Spiritual Journey in India

Now, I'm not here very long.

What about if I went straight for trying to be a guru?

Why?

It just seems like, you know, aim for the top.

Possible?

Not today. Not for the next few days.

But there's a chance.

India, land of spirituality.

I was following in the footsteps of the thousands of Westerners who come east

in search of enlightenment, wondering if I too could find the meaning

of life.

My first contact lives in Goa. At one time, he was a professor of

psychology named Dr. Joseph E. Vidmar.

Now he practices astrology and calls himself Deepak, and he'd

offered to be my spiritual guide. This is it?

This is it. We made it to Anjuna Flea Market.

Ah.

World famous.

You can buy everything here but your soul.

Actually, it's my soul I'm interested in.

Well, let me ask you something, Louis.

Yeah.

Why you wanna get enlightened? Why you're even looking?

Uh, it's supposed to be a good thing, isn't it?

For what? Good for what? It's not good for your bank account.

Isn't it?

No.

I didn't know.

Enlightenment is expensive.

Oh.

You sacrifice all your material life for this.

Yeah.

So what are pe- what are people coming to India for, then?

Enlightenment.

Yeah.

But you need to know what it is you really want.

Why aren't you happy where you're at?

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what I want.

Can you tell me?

Can I tell you what you want?

I wouldn't even if I knew.

Do you know?

No.

The trick is accepting but not wanting.

You see, every seed has a feeling of the tree

it will become, and if you don't become that tree,

you've never

lived.

Come on.

If you had to identify the most important possessions you have, what would they

be?

It would be the computer.

The computer. Why?

'Cause I need that to do my work.

Is this your TV set?

No, no. That came with the room, and I hate to turn the thing on.

I've got books and papers.

Books, papers, underpants.

Underpants. That's it.

For a man of 57, that's not a lot of stuff.

It's not a two-garage house with wife, kids. You know what I mean?

I had that.

And what happened?

It didn't make me happy.

Yeah. And are you happy now?

I'm happier. I'm more alive.

The way I look at it, my life isn't by any means perfect,

but I'm not in

misery either. I'm not having a nervous breakdown.

So I wonder if there's not enough to motivate me to make the

journey.

You got it. There's not enough to motivate you.

If you are halfway comfortable whatsoever, it is

like pulling your feet out of mud to leave that

situation and try this situation.

Why should you try?

Yeah, why should I try?

Why should you try?

Why should I try?

There's no reason.

There's no reason.

I fully recommend that you do not try.

Make the show and then get back home and watch the telly.

And go under anesthesia like everybody else, and

then you won't be in the situation of a handful

of possessions being 57 years old.

You'll be nice, comfortable, powerful,

secure, and stupid.

This is the well-known Cid Vilas.

How do you do?

Namaste, Papa.

Namaste.

Nice to meet you. I'm Louis. What do, what, what's the plan?

We go there.

That's the plan. We go there.

Deepak's plan for ridding me of my stupidity involved taking me to the

beach for a form of meditation known as channeling

delight.

Shake it. Shake the hands. Shake.

Deepak and I were preparing to receive the energy of the cosmos

transmitted through the hands of the Italian spiritual healer, Cid Vilas.

Begin to sway. Imagine it to be a tree in the wind.

Let the energy into your body, and then we will come and

transmit energy to your energy body

center.

Apparently now full of energy, I was allowed to ask a question of the

cosmos mediated through Cid Vilas' special helper.

I'm hoping to find out

a little bit about spirituality. Can you give me

any advice on where I should go

and how I should search?

India is a very magical place for

spirituality. Just allow yourself

to be carried

by a flow,

and you will find what you have been looking for.

It is yourself.

Oh.

Finished.

Got such long legs. Ah. Oh.

It's because it takes a while to get used to sitting like that.

Yeah.

I know.

Yeah, my hips.

I felt a little bit silly in the, in the session just now.

Yeah?

I was just like when I was waving, you know, with the tree part-

You kept hitting, and that kept disturbing you

... I kept hitting a, I kept hitting a little lantern.

That was disturbing me, and also it was really like my arms

were getting so tired.

Your unconscious created that obstacle to disturb you

so that you would not be affected. That's okay.

This is crazy stuff compared to where you come from.

It's okay that you go, "Ooh," about this stuff, you

know. But you're surrounded by friends. You have support.

You just, okay, go with it.

Mm.

