Ascetism

-Alid Faski Natva, you are a believer, you observe fasts. Could you tell me what are those fasts for? Is that necessary?

What does it mean “necessary”? No one can tell a person what to do; it has to be his own wish.

- But there are certain days when one is not suppose to eat any meet and animal food… It is considered to be cleansing for a person and brings him closer to God…

- Yes, there are certain days and they are wisely intended. If a person fasts, his body gets cleansed from toxins which accumulate. After the fast one feels better and when one feels better his mood is good and energy is high. And I want to draw your attention that the big fast finishes before Ester – in spring when the work in the fields starts.

-Alid Faski Natva was it hard for you to fast for forty two days? You probably wanted to eat…

- The first week is hard and than the body gets used to it and does not require any food.

- But if one does not eat, there not going to be any energy. He could get exhausted and die.

- It can happen. That is why we need to eat.

- But you were fasting for forty days!

- I’ll explain it to you. When a person eats, he gets energy from the food and uses the energy for living. The more he moves the more he needs to eat to compensate for the loss of it. I personally can restore the energy using a different method, that is why I can fast without any damage to my health, and others can not. Once I had a patient which was fasting for a long period of time. She was dying. I had to do a few healing séances to bring her out of that state.

- So it is bed to fast and is bed to overeat?

- Anything is good in moderation.

- Some people are on certain diets. Take vegetarians for instance. Is it good for their health?

- If one lives in the country, it is all right to be a vegetarian. But if he lives in a big city, where there is a lot of pollution he needs to eat meat at least once per week. When we lived in India with my Teacher, we did not have any meat – we just had vegetarian food, and I did not feel hungry even though I was a young and strong man than. But when I was leaving the Teacher told me to eat meat while in the city.

- OK, I understand this, but what about the holly people, the recluse who live in retreats away from other people and live only on water and bread?

- I do not know about them, but I do know that only yogi of a high level of development who think that they need it could do it. I do not think that I need to do that. How could I lead an ascetic lifestyle and to become a recluse when I know that there are a lot of people who are ill and in need of my help? How can I live in mountains if I know that people are suffering? My Teacher lived away from the city because from there he could be much more use to people than if he would live in the city. There are plenty of yogis in the cities of India.

- Are there any yogis in our country apart from you?

- No. I can tell you even more: there are no real yogis in whole Europe and America.

- It is hard to believe that there were no Europeans in Indian yoga schools?

- There were, but it depends in what yoga school they were studying. There are plenty of yoga schools in India, but not many of them are of a high level. That is first of all. The second is that the people who were studying there were not doing the right thing when they came back home. They opened up yoga schools and started making millions of money. Yogis are not supposed to do that.

- What are yogis suppose to do?

- To serve their people, the whole humanity.

- Are there yogis like that outside India?

- Yes, three of them. After studying in India they went back to their countries. Those are advanced people; each one of them achieved a high status which gives them an opportunity to serve their nation. When wisdom is appreciated, it is in demand. In our country no one needs wisdom, which is why no one asks me anything. Once I offered my help in administrative personnel recruitment for one of the regions of Tbilisi. I offered to take the most undeveloped region to choose the right employees and to see what is going to change in a year’s time. No one agreed to that even though there was nothing to lose, the region was so far behind. In reply to my offer they asked me to take care of the taxi industry so the taxi drivers won’t take any tips. I told them it was impossible, as the taxi drivers come to work in this industry to get the tips.

- Tell me Alid Faski Natva, you are a raja yogi, you reached the highest level, are there many like you in the world?

- You mean raja yogis?

- Yes.

- Not many could be twenty or thirty on the whole planet.

- Out of all them is there anyone who has telepathic abilities like yours?

- I did not see any telepaths in India. My Teacher is an exception though. He can easily communicate with any person, animal or bird…

- Could you do it too?

- My Teacher taught me this…he taught me everything.

- Healing too?

- Yes, but I started healing later, after few years, when I felt that I could. After getting permission from my Teacher I started from my family and close friends, and only latter when I saw the results of my work I started to heal others. To heal people is a big responsibility; one could not betray the expectations of an ill person.

- You say that people are not interested in truth. But it does not apply to everybody; some people are interested in truth. Take your Teacher for example… You said he could do ANYTHING. What in particular can he do?

- An ordinary person can not conceive the abilities of the Teacher, one can not grasp it with his mind, so I do not talk much about him – people would not understand. I say only the things which people could understand. But if I say that he is such and such… and could do this and that… I can only say this: whatever I achieved, what I see, hear, understand – it is all because he taught me that. What else can I say? I understood that without him I would not accomplish anything. What is the point to praise? It is not a custom for yogis. If I start praising him he would not like it. He does not need me paying tribute to him. It is all nonsense. I would not do something like that.

- What is aura?

Philosophy of Yoga says: the one who sees aura does not talk about it. When I tell it to psychic people they ask: why not. Philosophy explains: when you see it you would understand why. What is aura? A light around human body.

- Colorful?

Different…

- Can yogis see what is on other planets?

- There are yogis who could see what on other planets. But they do not do that. What is the point? Even if they saw something they still could not tell. There are some things that you need to touch. Psychic people are making up stories sometimes: I’ve been there and there…

- So they took their consciousness there and saw something. Why can not they tell?

- What is the point?

- You mean because there is no point no one would believe? What if you want to know for yourself? Can you do that?

- I could but there is no point. Because you can not prove that. It would be one more cause for an argument.

- Would you be interested to know what is on other planets?

- Absolutely not. Say I need money. I know that the money is in the bank. What is the use of it? I can not go and get it. So what is the difference to me what is on Mars?

- Just for the knowledge sake?

- What this knowledge gives us? Nothing. This knowledge is only waist of our time. There is a game show now on TV; knowledgeable people, intellectuals… What would they do with their knowledge if it won’t be for this program? Why have this knowledge? Philosophy of yogi says: people learn so many things in their lives which are not needed – it is a waist of their lives. Yogis can a lot but they think if it’s needed? If yes, they would do it, if not what is the point.

