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To
provide a little history of how we came to know
"J.L." and the treasured part he has played in our
lives, we will take you on a trip twenty years into
the past.
It
was 1977 when I met a young man named Dusan who was
to become my violin teacher. He had just given a
beautiful recital at the Palace of the Legion of
Honor, in San Francisco, and I met him backstage to
ask if I might become his student. As he had only
one other student at the time, and was enthusiastic
and dedicated to his proteges, he spent many hours
with us, not only teaching music but also sharing
his philosophy of life. Many times during
conversations about our mutual interests in
meditation and metaphysics, the name "John
Laurence" came up.
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Dusan
and two of his good friends, Calvin and
Len,
met
occasionally with John, and meditated with him.
These
were the most wonderful
meditations,
Dusan said. Since he knew that I was interested in
the teachings of
Paramhansa
Yogananda,
he thought I might enjoy meeting John Laurence one
day, as John had known Yogananda
personally.
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Somehow,
many years went by without the meeting taking
place. As Dusan
became ill, and unable to participate in his usual
activities, the thought of meeting John Laurence
was forgotten. Then, one day early in 1993, by
chance I ran into our mutual friend Calvin who, in
the course of conversation, gave me John Laurence's
phone number and suggested I call him up and ask
for an invitation to his house. It's not my nature
to call a stranger out of the blue, but Calvin was
so insistent that I followed through.
(Little
did I know that
"strangers"
call John and invite themselves to his house, and
he makes them welcome, all the
time!).
No
one who knows John would be surprised to hear that
he spent many, many hours with me, on that first
visit to his house (and the many that would follow
over the next few years). But I was both surprised
and touched that someone who had never met me
before would invite me into his home and share
memories of some of the most important moments of
his life with me.
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Since
he knew I was a devotee of Yogananda, John first
showed me his precious photos and correspondences
with the famous yogi. But beyond witnessing the
physical evidence before me of John's relationship
with Yogananda, I
came to see Yogananda through John's
eyes.
As he recounted stories of his meetings with
Yogananda, I felt as if I had been there with John,
experiencing the great yogi's dynamic presence.
Along with his friendship, this is one of the
greatest gifts John has given
me.
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As
John and I share a love of music, we listened
together to his recordings of the operatic greats
he so admires, and, best of all, to John's own
recordings of his beautiful singing, in operatic
style, art songs...and even
crooning!
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Since
we had become immediate friends, it seemed only
natural that John should meet Herbert, who I had
recently begun seeing, and who was also a devotee
of Yogananda. I knew that Herbert would be
delighted to meet John because of his connection
with Yogananda, but there was more to it than that.
John seemed to want to give his approval of this
match! So, we made arrangements to get together,
but John insisted on having some time alone with
Herbert, first.
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John
(right) mentoring Herbert
(left)
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After
they'd been in there a couple of hours, I joined
them and John gave the "O.K." sign when Herbert
wasn't looking. They seemed to be old cronies. We
were to learn that it wasn't the first, and
certainly wouldn't be the last, time John would use
his intuitive abilities to sense if something was
"right". Although he'd told us some stories about
his psychic abilities, John wasn't one to toot his
own horn, so it wasn't until JL, the book
about his life, was published that we learned just
how much of a metaphysician he was.
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Because
of our friendship with John, when we decided to wed
we asked him to perform our ceremony, and it was
our great privilege to have him marry us, on July
25, 1993
(Yogananda's
Babaji Commemoration Day; see "Autobiography
of a Yogi" Chapter 37 for more
details)
at
the Marina Yoga and Health Center in San Francisco,
hosted by our friend, Nicole. The joyful and loving
energy, which he brought to our wedding, and into
our lives, is evident in the photos, we share with
you here.
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Nicole
(left), is assisting Rev. John Laurence
(right) with our wedding ceremony in the
very room of her yoga center, in which we
(Stephanie & Herbert; in front) had
been leading a meditation group with
her.
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It
was that very same summer (in fact only 9 days
earlier) that a spiritual friend of ours, the
manager of East-West Bookshop, then in Menlo
Park, California, Jacqueline Snitkin, mentioned
that she had been trying to locate John Laurence
for many years, without success. She wanted him to
speak at their lecture series about his experiences
with Yogananda. The lecture took eventually place
on July 16 of 1993 (the centennial year of the
birth of Paramhansa Yogananda) and, as a result,
many devotees of Yogananda were treated to the
experience of hearing firsthand from John what it
was like to be in Yogananda's presence. Soon to
follow was an invitation from Kriyananda, John's
old friend of over forty years, to speak about
Yogananda at The Expanding Light, Ananda
Village's central guest facility in Nevada City,
California.
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The
audience there so much appreciated John's loving
energy and devotion to Yogananda, that a stream of
visitors to J.L. ensued, as well as an
invitation
to speak in Assisi,
Italy,
which John regretfully had to decline because, as
he put it, "I'm
not a youngster of 84 anymore."
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In
the meantime John had, of course, invited us to
attend the healing and meditation service he gave
every Wednesday night, with Fr. Tom Dowling, at
Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco. We made
a regular practice of attending the service every
week, which turned out to be a precious experience
for us. A community of loving people, many of whom
we have come to regard as family, came together at
those services to meditate, hear the Fathers'
talks, and participate in the healing
ceremony.
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Herbert
and I treasure our Divine friendship with John, and
remember fondly every moment spent with
him.
Stephanie
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