Foreword
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Can the life of a divine soul be chronicled in mere words, by a mere mortal?
Even to attempt it would be an act of unforgivable arrogance!
Faced with this awesome responsibility, I felt my mind run dry.... Day after day, I postponed the task, evading Swamiji's eye. How could I say that I didn't know what to write? What only the supreme writers of all time had attempted - how could I be so rash as to take on such a task? How terribly inadequate I felt to the honour placed upon me!
Time was running out – and not a word would my pen yield!
Finally, one night, I clasped my mala and began to pray fervently to Swamiji. At least, it started as a prayer... it ended as a torrent of tears.
Swamiji was traveling at the time. Late that night, I received a phone call – from Swamiji himself! I couldn't believe it – it was the first time he had ever called me. He spoke to me for nearly an hour - about what, I simply can't remember. All I remember is that at the end of that phone call, I was dazed with joy.
In a trance of bliss, without even realizing what I was doing, I went and sat at my computer. The time was 11 p.m. I simply put my fingers to the keyboard – and instantly felt Swamiji's magic flow through them. They began to fly over the keys with a life entirely their own. Words seemed to spill out in an incessant flow....
The next time I looked up at the clock, it was 5 a.m. The biography was done.
When Swamiji got back to the ashram, I poured out my astonishment and gratitude to him. He simply laughed, and insisted that I put it down in the foreword, exactly as it happened.
So here it is - Swamiji's autobiography - another of his many divine miracles..!
- A grateful disciple