If it's dangerous for you, I'll pull you out.

One day into my journey and the cosmos had spoken.

What I was looking for was my own self.

If only I knew where to find it.

Louis,

wake up and shine. Wake up feeling fine.

Mm. Coffee.

Just wake up without your mind.

Thank you.

Ah, good morning.

Good morning. Day two, and Deepak was determined to deepen my

understanding. Is this Osho?

This is Osho.

And so he, is this your guru?

Yeah.

Does that come off? Yeah.

Even though he's dead now. He's been dead for 10 years.

He looks a little bit like a sort of glamour puss.

To me, that's like, oh, rock star. You know,

like I'm gonna have a picture of Sting

on my wall.

Uh-huh. Well, you know, if you met this guy,

his presence is so overwhelming that you wouldn't object

Did he have a special technique?

He came up with a particular meditation, and it's basically to

get the madness in your system up and out.

You do that for 12 minutes. Total. Come on, push it. Kick it.

Come on. I'm twice your age, I can do better than that.

I hate this.

Right. It's just practice. You never practiced breath before.

Use your arms. Force your lungs.

Okay, stop a minute. Okay. That's the first part.

It's really making me dizzy.

Yeah, yeah. Okay. Now, that part is to get you out

of your mind-

Yeah

... and to free up your emotions. All right? Because here's the second part.

I'll do the first part, then switch over into the second.

Ah. Ah. Oh, I'm a fucking son of a bitch. God damn it, ah. Ah.

Ah. Ah. Ding. Third part. Hoo,

hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo. I can't do

that one anymore.

What about the second one?

The second one is catharsis.

You're throwing out all your negativity, all your anger.

Are you, are you okay?

Yeah, I'm okay.

I haven't done this for a while.

I've been doing-

So what, can I do, how do I do that one?

You just start screaming.

What the breathing does

is break your normal

fixed face.

Yeah?

Okay.

It gets you in contact with your emotions infused.

Ah.

Ah.

Ah. Ah. Ah. Ah.

Come on.

Ah.

Switch.

Hoo, hoo, hoo.

That's it. Whoops.

Come back.

Do I have to start again?

I better start again.

Just-

Oh, my mic's gone.

Okay. The trick with the hoo is keeping your arms up.

And when you come down, you're hitting your heel.

Because that's where your sex center is.

Okay.

If you wanna get a woman turned on, have her jump on her heels.

Ah.

Ah. Ah.

Hoo,

hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo.

Stop. And this is where the experience

of yourself comes.

Try to find the gap between the thoughts,

where there's nothing

but yourself.

And then you dance. Da-da, da-da.

Like that.

And that's it.

That's the meditation.

Are you still doing it?

No.

Oh.

So even this little bit, this little demonstration-

That was-

... I see your energy change

... yeah, that, I, that-

You're more awake.

You-

You're more powerful

... I, I don't think I could do that for an hour.

It's a trip. I can't do the jumping part anymore.

My body's getting too old.

That, yeah.

You know? But for old people, there's a trick.

We don't have to jump so much, you know?

Mm-hmm.

We can just stand flat-footed and hit our heels.

Yeah, my heel hurts a bit. Let's go down here.

A little bit more in the shade.

I was thinking about the guru thing.

You know, if I wanted to find a guru, are there many gurus around?

You can't swing a dead dog without hitting a guru in this country.

Really?

In other words, they're all over. Your problem's gonna be which one

is for you.

And what is the status of a guru in, um...

I mean, are they gods? Are they humans? Are they somewhere in between?

Can they do miracles?

Suspend physical laws of nature, I don't think so.

No?

The more you find a guru that does miracles,

the more you should stay away.

Yeah.

You know?

I think I might be looking for miracles.

I mean, that, 'cause that would blow my mind if I saw that.

Well, you know, we're looking for something special to

tell us that

this is something special.

Yeah.

All you need to know is it's time to go on

the journey.

Mm.

If you really connect with yourself inside,

you will connect with joy and bliss,

and the incredible experience of being fully alive

instead of some

TV-drugged zombie.

Yeah, is that what I am, basically?

So far.

A TV-drugged zombie?

Yeah.

Hey, thanks a lot, man.

Well, sorry man, but a handshake's not enough.

Oh.

Over here we hug.

Hugs, not drugs.

Yeah.

Take care, though.

Yeah. Take care of yourself.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you, man.