- Science is constantly progressing, you could help science, or they do not want you to?

- Yes the scientists who are interested could be helped, the ones who are not – no need. Yogis do not get involved with technology as it could be used in military.

- Cloning of a human, is not it horrible?

- It is not happening yet. They only say they could. They wish they could, but there are no results yet. They work with animals.

- When a person dies where the soul goes?

- The soul which goes will find it out. There are enlightened people, when their soul returns some remember about their previous lives. They might not tell this but they are born to become prophets and sages.

- Is there a connection to the other world?

- Could be but I am not interested in that.

- What is clinical death?

- It is when a person is unconscious. He can not feel anything. Subconscious is working but what is strange that all people who say that they had a near death experience say the same silly thing. They see the same visions. It is impossible for different people to see the same thing. It is just one name for it (near death experience) in the same way as there is one name – life. But we all live differently. They say about near death experience that I saw this or that. Maybe they saw something but did not pay much attention to it because they could not understand what it was. Because in that state it is not easy to remember things.

- Is it possible to help one to get out of the near death state, or he needs to do it himself?

- Depends why and how this person got into this state… If God is willing he will get out of it. If God is not willing nothing would help.

- Do yogis and fakirs have anything in common? Fakirs can create illusions.

- Not every fakir could create an illusion. It depends on their level. But fakir is not a yogi. They have their way of training. They are not trained by a yoga teacher. They might do yoga exercises but they would do it by the book and their teachers are fakirs, not yogis. Yogis consider fakirs to be just tricksters. Some fakirs can influence the human psyche and make them see whatever they want them to see. Shamans achieve it in a different way. Different teaching. Any shaman influences the human psyche too. Through dancing they get into trance and the shaman makes them see whatever they want to see. For yogis it is not serious. It is the same as if you ask a person who could fly: can you jump? It is the same…

- In the book in chapter “Trip to a dead end” is written about Anatoly, who wanted to be your student. You did not accept him even though he had a potential. Why?

- It is simple. Why he started training himself? First he was attracted to what is forbidden. It means he was brought up in a wrong way. A normal person should not get attracted to what is forbidden. Second he started training himself thinking that he wants to help people, but ended up trying to control others people will and developing his intuition so he could use it for personal gain. He went strait to the casino!

- But you had healed him!

- Yes, but think about it: why did he want to be my student? Because he was driven by the same fanaticism. It took a short time for me to heal him could heal him but to change his way of thinking takes quite a while.

- Could you change in a short time his consciousness so he would not get tempted?

- Yes I could, but I consider it to be violence. Human consciousness needs to be developed in a natural way. His consciousness was not ready for the training, which means that this was not the path which was given to him by God, which is why I told him: “You are not ready yet. Live your life”.

- Alid Faski Natva! Could you tell us some funny stories which happen to you in your life?

- There had been a lot of stories in my life; I really do not now which one of them would be of any interest to you…

- Alid Faski Natva! I would like to ask you a question which had been a question of interest to the humanity for quite a while. Are Jews really a chosen by God nation, which they consider themselves to be and have been trying to prove to others during the history of humanity?

- The history of humanity proves it to be a difficult question to answer - smiles Alid Faski Natva. An ordinary human can not prove that – it is hard for him to answer this question. Truth does not need proof! A wise man says: a clever person would understand. The fact that Jews are a chosen by God nation had been proven by God: messiah was born in a Jewish family as God’s son – Jesus Christ. The more Jews are going to deny Christ the further away they get from the Truth – that Jews are a chosen by God nation. It does not mean that Jews have to be Christians, to recognise Christ would be good enough. All believe systems are good if God is willing to have all of them. When some are trying to prove that one religion is better than the other – it is a big sin, because it means that one is against God’s will. God is one for everyone! Only ignorant people can insist on existence of different Gods.

God is one for everybody and everything is happening according to God’s will!

Part 4

Once Alid Faski Natva was sitting in a shade on a small rock after finishing his work in the garden, he looked at the sky – not a cloud. He was in a peaceful and happy state. Then he looked to his right ... and saw a huge tiger. The distance between them was about twenty meters; the tiger was walking straight towards him. Alid Faski Natva froze; he did not feel any fear as if it was not happening to him. The beast was getting closer and closer. The young man could clearly see its slow movements, its eyes - which looked sad. One jump was enough for the beast to get his teeth into Alid Faski Natva. But the tiger did not do this. He slightly shook his body and turned away. Now it was obvious that the beast was weak, he was probably ill… He was approaching the house where in the doorway stood the Teacher who felt the approaching tiger. In front of the astonished student’s eyes the Teacher pet the tiger a few times. The tiger got quiet, lowered his head and started affectionately rubbing against him like a cat. The Teacher lowered his head to the tiger’s ear as if whispered something, the tiger growled quietly, made a few steps and than ran away in vigorous manner.

It was amazing! Animals were coming to the Teacher for healing! What was also surprising that the animals were finding the Teacher not only at his place, they were finding him wherever he was. Latter Alid Faski Natva realised that the Teacher was not healing all of them, sometimes he would just look at them in a special way and they would walk away.

Once in one of the villages a group of people were sitting; the Teacher and his student were amongst them. An animal which looked like a wolf appeared and stopped at a distance from them. In a while as if he had received permission it walked straight towards the Teacher, distinguishing him from other people. The Teacher got busy with him for a while, petted his head and the animal vigorously and joyfully went on his way.

It was hard for Alid Faski Natva at the beginning to comprehend all this. Even latter at home it all looked for him like magical dream.

With time he was experiencing and witnessing a lot of miracles which were verifying his Great Teacher’s powers.

Once in the afternoon he saw a group of people approaching the house. They were walking barefoot on the hot ground and caring stretches with a skinny shriveled man on them who looked pretty much like he was dead. “Poor man! Is he still alive?” – a thought went through Alid Faski Natva’s head. It looked like he was not breathing… But they would not bring a dead body there would they! Over his head there was a sort of construction which looked like an umbrella, protecting his head from the sun. Looked like those people came from far away, they probably got on their way early in the morning. The locals would not disturb the Teacher knowing that he was a holly man, but obviously the person they brought was really special to them. They put the stretchers down in front of the entrance into the house. The sweat on their faces was instantly drying out on the hot sun. ..

