by Jaidhara “We are hallowed to have touched the earth he has walked on.” These were Anand’s words but moments after Swamiji’s passing. For a number of weeks it had seemed as if he was drawing nearer to this day. A man whose minutes were nearly always engaged in something; on many occasions I had
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In the summer, Swamiji often invited people over on Saturday afternoons to enjoy the swimming pool at Crystal Hermitage. One afternoon, the men started playing a game of “Horse and Rider.”
When Swamiji went to Los Angeles in 1973 to speak at a “New Age Fair” and give a few other lectures, about a dozen of us went with him to help. When the programs were over, we stayed an extra day to go to Disneyland. Nowadays, Disneyland includes many worldly aspects of popular culture.
In 1995, Swamiji visited Swami Chidananda in Rishikesh, India. They had met more than forty years before, when both were young monks. Chidananda is one of the best-known disciples of the great yogi, Swami Sivananda.
It was late at night, after a lecture, when Swamiji discovered someone had driven off with his car keys. He was on tour, staying an hour out of town. Rather than inconvenience someone by asking him to drive back with the keys, Swamiji accepted our invitation to sleep in the guest room at my in-laws’ house where my husband and I were also staying.
I have always appreciated the way Swamiji relates to children. He doesn’t patronize them, as some adults do. The soul is ageless, even if the body is young. But the consciousness of a child is different. Swamiji recognizes that and takes it into account.
Unlike the 1960s when many young people were drawn to Eastern teachers, few came to live in Yogananda’s monastery. And relatively few stayed. It was a life of long, daily meditation and service to others. But Walters blossomed.
When an opportunity came to go to Ananda Assisi for a few months and work in the retreat kitchen, I jumped at the chance. For twelve years, I had been a critical care nurse. Now I wanted to get into a more holistic kind of healing.
My husband was forty years old when he was diagnosed with ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was a carpenter — a big, robust man. We have four children; the youngest was three.
When I met Don [Swamiji] we were both about fifteen years old. Our fathers worked together and the families became friends. I have always been very religious. As a child I thought of myself as “Beloved by God.”