The Miracle of Anna

by John Nelson

  The first stop on the book tour was at the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, one of Maggie’s all-time favorites from her college years at Berkeley. She didn’t realize that they even had a young adult and children’s section, because it was perceived by most as a hip bookstore for poetry and avant-garde literature. The turnout was quite good, bolstered by Ma hi’ Ma’s devotees in the area and from the ashram, which was only sixty miles northeast of the city. Santa Rosa, the nearest “big” city, had a Barnes and Noble, but the population base was still considered too small by the publisher to book it for the tour.

  Maggie sat at a table autographing books, with Megan in a chair next to her holding Anna. The devotees did create somewhat of a stir when, after receiving their signed books, they would next step over in front of Anna and bow their heads in homage. It was too late for Maggie to dissuade this public demonstration, and at one point a housewife dragging along her six-year-old daughter asked, “What’s with the baby-Buddha thing.”

  Maggie looked her straight in the eye. “Beats me.”

  As the line thinned out and the book signing was coming to an end, there was one more customer. Ma hi’ Ma stepped up to the table and set her book down. Maggie glanced up to ask the next person their name and was taken aback to discover her guru standing there.

  “Does the cat got your tongue, Maggie,” she said with a sly smile.

  “Ma. How nice of you to come.”

  “Well, I heard that Anna might be in attendance as well, and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to say hello to both of you.”

  “Of course.” Maggie signed Ma hi’ Ma’s book, and then stood up and took Anna from Megan and handed her to Ma. Megan vacated her chair and let Guru sit down and hold the baby. Some of the devotees still in the store gathered around, and Maggie gave them a stern look to behave themselves, but the energy created by the two spiritual luminaries was almost palpable.

  Ma turned to Maggie. “Dear, she is so precious. Megan tells me she goes into ecstatic trances already?”

  As the bookstore manager came over to close down the signing, Maggie turned to Ma. “Maybe we should move this get-together to a restaurant.”

  Ma stood up holding Anna and seemed unwilling to let her go. “Yes. Excellent idea.”

  Megan suggested that they head over to the nearby vegan restaurant, Millennium. Prema pulled the car around and drove them over to the restaurant while Ma continued to hold Anna, with Maggie sitting next to them in the back seat.

  Ma turned to Maggie. She nodded her head. “Yes, to answer your question. At first I thought she might have cerebral palsy until I read a book on the life on Sri Anandamayi Ma.”

  “Yes, but even she didn’t fall into trance states until she was a little older.”

  “Well, it’s already created a rift with my parents who were going to keep Anna while I was on tour.”

  Ma smiled. “My husband, before we broke up, thought they were hysterical fits and wanted to hospitalize me.”

  Maggie glanced over at Ma hi’ Ma and realized somewhat reluctantly that Guru might not only offer solace but worthwhile advice on raising her spiritually advanced child. They arrived at the restaurant where another devotee had gone ahead of them and secured a large banquet table and private room. They waited in the car until they were ready to receive them.

  Ma turned to Maggie, who was getting antsy waiting to go inside. “Get used to it, dear. Like it or not, Anna is special and will require special considerations.”

  Maggie was not yet ready to accept that decree, but she trusted that the way would be made clear for Anna and her needs and that she merely needed to look for and follow the signs. At the restaurant Maggie breastfed Anna, and when finished she ate a large tossed salad. They sat next to Ma at the head of the table, and she listened to the conversation about the ashram and its events and news. It was a pleasant gathering and a much more suitable entertainment venue than a backyard barbecue with academics, and it made Maggie reconsider her estrangement from Ma and the ashram. She would wait until after the tour to make any firm decisions in that regard. What was encouraging was that Ma did not press her on that point, and they parted after dinner with a big hug and mutual bows.

  After several more signings in the Bay Area, they flew to Seattle and one of the last buyers in the signing line was Thomas. Anna practically jumped off Megan’s lap when her father knelt down in front of her clutching his book.