For three days the ill person was lying on the stretchers in the room. All those days the Teacher was healing him: he was doing special passes with his arms, was pounding something in a cup and giving it to him to drink. On the second day the man got up and walked along the room once. The Teacher told him to lie down again… On the third day he went outside two or three times, though he was still walking slowly. On the forth day his family came to get him as the Teacher asked them to do so. The stretchers were not needed any longer; the man was quite capable to make his way home even though it was quite far.

It was very difficult for Alid Faski Natva to analyze all his encounters, he was not trained in medicine, but intuitively he understood, that the illness which was eating up the man from the inside was very serious and one could assume that the damage in the body was quite significant. Looking at the positive transformation with the ill person Alid Faski Natva who could not really understand from the very beginning why exactly he was sent to India started to comprehend that he is being exposed to miracles which no one else would ever see.

Later on he realized that the Teacher started teaching him healing. For two or three month he was only observing the process of healing and only in half a year he realized that he is being trained. Every day Alid Faski Natva would do breathing exercises, first he would do it lying down, than standing, than while he was walking. But this was not the most important thing. The most important was that the Teacher was giving his student an authentic knowledge which was only understood by the two of them, so that the student of the High Teacher would go into the world being enlightened and gifted with a special power to heal people and to show them the way of truth.

During his stay with the Teacher Alid Faski Natva was visited for a few times by the teachers from his first yoga school in Bombay. They asked him if he needs to pass a message to the consulate. He thanked them but he had no message to pass. They treated Alid Faski Natva with great respect as he was a student of a Great Teacher. They were telling him what he had already witnessed himself: the Teacher is healing not everybody whether it’s people or animals, and it is not because he can not but because of some other reason only known to him, not disturbing the law of the divine…

They call the Teacher Guru. High Teacher does not mind you talking to him, but it is not acceptable to do so. One needs permission to speak to the Teacher. Whoever he looks at – talks. The teachers from Bombay gave Alid Faski Natva the name of the Highest Teacher, but no one calls him by his name, it would become known to humanity after he leaves this world…

The High Teacher was continuing acquainting his student with Indian lifestyle. They were visiting towns, villages, markets, yoga schools and just ordinary people’s houses. Wherever the Teacher would come, people without realizing that they were doing that would come up and stare at him trying to spend as much time around him as possible. Mysterious force would attract them to him. Once they came to a settlement with houses made out of clay with tilled roof, some were covered with hay or sugar canes, standing close to each other forming a street. Only central streets were pawed and had two or three storey brick houses. The entrance doors had small niches where oil lamps were lit at night. There was no electricity.

It was day time. The doors of small shops where they were making and selling ceramic pots, handmade shoes, pleated from ropes beads and farming tools were open. All those endless kiosks which were also selling food, women’s adornments were spreading all along the street, sometimes piles of merchandise would lay right on the pathway. It looked like it was more sellers than buyers. Everything was so strange here for Alid Faski Natva. Sometimes cows which were considered holly in India were walking along the streets. They also saw a herdsman with a heard of goats. As in any settlement the market was in the centre of it; farmers from all around the settlement on huge carriages harnessed into buffaloes; a hairdresser with his scissors and shaving utensils was sitting there. Him and his client were squatting one opposite the other. Fruit sellers were yelling out attracting their customers.

The travelers were doing long walks in the region. Alid Faski Natva was admiring the incredible sceneries: lake which was like a huge chalice with surprisingly smooth waters and a thick forest which at some places was getting quite close to the water. The nature was beautiful and wild: a herd of feral elephants was heading towards the water, a couple of tigers were lazily moving along. Alid Faski Natva was following his Teacher fearlessly.

Once after a long walk, the Teacher brought the young man to a busy place. There were a lot of tourists with their guides gathered in small groups. A dark skinny Hindu attracted Alid Faski Natva’s attention, he was sitting on the ground, with his legs crossed and his fists clenched demonstrating a very unpleasant view… Clenching his fingers for years he has achieved that his fingernails grew trough his palms and came out on the back of his hands. Some of the tourists would turn away with disgust; some were curious and were throwing some money on the ground.

- Maybe the nails were attached to the other side? – Naively thought Alid Faski Natva.

Even more unpleasant view for the tourist attraction was offered by a fake yogi. A skinny weary Hindu was inserting in-between his ribs some sharp bent object. With this hook he was attaching himself to a carriage and was offering a few tourists a ride. Alid Faski Natva turned away…

Why those people are interested to watch something like that? What do they think of it? A miracle? A trick?

Speaking in different languages groups of Japanese, Germans, English, American tourists surrounded the performer. He pulled out of his pocket a little orange seed and approached closely each one of miracle thirsty tourists and let them look at it closely, than he dug out a little hole in the ground and planted the seed covering it up with soil. Than he took a cloth and covered up the spot….In a few moments he pulled up the cloth… and the spectators could see a young sprout. The performer hurried up to cover the sprout with the cloth again and everyone could see the contour of the sprout under the cloth. Than every time the performer would lift the cloth up the plant would become bigger and bigger and than in few minutes it turned into a orange tree. Lifting up the cover for the last time the performer showed to the amazed spectators a ripe orange. He picked it of the tree cut it up in pieces and gave them to the tourists to try. The orange was nice and juicy. Meanwhile the performer covered the tree with the cloth and began the reversal process. Now each time he was covering and uncovering the plant it was getting smaller and smaller till it became a sprout which disappeared too. Then he dug up the seed put it into his pocket, collected the money and went on his way. One of the tourists rushed to dig the soil where the seed was planted the moment the magician left.… The magician stopped again somewhere fifty meters away and the performance started again.

