1972

The last meeting of our first and original centre at 659 Miramar Avenue, Santurce, Puerto Rico ¹⁶

We were singing the Bidai bela song, which is a song of farewell. It was addressed to this soulful and beautiful Centre, where we have all had such sublime experiences from our high meditations, from our inner Oneness, Joy, Love and Bliss. Towards the end of the song, something very funny happened. It was also something very meaningful and significant.

The soul of this Centre and the soul of the new place where we are moving (1361 Wilson Avenue) had a terrible battle. The soul of this place said, "For six years they have been here, and I have nourished them and they have nourished me. It is I who have to take all the credit and carry all my experiences to the new place." But the soul of the Wilson Avenue house said, "No, they are coming to my place. It is my property, and it is here that they will grow. I do not need you." But the soul of this place said, "But it is here that the growth started, and there should be a continuous growth. It cannot be broken and started again. I should come to your place. There should be a gradual and continuous growth, especially since it was here that they have gone through so much suffering. The suffering that they have gone through has been in the vital, the mental and now recently in the physical."

Alo said, "I feel very badly about this. I feel very sad for the soul of this Centre which has seen us through all our ups and downs. Why can't the soul of this place come to the new Centre and work alongside the new soul of the other house? Why can't they operate together?"

The sad experiences of this Centre: the quarrels, misunderstandings, jealousies, etc., are not in the actual soul. The soul itself fed us here in this Centre, and we fed the soul. The soul fed us with its light, and we fed the soul with our aspiration. This Centre's soul is far stronger than the soul of the new house, which has been used as an ordinary domestic home and is quite insignificant. The growth or maturity of that soul is nothing compared to this present soul.

So what actually happened is that, as Alo wanted, before we occupied the new place, the soul of this place at 659 Miramar Avenue went on its own and occupied the new Centre. We did not do it. The soul did it on its own initiative, but we felt that it was the correct thing to do. Now the strange thing is that the soul of that new house on Wilson Avenue, which did not aspire, which had no occasion to aspire or to fulfil the earth, came here to this original Centre and is now settled here. That soul will be here from now on. The first soul that lived and grew with us is now in the new house. So this is the juicy story and what actually took place on the spiritual plane.

Alo: "When this first soul entered the new Centre on Wilson Avenue, it unfortunately wanted to throw the other soul out. It is true. Sometimes they are just like undivine human beings. Although they are souls, they are not yet in a human body and, being limited and elemental, they can act in a very undivine way. So the more powerful soul wanted to throw the weaker soul out.

"Guru, Sudha and I were sitting in the kitchen of this present Centre when the weaker soul from the Wilson Avenue Centre came here to us for sanctuary and refuge. The stronger soul had said to the weaker one, "Get out!" We saw it and we heard it. So the weaker one came to us in the kitchen.

"I said to Guru, 'Devaji, I feel real compassion for this weak soul. I wouldn't mind having it stay in my room in the new Centre. Then the strong soul from here could stay on the ground-floor of the new place, where our big Meditation Room is located'.

"Gurudev replied, 'They will never get along. They will fight all the time'. He then suggested that the soul of the new Centre come and stay here in this original Centre, while the first soul from here would move with us and stay in the new Wilson Avenue house. So it was done, and this is how the quarrel has been settled and resolved.

"Of course, the soul came into existence before the physical. So the soul of this place will move there, and this physical house, of course, remains here. The young soul will be with the other souls of its own growth since there are other apartments here at 659 Miramar Avenue.

"It is so strange and interesting that struggles for supremacy take place all through the universe, on all planes of existence. Even the gods fight for supremacy. Well, some day millions of aeons from now, oneness instead of separativity will be the ruling principle of the universe."