text:
January was my months to host The Session, a unified blogging experience shared by beer writers around the globe. With 58 sessions behind us, it becomes more and more difficult to find a new topic; one that's interesting to beer writers and compelling to beer readers. So I chose the topic of "I Almost Always Drink Beer, But When I Don't" hoping it would stir up some new ideas for a New Year.
The inspiration for this topic actually came quite some time ago. As a family man, the recent recession has been painful in that a lack of income doesn't just affect me, it affects my wife and children. Looking to better remedy that, I wanted to speak with someone who does it full time and Jay Brooks was kind enough to sit down with me over a few beers. One thing Jay shared with me is that most writers don't pay their bills with beer, they have to write about other topics. While the advice has always stuck with me, I hadn't acted on it until now. Hopefully, this Session can get us thinking outside of just beer, even for a short period and maybe find a little supplemental income for those who are looking to make it on their own.
On to the roundup!
There were two ways to really go about this, alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Let's start with the lushes and then move to more sober conversation.
Mixed drinks were a common topic. Bob isn't happy to give up his beer but will take a vodka with some fruit juice. At Beer PHXation, anything goes, from Moscow Mules to Whiskey Manhattans. The Beerbecue wants you to know you've been drinking bourbon wrong all this time. Nick takes me back to my college days and talks about Cuba Libres and other Cuban beverages. The Beer Search Party goes classic with a simple Gin and Tonic.
Others, including me, went straight for the hard stuff. Simon at the Reluctant Scooper shared his affinity for cider brandy. Zac at Beer and Pavement has a unique Polish vodka that he has to track down every Christmas. Jay at a Beer in Hand is interested in distilled spirits flavored with hops. Steve shares some of the Whiskys he's known with us, as does Jon at The Brew Site, Mark at Kaedrin Beer Blog, Jeremy at Pintwell and David at Broadford Brewer. Gareth wins though, in my opinion, with super rare scotch that you can't have.
One beverage I thought would get more love was cider, but only The Beer Nut took this classic to task.
Wine was also one I expect to see a great deal about. Derrick shared a story of love over a trip to the Anderson Valley. Bryan of the Washington Post uses the opportunity to talk beer and wine, among other things, with a local cask specialist. Joe cracks open a half bottle of champagne and has me wondering, "why not a full bottle?" Phil started on wine but made a few stops before leading us to our next beverage…
Make Mine a Half moves us away from alcohol and gets us started with tea. 99 Pours continues steeping but introduces us to Rooibus. Not all teas are enjoyed hot as Jay at Brookston Beer Bulletin shares his love for iced tea before sharing his thoughts on adult beverages. A Fool and His Beers gives us the perfect way to drink away a southern summer day with a sweet tea recipe.
One beverage I'm learning to appreciate more is coffee, but only one contributor tackled the ubiquitous American breakfast. Thanks to The Beer Monkey for filling the void.
Another beverage we Americans love is soda and Hungerlust find a unique drink from the Mediterranean that has me considering a vacation.
As usual, there are those who take the topic and put their own unique spin on it. Rabid About Beer contemplates tastes in a different world. Phil at Beersay comes back with a second contribution, changing the emphasis of the Session's topic for a little fun. Alan at A Good Beer Blog also showed up, even if it were reluctantly.
So there you have it. Roughly 30 articles about all things not beer. Thanks for your participation. Kendall Jones at The Washington Beer Blog has the honor of hosting the next Session.


text:
Need SKM testers
Due to the unfortunate demise of my Real life, i dont ahve the time to do this.
From My 2 jobs... running a squad and sleep, i wish i had more free time to do it.. but no
What i need is a few brave souls to spend some time with XWA and run some Skirmishes.. observe, and record the results.
Each skirmish lasts 10 minutes, and need to be done 3 times for accuracy record the # of Deaths and kills, which craft and your done (once you send off the results.
This is for a Mixed Craft War i am doing over at battlestats.net I can put you in the credits,and maybe add somethign to the awards for a peronal thanks online
e-mail me @ email@example.com if your interested
anyone? Heck.. i might even pay good money (withen reason)
|All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:33 AM.
Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2016, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
LFNetwork, LLC ©2002-2015 - All rights reserved.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Showing 97-192 of 349 items
- Sort by:
Etcetera Flowers & Gifts
This gift shop has a wide selection of fresh flowers, gourmet foods, home decor products and fragrances, crystal, and other gifts for you to choose from. We are members of FTD™ and Teleflora™, and you won't find better quality products at any other store.
Ever After Bridal Show
Buy a dress, pick out flowers, and find a photographer all in one place. Over 100+ vendors to choose from all under one roof. This annual event is presented by River Radio and held at The Pavilion of the City of Marion.
Extreme Kids
Kids will enjoy three huge bouncers, two in-ground trampolines, and an awesome jungle gym with a ball pit and a 16-foot slide. Also offers dance, cheer, tumbling, wrestling, and gymnastics classes.
Fairfield Inn & Suites
Close to Interstate 57/64
CITY:Mount Vernon
Fairfield Inn & Suites - Marion
Get free high speed internet access at this Fairfield Inn. We are always ready to exceed expectations, while offering a room at a great price. Offers indoor pool and whirlpool, 24 hour fax and copy service, free local calls, continental breakfast, and free on-site parking.
Fairgrounds Inn
Stay at this Du Quoin Hotel offering " a small town touch with large city amenities" Located adjacent to the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds. The Fairgrounds Inn is situated in the heartland of Southern Illinois Illinois. Adjacent to Du Quoin State Fairgrounds with easy access to Southern Illinois University, Southern Illinois Center, Illinois State Police Headquarters and Sparta World Shooting Complex. The hotel's proximity to Pyramid State Park and Rend Lake make it an Ideal Spot for guests to enjoy a variety of outdoor actives.
CITY:Du Quoin
Fallen Soldier Veterans Memorial Wall
Located on East Broadway in Johnston City, this memorial wall contains the names of local fallen heroes. A Memorial Day celebration is held in this location every year.
CITY:Johnston City
Fat Jack's Bar & Grill
Bar and grill. There are dart tournaments every Friday and karoake on Saturdays.
Casual and friendly family atmosphere. Quick, fast authentic Italian food and reasonably priced. Offers dine in or take out.
Fly with the Eagles Half Marathon
Fly With The Eagles Half Marathon is organized by the River to River Runners Club and is the club's first race on the calendar each year, coming in the late winter season for a cold-weather half marathon that takes runners along the roads and trails of the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge.
Four Seasons Campground
Stop on by and enjoy the friendly, peaceful atmosphere. Spacious shaded sites. See an abundance of wildlife. Also available: wireless internet, L-P gas fill, dump station, large pull through, 31 full hook-up sites, 12 pull through sites, (20, 30 and 50) amps available. Public access to: city park, lighted walk path, shower house, laundry facilities/handicap accessible. Cabin rentals available.
