amidst deeply unhappy circumstances of my life; and how its loss was a herald of my gain of a guru, cannot be told in this chapter.
But the small boy, thwarted in his attempts to reach the Himalayas, daily traveled far on the wings of his amulet.
{FN2-1} Sanskrit root meaning of SWAMI is “he who is one with his Self (SWA).” Applied to a member of the Indian order of monks, the title has the formal respect of “the reverend.”
{FN2-2} The Indian custom, whereby parents choose the life-partner for
my arm; and YOUR boil shall swell to twice its present size!”
Morning found me with a stalwart boil on the indicated spot; the dimensions of Uma’s boil had doubled. With a shriek, my sister rushed to Mother. “Mukunda has become a necromancer!” Gravely, Mother instructed me never to use the power of