WHAT’S MANTRA? On Monday, September 12, I woke up with the delightfOn Monday, September 12, I woke up with the delightful image of a car drive with Swami Ram fresh in my mind. It was the day of my next appointment with him, so I wasted no time in getting there. As I drove to Swamiji’s residence near West Chicago I reminisced about the past two years overseas, tracking the episodes that led up to this day. Conversations with the Reverend John Pierce-Higgins, the famous, charming Anglican canon who de-haunted in the United Kingdom, broke into my memory. We had shared ideas about mysticism, the nature of God, & the best methods of dealing with poltergeists & explored unique ideas from Eastern philosophy about psychic phenomena. We had laughed together over stories of my psychic grandmother who took me to seances on Sunday afternoons where I watched channelings & healings & listened to discussions among the room full of spirit guides. Grandma definitely had a gift for healing & foretelling the future. John was impressed that she had predicted my college professrship when I was a nine-year-old failing in school, when she told me, “Some day you will travel far & wide, speaking before rooks fullof people!” BUILDING AN INSTITUTE:- AUTUMN OF 1972 saw Theresa & me become regulare at all the lectures & meetings of Swami Rama. His teaching attracted small groups of twenty-five to forty people of all ages in every class. The main rooms of the farmhouse were getting too crowded, especially when he led us in yoga postures, breathing exercises, & yogic health techniques. As friends told friends about the treasures they were learning, the classes began to burst the walls of the house. RAISING A SAGE:- FOR MANY AMERICANS, there seems to be hardly any time to pursue old dreams, let alone follow the sages’ counsel to meditate. Immediate worries about career & family engulf our attention & our imaginations are limited to concerns. We are unaware of how restricted our lives are becaues we hide the limitations by heavy-duty entertainment, loud music, constant chatter from TV & radio & phones, ever bigger & better productions. We Americans are strange. MASTER OF SELF:- THE DREAM INTERESTED ME; - I pondered its meaning & was pleased to find that it was the topic Swamiji’s next lceture. “Conditioning the mind & body is indespensable to right thinking,” he taught. After the lecture he passed me in the hallway & said abruptly, “Justy, are you coming over?” Of course, I would not would not miss an evening with him anvthing. I called Theresa to come from her office, & we followed the master home. Swamiji was in a rare mood. Tilk? Tilk! Theresa is the best tilk maker. Tree,” he said, calling her by his favorite nick name for her, “can we have some tilk?” DAYS OF JOY, DAYS OF SORROW:-THE DREAM ENDED ABRUPTLY, waking me up. Like most important dreame, it did not fade during the days ahead, so I mentioned it to Swamiji the next time Theresa & I were alone with him. “Justin,” he side, “that was not a dream, but a memory. It was an event that actually happened in your last life. You will meet many other people from your past life.” “How do you know?” I asked, surprised. Rechining backwards in his big chair, he cocked his head to one side & replied, “Because I was there with you.” Then, with a mischievous amile he added, “Do you know what my greatest fear is?” Since we did not associate fear with this man at all, his query stumped us. “No,” we both replied together. “To be born again—and face my foolish students, who keep torturing me!”