Fox Sports Cards
Sports cards and sport collectibles. Also carries comic books as well as memorabilia cases. Fox Sports Cards is an authorized dealer of Upper Deck cards.
Fox's Flowers and Gifts
Fox's Flowers & Gifts has been proudly serving Marion since 1948. We are family owned and operated with 1 location serving the Marion area. Offers fresh and silk flowers as well as wedding and funeral arrangements. Large selection of mylar and latex balloons. Fox's is also home to Jeff's Magic Shop.
Francie's Inn Bed& Breakfast
Francie's Inn, a Bed & Breakfast Inn where warmth and an inviting atmosphere await your arrival! DuQuoin's first "B&B", the Inn is the place for a perfect getaway vacation, a romantic adventure or business retreat. Over-night guests are served a full, hot breakfast in the beautiful, formal dining room.
CITY:Du Quoin
Frankfort Area Historical Museum
The former two-story brick Logan School is now a museum featuring area mining history, memorabilia from 1802-1976, a genealogy library, and the Red Geranium Tea Room that serves homemade lunch.
CITY:West Frankfort
Frankfort Area Historical Museum
Only 10 miles south of Rend Lake, the former two story brick Logan School is now a museum featuring area mining history, memorabilia from 1802-1976, a genealogy library, and the Red Geranium Tea Room that serves homemade lunch.
CITY:West Frankfort
Frankfort Community Aquatics & Activities Center
Located at the West Frankfort City Park, this newly built indoor 25-meter six lane pool is open to the public; classes and activities available, handicap accessible, lifeguard on site, open every day.
CITY:West Frankfort
Frankfort Community Aquatics and Activities Center
Features indoor swimming, gymnasium, exercise room, weight room, and park with playground equipment. Just 10 miles for Rend Lake.
CITY:West Frankfort
Franklin County Country Club
This course offers an immaculate Bermuda fairway and bent green grass, par71 course. Franklin County also features a fine dining restaurant, locker rooms and a pro shop. Just 8 miles south of Rend Lake.
CITY:West Frankfort
Franklin County Garage and Auto Museum
Only 5 miles south of Rend Lake, this old 1910 Ford garage has been restored to its original condition and now displays vintage cars, Beatles and Charlie Birger, (the last convicted criminal to be hanged in Illinois) memorabilia.
Franklin County Jail Museum
This restored 1905 jail museum was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. It is near Rend Lake and features displays on General John A. Logan, The Beatles' George Harrison, actor John Malkovich, baseball star Doug Collins and Charlie Birger, the last convicted criminal to be hanged in Illinois. Only 5 miles of Rend Lake.
Frosty Mug
The Frosty Mug Bar & Grill is a great place to bring the whole family for lunch or dinner. Located in Mt Vernon, IL, the Frosty is a restaurant and bar with daily lunch specials at affordable prices. Stop in for a great meal served by a friendly staff and see what you've been missing!
CITY:Mount Vernon
Fujiyama Japanese Steakhouse
Japanese steakhouse served either in restaurant or hibachi style. Sushi bar available. Come out for dinner and see the show!
Garden Gate Florist
Garden Gate Florist has just what you need! Browse our assortment of green and blooming plants for a wonderful gift for anyone on your list. Consider sending a fruit and gourmet basket from Garden Gate Florist – a fantastic gift for any occasion. Don't forget our vast selection of gift items, including angels, greeting cards, gourmet cookies, candles, pictures, antiques, plush, balloons, and Lang® candles
Gem & Mineral Show
Annual Gem and Mineral Show showing off Indian artifacts, fossils, lapidary displays, shell crafts and much more.
Gibby's on the Green
Located on the Rend Lake Golf Course, Gibby's restaurant opens 30 minutes before the first tee time every day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served. Sandwiches, steaks and seafood are on the menu.
Girolamo Pizzeria
Family style dining, carry out, and delivery. Gourmet pizza, pasta, soups, salads and desserts. Also offers a lunch buffet. Buffet is free for kids under 5, ages 5-12 eat for $4.99. Open Monday-Thursday 4pm-9pm. Open Friday and Saturday 4pm-10pm. Closed on Sundays.
Girolamo's Italian Restaurant
Authentic Italian food with great atmosphere at affordable prices.
CITY:Mount Vernon
Glenn's Hunting Club
Clean, dry and heated pits. Yearly membership and day hunting available. Excellent hunting in fields (2 pits). Plus hunting in one pit over water. 3/4 mile on refuge frontage. Guides available.
Goddard Chapel
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this chapel was built in 1918 with a donation from former Marion mayor Leroy Goddard. It is still used for weddings and other events, this chapel is one of the beautiful historic places to see in Williamson County.
Golden Goodies A to Z Resale
Antique and craft shop featuring primitives, gifts, collectibles, coins, and more with 50-plus vendors.
Gray Plaza Motel
This motel offers affordable rates with a location close to I-57. It features clean and spacious guest rooms with cable television. Senior rooms are offered. Non-smoking rooms are also available.
Gray Plaza Motel Benton
Modern motel off I-57 featuring free Continental Breakfast, restaurants next door, cabel TV, free HBO & ESPN, golf, hunting and fishing nearby, close to Rend Lake.
Gray Plaza West Frankfort
Modern motel off I-57, featuring cable TV, free continental breakfast, free local calls, Sr. Citizen discounts, close to restaurants and only 10 minutes to Rend Lake.
CITY:West Frankfort
Green Hills Golf Club
This 18-hole, semi-private country club features lush Bermuda fairways and bent grass greens with four sets of tees (the longest over 6,500 yards). Green Hills also offers a large driving range, plus practice and chipping greens, a pro shop, lounge and restaurant.
CITY:Mount Vernon
Grumpy's Smokehouse
Grumpy's Smokehouse BBQ started out with a love for BBQ and cooking which led to the creation of a successful catering business and a restaurant which opened in 2010.
Gun Creek Campground
Campground with 100 sites with electricity located on Rend Lake. The Seasons Lodge Restaurant, the Rend Lake Gold Course, and the Southern Illinois Artisans Shop are all within walking distance.
Hamilton County State Fish And Wildlife Area
The 1,683-acre site has a 75-acre lake where families can picnic, fish, paddle boat, camp and enjoy the good food at the on-site restaurant.
Hampton Inn - Marion
Relax in our comfortable Marion hotel with a choice of thoughtful extras included with every stay. Our stylish guest rooms feature flat-screen TVs and free WiFi throughout the hotel. Enjoy a tranquil night's rest in a clean and fresh bed and start your day right with Hampton's free hot breakfast. Even if you're in a rush, grab a free Hampton On the Run Breakfast Bags, available Monday through Friday, for a quick, healthy meal to go. Cool off in our refreshing pool or work out in our well-equipped exercise room. Located close to a number of businesses, this charming Marion hotel offers a range of professional services. Catch up with work in the business center and make use of professional services including print, fax and copy facilities.
