Oh Calcutta VII - Raghuviira's Guru: The Final Incarnation

Will the Real Guru Please Stand Up?

The trip home from Calcutta to Amesbury was long but uneventful. I remember an interesting conversation with my seatmate – a woman obstetrician who grew up in India but now practices in Wales, U.K. We debated the virtues of arranged marriage versus marrying for love. Her opinion was that love is blind whereas parents know their child so well they are more likely to identify a good match. Hmmmm.

I arrive home jet lagged by 10 hours and in need of a shower. The next day at breakfast (about 2 PM local time) I finally am alert enough to talk coherently.

“So how was the meeting with your Guru?” asks Rena.

“Indescribable,” I reply. “but I’ll try.”

As I go through the recital of my contact with Shri Anandamurti (a.k.a. P.R. Sarkar), I become increasingly enthusiastic. I re-experience that mixture of awe and weirdness that comes from meeting another human being who has achieved his Calcutta ‘all-in-one’ moment with the entire known universe. As I tell about the pinnacle of personal contact, my face lights up.

“. . . and then the Guru gave me a new spiritual name.”
“A new name – what is it?” asks my wife.
“Rhaguviira,” I enthuse.
“Hmm – you mean Ragu, like the spaghetti sauce?” she inquires skeptically.
“At the time, I was actually thinking of Carmine, the Big Ragu, from Laverne and Shirley,” I remember. “But I didn’t say anything to him.”

Patiently, I explain to my doubting spouse about King Rhaghu, the warrior king who was the grandfather of Rama, etc. (see Oh Calcutta VI for details)

“Well, I understand,” says Rena. “But practically speaking, if you tell anyone around here your new name, they’re going to think spaghetti sauce. So then what happened?”

I feel a spritzel of figurative cold water dampening the unalloyed enthusiasm I take in my new spiritual name. However, I soldier on:

“So then,” I continue, “the guru gave me a special blessing – personal spiritual advice which I am to remember for the rest of my life.”
“Wow,” says my adoring, if somewhat down-to-earth wife. “What did he tell you.”
“Actually he whispered it to me. Do you want me to whisper it to you?”
“No, just spit it out.”
”Ok, here’s the short version: Baba says that I should ‘always try to be myself and nobody else.’”

“Somebody else says that, too,” Rena says musingly. “If I’m not mistaken, I think it’s Mr. Rogers on T.V.”

I am rocked back on my spiritual heels. By golly she’s right. Mr. Rogers does say that!
All this time and expense to go to Calcutta and I could have received the same advice from my childrens’ favorite TV show. Rena and I look at each other and start to giggle – then we bust out laughing.

“You win,” I say. “My spiritual life is changed forever. From now on I’m going to eat spaghetti and red-sauce while watching Fred Rogers on Channel 2 with Ali and Dan. I’ll be the one in the lotus pose.”

“Onward and upward,” chortles Rena.

“Imagine that,” I think to myself. “I have met the Guru and he is Fred!

Nevertheless, I wouldn’t trade my pilgrimage adventures in India for anything. As with many spiritual adventures, the enlightenment you seek in unlikely and exotic places is often in plain sight, waiting for you in your own backyard.
As my new Guru says, “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” We should all be more appreciative of that simple fact!