2009 10 06. Tuesday.

The Fake American Sadhu (FAS) knocked on my door this morning at about 5:30am a few minutes after I got out of bed. He was in a bad state; looking very disheveled and talking (it was actually more like incoherent rambling) about wanting to leave his body and having this or that problem. Couldn't really make too much sense of what he was saying, but obviously the poor guy was suffering. It seems he has some deep psychological issues. Paranoia, depression, bipolar or a combination. I tried to be very reassuring and tell him how much Amma and Krishna love him and how they want him to stay in his body for a long time to help the world and grow spiritually. It seemed to help. Poor guy is a little more messed up than I thought. But, IMHO, the Amma ashram here is probably one of the best places for him. I feel he's getting big wonderful doses of Amma's love which is helping him a lot on the subtle levels.

Now if he had knocked on my door a little earlier while I was still sleeping, I might not have been so compassionate. Lucky for him and me.

Now I'm making a point of greeting him with a cheerful "Hare Krishna!" FAS is a dedicated Vaishnava (i.e. a devotee of Vishnu and the Vishnu avatars, which includes Krishna). FAS is still trying to reconcile how a fellow Krishna devotee (me) could end up with the name "Advait". From what little I've read, Advaita Vedanta in India tends to be more associated with Shiva. I think Adi Shankar Acharya (a very influential 8th century Indian proponent of pure Advaita) is considered to be an emanation of Shiva. But in reality, its all one Brahman, so why fuss over the details? (unless its fun). I tell the FAS I'm an "Advaita Vaishnava". He just rolls his eyes and starts rambling about some obscure Upanishadic passage. I give him a cheerful "Gotta run!" and continue on my way. The guy will still talk your ear off if you let him so I'm getting good at smiling and walking away while he's still yapping. As it is, my mind does plenty enough aimless rambling; no need to listen to it from someone else.