Hampton Inn - Mount Vernon
101 rooms located near I-57. Indoor pool, spa and exercise room. Rooms with whirlpool tubs available.
CITY:Mount Vernon
Harrison/Bruce Historical Village
The Robert L. Mees Village Centre serves as the hub of the Harrison/Bruce Historical Village by providing a venue for College and community events. Historical buildings include: The Purdy School, a one-room public school in Perry County, IL from 1860-1951. The Julia Harrison Bruce House, a replica of the house the house that was built in 1868 by David Ruffin Harrison. The Harrison Storefront, this "double dog trot" style log cabin is a replica of the cabin the David Ruffin Harrison family occupied prior to the construction of the brick, "Harrison House". And The Hunter Cabin, Emmanuel Hunter built the Hunter Log Cabin in 1818; the year Illinois became a state.
Hawkins-Schwartz Orchards
This orchard features fresh-picked apples, peaches, a pumpkin patch, cider and special events for children during apple season.
Herrin Bowl
This 16 lane bowling alley boasts a pro shop with drilling, snack bar, arcade and billards room, and Glow Bowling. Also available are party packages, 9 pin bowling and league play.
Herrin City Library
Herrin City Library is your community connection to print, video, audio, and online information around the world. Featuring the Herrin History Room, a growing collection of archival information about the City of Herrin and the Williamson County area. We also have some genealogical information about Herrin families. We have city directories and yearbooks for the Herrin Schools. We do have a large collection of Herrin newspapers on microfilm from the 1800s to about 1945.
Herrin Civic Center
The Herrin Civic Center is a multipurpose facility with conference areas, a galleria that seats 350 and an auditorium that seats 341. The Civic Center is host to all types of performances on a regular basis and can be rented for small meetings, stage performances and social events such as wedding receptions, reunions, etc. Many nationally known entertainers perform for the Patron of the Arts Series and for special appearances. Also home of the Southern Illinois Opry.
Herrin Farmers Market
The Herrin Farmers' Market was established to provide a community gathering space where local growers and entrepreneurs can sell directly to consumers. Our objectives are to expand opportunities for all in our community through educational and family-friendly activities. Open 8am- Noon Every Saturday May- October.
Herrin Park District
Herrin Park District is a beautiful, well kept park with a seasonal outdoor swimming pool as well as a multipurpose recreation complex. The park offers two walking paths with a quarter-mile all weather track, and a one-mile lighted walking trail. Herrin Park is an excellent place for a leisurely jog. You can even enjoy feeding the beautiful ducks.
Hitchin' Post
Family restaurant with country cooking.
CITY:Mount Vernon
Holiday Inn - Mount Vernon
236 rooms located near I-57. Large banquet and meeting facilities. Restaurants inside hotel.
CITY:Mount Vernon
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites - Marion
Marion's newest hotel, the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites, is conveniently located off I-57 and IL Route 13 adjacent to Rent One Park. The hotel location is minutes away from the Williamson County Regional Airport (MWA) and within 15 minutes of Southern Illinois University. Leisure travelers can explore the local culture with area wineries, Marion Civic Center, The Pavilion of the City of Marion & the Illinois Star Centre Mall. Catch a Minor League Baseball game at Rent One Park, home of the Southern Illinois Miners! As a hotel guest in Marion, Illinois, you have access to modern amenities such as wired and wireless Internet access, refrigerators and microwaves, hot breakfast and a 24 hour business center. After work or play, our indoor heated pool (open in July) and fitness center are a great way to unwind.
Hollywood Tavern
This is a tavern that offers daily drink specials. We serve sandwiches and pizza. We also do fundraisers for charities.
Hometown Flowers & More
Creative floral designs and gifts. They can help decorate your house or send any gift baskets for any occasions. Lots of decor pieces as well as custom pieces.
Nice cozy family restaurant and friendly atmosphere. Dine in or take out. The home cooked meals are very good.
Hong Kong Buffet
Savor the tastes of the Orient with Hong Kong Buffet of Marion, IL. All the food is cooked in vegetable oil. The buffet has one large capacity dining room and of course, our incredible array of food on the buffet bars. Also offers fresh sushi bar.
Illinois Star Centre Mall
Shopping mall featuring Dillards, Sears, Target and the area's most unique specialty stores.
Illinois State Museum - Southern Illinois Art Gallery
A museum gallery featuring theme-based exhibitions of works created by past and contemporary Illinois artists and artisans.
Illinois State Museum - Southern Illinois Art Gallery
A museum gallery featuring theme-based exhibits of works created by past and contemporary Illinois artists and artisans. Less than 1 mile southeast of Rend Lake.
Illinois State Museum-Southern Illinois Art Gallery
A museum gallery featuring theme-based exhibits of works created by past and contemporary Illinois artist and artisans. Less than 1 mile southeast of Rend Lake.
Ina Antiques and Collectibles
On the corner of 3rd and Rte. 3 St. Sells pottery, china, quilts, glassware, antiques, old signs, old toys, vintage clothing, old clocks, furniture, gas station memorabilia.
Indian Hills Golf Course
This public 18-hole course offers challenges for both beginning and advanced golfers. A lighted driving range allows extended practice hours, and free group golf lessons are available every Saturday.
CITY:Mount Vernon
Inglenook Farm Bed and Breakfast
A delightful retreat on the outskirts of Mt. Vernon, this historical home has been transformed into a bed and breakfast paradise tucked away from the road on five acres complete with a pond, and old barn, and beautiful gardens.
CITY:Mount Vernon
Innstead Bed and Breakfast
Early 20th century farm house located within walking distance to historic McCoy Library with one of the oldest genealogy collections in the midwest.
Issac's Rusty Wagon
Isaac's Rusty Wagon is an antique mall & More, located on hwy148 in Energy, IL. Specializing in Antiques, Primitive Crafts & Home Decor.
J&J Coins and Cards
Full-time, full service coin shop. Large selection of high grade silver coins. They will also purchase gold and silver bullions, half and Morgan dollars, and many other coins. Also has a large collection of sports cards and memorabilia.
Jack Russell Fish Company
Fish with an "old Tavern recipe". Upscale decor with mid scale prices. Tropical theme with crawdads once a month & other fish dinners plus chicken and pork.
Jake & Norb's Gun Club
Bordering the refuge on N.E. corner. Traditional hunting of the highest quality. Only 2 hunters per pit with experienced mandatory guides, two pits, 1-water access, 1000 decoys, free snacks. Over forty-two years as an experienced club.
