Yogananda, Paramahansa, 1893-1952; Yogis -- India -- Biography
Blood flowed thinly and continuously in an inch-wide stream from
Therese’s lower eyelids. Her gaze was focused upward on the spiritual
eye within the central forehead. The cloth wrapped around her head
was drenched in blood from the stigmata wounds of the crown of
thorns. The white garment was redly splotched over her heart from
the wound in her side at the spot where Christ’s body, long ages
ago, had suffered the final indignity of the soldier’s spear-thrust.
Therese’s hands were extended in a gesture maternal, pleading;
her face wore an expression both tortured and divine. She appeared
thinner, changed in many subtle as well as outward ways. Murmuring
words in a foreign tongue, she spoke with slightly quivering lips
to persons visible before her inner sight.
As I was in attunement with her, I began to see the scenes of
her vision. She was watching Jesus as he carried the cross amidst
the jeering multitude. {FN39-4} Suddenly she lifted her head
in consternation: the Lord had fallen under the cruel weight. The
vision disappeared. In the exhaustion of fervid pity, Therese sank
heavily against her pillow.
At this moment I heard a loud thud behind me. Turning my head for
a second, I saw two men carrying out a prostrate body. But because
I was coming out of the deep superconscious state, I did not
immediately recognize the fallen person. Again I fixed my eyes on
Therese’s face, deathly pale under the rivulets of blood, but now
calm, radiating purity and holiness. I glanced behind me later
and saw Mr. Wright standing with his hand against his cheek, from
which blood was trickling.
“Dick,” I inquired anxiously, “were you the one who fell?”
“Yes, I fainted at the terrifying spectacle.”
“Well,” I said consolingly, “you are brave to return and look upon
the sight again.”
Remembering the patiently waiting line of pilgrims, Mr. Wright and
I silently bade farewell to Therese and left her sacred presence.
{FN39-5}
The following day our little group motored south, thankful that we
were not dependent on trains, but could stop the Ford wherever we
chose throughout the countryside. We enjoyed every minute of a tour
through Germany, Holland, France, and the Swiss Alps. In Italy we
made a special trip to Assisi to honor the apostle of humility, St.
Francis. The European tour ended in Greece, where we viewed the
Athenian temples, and saw the prison in which the gentle Socrates
{FN39-6} had drunk his death potion. One is filled with admiration
for the artistry with which the Greeks have everywhere wrought
their very fancies in alabaster.
We took ship over the sunny Mediterranean, disembarking at
Palestine. Wandering day after day over the Holy Land, I was more
than ever convinced of the value of pilgrimage. The spirit of Christ
is all-pervasive in Palestine; I walked reverently by his side at
Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Calvary, the holy Mount of Olives, and by
the River Jordan and the Sea of Galilee.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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