Thursday, June 21, 2007

left behind

The summer months were the best time to catch him in a quiet environment. The climate was so unpleasant at that time, few visitors came. One time in May, at the height of the summer, there were only about five of us with the Maharshi. Chadwick, one of the five, made a joke about it: 'We are your poor devotees, Bhagavan. Everyone who can afford to go to the hills to cool off has left. Only we paupers have been left behind.'

The Maharshi laughed and replied, 'Yes, staying here in the summer, without running away, is the real tapas.'

~ Papaji, from Nothing Ever Happened, volume one, by David Godman

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