Jasones Bed & Breakfast
In 1906, this beautiful, historical home was constructed by builder W.J. Aikman, a native of Marion, a real estate tycoon, vice president of the bank and a farmer. "The Aikman House" as it became known served as the Aikman family's home until 1938. This home was purchased in 2010 and renovated to include wheelchair accessible bathroom additions, three bathrooms for the bedroom suites, two commercial kitchens, a concrete patio and more. This bed and breakfast includes four guest rooms as well as a restaurant and gift shop. Room service is available until 8pm. Massage, nails, and salon packages available. Gift baskets and trays available by request.
Jefferson County Historical Village
Authentic log structures. Historic memorabilia from the area are carefully preserved and displayed at the village. Open from the first weekend in May through the last weekend in October
CITY:Mount Vernon
Jefferson County Historical Village
Experience the past as you walk through a pioneer village of authentic log cabins featuring a calaboose (circa 1820), the Mount Olive Church (circa 1873), a one room school house and more.
CITY:Mount Vernon
Jimmie James Blue Goose
Greek restaurant with homemade desserts, soups and dishes.
CITY:Mount Vernon
John A. Logan College Autumn Fest
This annual event features over 100 original, handmade arts and crafts, great food, free admission, and free parking. For more information call 1-800-851-4720, extension 8287.
John A. Logan College Museum and Gallery
Named after Civil War General John A. Logan, the college combines modern architecture and a beautiful park-like setting. Memorabilia of General Logan and his wife, Mary, are on display in the museum and art gallery at the college.
John A. Logan College O'Neil Auditorium
Located within the John A. Logan Community College, this 316 seat theater is host to many collegiate and community performances.
John Brown's on the Square
Big city feel in a small town bar! We currently offer over 100 beers and, are very honered to have a beer brewed for us by The Schlafly Brewing Co......it's a big deal! Original music from all around the midwest every Friday sets us apart from the crowd!
Joyce's Country Quilts
Beautiful hand-stitched quilt,; plus a large supply of quilt and dress fabrics and notions in a quaint country store.
Just One More Bar and Grill
Bar and grill with good food, music, pool tables, drink specials, and a jukebox. Occasionally has bands on the weekends.
K B Bar B Que
Good barbecue! Fish, Chops, Ribs, dine-in, carry-out and we cater.
Kerr's Antiques
Victorian furniture, lighting and accessories.
Kimmy's Kitchen
Country cooking.
CITY:Mount Vernon
King Barbacoa
Barbeque is the specialty here.
CITY:Mount Vernon
Kokopelli Golf Club
This 18-hole course, designed by renowned golf architect Steve Smyers, was named by Travel + Leisure as one of "America's 100 Best Courses for $100 or Less." Kokopelli offers a full-service pro shop, professionals who offer personal golf instruction and an eight-acre practice facility. This course has a restaurant, lounge, and banquet facilities available.
Koko's Bar at Kokopelli Golf Club
This restaurant is open to the public and club members. Excellent steaks and chops, perfect after a round of golf.
Krieger's Sports Grill
Home to outstanding food and drinks, a great atmosphere for sports and families.
CITY:Mount Vernon
La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant
Family experience, to dine in or carry out. Casual dining. All Authentic Mexican cuisine.
Lake of Egypt
Lake of Egypt is a privately owned reservoir located six miles south of Marion, Illinois and covers 2,300 acres with 90 miles of shoreline. The lake has an average depth of 18 feet. The lake is owned by the Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC), who created the impoundment in 1962, by damming the South fork of the Saline River, to supply cooling water for a coal-burning electric power plant.
Lake of Egypt Country Club
Include a golf course, swimming pool, and clubhouse. The dining room overlooks the pool and number nine green.
Lake Tree Inn & Suites
Luxuries suites located just off exit 45 on I-57 within walking distance from a gas station, convenient store, restaurant, and lounge. There are 20 rooms. Some facility amenities include a business center, free parking, pets allowed, suites, laundry services, hot tub/jacuzzi, complimentary breakfast, and an on-site bar/restaurant.
Larry's House of Cakes
Since opening in 1963, Larry's has been hand making cakes, donuts, brownies, cookies and more daily. Larry's is a local bakery known for their birthday and occasion cakes as well as wedding and specialty cakes and cupcakes.
Legends at Walker's Bluff
The Bluff's fine dining restaurant, Legends, offers the area's most gourmet cuisine, largest selection of fine wines and spirits, elegant atmosphere, and most spectacular service.
Les Marie Florist
Local florist with a specialty in Angels. Makes both silk and fresh floral arrangements. Hundreds of gift items available.
Limited Inn - Marion
79 rooms. Kids stay free, accessible rooms, non-smoking. Close to local restaurants.
Lineman's Lounge
Bar and lounge that features bands on selected nights. Ask about our drink specials. Has 2 pool tables and a jukebox.
CITY:Johnston City
Little Egypt Arts Association Art Centre
Little Egypt Arts Association is a not for profit artist Co-op that was established in 1995 by approximately 20 local artists and art patrons. It's the largest cooperative art center in Southern Illinois. Offering a gift shop, art classes and workshops.
Little Egypt Public OHV Recreational Area
Little Egypt Off Road MC is a young club that aims to pursue, promote, and protect interest of motorcyclists in a social and athletic setting. They offer a public off road riding area. They have 860 Acres to ride, miles of trails, mud areas to play, hill climbs, scenic areas to stop and enjoy, and two MX tracks to play on.
Lone Star Steakhouse
Famous for mesquite-grilled steaks, and "Texas-sized" portions, Lone Star Steakhouse restaurants deliver an authentic Texas themed experience, offering truly unique and flavorful food and outstanding service to every guest. The menu offers great variety beyond steak … salmon, ribs, sandwiches, burgers and more.
CITY:Mount Vernon
Louie's P&R
Louie's P&R is Herrin's premier Italian Deli. Established in the late 1890s, this community fixture was originally named D&R Market after principle stockholders Frank Detomasi and Ernest Ruggeri. The store took on the current name – Louie's P&R, after purchase by Louie Gualdoni. Customers can still get the finest Italian sausages, salameats and other Italian favorites but they can also order freshly made sandwiches to go or to eat in the store's dining area which is equipped with free wi-fi. Louie's also has a small grocery department.


text:
According to an Aug. 12 report from Fansided, former Strikeforce superstar, Gina Carano, is expected to sign with Bellator MMA, just days after contract negotiations with the UFC fell apart. UFC President Dana White and UFC higher-ups had been trying to work out a deal with Carano for over a month, but the sides never got close enough to strike up a deal. Apparently, Carano and her staff worked out a better package with Bellator MMA and Viacom.
Bellator MMA has confirmed that they will make a historic announcement on the afternoon of Aug. 12. However, they would not confirm exactly what the news is all about. Rumors are swirling on social media that Carano will be joining the Bellator MMA roster, along with Marloes Coenen. Time will tell how the situation pans out, so fight fans should wait patiently for more details to emerge.
