Wednesday afternoon came finally. I took a shower and put on my best white shirt that I had been saving for the occasion. I also put on my neck chain with the red agate medallion that had been blessed by Muktananda, and which I very much associated with my time in Ganeshpuri. Peter had gone by this time , so I sat with two other Danes. My heart skipped a beat when our row drew number one, the first time that had happened since the first morning. Was my premonition coming true? We had barely seated ourselves, and people were still piling in behind us when Baba appeared at the temple door and walked a beeline directly over to me and gave a thumbs up. I asked if the whole group should come, and he nodded. So we gave the signal to the others, including the women on the other side, and headed for the temple in great spirits. We were asked to wait for a few minutes near the entrance, twelve of us from Denmark, four men and eight women, and we were joined shortly by eight from Italy, and two women, from where I never learned.
Darshan was unusually short that day, only about ten minutes, or at least so it seemed. Baba joined us , motioning us into a small interview room with just one chair in a corner for himself. We sat around on the floor. I sat closest to him at his feet. After a few introductory pleasantries, he addressed a man behind me, whom he called “the lawyer from Milan”, and asked him “What would you like?”, to which the man replied, a little pompously, I thought: “I don’t want anything material from you”. Baba joked with him and persisted: “Come on now. I have something here for you”. He was like a loving grandfather giving candy to his grandchildren. I think he just likes doing it. He says himself that he can’t help it. He made the famous rotating movement with his right hand that he uses when he materializes things. When he opened his hand, a beautiful ring lay in the palm. Now there are many authoritative stories to the effect that the rings Baba creates are often very individual, having special significance to that person. In some cases they are completely unique in the world. So I thought this fellow – whatever his spiritual level may be – was rather stupid when he repeated two more times that he would not accept anything material from Baba.
Baba took the reaction in stride without any sign of offense, and said: “OK”. Then he held his palm flat up to his face no more than a foot from my eyes, and blew on the ring. It disappeared. Just like that. I had heard of similar acts done by him before. I just smiled. I didn’t need any proof at this point. I was just amused. Then he went quickly on to the next, one of the two women who were not with the Danish or Italian groups. From the conversation, it was clear that he knew them from a previous visit. After talking for a while, he asked one to hold out her hand. Then with his usual hand twist, he created and dropped a ring into her hand. She was thrilled, naturally.
He went on to others in the room, materializing vibuthi for a couple of the Italian women, and rings for two of the Danish women present. He clearly knew who everyone was, and who was with whom. Then he illustrated his characteristic sense of humor as he addressed one of the Italian men in the back, and asked in a serious tone: “What is time?”. The fellow was an intellectual type, and began holding a lecture for us. But he was quickly cut off by Baba, who said: “No. No. That’s not time. This is time”, and with a swirl of his hand came up with a wrist watch, which he proceeded to put onto the man’s arm. We all chuckled, and crouched forward for a better look. It had a picture of Baba on its face. Someone remarked that the time was wrong. Baba looked at it intensely, and the watch’s hands began to rotate quickly until they gave the right time. Incredible!