I feel really energized.

What empowers you is right.

Take care, huh?

Gonna miss that guy.

It was time for this TV-drugged zombie to hit the road in search of

myself and a guru to help me find me.

Everywhere I looked, there were adverts for a guru called Amma,

whose name means

mother. Apparently, she had shown a glimpse of enlightenment

to hundreds of

thousands of people through nothing more than taking them in her arms and giving

them a holy hug. She'd even hugged Sting.

I decided to join her band of disciples.

My contact, an American who'd followed her for the

last 12 years,

Ramanand.

Thanks a lot. Cheers.

Hi, do you know someone called Ramana?

No.

Oh, hey.

Oh.

Adityan is in silence today.

Oh, he's a silent being today.

He's taking a vow of silence.

Oh.

Yes.

Ramana is here.

Okay, sorry about that.

Hi.

Made a bit of a faux pas. I didn't realize you'd taken a vow of

silence today.

Oh.

Are you Ramana?

Yes, I am.

How are you doing?

Good.

Good.

Hi, how are you?

Good. First I thought maybe you didn't speak

English, but-

No, I think he's from Texas or something, so-

Really?

... some form of English.

Can we tickle him, or, I mean, like-

Isn't that funny?

I think he's tickled enough.

No, he is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, this goes in the, uh, it goes in the back, I think.

Ramanand and his 400 fellow disciples were loading up for the next leg of

a grueling pilgrimage. They were taking Amma and her hug

all over India.

Whenever we start any trip, we sing the 108 names

of our guru. Basically, it describes the different

great qualities that our teacher has.

Okay.

How

was that?

I liked it.

By chanting 100 names, I mean, it's almost as though Amma is,

is like a god.

If there is the possibility of a god on Earth, I think she's

the closest thing that we could have to God on Earth.

I would say in the same state and level of, as Jesus.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's a pretty high recommendation.

I mean, I'm not actually a Christian or anything, but-

Uh-huh

... but I just imagine

if you met Jesus, you w- you would almost, like,

be knocked off your feet.

Amma, she certainly has knocked me off my feet,

and I think most of these people

would say the same. Otherwise, you know, what are they doing in this bus?

Wow.

They're starting the thousand names of the divine mother.

I thought we just, uh-

We did the 108 names of Ammaji.

We did 100 names.

Yeah.

She's got 1,000 names? How long does it take to do the thousand

names?

An hour.

It's a main practice around Ammaji.

How far in are they?

They're on name 43. They gotta, they got all the rest to go.

957 names later, the convoy arrived at their next

lodgings, and we set about fixing up food

and bedding for the next few days.

A little bit more, please. I still wasn't sure

if the best way to find

myself was through throwing my lot in with the Amma brigade.

Are you enlightened? Do you know if you are?

No, I'm definitely not enlightened.

You're not? Really?

Definitely, I know.

How do you know?

Because I still have anger, hatred, greed, lust.

Enlightenment is when the mind is completely clear and calm

and quiet with

no thought, really.

Now, why is that a good thing?

It takes you

to a state beyond what we know as good and bad, happy,

sad. Basically, they say you even conquer death.

Really?

You can emerge into the cosmic mind, the cosmic, the supreme being,

God, whatever you wanna call it.

But once you're enlightened, you, um, just plain sailing from there on, you-

Pretty good, yeah.

Yeah.

That's so they say.

Yeah.

I'm not there, so-

Yeah

... I don't know.

Hoping to be though.

Hoping to be. That's why I'm here.

Yeah.

What are you doing?

What are you doing, sir?

I'm asking Mother to be with me.

Really?

Yes.

You're speaking, but you've got one of these badges on

here.

Doesn't that mean you can't speak?

This, if you look closely, says, "Silence is bliss."

So it allows me to avoid unnecessary conversations.

Wow.

You're freaking me out.

Um,

may I ask your name?

Aniruddhan. Aniruddhan.

And what's your, um,

what's your born name?

Courtney.

Courtney.

Courtney.

I'm a little curious about what the living quarters are like here.

May I take a look at your room?

Yes.

Ramanand had made it all sound quite straightforward, but now I was entering

Courtney's world and I didn't have a map.

Are we not disturbing these people?

Well, if you are,

I guess that's just the way it's gonna be.

So, um, which is your bed?

I'm just... Right here.

Yeah. Can you give us a little tour?