  He turned to Maggie. “Can I hold her?” She nodded her head. Thomas set his book down on the table and picked Anna up and held her in his arms. He looked at her with absolute delight. “You can see her glow. So, what the ashram groupies are telling me is true?” he asked.

  “Yeah, well last Christmas I had to cut short my visit because of their projections,” she replied. Thomas continued to gaze at Anna, and didn’t reply to Maggie’s unkind slight.

  “Yes, Ma hi’ Ma’s early claim of her preternatural state seems true, but I’m not making it public.”

  Thomas nodded his head. “That wouldn’t be wise. Look what happened to Krishnamurti.” He kissed Anna on her forehead and handed her back to Megan. “Maggie, while I’m obviously the father, I’ll make no claims. When the two of you are interested in more contact, and if I’m ready, we’ll see what happens.”

  “My feelings exactly,” Maggie replied, yet expecting a bit more in the way of support.

  “Right now, I’m off to India again for an advanced course in the Subagh Kriya, or yoga for prosperity and good fortune.”

  Maggie smiled, but didn’t say what she was thinking: It’s a good start toward becoming more responsible.

  Thomas left without a dinner invitation, or any attempt to connect further with them while they were in town, and Maggie felt that was best for now, but she couldn’t help but watch Anna’s eyes follow her father out of the store. If just for Anna’s sake, she would need to reach out to him, but time would tell.

  Chapter 7

  On their Chicago tour stop, the book signing at Barnes and Noble on State Street coincided with the only opportunity Megan would have to visit with her family, and so Maggie took charge of Anna and sat her in a borrowed car seat next to her as she signed books. There were fewer of Ma hi’ Ma’s devotees in line, all of whom made their customary fuss over Anna; this was much more of a big-city crowd. However, as the signing went on, Maggie noticed a tall gentleman with a blue turban and a brown beard standing off to the side watching them. He appeared to be a Sikh, and his wife and their two children with their white turbans stood in line and Maggie signed their book. Afterward while the store manager was breaking down the signing table and packing up the extra unsold books, the man stepped over while his wife and children stayed back. He was dark-skinned and introduced himself as Ashar Singh.

  “Miss Langford, I had a chance to look over your book, and I found it most interesting.”

  “I hope your children enjoy it.”

  “I’m sure they will. I’ve also noticed a lot of Hindus in your line.”

  “Yes, they are devotees of my guru Ma hi’ Ma.”

  “So you are a practicing Hindu?” Maggie wasn’t sure about this man’s line of questioning. He detected her discomfort. “I ask, because in India Sikhs have traditionally had a good relationship with Hindus.”

  “Yes, especially after Guru Bahadur was killed by the Mughals for protecting Hindus who refused to convert to Islam.”

  “Ah, so you’ve studied Indian history?”

  “I’ve studied the history of religion and have always been impressed by the Sikh doctrine of equality for women.”

  “Yes, a source of conflict with our Islamic brothers,” he said rather wearily. “I see that you are unaccompanied, and my wife and I would like to take you to dinner. There is an Indian restaurant, Gaylord, just a few blocks away.”

  Maggie paused to feel out this invitation. Ashar waved his wife and children over. She looked down at Anna who was intently watching the man. She took this as a sign of interes
t.

  “That would be most gracious of you. But, we have to make it an early night. We leave for New York in the morning.”

  “Yes, of course. We will drop you at your hotel afterward.” He paused for a moment. “Oh, this is my wife Nipa…”

  “Kaur,” Maggie added, familiar with the Sikh custom of women having the same surname of Kaur, which means princess.

  Ashar smiled. “And my two boys, Badi and Fahmi, who unlike their names are very American.” The boys stuck out their hands and Maggie shook them. She placed Anna in her stroller, and they walked out of the store and headed for Gaylord.

  As they stepped into the restaurant, Maggie was taken aback by its classy décor and its white tablecloths, and realized that this was one of the finer ethnic restaurants in Chicago. As they were being led to their table, Maggie asked if they could be seated along the wall.

