by John Nelson
Maybe it was the elevated energy of this dimension, but Amir and the other children seemed to understand Joseph’s rather philosophical point more readily.
Amir slowly nodded his head.
“I see great things in your future, Amir, but like all of us, you must first win the battle within yourself.”
Joseph twirled his hand, and the children were back in the sitting room of Maggie’s home. They were all rather stunned. She immediately brought everybody to their feet and had them go out to the backyard to run off the energy with Bodhi chasing after them.
Maggie would have to talk with Anna about this spontaneous intervention. What if the children told their parents about it and it led to further inquiries from them, especially Amir’s father? This exact situation had always frightened her—a premature demonstration of Anna’s formidable powers. When the children returned from their afternoon break, Maggie gathered them in the living room. They all sat cross-legged on the floor in their meditative pose.
“I know our little visit to see Joseph in… his realm, may have been shocking, but this is what we would call a conscious dream.”
The children nodded their heads. Debby spoke up, “You mean like when I dream of talking with my dead grandpa?”
“Yes, something like that. What you have to understand is that there is more to us and to our reality than most people realize, but I must apologize for this rather abrupt introduction to Anna’s… bigger world, which won’t happen again.” Maggie looked sternly at her daughter.
“Can Joseph throw lightning bolts like Thor?” Amir asked.
“I know there are movies out about super beings from other realms, but the reality of it is far less… extravagant.”
“Can he show us how to disappear or walk through walls?” Amir asked, further trying Maggie’s patience.
“He would do no such thing, even if he could.” She paused for a moment. “In India, the land of your forefathers, there are tales of yogis who have special powers, but they were earned by lifetimes of spiritual dedication and would never be used for selfish purposes or to harm people for any reason.”
Amir didn’t like this prohibition. “What if aliens came and wanted to kill us all? Wouldn’t they fight them?”
“There was a great Indian named Gandhi who choose not to use violence to fight the British who had invaded and taken over his country long ago. He chose instead not to cooperate with their rule, like Martin Luther King did during the civil rights movement here years later, and they both finally won out.”
Debby added, “But weren’t they killed?”
Maggie nodded her head. “Sometimes that is the karmic debt they take on like Jesus did to elevate all humanity.”
“Well, nobody is going to kill me, and if Joseph won’t give me powers, I’m going to tell my father and he’ll make him.”
Maggie looked sternly at him. “Go ahead, and you won’t be welcomed back to this school.”
Amir smirked. “We’ll see.”
After they were all picked up by their parents, Maggie and Anna took Bodhi for his afternoon walk. At the park Maggie sat on the bench and watched her daughter play with her dog, while she thought about the repercussions of Amir’s threat. She had no doubt that this angry little boy would tell his father about Joseph and their trip to see him. The man had been taken aback at his son being taught to meditate. She couldn’t imagine his reaction to him being whisked away to a spiritual dimension.
Finally, sensing her mother’s despondence, Anna stepped over and sat next to her on the bench.
“I sorry, Mama. But Amir can be so… hard in the head.”
Maggie smiled. “It’s called hardheaded, my dear.”
“Maybe he’s not right for our school. Gish and Devi are of higher vibration.”
“We’ll see.”
Amir did not come to school for the last week of the spring semester. A few days later Maggie received a letter from his father telling her that they would be taking Amir to another school for the second grade, but would appreciate a letter from Maggie stating that he had finished the first grade in good standing. She immediately wrote the letter and sent it off, but doubted that this would be the end of it.
Chapter 24
Two weeks later, Maggie and Anna were shopping at the Whole Foods Market on Valley Road south of Laguna Lake when they ran into Amir’s mother, Parmita. She immediately stepped over to them in the produce department.
“Maggie, I’m so sorry about Hari pulling our son out of your school.”
“I can understand his reaction, if he was at first annoyed at Amir learning to meditate.”
Parmita smiled. “Yes, it was a rather shocking story for my husband, if not for me. I would’ve loved to be transported to this… park in the sky, as Amir called it.”