Carano was being looked at to fight UFC bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey in her first MMA fight in five years. Most fight fans believed that bout would be a bit of a squash match, so it never came to fruition. A fight between Rousey and Carano likely is best kept to fantasy, since the star judoka probably would have earned a first-round finish.
Carano heading to Bellator makes more sense for all parties involved. Bellator got rid of its women's division earlier this year, but new CEO Scott Coker apparently wants to bring it back. Coker hasn't revealed which weight class he plans to add to Bellator. It hasn't been announced if Bellator will have an entire division of female fighters, or if they will just do one-off fights.
With Carano and Coenen possibly being added to the roster, its a nice start to fill out what could be a full division of talented female combatants. If Carano collides with Coenen, Bellator MMA gets a big win either way. Both women are incredibly marketable superstars who have good looks and elite cage-fighting skills.
Carano, 32, hasn't fought since 2009, when she was knocked out by Cris Santos. As for Coenen, the 33-year-old hasn't fought in over a year. She last competed at Invicta FC 6, where she was knocked out by Santos. Coenen, one of the pioneers of women's MMA, holds a 21-6 record overall. Carano went 7-1, before shifting to a film career in 2010.
No announcement has been made on when Carano's Bellator MMA debut will be, and the same goes for Coenen. Bellator is expected to send out a statement regarding the signings on the afternoon of Aug. 12. Fight fans will have to be patient, until more details emerge about Carano and Coenen. Props to Bellator for bolstering its roster with two of the most talented females in the world.


text:
Four players have left the LSU football team, a spokesman confirmed Wednesday.
Linebacker Lorenzo Phillips, defensive backs Jerqwinick Sandolph and Derrick Raymond, and offensive lineman Derek Edinburgh Jr. are no longer part of the team, spokesman Michael Bonnette said.
All four are from LSU's 2012 signing class.
Sandolph has joined the Southeastern Louisiana football team, team spokesman Kemmler Chapple said Wednesday. Former LSU safety Micah Eugene will also play at Southeastern. Both are eligible to play next year since they transferred to a school that completes at the Football Championship Subdivision level.
Eugene started two games at safety for LSU last year. He played in the season's first 10 games and did not report for bowl practice in mid-December. Sandolph, a sophomore from Boutte, played in three games in 2013 but was not listed on the depth chart. He was a three-star prospect out of Hahnville High.
Phillips, a third-string linebacker from Patterson, has enrolled at East Mississippi Community College and hopes to eventually return to LSU, said Patterson High coach Tommy Minton. Phillips left for academic reasons.
"If he can get his stuff straight, he wants to come back," Minton said.
A redshirt freshman, Phillips played in the first nine games of this season in a reserve role. He did not play in the final four games of the year. He was listed as the third-string weak-side linebacker behind senior starter Lamin Barrow and sophomore backup Deion Jones. Phillips was credited with four tackles in 2013.
Phillips exited Patterson High as a four-star rated prospect. He was the 22nd-best player at his position nationally, according to 24/7 Sports' composite rankings.
Raymond and Sandolph did not make the trip with LSU to the Outback Bowl.
Raymond, a redshirt freshman from East Jefferson High, did not play this season and was listed as a third-string cornerback behind Tre'Davious White and Jalen Collins. He was a three-star prospect out of high school.
Edinburgh, a redshirt freshman from Edna Karr, did not play this season and was not listed on the final 2013 depth chart. He was rated four stars out of high school and was ranked as the 33rd-best tackle in the nation.
Phillips joins running back Jeryl Brazil at East Mississippi Community College. Brazil was dismissed in December following a third arrest in three months. East Mississippi Community College, located in Scooba, Miss., won the junior college national championship two of the last three years.
In total, LSU has lost six members from a 2012 signing class ranked No. 14 nationally by 24/7 Sports' composite team rankings. Phillips, Sandolph, Raymond and Edingburgh join quarterback Jeremy Liggins and linebacker Trey Granier who are no longer on the team.
Liggins never made it to campus, and Granier transferred during 2012 fall camp.
In all, LSU will lose 25 players from the 2013 team: the four most recent departures, Brazil and Eugene, six underclassmen who left early for the NFL draft and 13 seniors.
The NCAA allows teams to sign a maximum of 25 players on National Signing Day, set for Feb. 5. LSU has 18 commitments. The NCAA allows teams to have 85 players on scholarship.


text:
Sample Chapter
Paramhansa Yogananda: A Biography
With Personal Reflections & Reminiscences
by Swami Kriyananda
Sample Chapters
- Chapter Two: His Teenage Years
- Chapter Seventeen: Yogananda's Salient Characteristics
- Chapter Twenty-Two: Miracles
Chapter Two: His Teenage Years
Mukunda's father held a high position with the Bengal-Nagpur Railway Company. Owing to that position, he could give his son free passes even to distant cities. Mukunda sometimes took advantage of this offer, traveling with a small group of friends.
Dr. Nagendra Das, a boyhood friend of his, told me, "Wherever we stopped, groups of boys would gather around Mukunda in a very short time, drawn by his magnetism." Indeed, Mukunda'sand later, of course, Yogananda'spower to win friends wherever he went was extraordinary.
Mukunda used to meditate in the attic room of the family home, at 4 Gurpar Road in Calcutta. The male cook teased him one day that he would tell Mukunda's older brother, Ananta, on him. Mukunda replied quite seriously, "Don't tease me about a thing like that. If I wish, I can discipline you."
"Oh, sure!" mocked the cook. "So tell me, little one, what can you do to me?"
"I can stick your hand to the wall."
"Just try it!" laughed the cook.
Mukunda took the cook's left palm and placed it against the wall, extending the attached arm out from the body. Suddenly the cook found that his hand wouldn't move. Try as he would, it remained stuck to the wall.
He pleaded to be released, but Mukunda answered gaily, "You'll have to stand there awhile. That is your punishment for making fun of my spiritual practices!"
It was some time before Mukunda, returning, released the cook, who at once fell to his knees and begged for forgiveness.
Mukunda's meditations were not what one might expect of a little boy. For one thing, he would often meditate for long hoursseven, eight at a time. As he told me, "I would practice Hong-Sau (a meditation technique) for seven hours at a time, until I went breathless." For another, he often had extraordinary visions.
He told himself, however, "Some day I must have a really long meditation. After all, what are seven or eight hoursout of a twenty-four hour day? Don't people work that long merely to supply their material needs?"
One morning Mukunda awoke with the thought, "A whole year has passed. And still I haven't fulfilled the promise I made to myself! Will a long meditation always wait until 'tomorrow'? Why not today? Why not this very morning?"
He sat down for meditation. Forty-eight whole hours passed. To Mukunda, they seemed more like forty-eight minutes. During a part of that ecstatic period, his body rose above the ground in levitation.