  “I breastfeed my baby, and it’s less… disruptive if I’m off to the side.”

  The hostess smiled. “Yes, of course,” she said, and took them to one of the tables against the wall, seating Maggie with her back to the open room.

  As they were seated, she asked Nipa, “I hope you don’t find that inappropriate.”

  “No, not at all. And if my boys stare, they can wait in the bathroom.”

  Ashar gave his boys a stern look; they seemed to get the message. “We are lacto vegetarians, but they serve a wide variety of meat and fish dishes. Whatever you like.”

  “I’m a vegetarian, and I just love Indian food.”

  They ordered, and the waitress brought out some naan, and they all helped themselves, the boys buttering their bread.

  Maggie breastfed Anna with the flap of the baby’s blanket covering her breast. While they waited for their dinner, Ashar took this opportunity to ask about her background and interest in Hinduism and how that evolved. She told how the early practice of yoga and meditation naturally drew her to Buddhism and Hinduism, and while she could have studied either, she had met Ma hi’ Ma while attending college—her ashram was only sixty miles north of the city—and weekend retreats there led to her becoming a devotee. She ended her story as she finished feeding Anna. Maggie situated her daughter on her lap, and looked around ready to answer any other questions.

  “So, you are familiar with energy cords and auras and the like,” Ashar asked her tentatively.

  “Yes, and you wondered if rainbow lines in my story had a deeper meaning?”

  Ashar and Nipa smiled. But, before he could continue, dinner was served. He asked Maggie if they could place all the dishes in the center of the table buffet style and let everybody just help themselves? Maggie agreed, and they passed around the basmati rice bowl and picked from one vegetable dish after another.

  It was a delightful dinner, and while they ate Ashar and Nipa told her their backgrounds: Ashar’s family had emigrated here from Amritsar, Punjab, India when he was a teenager—his father was a furniture importer. He later took over his business and expanded it and now takes frequent trips to India and Southeast Asia. Nipa was born and raised here in America by Sikh parents and studied sociology in college.

  “Yes, I’ve always wanted to go to India, and when Anna’s older, I will take her with me.”

  “Well, you should stay in touch with Nipa. I have many contacts there, families that would be glad to host you.”

  “That’s particularly kind of you,” Maggie said, a bit taken aback. She couldn’t help but notice the “coincidence” of Thomas returning to India and them meeting up with this Indian family with contacts in the country. This had her again thinking about India as a possible future home for them, or at least for an earlier visit than she had planned.

  Ashar smiled. “I spoke with one of the Hindu women in the book line, and she told me a little about your Anna and the prophecies about her. And I would be doing my friends a favor. While we believe in equality of all under god, we do believe in great souls, and just looking at Anna I can see what the woman speaks of.”

  Maggie set down her fork, paused to control her reaction, and then stared the man in the eyes. “Ashar, I appreciate your kindness, but I try to keep a… lid on that kind of speculation, for Anna’s sake.”

  Nipa leaned over and touched her arm. “Yes, I understand. And my husband only seeks to be of service to the greater unfolding of all.”

  Maggie looked in the woman’s eyes and felt bad that she had questioned her husband’s… enthusiasm. “Sorry, but it’s important for me that Anna not be… specialized, I think the word is.”

  Ashar bowed his head. “Of course. So, no more talk of that. Maybe you can share with my boys your understanding of Hinduism, since like with all religions we Sikhs can be overly focused on our own precepts.” As the dinner plates were taken up and Ashar ordered coconut ice cream for the boys and rice pudding for them. Instead of giving them a survey course on Hinduism, Maggie talked about what appealed to her, like reincarnation and the concept of karma that it shared with Sikhism, and avoided aspects of the religion like fasting, rituals, and a tendency toward idol worship that the Sikhs denounce. Their parents appreciated her sensitivity to these differences. Afterward as they waited at the front for Ashar to retrieve their car, Nipa asked if she could hold the baby. Maggie handed her over, and the woman closed her eyes and seemed to absorb Anna’s energy.

