The Missing Water Bottle
The Missing Water Bottle
At night, one of my disciples was driving us along the route where one of my spiritual daughters, A., was going to run thirteen miles the next morning, so we could leave bottles of water there. She was saying that she wanted to get rid of all her old running shoes. Another of my spiritual daughters, B., who was in the car with us, said, "Why do you have to get rid of them? There will be many people to buy them." But she used some American slang expression. A. said, "Nobody will buy my shoes." B. said, "Why don't you give them to Casey to sell in his flea market? People will be happy to buy running shoes at a cheap price." A. put bottles of water at the three-mile, five-mile and six-mile marks. On the bottles it was written, "This bottle is for a runner. Please do not remove!" or something like that. The next morning A. was supposed to start running at six o'clock. At five o'clock I was out running along the same route. A little before the three mile mark, I said to myself, "Let me go and see whether the bottle is still there." I knew she had put it near the sidewalk at the base of a drinking fountain. I stopped there to look, but the bottle was not there. "Wonderful, wonderful" I thought sadly. "Somebody has removed it."
I was about to start running again on the street when one of my inner beings said, "My Lord, please run on the sidewalk." I didn't ask why. After 100 metres, right at the 1,500-metre mark on the sidewalk, I saw the bottle standing straight up. Someone had removed the bottle and put it on the sidewalk. Had my inner being not asked me to run on the sidewalk, I would not have seen the bottle since it was quite dark.
I picked up the bottle and ran back to put it in the original place. Then I continued my run.
-29 September 1979
Seven Dollars Talks
At the four-mile mark I saw a middle-aged, innocent looking lady in trouble. She was having problems with her Volkswagen and had opened the hood. She said, "Can you give me a hand?"
O God, I know nothing about cars. I said, "I know nothing about mechanics, but please wait. In ten minutes I will be able to send you my chauffeur." She didn't understand my English, so I said, "My driver, my driver."
Then I began running quite fast to look for a telephone booth to call the disciple who drives me around. After 200 metres, I saw an ambulance driver asleep in his ambulance. As soon as I passed him he woke up and said, "Hey, such a beautiful, cool morning. Don't you know how to enjoy sleep? You woke me up."I said, "Friend, can you do me a favour? A girl is having trouble with her car."
He said, "Pretty girl?"
I said, "Middle-aged lady." This man was a real joker. I never carry money when I run, but this time I happened to have seven dollars with me. I gave him the money, and the seven dollars talked. He immediately turned on the motor and made a wrong turn down a one-way street heading toward the lady. When I saw him finally talking to the lady, I said, "Now I have done my part. He is a joker, but he will fix her car. So I continued running.
-29 September 1979
The Policeman
Twenty metres away from the five-mile mark there was a parked police car with two policemen in it. One of them was asleep. The other one said to me, "Sir, how I wish I didn't have duty at this hour. Why don't you go and rest? Why do you have to run at this hour?"
I said, "I enjoy it."
He asked, "Where are you going?"
I answered, "Somebody has put water at this spot to drink."
The policeman said, "Don't you want to drink it? Aren't you thirsty?"
I said, "No, I am not thirsty."
"Go home and sleep," he said.
-29 September 1979
A Great Runner
When I had run another mile and a half, I stopped for a second or two. Immediately a tiny dog came and sat by my right foot, wanting me to caress it and give it a little kindness. I never do this kind of thing, but this time I bent a little to touch the dog's head. The owner, who was bald-headed, wearing a grey coat, came over to me and said, "My Dolly has fallen in love with you."
I kept caressing the dog. The owner said, "Dolly, do you want to become a great runner like this gentleman?"
I said, "How I wish I could become a great runner!"
-29 September 1979
The Mysterious Hat
On my way back I wanted to see if the first bottle of water was still there. I was wearing my Pepsi Cola Bicycle Marathon hat and I put it under the bottle to see if my spiritual daughter A. would find it. Later, A. told me that some crazy person had put a hat under her water bottle and she had just left it there. Her intuition wasn't working. I didn't tell her whose hat it was.
-29 September 1979