“Parmita, my utmost apologies. Anna went ahead and did it without asking me first, but we’ve talked and it won’t happen again.”
The woman squinched her mouth. “Afraid it’s too late for Amir. Hari is insistent that we place him in the Montessori Children’s School for the remainder of his primary education.”
Maggie reached over and took the woman’s hand. “It’s a good school. I spent a couple days there to learn about their kindergarten approach before I started homeschooling Anna last year.”
With the mention of her, they both looked at the unusually quiet Anna standing back and listening to their conversation. This appeared to be her cue. “Amir, very angry boy.”
Parmita nodded her head and turned back to Maggie. “He gets it from his father.” She lowered her head. “And I don’t know what he might do, Maggie. At first he threatened to go to the school authorities, but he seems to have calmed down in the last week.” She looked up. “But you should prepare yourself just in case.”
“Thanks for the heads-up, Parmita.” The woman bowed and left them to their shopping.
On the drive home, Anna spoke from her car seat. “Maybe time we move to India.”
Maggie looked at her daughter in the rearview mirror. “Well, maybe a visit this summer, but I can’t promise anything.”
Anna closed her eyes, and a moment later she said, “Swami says we welcomed to come.”
Maggie smirked. “Oh, did he?” She shook her head. “I’ll confirmed that with your father first, but it’s a long flight.”
Anna shook her head. “My way faster. Could just… move our spirits there.”
“But our physical bodies may get hungry after a while.”
Anna thought about this prospect for a moment. “Good one, Mom.”
That weekend Maggie contacted Thomas’s sister Miranda in Washington State and obtained his up-to-date contact information. He was still teaching at Yogi Vinanda’s ashram in Chennai, India, on the southeastern coast of the country. The location surprised her; it wasn’t a real yoga hotspot, but it was the home of Sri Aurobindo and Sri Ramana’s ashrams, two of her favorite Indian yogis. She decided to express-mail him a letter instead of just calling him out of the blue. A week later she received a call from Thomas. He was thrilled that they were thinking of coming to visit him, as was his guru. They decided on a date in early July where it would be less busy at the ashram due to the monsoon season. He also emailed her medical information about updating vaccination shots, which didn’t thrill either of them, and the visa requirements. Luckily they had almost a month to prepare.
Fortunately, since Thomas could not help with travel expenses, Maggie had saved the advance from her next children’s book for a rainy day or, as it turned out, for a rainy-day visit to India. Apparently some higher part of herself had foreseen that this trip would happen sooner than later. And in her talks with Thomas, Maggie had made it clear that, while Anna was bound to draw some attention, she didn’t want Swami or anybody else to specialize her, and she didn’t want any publicity about her child, even in ashram newsletters. Thomas promised to follow her wishes as far as he could, but also said that he wasn’t in a position to demand anything of h
is guru. However, Swami understood the problem, given that he himself had been called a child Buddha, despite being Hindu, that had drawn unwarranted attention, which both he and his parents later regretted.
Days before their flight, Maggie drove to Santa Barbara to leave Bodhi with her parents while they were away. Maggie had booked a round-trip flight, but one where she could change the return date if needed. Grace was pleased that they were going to see Anna’s father, but didn’t understand why he couldn’t come here instead of them making the long trek to India.
“Mom, he’s a yoga bum, teaching classes to pay his way at the ashram, making traveling back and forth a real hardship.” Her mother didn’t state the obvious. Maggie hurriedly added, “And besides I wanted to bring Anna to India, the home of our Hindu faith.”
“Where she supposedly has had many past lives, I assume,” Grace said rather skeptically.
“Yes, we believe so.”
Grace just shook her head. “Well, don’t let them deify her quite yet.” Maggie gave her mother a questioning look. “As I’ve said, I can see how everybody in your… community treats her.”
Anna came in from the backyard where she had been playing with Bodhi. Grace knelt down. “I’m going to miss you, my dear.”
