Dr.
A.J. Ventrov, a famous physician from France, was interested in the
spiritual life and came to India via Sri Lanka in 1950. He was
initiated by a guru at Varanasi and renouncing the world, he became
known by the name Viyajananda. In his book In the Steps of
the Yogis, he wrote about his own experiences of Maharaj ji
and narrated this lila:
"While
I was watering plants one day, I saw Baba coming into the ashram with
someone. He was telling him about me, saying that I was English. By
"English" he meant a foreigner, the word used for foreigners in common
parlance in the Hindi language. I had heard of Baba, as his name was
often mentioned in the ashram, but I had never had his darshan.
Hence, I could not recognise him."
"Baba was well received, and all the swamis in the ashram were called
to have his darshan in Annapurna's temple.
Looking at me, Baba said, "He is a saint. He feels at
home here now, but he will go to the hills." Baba
repeated, "He will go to the hills." At
that time I had no intention of going to the hills. I wanted to
complete my sadhana
in that ashram. Two years after this event, in 1959, I had a desire to
visit the hill town of Almora. After roaming about in the hills for
many months, I returned to Kashi ashram, but the unpolluted mountain
environment attracted me. In the beginning of the next year I went back
to those hills and stayed there. I was greatly impressed at the truth
of Baba's words about me at our first meeting."
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