  On handing Anna back to her mother, Nipa, said. “While holding her, I kept seeing images of Anandamayi Ma, the Hindu saint.”

  “You know of her?” Maggie asked, a little overwhelmed by the continued references to this saint that kept popping up.

  “Yes, I’ve always admired her simplicity and saintliness and have read books about her.”

  “I have the Lipski pictorial biography,” Maggie added, and left it at that without any reference to Anna’s trance states.

  After Ashar and Nipa dropped her off at the Sheraton and exchanged contact information, Maggie took Anna back to their room. Megan was still out with her parents, and Maggie lay down on the bed with the baby lying on her chest as she allowed the energy of the evening and her contact with this Sikh family to wash over her. As much as she sought to isolate Anna from this kind of goodwill attention, it seemed to seek her out. Maybe living in an ashram where she could contain it might be best for her daughter, but then she immediately dismissed this prospect. She sensed that Anna wanted to live in and be part of the greater world, which would allow for her own natural development and bring these kinds of rich encounters into her life. For all she knew Ashar might put her in contact with somebody who could be very important to Anna’s development at some point. While she believed in synchronicity, or the seemingly chance encounters that connected people and events at a deeper or a higher level, Anna’s energies seemed to precipitate them as an almost daily event. Maggie could only shake her head; their journey together was going to be “some ride.”

  Chapter 8

  Anna’s first birthday was a quiet affair. Megan and a few of the local Ma devotees stopped over and brought gifts, and then Gary Pritchard surprised everybody by coming by and offering to take the group to dinner. Maggie noticed how Anna’s eyes lit up at the sight of the older man, and she accepted the invitation on everyone’s behalf. They drove to the Shalimar Indian Restaurant on Broad Street. Anna was now eating solid food more often, and Maggie smashed some of her eggplant and green peas for her daughter’s meal. Gary did mention that he was driving up to the ashram for their Christmas celebration, and wondered if Maggie and Anna would accompany him. Maggie didn’t make a snap decision, but told him that she would consider it. She asked about Ma and the ashram, and was told that as far as he could tell everything was as it had been for years, but that Ma was attracting more influential devotees including a film star or two.

  Maggie smiled. She hoped this wasn’t intended as an inducement. The last thing she wanted was to expose Anna to the celebrity circuit, not that any of them were less devout or sincere in their religious aspirations. But, they did create a certain “spe
cialized” aura that she was trying to avoid in regards to her spiritually precocious child. Afterward Gary dropped everybody back at her house, and the others departed leaving Maggie to put Anna down for the night and consider this opening that was being presented to them. Maggie knew that Ma hi’ Ma wanted to be part of Anna’s life, and that having prophesized her arrival, she could stake a claim to her connection with the child. Maggie was now prepared to honor that, but did not want to expose Anna to the heightened atmosphere of another Christmas celebration there. A few days later, she called Gary and declined his kind invitation, but said after the first of the year she would drive up and spend some time at the ashram with Ma.

  But the holiday season’s big news was the success of Maggie’s book Lisa’s Lifelines, which made the New York Times Children’s Picture Books bestseller’s list, appearing at number eight. Jean Millburn called the Monday after its notation, and Maggie immediately went out and bought a copy of the Sunday edition. Jean also asked if she had thought of a follow-up book. Maggie said she was calling it Heart Lines which her publisher loved. She also phoned her mother and father, both of whom were delighted. But, of course, this brought up a renewed invitation to spend Christmas with them. After her last visit in August, Maggie had begged off on a book signing at Chaucer’s Bookstore saying that she was too exhausted from the cross-country book tour. Her mother added, as an inducement of sorts, that Jill and her family weren’t coming this year. This only made Maggie feel guilty about her estranged relationship with her sister, a fence she planned to mend. She accepted their invitation, much to her parents’ delight, and said she’d drive down with Anna on Christmas Eve.