Anna patted her on the arm. “I’ll visit you in your dreams, Grandmom.”
Grace stood up quickly. “You can just call,” she said, recalling her last dream with Anna at their house.
Maggie almost laughed at her mother’s adverse reaction to any dreamtime contact.
The next morning Mark drove the three women to the airport in Los Angeles. Grace had decided to drive along with them to forestall her husband pressing Maggie on the support issue he had brought up earlier. When he first heard of her visit, Mark had urged Maggie to have a lawyer draw up papers for Thomas to sign establishing him as Anna’s father, which would allow her to use the court system here and in India to petition for support. Maggie unequivocally refused to go along with this plan, and they had not spoken until she drove down to drop off Bodhi. At that point, he suggested she leave her car at the house and he would ferry them back and forth to the airport. Their Cathay Pacific flight was twenty-four hours long including a two-hour layover in Hong Kong, so Maggie wanted to drive to LAX instead of taking a commuter flight there.
The flight to Hong Kong was rather uneventful. Anna had insisted on a window seat so she could see the Arctic ice cap, but the effects of the high altitude had her meditating only hours into the flight. This drew some attention, but the plane was packed with businessmen and tourists who paid little heed to Anna’s cross-legged lotus pose, especially when the cabin lights were turned down for sleep time. However, the flight from Hong Kong to Chennai, India, was filled with mostly yoga types on retreat, and by the time they landed the child Buddha already had a following. Some had even called ahead to book any vacancies at the Vinanda Ashram while cancelling their other plans.
Maggie did her best to deflect any inquiries, and after a while even engaged Anna to keep her present. But after clearing customs, a white-clad Indian yogi holding their name sign gathered the two of them and their luggage and whisked them away to an American SUV for the two-hour drive to the ashram. The others took the beat-up ashram van. This was exactly what Maggie had feared—them receiving special treatment—but it would’ve been worse to protest at this point. She would have another talk with Thomas, and if need be, with Swami about Anna being treated in this way.
Sensing her mother’s distress on the drive to the ashram, Anna put a hand on her mother’s arm and quoted Meher Baba’s famous dictum, “Don’t worry, be happy.”
Maggie had a good laugh and gathered up her child and sat Anna on her lap, soaking up her soothing energy. With such a child in hand, how could anything go wrong?
Chapter 25
Their driver, Mesh, called ahead and Thomas was waiting for them on the steps of the ashram’s Visitor’s Center. As the car drove up, he raced down the wet steps from the afternoon monsoon showers, opened the back door, and picked up Anna while he gave Maggie a half-hug when she stepped out.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” he said, tears rolling down his cheeks.
“Well, I can see why you don’t fly back and forth more often.”
“Yes, it is a long flight. Hope it wasn’t too tiring?”
“Anna meditated some of the way, so she’s a lot fresher than me,” Maggie added.
Mesh walked over, pulling their luggage bags. “Let’s get you settled in, and if you need some time before dinner, you can take a nap.”
“I not need sleep,” Anna insisted. Her father just smiled back.
Thomas led them along a flat-stone path around the Visitor’s Center to a two-story pink motel with long rows of rooms, some with air conditioning units.
“Motel 6?” Maggie said.
“Kind of. We have lots of yoga students staying with us at any one time. We’ve put you in a downstairs corner unit close to the main hall so you won’t have much of a trek.”
The room was more spacious than she expected, and Thomas or somebody had decorated it with vases of fresh Angel orchids. “Very nice, Thomas.”
“Daddy, where do you stay?” Anna asked.
He put her down and knelt beside his daughter. “I have a small meditation hut where the yogis stay, but it’s not far.”
“Can I see it?” Anna asked.
“Let’s wait until later, Anna.” He stood up and turned to Maggie. “So, why don’t you take a nap? We’ve just finished our afternoon meditation, and dinner will be in an hour or so.”
“I’ll take a shower, but if I lie down you’re never getting me up,” Maggie said.