Well, this is it. I have a little altar to help me

remember

the divine.

Who, who is that on there?

That's Amma.

Let me ask you something. What profession did you pursue

when you were in the US?

What?

That's the past. It just makes me laugh.

What? Why does the past make you laugh?

It's just a story. It's very insignificant.

It's very shallow.

Isn't your past who you are?

Not this child's past. The past is a story.

It's like a book. Am I a book?

You have to look within.

Y- when you speak, you have quite a solemn way of speaking,

'cause I don't feel

like we're talking like human beings in a way.

I offered myself up to the Lord. I wanna...

If this child is to be of any service, it's to be an instrument.

Uh, if the other was to show up, I would ask forgiveness 'cause it'd be

the ego.

No, uh, but we like ego.

You do.

Yeah.

You do, yes. I used to very much-

Ego's humanizing, you know? We're all, uh, you know, we're, we're all basic- we've

all got ego, haven't we, really?

Yeah, but are you happy?

For a short period of time.

Yeah, more or less.

Yes. Right.

There you go.

What?

I'm probably as happy as you are, roughly. I wouldn't say I'd be any more happy.

The depth of the ecstasy

of losing the self is so deep that

once you taste it, all other pleasures

are insignificant.

Can we talk to Courtney Cooper now?

I let Courtney Cooper die.

What? What are you doing?

I'm asking Mother to make sure that Courtney Cooper stays dead.

Why? I'm getting to Courtney now. I'm reaching Courtney.

No, this is Courtney Cooper now. This is the Courtney Cooper

of today,

and for me to utter much more would, would be ignorance.

God, it's too weird.

Okay. Courtney left me feeling totally

perplexed.

I guess I was still too attached to my own ego.

It would be a few days before the stage was set for the next audience with

Amar.

I was getting the sense that maybe I'd gone too deep too soon, and

so I thought I'd try something more familiar.

I headed off to the holy city of Mayapur on the banks of the Ganges,

headquarters of the Hare Krishna movement.

I'd often seen shaven-headed Hare Krishna devotees dancing in London's

West End and wondered what they were doing.

Now it was time to find out. My contact was a man named Hari

Sori, a disciple for the last 30 years. Hari Sori?

Hi, there.

Louis Theroux.

How do you do?

How do you do?

Good to meet you.

You speak English.

I do, yes.

That's a plus. Yeah. Where are you from?

A little. I'm originally from England, Scunthorpe.

Really?

Yeah.

So what's the plan?

You wanna go on a tour?

Yeah.

Okay.

Let's do it.

Let's hit the road.

Who's that guy?

This is Srila Prabhupada. He was the founder of the Hare

Krishna movement.

Nice guy?

He was a wonderful person.

Was he a guru?

Yeah. Guru means a person that knows God and can

present who God is to a disciple.

And perform miracles?

Um, well,

Prabhupada would sometimes point to us, and he would say, "I've transformed them

from meat eaters, sense enjoyers, drunkards, into

saintly persons." So he said, "That's the only miracle

that I can perform."

Did you say sense enjoyers?

Yeah.

Yeah, what's... That, that doesn't sound like a bad thing to me,

to enjoy your

senses.

Well, enjoyment is good-

Yeah

... but it depends on how you get it.

Yeah.

Most people-

What about through the senses?

Yeah. Well, most people think that sense enjoyment is the ultimate aim

and, you know, goal in life.

Yeah, yeah.

If you get sex or you get drunk or, you know, whatever.

Have some delicious food.

It seems, you know, that that's the peak, but it actually is very limited, and it's

very temporary-

Yeah

... because you're actually a soul and not the body.

For a Hare Krishna, the road to enlightenment is simple.

You chant, and you dance. It was worth a shot.

Shall we get you dressed up?

Yeah, yeah. Tell me what... Yeah, what... So what is the plan?

Why is it better that I wear this than what I'm wearing

now?

Well, it'll help you to get more into the mood-

Yeah

... of what it's like to be a devotee.

I can keep my underwear on, though?

Yeah, yeah.

Now, the real experience for being a devotee

is if you chant.

Do some chanting?

Yeah.

Let's do it.

That's the real essence.

Yeah, that's the core of it. Feeling good.

Looking good.

My leg, should my leg be coming out like that?

Um, you can move it further over.

That slip of paper I gave you-

Yeah

... that's got the Hare Krishna mantra on it.