Being with his Teacher and observing all this Alid Faski Natva understood that for his Teacher the event means no more than a child’s game, that he was able to do things like that himself but at the same time he knew why thing like that were not supposed to be done…

A bit later the Teacher explained to his student a huge difference between magicians-performers and raja-yogis. Though they do have one thing in common – a teacher; certainly each one on their own level. Yogis of a high level of their abilities consider magicians like that to be just tricksters. Even though that was not easy to be done for an ordinary person, the magicians have power of suggestion, creating a certain image in people’s minds. They implant into the spectator’s minds a certain story to their magical actions. When they come back home they tell everyone that they saw “miracles”. One of those “miracles” was described above and it was known as one of the classics amongst magicians. But there are other stories unfortunately not as harmless as this one.

The tourists have surrounded a Hindu wearing a turban and his helper – a boy about twelve years old. The old man got out of the circle and threw a rope which was about eight meters long. The rope froze in a vertical position. The magician gave the boy a sign and he began climbing up the rope. In front of the spectators eyes the boy’s head disappeared in the fog which appeared at the top first, than his body, than he disappeared completely. The old man got out a big bent sable climbed the rope and began to wave it around his head right where the boy just disappeared in the fog. Blood-spattered body parts began to fall down to the amazed spectators’ feet. Some of them turned their heads away in horror or screamed out. The old man got down, calmly gathered the body parts covered them with a cloth and in a few seconds he pulled the cloth up…. The spectators saw the boy safe and sound. The crowd gave out a sigh of relieve, applauded the pair, people were smiling and throwing money into a cup which the young helper held out to each one of them.

The art of Magic is similar to the shamanic techniques. Magicians like shamans influence the psyche of a human and make them see what he wants them to see. Through a dance shamans go into trance and take people into the world of illusions; magicians have different techniques to achieve the same result. For yogis on a high level of their spiritual development this is unacceptable by their philosophy. Creation of an illusion is violence to the human psyche. To harm someone or to do something just for fun is against yogis philosophy. Yogis are not supposed to satisfy the human thirst for miracles and to show of their abilities. There is only one exception to the rule; when it is done to save somebody’s life, to heal or to enlighten a student of yoga.

Part 3

Each morning began in a routine way: the Teacher and the student did special gymnastics and respiratory exercises. Teacher himself would prepare the vegetables, i.e., he would cut them into small pieces and offer some to Alid Faski Natva. He grew vegetables in his vegetable-garden; young man helped him in that, breaking up the earth. In the mountains there was a small grotto, where local residents would bring and leave flat cakes (bread) for them, covering it with stones. They would come from far away once per fortnight. Teacher himself went after the food, sometimes Alid Faski Natva would do it.

Once the Teacher took his student to one of the villages. The road was long... They entered the forest. They heard pleasant rustle of leaves in the crowns of the trees and the special noises, which indicated the presence of animals and birds. But once when the Teacher walked along the forest path, everything froze, absolute silences fell. After passing the forest, theTeacher and Alid Faski Natva came to a road, which lead to a village. A man with a seven year-old boy sat on the curb. It seemed that they had just came out of the same forest.

In the hands of the Hindu Alid Faski Natva saw a blood-stained knife, with he had just used to cut out an insect which got under his skin; apparently there were a lot of them in the forest. The same procedure was waiting for the boy as there was no other way to get rid of them. Only for a second or two the Teacher stood near the child, in order to examine his slender body.

The insects that were stuck in his body, began to come out by themselves from the wounded passages made by them. The man got on his knees and lowered his head in front of the Teacher till it touched the earth. The boy relived from his suffering looked with gratitude at the Teacher who was already leaving, and hurried to bow to him too.

Quietly they went further along the road. Locals, who walked in front of them, even though they could not see them, would feel the Teacher’s approach, stop and respectfully give way to the Teacher.

Palm trees grew along the road with large ripened yellow nuts on them.

Behind the palms there were rice plantations which looked pretty boring. Flooded by water, they created a dull picture. Sometimes they would see the heads of the wells which were used for watering the plantations. The work was in progress on the field. In some places they were harvesting the rice, on others they were busy with sprouts yet on others they were planting the seeds.

It was afternoon, the feeble structures of an Indian village seemed burnt out and wretched in the tough rays of the midday sun. Travelers approached one of the dwellings. Suddenly a Hindu man appeared on the road and invited them into his house by common gestures and bows. The Teacher and his student entered trough a low entrance lowering their heads. First Alid Faski Natva saw nothing: it was dark in the room. After adjusting to the darkness, he began to distinguish clay walls, ceiling made out of straws, rugs on the floor made of palm leaves, two rocks with pots and plates on top. The room looked very pore. Women stood at the table and eight children were sitting there. The host following his gests walked in and with a smile invited them to share their meal. He took a knife and cut the bread into even peaces. Indian people say that if a guest comes along during your mealtime, you need to share with him your meal. God sent this man. This food is his sacrifice. The host gave a piece to the Teacher and a piece to the student. The bread was gray and did not look appetizing at all. The table, on which it was cut, was not the best example of cleanliness. But the Teacher took the bread and Alid Faski Natva followed him without any hesitation. He understood everything... For him this was yet another lesson from the Great Teacher.

On the way back they went along the emerald colored clearing, surrounded by many yellow and dark-blue flowers. At the side in thick grass laid gigantic brown gaur (special species of large buffalos). It opened its eyes with difficulty and looked at the travelers. Gaur roared in a weak and sad voice which sounded ruther like a moan then got up shaking his head with two bent horns and moved towards the Teacher in an unsteady gait. The Teacher came up to the buffalo and stopped.

He looked so small next to a huge gaur. Buffalo trustingly stretched its snout towards him. The Teacher caressed its rough hot nose and scratched his head between horns. Gaur stood still and it looked like he was happy to stand like this for a long time. After being busy with the wild animal for a minute or two, the Teacher continued on his way. Alid Faski Natva followed him, and they entered the forest. For a second Alid Faski Natva saw that enormous gaur briskly walking along the clearing on his way out.

