A Ring (part one)

A few years ago, we often used to meet Swamiji at a place near Dijon where there were many evenings of prayer and singing the glory of God, Jesus and Mary. Everyone brought statues of Mary or a cross from home for the altar as most of them would start to cry oil. The group in those days consisted of only about twenty or thirty people and over time everyone had at some point received a ring from Swami. I neither noticed nor cared at all as I didn’t like jewelry and was quite happy with the pendant from my first interview. It was only when he finally did give me a ring, that I realized that I had been the last one! The ring was a bit too large and didn’t fit properly on any finger so I didn’t really get too excited about it. Around this time I was due to get married which meant I would have another ring to wear. I was thinking about getting a ring with a stone, regular for my wife, but the stone hidden for my ring.

Since this kind of a ring seemed not to exist I had to settle on something else that we both liked. I did however choose a ring with a stone, which is not usually the custom for a men’s ring, as it came closest to realizing my dream ring. Years went by and though I didn’t get any more enthusiastic about my jewelry, I did get used to it. Once I forgot to wear Swamiji’s ring and I consequently developed a sharp pain along my arm. I remembered that I used to have this pain a long time ago and that it had disappeared ever since I had started wearing Swami’s ring. When I later questioned him on this matter, he confirmed my beliefs and told me that it had been one of the reasons he had given me the ring.

Naamdev, Germany

Both pictures are from this time. The upper picture is taken at the place near Dijon. Swamiji is standing outside the building singing christian songs. In this time Swamiji has had really short hair.