At last he returned to the pandemonium of this bustling world: the sounds of servants at their household chores; the voices of family members in the rooms below; the hubbub of people's voices in the streets, and the noise of traffic outside. This cacophony invaded his ears discordantly, though it could not disturb his inner peace. In the passageway to the kitchen he met the cookthe same one, perhaps, whose hand he had stuck to the wall. This faithful servant had for many years been suffering from a pain in his back. Mukunda touched him, and the man was instantly healed.
It was lunchtime. Mukunda's family members were seated Indian fashion on straw mats around the dining room floor. They had paid scant attention to Mukunda's absence of two days. They knew he liked to meditate, and left it at that.
Mukunda now joined them. While he ate, he was conscious of a transcendent detachment from everything. Looking up at one point, he noticed Bodi, the wife of Ananta (Mukunda's older brother), regarding him curiously. Bodi, like Ananta, had never approved of what they both considered Mukunda's "religious fanaticism." Smiling inwardly, Mukunda thought, "Let me have a little fun with them all, especially with Bodi!"
Withdrawing his consciousness partially from the body, he returned a little bit to the complete inwardness he had experienced scarcely half an hour earlier. His body, suddenly deprived of energy, fell silently backward to the floor. Bodi uttered a frightened cry. Quickly she stepped over and felt his pulse. There was no heartbeat. The rest of the family, terrified, gathered around the inert form.
The family doctor, frantically summoned, requested that the boy's body be carried to a couch. After careful examination, he pronounced the dreaded verdict: "He's dead."
Bodi looked around her solemnly. "This," she declared, "is what comes of too much yoga practice!"
The rest of the family uttered loving encomiums for this dear child, now lost to them forever.
Present in the room was a maidservant who was much loved by the family; they used to call her "Maid Ma." Maid Ma had served them for many years with an almost motherly devotion. But she would sometimes argue hotly with Mukunda for bringing his friends to the house, in ever-increasing numbers. Now she added her encomiums to those of the rest.
"Alas! though it's true he was mischievous, for all that he was a good boy." Then, disconsolately, she cried, "O Bhagavan (Lord)! now I won't have anyone to fight with anymore!"
Mukunda could contain himself no longer. "Oh, yes you will!" he cried.
"You!" shouted Maid Ma. "I knew you were only playing!" She picked up a broom and, in mock anger, threw it at him.
On another occasion Mukunda remarked to a friend, "People never see God because they never try to see Him."
"Never try! But thousands go every day to the temples. Don't they try?"
"Never sincerely try," Mukunda returned, his smile remote from this world.
"But if God longs to come to mankind, as you've so often told us, can't He quite easily do so when they at least pray to Him, even if not with deep concentration?"
"It isn't that He won't come," Mukunda replied. "Rather, it's that they won't meet Him on His level. Instead, they insist that He come down to theirs. But why should He come to them? He knows that most people only want to argue with Him! There is no room in worldly hearts for His perfect bliss. People are more concerned with their worldly desires than with the pure longing for His love."
"Are you saying, then, that if we sat down this very night and called to Him from our hearts, He would come?"
"Why not? Of course He would!" was the firm reply. "Why should He refuse us, whose only 'ulterior' motive is our love for Him?"
"Tonight!" his friend cried. "Why not tonight?"
"Agreed," said Mukunda.
Later, they went to Mukunda's attic room and sat on little mats in lotus posture.
"Do you think we might see God as Lord Krishna?" Mukunda's friend asked.
"Again, why not? Sri Krishna will surely come to us tonight!"
They began to chant. Later, chanting done, they practiced Kriya Yoga, then Hong-Sau (watching the breath), then simply called to Krishna in the silence, summoning him with their hearts' love to appear before their inward gaze. Hours passed. The night sky grew dim. They chanted, then meditated some more. Still Krishna had not appeared.
"I'm afraid he won't come now," Mukunda's friend finally said.
"He will come!" was the adamant reply.
Still later: "Mukunda, the dawn is breaking. He hasn't come yet. I'm growing sleepy!"
"You sleep if you like," Mukunda whispered reproachfully, "but if I die trying I will call to him until he comes!"
Suddenly, within his inner temple, he beheld a wondrous vision: Krishna walking on soft clouds of gold! Krishna, his sweet smile a gift of heavenly peace!
"I see him!" cried Mukunda. "I see him, the moon of Gokula!"
"It can't be true. You're imagining it."
"You shall see him for yourself!" Mukunda reached out and gently struck his friend on the chest over the heart.
"I see him too!" his friend cried. "Oh, I see him too!"
What bliss welled up in both their hearts that wondrous morning!
Mukunda's education was somewhat different from the norm. That is to say, though he went to class, he received more revelations inwardly than from his teachers. Usually he preferred to sit at the back of the classroom, where he could close his eyes without the teacher's notice, and listen to the truths that came to him from within. In one classroom, however, the teacher ordered him to keep his eyes open and pay attention. Mukunda tried, but didn't always succeed.
"Come sit in the front row before me!" the teacher ordered.
"I did so," Yogananda told me many years later. "But now the teacher took it for granted that I'd keep my eyes open. Right in front of him, I found it actually easier to close my eyes and meditate."
One day in school he slipped a note to the boy seated next to him. God had instructed him to write this note, so he did.
"I am your guru," said the note.
"The boy looked over at me reproachfully," Yogananda told me. "'Bad boy!' was his only comment, whispered under his breath.
"I smiled. That night, this classmate had a divine visitation. God showed him the truth of what I had written him. Thrilled, he tried to seek me out the next day. But I hid from him. Hours passed before we met again."
Mukunda worshiped God especially in the form of Mother. Westerners have scoffed at Hindus for what they consider "idol worship." In reality, it is not idol worship, but "ideal worship." Idol worship means to seek the things of this world: wealth, power, fame, and the like. None but the completely ignorant in India imagine that God is anything but infinite. Still, as God is everywhere, so a spiritual image is a part of that great reality, and can help us to focus our attention on Him. Infinity is a difficult concept to bring into focus. In fact, there are many instances in India's long history of God actually enlivening a stone image. There is an account, for example, from the life of Trailanga Swami, a great saint of Benares who also, like Gorakhnath, lived for centuries. He had an image in his templeit may have been of Kali, but I no longer remember. A devotee of his begged him repeatedly to bless him through that image.
One evening the two of them were seated together in the next room. The image itself walked in, sat down, and conversed with them on lofty topics. After some time, the "idol" left the room and returned to its customary position. The divine power left it.
Trailanga looked at the devotee calmly and asked, "And now, what have you got?" That passing phenomenon had been inspiring, certainly, but had it changed the devotee to the extent of giving him God? As my guru was wont to say, "The path to God is not a circus!" The important thing is that we change ourselves. In this respect especially, Buddha was completely right.