It became quiet in the forest as soon as the Teacher entered it as it was always the case.

Suddenly this silence was interrupted as trees began to crack, the sounds of falling trees and branches were heard and even the earth began to tremble.

Forest was thin, and Alid Faski Natva saw the entire herd of buffalos in front of them. They swept up everything on their way.

Their round eyes were burning on their ferocious faces. Even the tsar of the beasts - tiger – would look inferior to them at that moment. But the Teacher confidently continued on his way, without any intention to turn away. Unexpectedly the entire herd sharply took to the left, and reduced their speed by far. The road was free for the travelers.

Soon they entered a village, to be more precise the place, where the village used to be. Terrible picture opened up in front of them. . Nothing had remained of the large houses; small ones still were there, but in an appalling state. Domestic utensils were scattered everywhere. Few inhabitants, who still stayed in the ruined village, were gathering the remaining of the household goods. Misfortune had happened - this was obvious. But who caused it? No, this was not the herd of buffalos. Buffalos would never attack villages. Only later Alid Faski Natva saw the destroyer of the Indian village. It was an elephant tramp.

You won’t com across one of those very often, but when you do beware, they are very dangerous. They are being outcaste from the herd normally for their weakness. When they get old it becomes very hard for them to carry their tasks, they weigh normally about fifty kilo each and so they can not catch up with the heard. In rage they would destroy anything what gets on their way. No one can predict where this furious beast would appear tomorrow. It was not clear if there were any human casualties but the destructed village looked horrendous. The Teacher looked at what was left of the village, bypassed it and got into the forest. Alid Faski Natva did not know where the Teacher was taking him and he did not ask. When the time will come – he will know.

There was one more village they were passing by; Alid Faski Natva saw it from a distance. Little children were playing near the huts, woman were busy with their chores. At the edge of the forest people which were working stopped their work when they saw the Teacher and followed him with their eyes. In a few more moments the forest which was normally not disturbed by any loud noises was shaken with a tremendous crack of falling branches and small trees; then in their view an elephant appeared, it was walking fast carelessly making its way through the forest with its strong body. For the first and for the last time Alid Faski Natva saw such horrible event. But there was no fear: he watched it as if it was in the movies, as if it was not happening with him as if he was an outside onlooker. Suddenly the elephant has stopped as if he was forced to do so by an invisible force. The old giant could not understand what stopped him. He turned his head and saw the travelers and if they were ordinary people nothing in the world would have saved them. The elephant raised its trunk but made no sound and then quietly lowered it back. It was hard to see its small eyes but it stared at the travelers without taking its eyes of them. His yellow tasks looked frightening even now when the elephant stayed put without any possibility to act out his aggression. Certainly it was the influence of the teacher. Alid Faski Natva looked at that minute at the Hindu people and got shocked by their behavior. First they froze in a pose the appearance of the elephant caught them in, then as if they received a kick start they started running towards the nearest village.

The Teacher and Alid Faski Natva calmly passed the elephant continuing on their way. It did not move. But the placidity of the mad elephant was temporary: when the Teacher would get further away from it, it was quite possible it would continue on its rampage destroying villages and killing people. The people of the nearest village were lucky that the Teacher got on its way and stopped it. Perhaps after being stopped the elephant would change its direction and the village would be saved and even if that would not happen at least there would not be any human casualties as the people were already warned and they would have time to get away from this feral beast. It was a good lesson for Alid Faski Natva. The Teacher could stop the elephant’s aggression not only for a few minutes; he could stop him being aggressive forever. He did not do this and his student understood; what is predetermined by God is not suppose to be changed.

Everybody heard about famous Indian elephants, there are a lot of them on the vast territory of India. Indians train those animals to become helpers for them; especially they use them when a strong physical force is required. Therefore apart from feral elephants which live in herds there are some trained ones. As a rule they use them to clear forests. In India there is not enough land for farming which is why from time to time there is a need to clear the forest for plantations. Once the Teacher with his student visited one of those clearings. Huge tree trunks were already cleansed from brunches. Indians like ants thoroughly gathered the branches at one spot so they could be taken away. The huge trunks of the trees could not be moved without machinery but the machinery could not get into a place like that, so the elephants were irreplaceable. With ease they were lifting up huge tree trunks and piling them up in one spot. Elephants are quite obedient and normally do not create any problems, therefore two people are enough to watch over five-six elephants.

The work on the clearing was fully in progress. One of the elephants lifted a steam of a tree with his trunk, balanced his load and then slowly walked towards the road. On the same path there were other two elephants walking with their load, the others were returning back after they left their load alongside the road. It was a lot of work to do. There was no need to watch over them as they worked progressively and rhythmically. So the Hindu people were not watching them they had plenty of their own work to do. It was around noon time so it was quite hot. Elephants and people were rather tiered but continued working. At the edge of the clearing two people appeared – the Teacher and his student. The workers did not notice them and also did not notice that one of the elephants, who were returning back from the road to get another stalk, walked directly towards the clearing where the Teacher stood. In the same manner all elephants one by one approached the Teacher. Workers finally had noticed the disappearance of the elephants. They were astonished to see the elephants leaving their work. They rushed to the elephants yelling at them. By that time the elephants were all gathered around the Teacher reaching their trunks out to him. The yes of the Teacher were shining with kindness. He was stroking the elephant’s trunks which were reaching out to him and smiling. Alid Faski Natva saw that the elephant’s eyes which were hazy before were becoming brighter and brighter. The workers who arrived to the scene by then, watched motionlessly. Alid Faski Natva saw in their eyes not only amazement but also confusion. They looked at the Teacher like little kids that did not know what to do. The Great Teacher slightly slapped the elephant that approached him last, made a hardly noticeable gesture with his hand and elephants peacefully turned around as if receiving a command and went back. The workers were still standing and looking at the Teacher as if waiting for a sign from him. The Teacher just looked at them and they quietly without saying a word turned around and followed the elephants. When one of the workers turned around to look at the amazing people at the clearing there was no one there. The Teacher and his student suddenly disappeared in the same way they appeared. At least that was what the workers thought whilst they have noticed that the elephants started moving faster with their load as if the day has just begun.

