One night Guru invited Ashrita and me to his house. Usually at around 11:00 or 11:30 p.m. Guru closes up shop and everyone has to go home. But on this particular night Guru didn't ask us to leave. Since Guru wasn't asking us to do anything, we couldn't even figure out why we were at Guru's house. Guru said he was going downstairs to speak to the girls who were working on a project in the basement, and that we could watch television. Guru has never since that time said that I could just watch television. We turned the television on and started switching the channels. For our taste, the best programme was Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman. We were in ecstasy watching Cool Hand Luke at Guru's house. Every now and then, Guru would come upstairs and sit down and casually look at the television for a while, but he really was not interested in it. The show was over at around 3 or 4 a.m., and still Guru didn't tell us to go home. There wasn't very much on at that hour, but Guru didn't say not to watch, so we kept looking at different shows. Finally, at 5 a.m., Guru was sitting in his chair looking at the television when we turned it to Channel 5. There was Guru playing the esraj and offering a message on Channel 5! Guru was very happy to see himself, and we were very happy to see him. Guru asked us who was responsible for his being on television and we told him. Then Guru called the disciple who had arranged it, and offered all his blessings to that disciple. After that, Guru told us to go home and get some sleep.

Databir (New York)

I used to have two little parakeets. One night I was carrying their cage to a small room where I used to let them fly around for a while. As both my hands were occupied, I called my roommate Rupavati to come quickly to close the door for me because I was afraid that the birds would fly away from the room. She came very fast, and as she slammed the door, my most favourite bird, Monchin del Alma, was hit. He flew a little before he hit the wall and then fell down. I took him close to my chest and started screaming and crying. I looked at him, and in his little eyes I saw that he was going to die. I stood in front of Guru's Transcendental picture and prayed: "God, please take some years of my life and give them to my bird, so he can live." I was so sure that I wanted to give part of my life away to keep him alive. Suddenly I felt when his soul left him with a shiver. I cried and cried. Rupavati came to me crying and tried to console me by saying, "Don't worry, Guru took him away, Guru took him.…" I could not stop crying for hours until finally I fell asleep. The next day I went to work all swollen and depressed. Then I started thinking of what I had done. I became confused as I realised that human life is sacred, and I was not that sure any more that it was correct to offer my life for my little bird!" I did not tell anyone about my thoughts that day. That evening we had a function and Guru invited people to ask him questions. I wanted to ask Guru about this matter, but when I went up, a different question slipped from my heart. I asked: "Guru, I feel that I like animals much more that I like people. Is this wrong? Is it something that I should transcend?" Guru's compassionate answer was: "We are in the same boat! I also like animals more than people. When you look in animals' eyes, you see purity, innocence. They are helpless. They trust you." Then he looked at me very intensely, with his eyes half opened. I saw a bright light coming from his right eye. He continued: "And you did the right thing! Like the Buddha with the bird, you did the right thing."

Aryamani (Puerto Rico)

Once Guru took a trip to Virginia on the Centre bus to see Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. Amita and I were riding in the back of Databir's station wagon. For some reason, I was so taken by the connection between the great Jefferson and Guru that I was asking a million questions—to Amita! She had told me that Guru had said the great Jefferson was actually realised in that incarnation, but it was veiled, so he could endure a political life. I was so thrilled just thinking about the fact that the Declaration of Independence was in fact God-inspired and that Jefferson envisioned this nation as a place where people would receive the goodness and abundance of America—and realise God. When we stopped at the first rest stop, Guru got out of the bus, went up to Amita and said "So, is she asking you all kinds of questions about President Jefferson?"

Chayanika (New York)