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Seventy years ago, twenty five-year-old John Laurence was walking down 16th street in Washington, D.C. when he saw a brown-skinned man in a black coat and hat, carrying a cane, with his hair tucked down into his collar, walking toward him. John thought - "That's Swami Yogananda!" A "chance" meeting John had heard of Yogananda from his friend, Amelita Galli-Curci, the well-known opera singer and a disciple of Yogananda, and knew that Yogananda had a center in Washington, D.C. John didn't approach Yogananda on the street but went to the center and waited until Yogananda came in. John introduced himself and asked Yogananda for his autograph. Yogananda wrote:
The framed autograph hangs in John's tiny studio apartment in San Diego along with a photo of Master. John recalls that first meeting with Yogananda: " He wrote this standing up. He had his cane on his arm and he wrote this whole message. I still have the little book that I paid 35 cents for." An ecumenical path John began his spiritual journey in a Franciscan monastery, but left in order to support his mother after his father's untimely death. Inspired and forever changed by his first meeting with Yogananda, John became a disciple of Yogananda and a student of his teachings. Not too long after that first meeting, John moved to San Francisco where he met Kamala Silva, Yogananda's personal secretary. With Yogananda's blessings, John served as a personal assistant to Kamala Silva during the 1930's, 40s and early 50s in San Francisco's East Bay, as Kamala laid the groundwork for a thriving Yogananda center. Yogananda also encouraged John's predisposition towards a non-denominational, ecumenical path-independent of organized religion. John later founded his own church in San Francisco, the "Metaphysical Design for Living Church," which he dedicated to Yogananda. In 1951 Kamala, unknown to John, attended one of his lectures in San Francisco in which he discussed Yogananda's life and his major work, Autobiography of a Yogi. Kamala later wrote down what John said and read her notes to Yogananda when she next saw him in Los Angeles. John recalls Kamala's account of what happened next: "She said tears came to Yogananda's eyes and that he went right over to his desk and tore a big sheet of paper. He wrote me a letter." Yogananda's letter to John reads:
Yogananda's gratitude and compassion John sent Yogananda cards at Christmas and for his birthday each year. In January, 1952, two months before Yogananda's passing, John, though not a poet, wrote a poem and enclosed it in the birthday card he sent that year. Yogananda was so pleased with the poem that he asked Dr. Lewis, his first disciple in America, to read it aloud at his birthday banquet. Yogananda later dictated and signed a letter to John, thanking him and telling him how deeply touched he was by the poem. Years later, after John had moved to San Diego, he attended service at the church where Yogananda used to speak. John arrived early one day, and looking at Yogananda's picture, recalled the time when he had gone back stage after one of Yogananda's public lectures in San Francisco. Although everyone else greeted Yogananda with a pronam, an Indian form of greeting in which folded palms are lifted from the heart to the forehead, John took hold of Yogananda's hand and gave him so hardy a handshake that Yogananda winced. Recalling that experience, John began to weep with remorse over having been so clumsy and insensitive. Then John looked down at his hands: John recalls: "I looked down at my hands and his hand was in mine! Right there. He had been gone from this earth for I don't know how many years! He was saying it's OK, don't worry." An ongoing ministry A lot has happened in John's life since that first meeting with Yogananda 70 years ago. John has led a colorful life as an opera singer, radio personality, lecturer, minister, counselor and teacher to many grateful souls. I first met John about ten years ago when he was living in San Francisco. Mutual friends of ours were being married at the Marina Yoga and Health Center, which I owned at the time. John officiated at the wedding, using the ceremony written by Swami Kriyananda, while I stood next to him and turned pages as he read. John was a youthful 85 at the time. Shortly thereafter I began attending the Wednesday evening healing prayer services that John co-led at Trinity Episcopal Church. During the sessions, John used Yogananda's healing prayer techniques and inspired us with stories of miracles by Yogananda and other saints. The sign "Expect a Miracle" was always on the altar. John never accepted money for these sessions and refused to take credit for the healing miracles that occurred within our group. He never let us forget that "God was the healer." Because of his humility, John was a powerful channel for Yogananda. At the end of the healing prayer sessions he would bless each of us by placing his index finger on our spiritual eye. Whenever I received his blessing, I felt a powerful transmission of spiritual energy. The more time I spent time with John, the more I felt my attunement to Yogananda deepening. John's idea of retirement was not typical. He continued to counsel and inspire people through healing prayers, phone conversations and during visits. At age 95, despite some recent health concerns, John remained amazingly robust, intellectually sharp, and witty. His daily practice of Kriya Yoga, his devotion to God and Guru, and his ongoing service to others kept his magnetism strong. John had looked forward to his 70th anniversary of his first meeting with Yogananda in November of 2003 like a child anticipating a birthday. John would speak of his beloved guru with deep devotion, saying: " He was a great soul. We will not see his likes again." A long-time Yogananda disciple, Nicole DeAvilla-Whiting lives in Marin County, CA with her husband and two children. She teaches Ananda Yoga in Marin and at the Expanding Light Retreat at Ananda Village. |
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