On The Path

Just a Piece of Chocolate

"You know, I really don't believe that prasad is anything special." (For those of you who are not familiar with this spiritual term and have not read my book 'The Hidden Path': 'prasad' is food that has been sanctified through the blessings of a Guru or some other kind of spiritual practice.)

The words out of the mouth of a young Viennese boy who was conversing with his friend in the middle of the small, but crowded room, drew my attention. As I watched, he energetically shook his blonde head for emphasis.

"I tell you, it is. Guru's light is in the Prasad," his friend argued. The brunette boy looked a bit more familiar than the first one. With some effort, I might even be able to remember his name. (Or not.)

Intrigued by the topic, I placed myself next to the window closest to the pair. I pretended to be completely fascinated by the boring, grey colored multi-floor house in front of it, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. After all, who wants to be caught eavesdropping?

But I really needn't have worried, since the whole antechamber of the Viennese Centre was filled with people in their whites and saris moving to and fro on the carpeted floor, getting ready for the meditation. Everybody was much too busy chatting with their friends to care for what anybody else was doing.

"You sincerely believe that this tiny piece of wrapped chocolate contains some kind of power?" There was more than just a hint of skepticism in the first boy's voice. Again he shook his head, which caused the longish strands of his blonde bangs to fall over his eyes. He absentmindedly brushed them back with a move of his right hand.

"Yes," the second one simply said. "Especially since it was given in Guru's presence after a function."

"But this was a few days ago."

"It doesn't matter."

"That's pure illusion. Or superstition," the first boy declared condescendingly.

"No, it's not. I tell you, if you're receptive, you can feel the energy."

Hm. I loved the prasad. But I couldn't say that I had been able to explicitly experience its light or power up to that point. It usually tasted delicious - even the food that I was normally not too fond of - but that was about it. Well, I had experienced quite a few other things already. One can't be open on every level. (Well, one can, of course. But I obviously couldn't.)

"Prove it."

I almost chuckled loudly at the notion. How on earth are you supposed to prove something like inner light?

"How to you want me to prove it?" The brunette asked, frowning.

My thoughts, exactly.

"I have been using my pendulum for years and I trust it. I could measure the size of your aura with and without the prasad."

I almost turned around to give that boy an incredulous look. So he didn't believe in the power of prasad, but trusted his pendulum? I found this quite ironic.

"Sounds good. What do you want me to do?"

"All right, then. First, you give me the chocolate and I shall use my pendulum to measure the extent of your aura without it. Then you take it back from me and I shall measure it again. Let's see if it makes any difference."

At this point I decided to turn around, as I wanted to see what was going to happen. Luckily, the two friends were so engrossed in what they were planning that they appeared to be completely oblivious to their surroundings.

The first boy expectantly held out his left hand for the sweet, while simultaneously extricating a small blue, velvet pouch from the front pocket of this white trousers.

The other one hesitated for only a moment – he probably debated with himself whether he should really part with his precious piece of prasad – before obediently placing the treat into the hand of his friend. Who swiftly pulled a small, silvery and tear shaped object out of the pouch, gingerly took the end of a delicate chain attached to it between his thumb and forefinger and allowed the heavy part to drop.

For several moments, nothing happened. The pendulum simply hung motionless on its silver chain.

Which didn't surprise me, as I had already experienced one of its kind in action. Years ago, when one of my classmates had brought her pendulum to school to test how we had done in an English paper. In my case, the little thing had been astonishingly accurate, correctly predicting the unlikely mark I had received a few days later.

Unfortunately, right at that moment some other disciples passed between the boys and me, blocking my view. Which prevented me from being able to observe what the pendulum did. But fortunately I was still able to hear the first boy's strong voice. "Your aura is about three meters in diameter. That's good, but fairly normal. Now, take the chocolate back."

To my great annoyance, at that moment some more people decided that they had to squeezed by. Right when it turned interesting! But at least nobody talked loudly and I was able to follow the proceedings easily.

Especially since the first boy's voice suddenly rose a few decibels, even drawing the attention of some innocent bystanders.

"Hey! I don't believe it. Your aura now extends beyond this room! No, that can't be right! Let's try again. Give me the chocolate!"

His friend chuckled. "Okay, okay. But, please, calm down a bit. People are looking..." His gaze briefly met mine.

Uh-oh.I quickly turned towards the window.

The two boys repeated the experiment with the same results as before.

Suddenly, somebody rang a bell, indicating the start of the mediation. On my way inside the meditation room, I faintly heard an annoyed sounding voice: "I still can't believe it..."

*Smiles*

Hope you liked the chapter!