going breathless in meditation, while meditating with Ma. And when he "came to" he was screaming, as the sound was so incredibly loud on his ears!
4) He spoke of how at one Christmas meditation at Mt. Washington, he and a couple other monks confirmed with each other...the three of them had seen St. Therese of Lisieux present there, in vision. Brother said he saw her "out the back of his head" in a spherical perception!!
I was privileged to "bump" into him just shortly before he left his body. I was hosting a friend to the Lake, a devout Cahtholic lady. Bro. T came down the walk and literally poured out his heart with divine stories of "catholic" experiences...In Assisi, he was present as priests said a mass; but for the first time, they were actually feeling the esoteric experience of the currents in the spine, etc. as they performed their ritual.
He also found chairs used by the monks of old, which he said were used for practice of the OM technique. The chairs had funny wooden arms that came up in such a way, you could rest your own arms and block your ears. He said they had that Aum meditation technique in some form.
He related how his ashram room was covered with images of Divine Mother. His altar was divided in two, with Indian depictions of the Goddess and the Blessed Mother Mary. With such devotion, he showed us his Miraculous Medal around his neck! And he affirmed to us that when St. Bernadette had her experience in Lourdes, France, and the voice said "I am the Immaculate Conception", he told us That was God Himself manifesting. THEN!!(My friend did not catch this!! but I took note because it was so unchacteristic of our Br. Turiyananda's adamant nature of divine conviction. I also shared this with Brother Santoshananda after Brother's passing.)
BROTHER T said: "As I was once meditating, CHRIST began to come to me. And I don't know why but I had to get up and go out the door." He said this with such a wistful, melancholic expression, his eyes gazing into the distance, withdrawn, as if looking to the horizon of the ocean. He continued: "But someday, ah...maybe someday..." And inwardly, I was FLIPPING out! I was thinking "NO!! BROTHER!! NO!! Not SOMEDAY...NOW!!" I couldn't understand my inner reaction at the time, except that I was so resisting...his incredibly uncharacteristic expression? He obviously knew his time to depart this earth was near! He was not his usual Enthusiastic Self at that moment. And the violent yearning produced within me, I did not express but found it extremely curious. Then, within a week or so, our dear Brother Turiyanada left his body...for the Infinite. The exact year escapes me for the moment. Perhaps someone has more to add...The memorial service was a blessed occassion at Forest Lawn, attended by throngs of devotees and many, many monks and nuns.

IDL  

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[blue cowboy]

Thank you LB, yes that's my picture the original of which I'm looking at right now.  The button reads: "This is no ordinary person you're dealing with."  Great story LB, and yes that's T all the way.

Another one below.  Bro. T with some Lake Shriners:

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[vega]

WOW!!! Thank you BC & LB.
    
IDF

[little bird]

I just found this saved on my computer. I dont' think it has been posted on this board?  I don't even remember ever having read most of this!  But it is good stuff.  It looks like it came form the SRF devotee mailing list:  

.  We were married at SRF at Lake Shrine.  That day we were scheduled to be married by Brother Bimalanda and Brother Turiananda walked by.  He said, "I am not supposed to marry you!"  I assured him that he wasn't and that we were just waiting for our best man to arrive.  He was relieved.  He had to perform many marriages and he always wondered why because he'd chosen to be a monk.

Later, we heard that at one point Brother said that in his next life that he would like to be in a good, loving marriage and be able to meditate with his wife.

We all loved him so much because he was so friendly, genuine and simple.  He openly shared how at times he would become depressed.  So, I have attached some of his thoughts on depression, below, from a satsanga that he gave us once in 1983.

My own personal story of Turiananda is that once as a single person, I picked him up from the airport. I didn't realize that there is a rule to protect the monks by never being  alone with a female. (I should have been with someone else.)  However, he never mentioned that rule and happily got in the back seat of my car and with the other monk.  He answered many questions of mine as I drove him to his hotel and again later to the Los Gatos chapel in the hills.  He still didn't tell me the rule, even the second ride I gave him.  I appreciated that discretion!

I remember him for his compassion and empathy for all of us devotees, especially those with mental illness and I remember his very great love for Daya Mataji.


Self-Realization Fellowship Convocation, Summer 1983
From Brother Turiananda's Satsanga

Question:  Why do we keep bad habits?

Answer:    We try to avoid pain.

Question:  Please explain depression and some effective ways to deal with it.

Answer:  

You must go to see a doctor because depression is bio-chemical in the brain.

Keep your meditations short and intense and have more deep prayer.

Listen to L.V. Beethoven's 1st and 9th symphonies one and a half to two hours per day.
Read his life.

Look at Christ's or Guru's picture.  Cry and talk to him.  In the midst of my depression, I had to put his picture six inches in front of my face and I cried and talked to him.

Debussy's work is also very good.

Handel's trumpet work is good for waking up in the morning.

Listen to harp and violin music.

You must fight like a lion. Stand up. ”I am God's truant child, Turiananda."  God has wanted posters out on all of us and wants us dead or alive!  

Don't ever doubt that you're being helped.  Bernadette of Soubarou saw Divine Mother talking to the soul of each peasant.  I think that Daya Mata does the same!

Wounds are opened by loneliness.  All loneliness stems from the desire for God.  20 million Americans are all living in different universes.  The soul can never be satisfied with anything but love and love alone.  It is He who is the source of life and love within.

Question: How can I not see and hear evil?

Answer:  Evil is what stands between you and God.  Swearing is immature.  Good vibrations open a beautiful inner garden.  The more spiritual you are, the less karma you will have to deal with.  In meditation, your karma will begin to be changed.