That'll help you to, uh, chant.

Could I kneel down as well?

Yeah, please. That's good.

Krishna Krishna,

Hare Hare, Hare Rama,

Hare

Rama.

It's not what I'd call catchy.

Hare Rama.

I don't know if I feel, like, spiritually enhanced.

Well, it's a thing that comes gradually.

Yeah.

I mean, it's not like something that strikes you and knocks you down dead.

Maybe some people it does. There's an example that's given

that just as a fog is dissipated by the sunlight,

when you chant

Hare Krishna, then it dissipates all your ignorance,

just

gradually, like a cloud evaporates under the

sunshine.

Mm.

It takes a little time.

Yeah, it takes a bit longer than that, I suppose.

Practice.

I needed a change of approach. I decided to go straight to the top.

It was time for my first encounter with a flesh and blood real-life

guru. I'm looking for the lotus-filled days.

Just go to the right. This is, it's right.

This way? Since the death of Prabhupada 23 years

ago, his mission has

been taken up by a team of 80 new gurus worldwide.

I was off to see if Guru Jayatanka Swami might be the man to set

me on the path to self-knowledge.

Hare Krishna. All right. What's your name?

I'm Louis.

Louis.

Welcome.

How do you do?

Have a seat.

Okay. How is it that Hare Krishna has attracted

so many cosmopolitan

followers, not just Indians?

Everybody has the same spiritual needs.

Mm.

They want to be closer to God. They want to know what is the purpose of

life.

And the, and the answer comes from an Indian

tradition?

You see,

truth is not a monopoly on anybody.

You sound like you might be American.

I was, uh, yeah, I was born in America, and I've been living here for

30 years.

Really? What name did you grow up under?

Well, I grew up under the name Gordon.

Yeah. So am I right in thinking the chief

practice of, of Hare

Krishna people is chanting the Hare Krishna?

That's the essence of it.

In fact, I even thought, was this gentleman...

Were you chanting it just now under your breath?

They constantly chant.

Constantly?

Constantly.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna.

Ram Hare Ram, Hare Hare.

Ram Hare Ram, Hare Hare.

And now, why are they clustering around you right

now?

They are, like, disciples and, uh, devotees who,

if they get the opportunity to follow me around, they'll do it.

Really? Why?

Ask them. I don't know.

Uh, the spiritual master

gets you close to God. And by his association, you know, we

become happy. We feel happy when we're with him.

How does that make you feel?

There's no more private life.

My life I just give to helping people become God-conscious.

Why is this gentleman walking around carrying a tape recorder?

Because the spiritual master's sound vibration is transcendental.

Mm.

So the sound vibration of the spiritual master is very important

for devotees.

How about that?

Excellent.

Let's, uh... I'd like to show you the campus, uh,

over here.

Are they bowing to me or to you?

I'm just kidding.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.

Now, what happened then?

You see, he wanted to touch my feet, but actually when people touch your feet,

they're touching because they wanna get, like, a blessing.

Yeah.

But then it also puts their vibrations on the person.

So generally we're, it's, it's not recommended we let people touch

our feet.

Really? What, it puts their vibration on you? Is

that bad?

Well, we get overloaded after a certain point.

Really?

How many

vibrations can you take? Also, it's,

it's quite embarrassing.

People touching your feet?

Yeah.

I could get used to it.

Should we go over

and see about, uh, feeding the, uh, hungry people?

Yeah.

Like that?

Ah.

How many spoonfuls?

One, one.

Just on the side of the rice.

The secret is to treat the people with a lot of respect.

Yeah.

It must be great being a guru.

How often do you have a feast like that?

Oh,

two times a year.

Yeah, because you were saying about not having too much

sensual gratification, but

that feast was a feast of sensual gratification.

No, you see, we use our senses in the service of

Krishna.

Right.

Everything we do, we do it as a offering to God.

This is the sacred Ganges. It's said to be liquid love

of God.

Really?

Yeah. Is it all right? Did you test it?

So by bathing in the Ganges you can actually become more spiritual?

Definitely.

Definitely? And how do you... What about... Can you take

that home with you?

It's a permanent asset.

It is?

Yes. You have a good karma bank account

and a bad karma bank account.

So, like, you're coming here, bathing in the Ganges.

This has put a, a deposit in your spiritual bank account.

Really? That's a little contribution.

You'll, you'll take that with you-

What about if we chanted Hare Krishna right now while floating around in the

Ganges, the most sacred river?