Part 2

After putting his simple things, shorts and jacket, into his suitcase - Alid Faski Natva was ready... The road was long. They had to cross half of the country to get to the north. They would get a buss ride during the day and walk through the villages during night time. Then again bus, car and finding a place to stay overnight. Surrounding passengers didn’t notice them. A cheerful Hindu who happened to give them a lift was happy to drive them anywhere they wanted. Then the two travelers walked up the mountain. Difficult road, up and up and up... And, nevertheless, Alid Faski Natva noted that they didn’t get up high much, because there still was forest around them. On the road if the teacher would mentally say something, the student would answer him mentally.

The Teacher easily with a bouncy gait was rising up the steep slope. Student followed him. Along the road the young man sometimes would get breathless and feel tired. The 26-year old trained athlete, strangely, had hard times to catch up with his guide, who was one hundred and twenty years old!

Passing small settlements in the valley, travelers continued rising up along a hardly noticeable path, which continually hid itself behind the sequential protrusion of a cliff. It became cooler; they continued their way in the shadow. Alid Faski Natva was astonished that his quite old co-traveler didn’t get tired. It seemed that those short stopovers, which they made on the way, little breaks were meant only for him, Alid Faski Natva. After continuing the rise and using alternative passages on the flat terrain, in one and a half hours they reached a small plateau, from where the view of the forests in the valley opened up for them. There stood the house of the Teacher, surrounded by several trees that looked very strange from the mountains. The sun set, and all the landscape immersed into the shadow. They entered the house with the last rays of sunlight; it seemed like someone switched of the light after that.

This small house had a small room in the center, which had two entrances to the side rooms. Alid Faski Natva for some reason immediately understood that he should get into the door to the left. He entered, placed his belongings on the floor, and looked around… In the room there laid a mat with a pillow and two blankets accurately folded. Some sheets were lying on the small simple wooden shelf. Alid Faski Natva took one of the blankets, put it over the mat, and placed a sheet on top. In the room there were also a small table at the wall and two chairs. Alid Faski Natva fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow. This was the deepest sleep in his life.

After awakening early in the morning, Alid Faski Natva felt cheerful and rested, as if the difficult walk did not happen just yesterday. Intuitively he felt, that he should not enter the Teacher’s room, so he waited...

His entire life was left far behind and in front of him there was a marvelous uncertainty.

This was the first day of a completely new life for him. A different person was left far behind in the past on the road not far away from his childhood. Later on the Teacher would teach him a completely new way of living in the world. Before now Alid Faski Natva had entirely different relationships with his family, friends and other people. The Teacher would teach him a new way of love and fill his soul up with a higher understanding.

In a few minutes he felt the need to go outside. He got up, made his bed and went out. In front of him a surprising and wonderful picture had come into his view. The sun was hiding behind the summits but it was totally light from its pink - orange reflection. The air, full of unknown thin aroma, was slightly cool. The Teacher stood in a distance; birds were flying around him, as if they were greeting him, some of them sat on his shoulders. He stretched out his hands to them, and small birds hurried to get touched by his hands at least for a brief moment. Large feathered birds looked like domestic birds which were waiting for the food from their owner. The Teacher didn’t give any food to them, he gave them more, he gave them vital energy. Eyes of the Teacher were shining with kindness. The picture that had unfolded in front of Alid Faski Natva was truly like in a fairytale.

This was the first day of a different life for Alid Faski Natva. The Teacher and the student communicated freely through their thoughts, without knowing the language of each other.

***

Each of the following days brought Alid Faski Natva new knowledge and new feelings. The Teacher taught the young man pranayama - in yoga it is a complex of complete respiration, physical and mental exercises. He never entered Alid Faski Natva’s room and Alid Faski Natva in his turn subconsciously felt, that he also should not enter his Teacher’s room. He had done many things in the way they were suppose to be done. Probably, the Teacher led the actions of his student.

They would get down from the mountains and walk to the settlements in the valley and forest; they would even visit quite populated places and yoga schools. The Teacher would frequently send his student to distant villages. He didn’t simply acquaint Alid Faski Natva with the life of Hindu people during these journeys, but he allowed him to form his own view of life. Once during a long distant passage walk, they somehow got to a virgin forest. Alid Faski Natva had never seen forest like this. Massive trees were braided by many lianas, which were wrapped all around the trunks, sometimes forming something looking similar to stairs. The young man’s attention was attracted by plants with long feather like, almost a meter long, leaves ending with threadlike bent thorns.

He touched the thorn with one hand: it was solid as a rock and was supplied with sharp claws. After piercing the human body, those thorns could inflict a deep wound. It was amazing that no thorns until now, had wounded neither the Teacher nor him, although feather-like leaves of the plant were everywhere: below and above, reaching the apexes of the high trees, swinging their terrible long leaves. Alid Faski Natva understood why it never wounded him: unconsciously he was putting his feet exactly into the footsteps of the Teacher. The air was filled with the sweet smell of sandal-wood. Extraordinary bright flowers were growing everywhere; usually loud, but very quiet now parrots were sitting on the tree’s brunches. On one of the branches Alid Faski Natva saw a large black squirrel sitting and hiding its head. Enormous butterflies were landing on autumn leaves lying on the ground and remained still, decorating the path, which the travelers walked along. Following the Teacher’s footsteps Alid Faski Natva was surprised to see that a butterfly which they both stepped on flapped its wings as if nothing happened and flew away. Eagles and hawks ever looking for their pray disappeared out of their sight – no leaving creature could become a victim in the presence of the Teacher. On one of the bamboo’s trunk, just in front of Alid Faski Natva’s eyes, he saw a long spotty snake, but he wasn’t frightened, although he knew that it was venomous. Teacher was walking confidently in the forest the way city people walk on familiar streets of their city. Student followed his Teacher.