In meditation, Turiananda saw a flash of a car accident.  That brief vision helped him avoid it when later he recognized the same scene.  God is quicker to get you out of trouble than a mother is to get her baby out of the fire.  To the degree that you obey and abide in spiritual law, God can help you.

[eternal bliss]

   Thank you BC and LB for these wonderful stories!

IDF Birgit

[paulo]

growing up in the final hey-day of the old Catholic Church when there was still an abundance of priests, I was fortunate to know many who had great, generous, expansive personalities--real people persons.  Brother T. seems to have combined the best of those personal traits with advanced spiritual realization as well.  Wow, what a package!  It must have really been an awesome experience to know him.

[little bird]

paulo, on Dec 14 2005, 02:12 PM, said:

growing up in the final hey-day of the old Catholic Church when there was still an abundance of priests, I was fortunate to know many who had great, generous, expansive personalities--real people persons.  Brother T. seems to have combined the best of those personal traits with advanced spiritual realization as well.  Wow, what a package!  It must have really been an awesome experience to know him.

I too love this 'Catholic' side of Bro. T., Paul.  BC's descriptions, come to think of it after reading your post, remind me of a kind of Padre Pio side to Bro. T.  Are you familiar with him?  What a great, self-realized priest and saint.  I know that Bro. Anandamoy visited him and some others.  I would bet that so did Bro. T. if he was around before 1968, I think it was, before PP died.  Padre Pio could be VERY forceful and direct--and very effective  

[paulo]

little bird, on Dec 14 2005, 12:25 PM, said:

paulo, on Dec 14 2005, 02:12 PM, said:

growing up in the final hey-day of the old Catholic Church when there was still an abundance of priests, I was fortunate to know many who had great, generous, expansive personalities--real people persons.  Brother T. seems to have combined the best of those personal traits with advanced spiritual realization as well.  Wow, what a package!  It must have really been an awesome experience to know him.

I too love this 'Catholic' side of Bro. T., Paul.  BC's descriptions, come to think of it after reading your post, remind me of a kind of Padre Pio side to Bro. T.  Are you familiar with him?  What a great, self-realized priest and saint.  I know that Bro. Anandamoy visited him and some others.  I would bet that so did Bro. T. if he was around before 1968, I think it was, before PP died.  Padre Pio could be VERY forceful and direct--and very effective  

It sounds like you have more all-around info. about PP than I do, LB; I know him mostly as a stigmatist, but if he also had the forceful personality you describe, that would make him a "complete player" too.  

[haribhakta]

Thank you LB and BC, for great stories and photos.I love all these stories.Thank you again.

[little bird]

Quote

I know him mostly as a stigmatist, but if he also had the forceful personality you describe, that would make him a "complete player" too.  

"To someone in a position of responsibility towards souls, and who asked what to do in the case of a person who would not listen to truth and goodness...the Father replied: 'Try with love, lots of love, spending all you have, and if that is useless...rebuke him.'" PP often took his own advice  

Padre Pio was persecuted by some in the church for many years because of his stigmata.  When asked about injustice he said, "Injustice! Put up with it.  It will become light!"

"Pray, hope, and don't worry!"

Padre Pio quotes

[lucknow]

"God has wanted posters out on all of us and wants us dead or alive!"

I love it!

[blue cowboy]

"When you find your Guru it means that in the main headquarters of God there is a poster on the wall with your picture on it.  Below it reads: WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE."

[haribhakta]

That is such a sweetest thing to say Lucknow and Blue cowboy.I am already imagining that my photo is there "wanted dead or alive".Ohhhhhh I am soooooo thrilled.
Both of you have made my evening.Thank you.Tonight I am happiest.May God bless you, both.

[miriam]

TO ALL WHO SHARE SUCH LOVING STORIES. THANK YOU AND MAY GOD AND MASTER BLESS YOU ALL. MIRIAM

[___]

little bird, on Dec 14 2005, 03:25 PM, said:

I too love this 'Catholic' side of Bro. T., Paul.  BC's descriptions, come to think of it after reading your post, remind me of a kind of Padre Pio side to Bro. T.  Are you familiar with him?  What a great, self-realized priest and saint.  I.   [/color]

Hi LB,

Did Padre Pio believe in reincarnation and the utility of Yoga to secure release from transmigration and finding one's way back into G-D? What were his thoughts on Hinduism and Buddhism?  Did he admit them to be valid pathways to G-D? Did he believe that the "christ-experience" be found outside the Catholic Church, by followers of non-Christian traditions?

I have heard about Padre Pio from another SRFer from Catholic background. I know next to nothing about Padre Pio. He must have been a great soul.

IDF

SoA

[blue cowboy]

Amit and Lucknow: Maybe you understand the joke, maybe not, but anyway in the old wild west lawmen would put up "wanted" posters for outlaws, and usually they mentioned a reward.  Example:

$1000
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
Jesse James
Murder and Bankrobbery

And it would have a photo or drawing of the varmint.  Bro. T loved the wild west - he studied all the great wars and historys.  He loved both cowboys and Indians.  This was his joking way to say that God had sent the Guru (as the Sheriff) to get us - that God wanted us back.  

May your Elf-Realization bring forth a bounty of love and bliss!

Edited by blue cowboy, 15 December 2005 - 05:17 PM.

[haribhakta]

Yes I understood the joke,BC. I have seen in old western movies,what you mentioned,"wanted dead or alive"etc.
But still I find the thought very beautiful about God having our photo. That is HE is aware of a negligible person like me, that thrilled me most. Thank you again.

[vega]

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