Then it'll be, uh, even multiplied.

Shall we do that?

Why not?

Yeah. Will you lead?

All right.

Hare Krishna,

Hare Krishna,

Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,

Hare Rama, Hare Rama- And then,

just as I was getting into the groove, disaster struck.

Put down the windows.

Why doesn't he move it?

Are we all right?

Um, looks like he ran aground.

Quick, let's keep chanting.

Hare Krishna,

Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare

Hare. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna-

I think we're out of danger now.

So your chanting took us out of danger.

Yeah.

Thank you very much, Louis.

That might have been karma coming. But was it coming for me or coming for you?

Well, when we're all together it's a kind of

collective karma.

Yeah.

You've gotta be too careful.

There was once a, a, there was a plane that crashed in New York,

and it

split open and eight people were thrown out,

and they just landed on their feet and

walked off unharmed, but everybody else was killed.

But, and the moral of that story is?

Those eight people had karma. That wasn't their time to go.

Hmm.

Thanks so much for your time.

Maybe I'll see you sometime when I stop in London.

Please do. I'd love to see you.

And please come back, uh, here, and, uh, visit us again.

I will.

With a little more time.

Yeah, with more time. Thanks again. See you later, Maharaj.

I was beginning to wonder whether treating someone as a living god and hanging on

their every word might not serve the teacher better than the disciple.

To settle the matter, I decided to search out a guru who

was going all

the way and claiming miraculous powers.

Sri Ganapati is a third-generation Indian Swami with

a catalog of strange music videos proclaiming the powers of his

unique spiritual melodies.

I arrived at his huge complex to see if he could promise me a miracle.

I'd arranged to meet another guest, an American physicist who'd followed him

for

the last seven years, Mike.

How do you do?

Louis?

Yes.

How do you do?

Good. Nice to meet you.

I knew you'd be showing up, but not exactly when.

Yeah. As I understand it, this is basically a community, a spiritual

community-

Mm-hmm

... that follows the spiritual guidance of a

single individual.

Yes.

Being that man over there.

Oh, yes, Sri Swami Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji.

Why are all these people here? What are they doing here?

Well, um, you know, it's an individual path, but,

but ultimately people are,

um, improving themselves.

I'm on a sort of spiritual journey of my own.

Uh-huh.

Um, looking for answers a little bit.

Uh-huh.

I'm fairly skeptical by nature.

Oh, yeah. Join the club.

Really?

I, I'm a, I'm a total skeptic.

Are you seriously?

Yes.

One of his biggest vehicles for helping people is his music.

His musical compositions affect human physiology in a direct way.

Wait, um,

uh, that seems like an important point.

Yeah, kind of, meaning, like, when he's, when he's, um, jamming on the keyboard,

um, the, uh, the result is that people are getting vibrations

that are, that are, uh, affecting their, their physiology medicinally,

directly.

He used his music to cure people?

Yeah, in a very direct way. Sometimes he intros a song by going, "You

know, this one's for back problems or, or vision," or,

you know, any, any number of things.

'Cause you wear spectacles. Can-

Oh, yeah, big... You know, I certainly do.

Right.

I wear Coke bottles.

Yeah.

I mean, these things are thick.

Couldn't he cure that, your eyesight?

He might. You know, I, I, I haven't... You know, it could happen.

He's done much bigger things than that.

Mike wanted to show me his favorite spot in the ashram, a garden of

meditation stones.

Here we go.

How you doing?

You know, um, the Swami suggested facing a certain

direction, and I can't remember

which direction.

So this might not be right.

I have to laugh because the Swami does exhibit effects that to

us are- ... are considered supernatural.

Yeah.

It's not a hocus-pocus-

Mm

... you know, uh, kind of thing. It's, it's, um, it's the result

of dedication, focus, yoga practice.

Yeah.

And, and the end result are siddhis.

S-I-

Which are?

S-I-D-D-H-I-S. And they're, um, supernatural powers.

Seriously?

Yeah, yeah. The Swami routinely materializes

jewelry for people.

Jewelry?

Yeah. Things like-

What kind of jewelry?

Like bracelets and, and, um, necklaces and rings and things

like this, like, like this as a matter of fact.

But his take on it though is he says it's not for show.

I mean, in other words, like, this isn't Las Vegas, you know?

But, um, but he says materializations are for two purposes.