In an hour the forest started to thin down noticeably. On his right, on the periphery of his vision Alid Faski Natva saw a silhouette of a man near the trunk of a tree. He turned his head and realized he had mistaken, it was a monkey. It stood as a sculpture on a spot, following the motion of the travelers. Above it, on the branch, also motionlessly sat another one, and than yet another one. There were many of them there, as monkeys live in flocks, but Alid Faski Natva did not pay much attention to that. He continued to follow the Teacher. Finally he could see some light coming through the brunched of the trees. The sight began to take shape, and in front of the travelers a dusty road opened up. Few pedestrians were walking along it, and an elephant was walking slowly in front of them. On the back of the elephant sat the rider in his full glory.

Travelers despite the long distance walk were walking quite fast and people who were walking ahead of them would feel the approach of the Teacher and they would clear the path waiting for the Teacher to pass and bow to him and his student in a respectful manner.

Alid Faski Natva was already accustomed with this kind of sight. He wasn’t surprised even when the elephant, felt them approaching, stopped lowered its head and let the Teacher pass. In half an hour they reached the settlement. Alid Faski Natva saw small houses, covered with palm-tree leaves; a lot of green vegetation, high palms. Monkeys would appear on the trees and on the roofs of the houses.

Travelers approached the temple, which rose above the small houses, as if it gathered them around itself protecting them. Pink, similar to the color of a melon, it rose sixty meters up to the sky. The entrance to the temple was decorated by two smiling at gathering people stone statues.

A market unfolded at the square in front of the temple. Alid Faski Natva watched how Hindus were trading, buying copper dishes, rings, bracelets, amulets. Rice was boiling in copper pots, next to it golden clusters of bananas were sold; fragrant mangos, large pineapples, boiled vegetables and sweet dates. The sun scorched intolerably. The Teacher and the student squatted under the palm’s shadow. A young boy, thirteen years old, ran up to them, and gave them two cups with rice and said something, pointing towards one respectfully smiling Hindu near the large pot with the rice. Teacher and Alid Faski Natva took the cups. The rice was tasty. Gradually people gathered around them. They were attracted to the Teacher as to a magnet. They didn’t say anything, simply stood not far away, without approaching, in order not to disturb the rest of the sitting travelers.

A fearful looking black and white antelope appeared from somewhere. Its bright black eyes stared at the Teacher. He glanced into its eyes, and it walked towards him slowly passing the people who were standing, slightly limping on its wounded leg, came up directly to the Teacher and touched him with its nose. He touched on its head two times and, after slapping its back, he let it go on its way. Slightly limping it rushed away towards the valley.

Gradually the number of people, gathered in the temple, grew. Many of them stood under the mushroom-shaped umbrellas, made from palm-tree leaves. But no one entered the temple. Clergymen were preparing for the rite. Women in pink and violet sari placed baskets with flowers with great care on the rocky steps of the temple. The Teacher and his student passed the crowd of people and entered. They were greeted by the pleasant coolness that emanated from the stones. Alid Faski Natva observed the temple. Walls were decorated with ornaments and sculptures. In one corner of the temple there was an elephant head with a trunk - image of the God of wisdom Ganesha, in other – monkey-figured statue of Ganumana, the God of monkey. Clergymen, after giving out his last orders, hurried towards the Teacher. They sat on the rock strips and talked in Hindi language. Alid Faski Natva, reading their thoughts, understood what they were talking about. After brief, but deep conversation, the Teacher and Alid Faski Natva, said good-bye to the clergymen and left the temple, where after some minutes a ceremony was suppose to begin.

Rested travelers headed towards the valley, where half an hour ago skipped the cured antelope. Crossing the valley without hurry they entered the forest that was in front of them. They were on their way to one of the schools and they wanted to get there before the darkness. After passing a small forest, they reached the gorge. The water sparkled in the sun, and at the very moment, when the Teacher had reached the gorge, noise of the running water became noticeably quieter, as if someone switched off the noise, turning the volume control. Travelers used a narrow crooked wooden bridge to cross over the stream; it seemed like the bridge could get torn apart by the flow of the stream at any time, than they began to rise along the narrow path to the mountain.

From the mountain they saw bright green slopes with cows grazing there looking like toy figurines. Wide valley unfolded in front of them. There was the school they were heading to. Getting down to the valley, Alid Faski Natva was delighted by the fresh and warm air.

Once the Teacher showed to his student the famous Marble canyon. Alid Faski Natva saw the deep crystal clear transparent waters, running in the canyon, and the snow-white marble cliffs reflecting in it. The apexes of cliffs shone like silver in sun rays at the background of the dark-blue sky. Below, in the base of a cliff, on the water surface there were reflections of the same apexes, only in inverted form, they crushed into the small splinters that danced in the furious whirlpool. Monkeys sat on the cliffs and examined the travelers with interest; far in front of them flew pigeons, and the voices of numerous parrots were heard from a distance. Teacher and Alid Faski Natva went along the gorge away from bushes, near the cliffs. They went around the protrusion, and the dangled stairs, made of bamboo. "What are these stairs for?" – flashed a thought in Alid Faski Natva`s head. And right away he received a mental answer from the Teacher: "Hunters are after the bee honey". "Bees?" – the student did not have enough time to get surprised, as one bee as in confirmation of the Teacher’s words flew right passing him, and then also another bee the size of a large beetle.

They continued their path in the gorge along the water steam, which, shining in the sun flue over large stones. In front above the water, almost at the shore, Alid Faski Natva saw a dark lump with obscure outlines. He could not understand yet what it was, as the black lump (these were hundreds of infuriated bees) exploded from within: bees instantly dispersed everywhere. Travelers approached that place, where they were grouping. Young Hindu with difficulty came out of the water. On his face, neck and arms were terrible bees’ bites. Only the words of gratitude left his lips. Teacher attentively examined the bitten areas; for several seconds he held his hands on the head of the suffering person and said he was fine... this time. His body was greased by mustard oil that bees do not like very much; however, this precaution didn’t help. Without the help of the Teacher, death would be unavoidable for the hunter. Teacher attentively looked afar. From there it could be because of his mental order or just by coincidence a boat appeared. Two Hindus: elderly and a young - rove the boat to pick up the injured relative. Continuously giving thanks to the Teacher, they picked up the victim who was already recovering from the sufferings. The Teacher and the student continued on their way. The boat went in a opposite direction, and Alid Faski Natva could still hear for a while the words of an elderly Hindu, overall meaning of which he understood, because of the fact that he perceived his thoughts - that escaping from bees it would have been much better not to the water, but to thick bushes...