Nevertheless, visions can be a consolation, certainly, though they are no guarantee that the visionary is a saint.
Mukunda, as I said, worshiped God especially in the form of Mother of the Universe. Because his friends knew this was the focus for his devotion, they would happily bring him news of any new Kali temple they found in the vicinity. One day they came to him bearing tidings of a new temple.
Mukunda smiled. "You all go, if you like. This evening I prefer to stay home."
"Stay home! But why?"
Mukunda only smiled. His friends went to the temple, prostrated themselves before the image it held of the Divine Mother, and chanted a few devotional songs. Their hearts were uplifted, but the upliftment lasted only for that evening.
At home, Mukunda went up to his attic room. Temples, too, have value, primarily as aids to bringing people's devotion to a focus. But Mukunda's devotion had long since achieved that focus at the point of superconscious ecstasy in the foreheadthat is to say, in the frontal lobe of the brain behind that point.
"Mother with lotus feet!" he prayed. "Mother with hair spreading out over all creation! O Mother, come to me! Mother, your smile twinkles in a million stars. O Divine Mother, tear asunder this veil of darkness which hides You from me!"
Long he called to Her. Years earlier, when he had lost his earthly mother, his aching love for her had been redirected to the Divine Mother of the Universe. (Wise Child! Instead of grieving over our earthly losses, we should direct our love to God, where every pain becomes a blessing.) And now at last that Mother of all mothers had appeared to him!
"Kali!" he whispered. "Mother Kali, You have come! Oh, how beautiful You are! Mother, may my life be a song of constant love for Thee!"
The Divine Mother smiled. "Your prayer is granted, My child. Though you shall have to travel far, and bring many souls to My all-sheltering arms, in your heart of hearts you will always be at rest in My formless presence. And as often as you call to Me, whenever you desire it, so often shall I appear before you in this form."
Mukunda (Yogananda) called Kali, when seen in vision, "beautiful." But certainly the images presented of Her are anything but that. She is depicted with four arms, a garland of skulls, Her hair unkempt and straggling out in all directions, Her tongue lolling out of Her mouth, standing (as if in triumph, as the Westerner would perceive Her) on the prostrate form of Her husband, Shiva. All this, however, is deeply symbolic. The English thought of Her as the goddess of death, the form worshiped by Thuggees (a band of criminal assassins). Yogananda explained this symbolism to us:
"Kali represents Mother Nature. Her four arms symbolize Creation, Preservation, and Destruction, the fourth depicting the gift of salvation to those who go beyond Nature to the heart of Infinity. The garland of skulls signifies Her divine omnipresence in all human minds. Why skulls? Because all human life is temporary. Her hair streaming outward signifies God's energy reaching out through all Creation. In Her dance, the rhythmic steps signify the vibratory nature of Creation. Her husband Shiva is depicted as lying prostrate, because God the Father, the Eternal Spirit, is beyond Creation, beyond all vibration, alive in the vibrationless void of Brahman (Spirit).
"Kali's dance ceases when Her light footsteps touch the breast of the Infinite. The reason She is shown with Her tongue out is that She suddenly realizes She has gone too far! Finitude cannot penetrate into the heart of Infinity."
In India, one bites his tongue, sticking it out a little beyond the teeth, when he is conscious of having made a mistake. Even in Western countries, this is a common, instinctive gesture.
Needless to say, many Indians, too, fail to understand this deep symbolism, and assume that Kali's tongue is lolling out in blood lust; that Her streaming hair suggests almost a harridan raging about to find whom She may devour next. The garland of skulls suggests to them, again, blood lust. And the four arms seem to serve no purpose at all. Her position, standing on Shiva's breast, is taken for a posture of victory.
Indian images of God are often deliberately not beautiful, in order that the devotee may not be deluded into thinking that any image can ever define the Infinite. The images of Kali are certainly not beautiful. Yet She has been worshipped by many great saints and masters, including Yogananda and Sri Ramakrishna.
Ram Proshad, a great poet-saint of the seventeenth century, worshipped Kali also. One day he was mending a fence on his property, when his daughter came and helped him. He'd been singing. His daughter asked him, "To whom are you singing, Daddy?"
"I am singing to my Divine Mother Kali. But She's very naughty! Though I often sing to Her, She never comes to me."
"If She never comes, Daddy, why do you keep on calling? Isn't it all a useless waste of time?" With a light laugh, his daughter then ran away.
Later that day, his job finished, Ram Proshad went indoors. There he told his wife how their daughter had been helping him. The wife replied, "That isn't possible. She's spending the whole day on the other side of town with some friends."
When their daughter returned that evening, he questioned her. She answered, "Daddy, you can ask anybody. I wasn't here. I was far away, on the other side of town."
And then Ram Proshad realized that it had been his Divine Mother, coming to him in the form of his daughter, and teasing him by saying, "If She never comes, why do you keep calling to Her?"
So you see, Kali comes in many forms, and rarely, if ever, in the form one beholds in the temples. She can also be infinitely kind, friendlyeven teasingly playful! Her eyes, however, though childlike, reveal also the deep, ego-free calmness of Infinity.
Lord Jagannath, depicted in the great Jagannath temple in Puri, is shown with both his arms truncated. The image itself is not at all beautiful, and has been deliberately marred by those truncated arms. The purpose of that disfigurement is to show that the Infinite Lord can never truly be captured in human form.
Interestingly, Bokhara rugs in Persia (Iran) always contain a flaw too, placed there deliberately. The purpose for this disfigurement is to state that perfection can never be captured in outward form.
Temples themselves are symbolic of the human body, wherein the devotee is counseled to sit in meditation and "go within." Otherwise, God is omnipresent; He cannot be localized in either space or time.
Chapter Seventeen: Yogananda's Salient Characteristics
It may be interesting to learn about some of the salient characteristics I observed in Paramhansa Yogananda during the years I lived with him. I will number them here, for convenience.
1. The outstanding trait I observed was his complete absence of ego. When I looked into his eyes, it was like looking into infinity. One time, Debi Mukerjee, a disciple from Calcutta, said something to Master about his humility. The Guru replied, "How can there be humility, when there is no consciousness of ego?"
A perfect example of his freedom from ego is a story I'll tell in the next chapter about a certain judge. My point here is that the Master could accept any insult and never be affected by it. As you'll see, he accepted that judge's withering contempt with utter good will. I never saw him affected to even the slightest degree by anything that anyone ever said about him.
2. Another trait that always amazed me in him was the deep, impersonal respect he gave everyone. His unwillingness to let Debi criticize a man for being in a state of "feeling no pain"; his perfect willingness to have people with whom he didn't agree have the last word: these are examples, merely, of a characteristic that is marvelous to contemplate in one as great in the eyes of the world as Yogananda was.
3. He had an impish, and utterly delightful, sense of humor. This trait may be seen in some of the jokes he told, many of which he'd heard from others.