“I’m fresh. Don’t need a bath. Can go with you, Daddy.”
“Anna, we’ll have plenty of time together, but first we’ll eat and then have a private… session with Swami.”
Maggie added, “Yes, dear. Let’s follow their schedule. We don’t want impose on them.” Anna nodded her head and stepped over to the window with its view of the lush garden that surrounded the living quarters. Thomas left, and Maggie immediately unpacked their clothes, put them away in the “distressed painted” but colorful chest of drawers, and stepped into the shower with its new plastic flower curtain and a recently scrubbed floor. When she came out, Anna was meditating in the sea-grass-woven chair next to the bed. She opened her eyes. “Daddy tight. Something is wrong with him.”
“Anna. He is a lowly teacher here, and he must abide by Swami’s wishes.”
“Okay. We let Swami… run the show.”
Maggie laughed. “Let’s hope it’s not too showy.”
“But I’m hungry now.”
Maggie did lay down for a moment but quickly fell asleep, only to have Thomas shake her awake an hour later. In the bathroom she splashed some water on her face, and they followed him to the banquet hall. It had a cafeteria setup with tables and plastic folding chairs and a buffet line. They stood in line and filled their plates from the wide selection of vegetarian and rice dishes. At the front of the room was a slightly elevated table where Swami sat, and they were ushered to it and directed to take their place on his right side.
Swami, who appeared to be in his mid-sixties and wearing black-framed eyeglasses, bowed to them as they set their trays down. Maggie and Anna bowed back, and he patted the seat next to him for Anna to sit down. Thomas took his place on the other side of his teacher.
“It is nice to finally meet you, Anna… and Maggie. You have such a bright aura, little one.”
Anna smiled and said, “Yours white too.” She stared at the holy man, then reached over and touched his side.
The holy man shuddered as he closed his eyes, his eyelids twitching. “Oh my,” he finally said and opened his eyes.
“I fix kidney thing,” she added.
Maggie shook her head. “Anna, what did I tell you about that?”
Swami waved his hand. “No, let Spirit move her, Ms. Maggie.” He closed his e
yes again. A moment later, he added, “I do have some kidney stones.”
“All gone now.” Anna looked down at her plate and then up at Swami. “We say grace?”
“Yes, and why don’t you say it for us.” Thomas clicked his fork against his water glass, and the room went quiet.
Anna bowed her head and repeated the grace said at Ma hi’ Ma’s Hindu ashram:
The food is One.
We who offer food are One.
The fire of hunger is One.
All action is One
We who know this are One.
Swami raised his head and the others followed. “Thank you, Anna. Your mother has taught you well.”
Anna was about to correct him but only nodded her head in agreement, and looked down at her plate and began to eat her dinner. Unlike in the West, everybody mostly ate their meal in relative silence, although Swami did say a few things to Thomas. Afterward Swami gave everybody his blessing, stood up and walked out of the hall. Thomas stepped over to Maggie and Anna. “Swami wants to meditate, and said he will call us when he’s ready to meet with you.”
“You have a pond with ducks,” Anna said.
“Why, yes we do. Would you like to see them?” her father asked.
“We bring bread to feed?” Thomas turned to Mesh who was standing a few feet back. He nodded his head and headed for the kitchen. They walked out of the hall, down another winding flat-stone path to the pond on the east side of the ashram. The sun had set and the path was lit by ankle-high electric lanterns. There were stone benches, and Maggie and Thomas sat down while Anna strolled to the water’s edge and sat on the wet grass as the ducks started to paddle over to her.
“I’m really sorry about Anna’s impromptu healing. I’ve asked her repeatedly to ask first, or ask me first.”
“I’m sure Swami appreciated it. He has had a problem passing kidney stones.” Thomas paused. “Somebody at Ma hi’ Ma’s ashram sent me the news article about the little boy’s recovery from bone cancer in San Luis Obispo. I take it that was Anna?”