Vince told me he returned to Sydney and began changing his lifestyle, somewhat. The
parties were far and few in-between. He began a relationship with one woman for six
months, but it seemed shallow and empty after his experiences in China. Not finding
himself able to relate his new spiritual need to his girlfriend, it withered on the
vine, and Vince took to drinking again alone. Working less and less and growing disheveled
in appearance and not caring. He said he was waiting. That beautiful voice said he
would be given instructions, and so he languished as if on holiday from life in paradise!
One evening an Indian woman introduced herself to him at a party. She mentioned that she had just returned from seeing a Holy Man in India by name Sai Baba. She showed him his picture and Vince just nodded his head. It wasn’t till a few days later that he heard that Golden Voice again. He told me that the Voice told him that Sai Baba was the one who would take him on the next step of his journey.
Packing his bags he flew to South India for the first time,
to a small dusty little town called Puttaparthie, where Sai Baba had a small ashram.
During darshan one afternoon (darshan is what Abraham Lincoln called breathing the
air of a Divine being), Baba asked Vince to give him his passport. Vince said he
didn’t really want to do that, but he did. On another afternoon Baba asked Vince
to give him all his Chits. Chits are what the Aussies call subway tokens. Vince,
said he understood the lingo but had no tokens on him to give, so he just shook his
head in disbelief. Every day for a week Baba would come up to me, Vince said, and
ask me for all my chits. I would say "I don’t have any chits, Baba! If I did,
I’d give them to you." "I thought the man was batty", he said to me.
"Asking for my chits!"
Six months later, Vince had little money left and is walking around the streets like
a madman crying, "Please give me my passport back so I can go home, Baba!"
But Baba wouldn’t, Vince said. The new tourists would point to him on the street
in fear and disgust and say, "Who is that man? Why is he ranting and raving?"
Another six months passed when one afternoon Baba presented Vince with his passport
and said, "Go home with My blessings! Vince said it was the happiest day of
his life. He left the very next morning by bus to Bangalore, and caught the next
flight home to Sydney.
It was about six months after I had returned from India
that I found myself using the Underground one evening.
A beggar approached me and asked me for my chits! Vince said to economize he bought
a month's supply of chits for the underground on sale, and for me to give them to
this beggar would’ve left me without any for a month, you see? So, I told him to
buzz off!
"I hadn’t been working all that much lately", Vince told me. "Lost
my interest almost completely in the craft, you know. So no money was coming in."
Watching me bottom line, he mimicked his own accent.
"Anyways, this beggar wouldn’t take no for an answer. He’d ask, I’d refuse.
He’d ask again and I’d refuse again and on and on, right? Then to my surprise one
by one by one, the light bulbs in the ceiling above my head would pop as I walked
ahead of the beggar. Each bulb would explode with a bang! This went on for a while
and finally out of fear I surrendered all my tokens to the beggar. "Alright",
I said, "if you want it so bleeding badly take em all!"
I sat down on a bench and suddenly remembered how Sai Baba had asked me repeatedly
for my chits! I began to cry at the absurdity of it and at my own selfishness! It
was then that I noticed that I was in the wrong station. I frantically looked in
my pockets for a chit that I might not have given away. I realized that I needed
the southbound express and I was on the north side! I began to laugh and cry at the
same time", Vince said. "Finally, I just laid down on the bench and fell
asleep. When I awoke, the southbound train pulled into the station in front of me!
I was astonished!"
"How do you think that happened?" I asked?
"I don’t know", he said. "I think the entire station was turned around!
I know that’s impossible, he said, but how else can I account for it?"
When, he took me on a tour of the village shops, it was a lesson worth the learning.
"How much for this bracelet?" he’d say. The vendor said, "20 rupees".
He’d laugh and say, "Oh, you’re planning on going to Hawaii, huh? I’ll be back
tomorrow." Tomorrow, the vendor would say "10 rupees", and the next
day "5". That’s when he’d buy it! It took me a while to get the hang of
it. Letting what I wanted go for another day. The urgency usually dictated its own
terms, you know. Sometimes I would be able to contain myself; other times not. We
went on other walks together but he just remained quiet! No more shouting and ranting
and raving, no more acid wit. I didn’t know what I felt for him. Was I envious of
an inner peace which he displayed with power and discernment. I had been in awe of
his charm and his ability to cause events, now he seemed on top of every situation.
That’s the story as Vince related it to me..