For energy balance or spiritual protection

only.

So you wouldn't materialize a new car?

Likely not.

You're a physicist by occupation.

Yeah.

So I would expect that would make you pretty hard-headed

and, and that you'd look

for scientific proof and all this kind of thing.

And have you applied those techniques to Swami G?

Absolutely. I am a scientist to the smallest iota

when it comes to

proof, but my association with Swami G, there's an element of just kind of like,

um, uh, love and affection.

I was skeptical, but I liked Mike, so I signed up for the whole range of

Swami G's spiritual exercises.

There was yoga.

There was a therapy bed that sent healing musical vibrations

directly into your body.

Is that, is it do- is it any good when I do it?

Yes. Yeah.

And there was a good old-fashioned singalong.

But despite Mike's best efforts and a quick glimpse of Swami G

himself, I still didn't believe that the Swami could really

perform miracles.

It was Mike's last night before returning to America,

and he invited me to sleep over at the dorm and then share his farewell

audience with the Swami the following morning.

Good night.

There's this really nice accomplished shopkeeper from

London. He told me a story a day or two ago.

He said Swamiji came into his shop and got some items. He writes up a bill.

Swamiji,

Swamiji goes like this, and a 50 pound note just,

you know, just, you know, like, jumped out at his foot.

He comes here.

You know, I mean, you know, he doesn't...

He's working on a, you know, on a cosmic level.

Don't take this, don't take this the wrong way, Mike.

Uh-huh.

But was there any sadness in your life before you came to see this

Swami and committed to him?

Uh, um, I've always... I, I have a little saying.

Fundamentalism is the aftermath of a nervous breakdown. You know?

And when... You know, it's, it's a little bit coarse, but

no.

Did you have a nervous breakdown?

No. No. Sometimes I'm s-

Yeah

... but I come up with that?

Yeah.

Please.

Yeah. No, I don't... No, I... No, but

No, I mean, you know, I mean, meaning like, um, you know, uh, you know,

um...

Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

It isn't self-evident. I mean, apparent.

I mean, it was... It's kind of like, you know, are you like a burnout,

you know,

who found the Lord, you know?

Not quite.

Are ready for it?

Yes, I think we are.

Okay. I'll take you.

I hadn't meant to offend Mike. He was a nice guy.

But I was worried that for him and many of the Westerners,

the Swami's main

attraction lay in their need to believe in his supernatural powers.

Swami is going to see you in that room there.

Okay.

Yes, that small room there.

Let's go.

And yet, I was still excited to finally meet him.

I think he's on his way.

I look like your mother.

So how are you?

How do you... Yes. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Is Mike making good progress?

Maybe you can ask Mike what, uh, what Swamiji's association.

Every single day of my life,

Swamiji helps me.

So-

Every single day.

Mike said that you had materialized

this

mala for him. If you did that for everyone, I imagine

you'd get enormous number of followers and, and a lot of attention.

I'm not agree.

That is not a tem- That is not a permanent solution.

If you give miracles, I'm a bigger man, but what about

you?

It is only two minutes only satisfaction.

So I believe Mickey is changing, I believe. That is a big miracle.

That is a permanent solution.

Mike said you enjoyed a magic show in Las Vegas.

Magic.

Yes, magic is very good.

Who was it?

David Copperfield.

David, uh-

Yeah.

David Copperfield?

David Copperfield, yes. It's good.

Few minutes, I'm very happy. I want to see, but that magic

and my magic is very different. Spiritually, they are not following.

Well, forgive the question, but then sh-

why materialize anything?

Why you are asking always Swamiji like a musician?

Magician.

Magician.

Of course I'm musician also there, but I'm misi- not musician.

After that Swamiji friendship, so many thousands of people,

they changing.

Why not you think that is a good miracle, big miracle?

What is your opinion?

That's not the, the proper focus. That's not the point.

The, the bigger picture is, is the s- is Swamiji

helping humanity in many, many ways. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, George.

Swamiji given spiritual name after seven years.

Your name is Manu, the great saint Manu.

Did that seem to go okay?

Yeah, it was a, a very interesting, uh, audience with him.

And you got a new name. Big day for you.

Yeah, it's, it's something that people do at some point here.

What was it?

It's Manu.

Excellent.

How was the interview? I think he's a, a terrifically

nice guy and probably an excellent teacher, but not superhuman.

That's

that's your opinion.