Part 1

Yogis are people, who strictly dedicate themselves to their own philosophy that helps them to live in this world and gives them hope to discover the truth.

Yoga is varied: hatha-yoga, satva-yoga, tantra-yoga, agni-yoga, bhakti-yoga, rajah-yogi and so forth. The explanation of the specific philosophical characteristics of each of these types of yoga can be found in the esoteric literature. Different directions of yoga differ from each other by their complexity. The most complex is rajah-yoga. It is the highest manifestation of mental and energetic abilities.

Purpose of any yoga direction is one: enlightenment and the knowledge of the Truth. Entire philosophy of Yoga goes through God. What enlightenment means? A person, who got to know the Truth, got to know God. There is no Truth without God. Every yogi strives for this, but only few would achieve enlightenment, only for them, for the very few, the Truth is being opened up. But those few are the confirmation of the fact that unlimited possibilities are being hidden in a human being; yogis, striving for perfection of their abilities could reach such results that are far beyond the limited understanding of an average person. Some of them can hold their breath for a very long time (hours, days, weeks...), others - govern their vital processes (stop bleeding, increase or decrease their blood pressure...), thirds can levitate. This depends on their individual abilities. Philosophy of yoga does not allow demonstrating to others something that a simple person cannot understand unless there is a special need for it.

Each yoga school has its own level. In all the schools there are sufficiently high teachers. Those schools are different from our schools. Usually in our schools, if a teacher sees that a student has special abilities, he tries to hold on to him to show that it is his own (teacher’s) achievement. In the yoga school, if they see that they can’t give anything to the student, they send him to another school, and then to another, to the higher teacher, dependending of how gifted the concrete student is. Teachers never make mistakes estimating the perspectives of the development of their student’s abilities.

How to get accepted into a yoga school? There are no conventional examinations; everyone who is willing could come and the teachers would talk with them. The procedure is as following: They would ask questions, any questions, even ordinary, simple ones. For the teachers it is important how the student answers. Each potential student must pass three levels (three stages). The first – honesty; the second - honesty and the third – honesty. The teacher makes the decision depending on answers. Next day after the conversation they would come back to the applicant with a result.

Only healthy person could get to know himself and develop. If a person is not totally healthy, then he will be trained in hatha-yoga (this is physical exercises together with respiratory exercises). In Yoga the respiratory exercises are very important. All levels of yoga beginners and advanced are given respiratory training; the exercises for health improvement are optional. This depends furthermore on the health status of the student. Teachers decide on these exercises for each student individually.

Student follows the instructions of hatha-yoga and becomes healthy, then follows instructions which the teacher has already prearranged for him according to his individual abilities. There are the yogis, who do not have any significant or specific abilities. What do they achieve then? They become healthy, objective thinkers... And this is quite a lot on its own.

The School had a large territory; there were houses there and a dining room under the shed. Alid Faski Natva was settled into one of the houses. The room was for two persons to share, but he lived on his own. He did not go to the city, although it was not forbidden to him. There were eighty or hundred persons, Alid Faski Natva didn’t count, everybody without an exception were Hindus, and wore the national clothing. Alid Faski Natva did not communicate with them. He counted eight teachers, possibly, there were more. In the mornings they had their workouts, but he was not told to do them. There were only vegetables for food but Alid Faski Natva was satisfied with that.

Thus the contact with the teachers has begun. They were strange, they knew Russian language. There was no special training, they simply talked. Questions were mainly about his life - he answered. After twenty days teachers had made a decision that he must move on to another school. In another school, also in Bombay, the teachers didn’t speak any Russian; therefore there was an interpreter. In this school, again, the studies were conducted in a form of conversations with the teachers. They asked Alid Faski Natva, where he lived, how and what he had been doing for living, how he feels, does it feel good for him to be here in India; what is good, what is bad... Simple everyday questions, but teachers in their own way would interpret his answers. Studies were passing unconstrained during the whole day. They didn’t teach him any respiratory exercises. The process of acclimatization continued for him.

Several days had passed. In the spacious room at the table the teachers, Alid Faski Natva and the interpreter sat and talked. The fan was rotating on the ceiling slowly moving hot air. Alid Faski Natva, feeling his relaxed because of the heat body, listened to the gentle sounds of Hindi language, waiting for the translations. Suddenly in his head a thought had appeared:

- will you go with me?

- I will if I must, - answered mentally Alid Faski Natva, without realizing whom he was answering to.

Alid Faski Natva continued the conversation with the teachers with the help of the interpreter. Then he felt something and turned his head. In small shadowed spot at the door sat an elderly person with small beard, which emphasized the extraordinary graciousness of his face. Bright clothing softly enfolded his sitting figure.

- If I must – I will go, - remembered his mental answer Alid Faski Natva, without fully realizing what was happening yet. He was able to answer mentally and he was understood!

Soon teachers finished the conversation. They knew that a High Teacher had arrived for Alid Faski Natva. One of the teachers said:

- The Teacher has arrived for you. This is a great honor. He says that you must go with him. We will settle this matter in the consulate for you.

Yes, this was the High Teacher of India. There was no communication barrier between him and Alid Faski Natva. They could freely communicate mentally. Teacher took his student with him, and of they went to North-India, where far away from the settlements, in the mountains, there stood a small house of the Teacher and the student had to live there together with his Teacher for an entire year. According to the regulation a one year period was set for Soviet citizens on a mission of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

Thus occurred this surprising encounter and, as the saying goes in yoga, "Teacher comes after his student".