Dear One

In March of 2000 I received completely unexpected a large bright orange envelope in the mail (both the name and address have since changed so hold your hate mail) via Air Mail par avon Royal Mail with an exotic colorful stamp postmarked Reading Mail.

The mind filled with anticipation and wonder. Who would send me such a card from the UK?

No return address.

Upon opening the envelope I found a card of quality stock paper with the message "Why Meditate" from Swami Sivananda. Attached to the card was a red and gold enamel lapel pin with the Sanskrit symbol for "Om". My first thought was "What a nice little treat, I must have lent my name to a nice mailing list".

It wasn't until I turned the card over that I realised the cosmic and spiritual significance of the gift. It was sent from "The Office of George Harrison" rubber stamped in purple ink.

It was only three months after he'd survived the tragic knife attack in his home. I stood in stunned disbelief in my post office, trying the catch my breath amidst the tears beginning to flow.

It was the culmination of a years long one-sided correspondence with a man who was more than a BeaTle to me, more than a musician. It affirmed for me that at least one of my silly letters reached him and made some kind of impression for him to include me in such a kind gesture. I have since heard of one other ardent fan who also received one of these cards.

Sadly, I swiftly lost the Om pin. After wearing it on my person like a sacred talisman one day it disappeared. I cried over its loss, cursed my own carelessness and then decided someone must have needed it more than I.

George Harrison was my first concert in 1974. I was 12. I had to beg my mother and wear her down to let me go.

The clipping I saved from the Rolling Stone concert review article. (Note the Babaji badge on George's shirt.)

But even more significant than that is the gift of bringing me to my guru, Paramahansa Yogananda, which first occurred during the reading of the liner notes of George's song Dear One which George dedicated to Yogananda. And this prompted me to look more deeply into Yogananda's teachings. I read the Autobiography of a Yogi. And soon after my feet were firmly entrenched on this path.

~ Om Guru ~