I, I knew that he would downplay the, uh-

The miracles?

Yeah, anything that would be sort of sensational

to a Western

audience. It's real, but it's incidental.

It's, it's incidental to, to his, his work.

I may be mistaken, but when you were in there and he, and, uh,

he gave you the new

name, it seemed like you were on the verge of tears.

Oh, uh, to, to me it's, it's a very endearing,

um, experience to be ne- you know, around Swamiji.

And in fact, I've, I've sacrificed some of my objectivity.

But after a lot of consideration.

You don't really believe in the materializations, do you? I mean, really.

Yeah. Oh, I, I, I very verily do. Yes.

Well-

It's because I've seen him, like, hundreds of times, and it turns out

that mastery of yoga allows mastery over, over

the physical world,

beyond being able to jump in a car and drive away.

Hey, thanks a lot.

Good luck.

Mike.

Yes.

Manu, whichever your name is.

Right.

Yes.

Don't forget to-

Saint from-

As Mike headed back to California to explain to the guys in the physics lab

that

they could now call him Manu, it was time for me to get on the road

as well.

I had an appointment to be hugged, and I intended to keep it.

I'm here to hug Amma.

Hug Amma?

Hug Amma, yes.

Yes, yes. You just come. Watch your step.

I return to Amma still unconvinced by the whole idea of worshiping

anyone still living,

but the crowds and all the merchandise suggested that not everyone felt the

same. To worship someone who's still alive,

to my mind,

is odd.

Well, what about for your heart rather than your

mind?

Well, I've never done it. I can't imagine worshiping a human being.

It would be like saying, you know, "You're a million times better than I am."

I

wouldn't like to believe that of anyone.

But part of, part of the understanding is that she's within you and

she's in your own heart.

Yeah.

So there's not such a separation between you.

She's a human being, though, right?

Well

that's a good question.

The time was approaching. Amma had arrived.

Pretty soon I would know for myself if the hug was like one from my own

mother or from a spiritual leader or even from God.

In the midst of the devotees and the sacred ritual, I still managed to

hook up with my old friend Ramanand.

And then the hugging began. For some reason I'm feeling quite stressed

out.

Do you think that's part of, like, the, um-

That's often people's...

Yeah. That's often people's reaction.

As you approach Amma, it's sort of like you're coming into her

force field.

All sorts of emotions and feelings and thoughts will arise.

Everyone's experience is different.

But you get a taste of enlightenment, actually,

through that hug.

We met that gentleman before with the yellow scarf. What's his name?

Ah, yes. Anirudan.

He's pretty intense.

Yeah he is.

Have you noticed?

Very. Yeah. Yeah, he's, uh-

I had time for one last piece of advice from Courtney.

You could write a, a doctoral thesis on chocolate,

you know? And you could read books and books about the taste of chocolate,

but

unless you experience the taste of chocolate, all the books in the world

will never, never tell you what the experience of it's

like.

So

I'm sure she'll, uh, she'll do some work on you.

We'll see.

Fingers

crossed.

I don't know if it was the incense or the music, or maybe the crush of the

crowd, but something very odd happened.

Come here and sit right, right where he is.

Down here?

For the first time in my whole trip, I felt like something had touched

me in a way I couldn't explain.

That was really good.

Yeah?

Yeah.

What did you feel? What was it? How was it for you?

Firstly, it was very comforting, you know?

Hmm. That's good.

Uh, and she gave me, she gave me a little kiss on the cheek.

Uh-huh.

And that was, that was really nice.

I did feel like for a second I wanted to cry.

Ah.

But I, I think, I don't know if that was because, um,

it was just like, just a really nice hug. Do you know what I mean?

Mm. Many, many, many people burst into tears

when they first...

And they can't explain why.

Whatever was going on, all over India I'd seen Westerners who'd

surrendered themselves to gurus in the hope of finding something they

needed. And even I had fallen under the spell.

One final words of advice?

Don't, don't let this be the end. Let this be a beginning for you.

There's a great, wonderful world within.

So

find it.

I would start looking immediately, immediately I got home.

Um, would it be all right if I played a, a short song?

Sure.

Yeah.

Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma

chameleon. You

come and go,

you come and go.

Nothing would be here if your colors were like my

dreams. Red, gold, and

green. Red, gold, and

green.

Yay. That was great.

Thank you.

Phew. Quite a strain performing in front of

people.