Guru the child with his London disciple-children

Guru was in Scotland and he left Scotland. We thought Guru had gone back to New York. Ashrita called London and he said, "Guru is not in New York. Nobody knows where he is." 

In London we got a call from Guru. The father of Shankara and Dipika, two of the British children, whose name was Ongkar, was a disciple to the end of his life; he has passed away now. That year, he was opening a new divine enterprise, called Run and Become, which still exists. The shop was not open to the public yet. It was still being refurbished. Guru asked us all to meet there.

He came in the evening and we all met in this shop, which had two floors, a ground level and an upstairs level. Guru said all the children should come upstairs with him and for all the adults to stay downstairs. He invited all the children to come upstairs.

Guru was like a child. He was with us and he was like another child. I was thirteen at the time. The children were mostly younger than me all the way down to four or five years old. Guru was so excited. He was really like a child when he was with us.

Guru played a little game with us. He said, “I want you all, each child, to guess your animal incarnation. What animal you were in your last animal incarnation.”

We all guessed. I remember that I thought maybe I was a dolphin because I loved dolphins at that age. Then Guru went around to each child and he told them which animal they were in their last animal incarnation. Mridanga was an elephant. Dipika was a dog. My brother Sahadeva was a cow. To another girl, Sudhira, who lives in San Francisco now, Guru told her she was a deer.

Then Guru told me that I also was a deer. Guru said that it was very unusual because in my case I was a deer for two consecutive incarnations. Guru said in my first deer incarnation I was not satisfied with my speed. The deer represents speed in Guru's Animal Kingdom book. As a deer, I was not satisfied with my speed. I asked the Supreme for another deer incarnation.

Those 'lucky' people who have seen my speed on the Peace Run will realise that I still have a lot more incarnations to go if I want to be satisfied with my speed!

What my heart needs
Is aspiration-speed,
What my life needs
Is dedication-speed,
And what I need
Is surrender-speed.

Sri Chinmoy 1

• 1. Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, part 172, Agni Press, 1992