One was a somewhat left-handed compliment, which he told with a childlike smile: "Your teeth are like stars: they come out at night!"
Another was of three men, an Irishman, an Englishman, and a Scotsman. All three were drinking whiskey when a fly landed in each of their glasses. The Irishman simply sloshed his glass sideways, losing a fair amount of whiskey along with the fly. The Englishman carefully flicked the fly out of the glass. But the Scotsman squeezed the fly! I still remember vividly the little touch of glee with which Master uttered that word, squeezed.
In still another joke, three Scotsmen attended church. As the collection plate was approaching them, one of them fainted, and the other two carried him out.
I'm sure he would have greatly enjoyed this one too, though I confess I'm not sure he heard it: An Irishwoman was coming through U.S. customs carrying a suspicious-looking bottle. "What's this?" cried the customs inspector.
"Oh, Sir, it's only holy water." The official opened the bottle and sniffed its contents.
"Aha!" he cried, "As I suspected: Irrrish whiskey!"
"Glory be to God!" she cried. "A miracle!"
In dictating his Bhagavad Gita commentaries, the Master gave the advice to eat only a little bit, but frequently: "Stokam, stokam, anekoda." (Sanskrit scholars, please forgive me if I have that wrong. This is how I remember the foreign-sounding words he pronounced.) Dorothy Taylor, his secretary, mistyped the phrase to read: "Stone 'em, stone 'em, a little bit but frequently." This was too delicious for Master not to quote to me later with a hearty chuckle.
Finally (because I could go on indefinitely in this vein), I recall how he once came into the monks' dining room between meals, and found it an embarrassingly utter mess! All he did was say with a smile, "Well, it might be worse!" (So much for certain disciples' description of him as a stern, even scowling, disciplinarian!)
4. He understood others from within themselves, and not as other people do, from the outside.
There was a young disciple, Abie George, whose talk was rather "salty," and who didn't show the usual respect for his guru. In fact, he was inwardly extremely respectful, but such had been his upbringing. He would actually sit in a chair with one leg over the armrest as he talked with the Master. But Master saw behind that facade. After some particularly unusual display of what, in other disciples, would have been blatant disrespect, Master embraced Abie with a loving laugh.
5. Yogananda was completely centered in the Infinite Self. As he wrote in his poem "Samadhi": "I, the Cosmic Sea, watch the little ego floating in me." Even a master requires enough ego to keep his body moving and active in this world, but such a person's true center lies by no means in his little body. I remember once walking with him at his desert retreat. He was deep in the Spirit. Two or three times I had actually to support his body in order to keep it from falling. He remarked to me one day, "I am in all bodies. It is difficult for me to remember to keep this one body, especially, moving."
In Los Angeles, I was told, he sometimes walked up and down Main Street in a locale that contained many bars. He didn't say a word, but to me it is clear that he was centered in those people inside the bars, perhaps protecting them from those low astral entities which are always eager to possess people who are on the brink of unconsciousness.
6. Desirelessness was another strong trait in the Master. One time, James J. Lynn, a wealthy disciple, wanted to buy him an overcoat and took him for that purpose into a men's clothing store. Yogananda saw one coat that appealed to him, but when he read the price tag he hastily looked elsewhere: the coat was very expensive. Mr. Lynn said to him, "I saw you looking at that one. Let me get it for you." Yogananda had to agree. To the coat, Mr. Lynn added a matching hat.
The Master always felt awkward wearing this expensive coat. After some time he prayed, "Divine Mother, it is too good for me! Please take it away." Some days later he entered a restaurant. (He continued the story:) "The Divine Mother told me She would be taking it away that evening, so I carefully emptied the pockets. When the meal was finished, I returned to the rack where the coat had been hanging. To my great relief, the coat was missing. But then I noticed an omission. 'Divine Mother!' I prayed. 'You forgot to take the hat!'"
One day at Mt. Washington he came downstairs, and saw a small group of us standing there, waiting for him. "Isn't it a warm day?" he asked.
We, knowing that he had it in mind to give us money for a little ice cream, answered, "Oh, it's not so warm, Sir."
"Are you sure it isn't a little warm?"
"Well, it is if you say so, Sir."
Finally, with decision, he concluded, "I can't keep money, and I won't! Here's a little money for ice cream. Go out and buy yourselves some."
It was only a little money. In any case, it wasn't the money, but his statement, "I can't keep money, and I won't!" that touched me especially. I spent some of my own money for the ice cream that day, in order to keep the bills he'd actually handed me. Those bills now rest in the little shrine-museum on the hill above my house.
7. Complete nonattachment was another characteristic of his. Toward the end of his life he made plans to go to India. I was one of the people he wanted to take with him. Twice he had to cancel his plans. The last year, those plans were canceled permanently by his final exit from the body. The last year but one I asked him, "Sir, shall we be going to India this year?"
"I am not curious about these things," he replied. "What Divine Mother wants, I do."
Not curious about a trip to India?! I was amazed.
8. He treated all people equally, and was as respectful toward any garage mechanic as toward someone prominent in the world of politics, business, or the arts.
He used to walk with a cane-not, as a rule, because he needed one, but because to him a cane was like the danda, or wooden staff which many swamis carry in India as a reminder to keep their spines straight and to live more at their own center. A few days before he left his body, he went to a dilapidated shop to buy a new cane. It was a small item, but he wanted to be a conscientious custodian of the organization's money, so he bargained carefully. Once he'd got the price he thought right, however, he looked about him. Seeing what a very poor shop it was, he gave the owner much more money than he'd saved by bargaining.
"You are a gentleman, Sir!" said the owner, and thereupon gave him a particularly fine antique umbrella.
Back at Mt. Washington, hours later, the Master said, "That man was so poor! He had a linoleum floor! I think I'll buy him a carpet."
9. He had the ability to enjoy everything with the joy of God. In this he made a strong contrast with a sadhu I once met in Puri, India, who said to me, "You shouldn't enjoy anything."
"Not even a beautiful sunset?" I asked.
"No, nothing!"
I thought, What a dry outlook. My guru, by contrast, enjoyed almost everything! In his enjoyment, however, he was attached to nothing. His enjoyment was the joy of God. Complete nonattachment was evident even in his eyes, the gaze of which was always, in a sense, remote from this world.
10. He was surprisingly innovative. He built, as far as I know, the first motor home. He called it a housecar, and used it to travel about the country, lecturing.
He told me he'd invented the toilet lid. He was also the first to suggest placing the gearshift of a car on the driving shaft rather than in the floor. "We drove in to Detroit with our invention," he told me. "People were very impressed."
11. Another fact I noticed about him was that he was completely positive. One time I mentioned something humorous, but not complimentary, about someone. He scolded me for being negative.
"Am I negative, Master?" I asked.
"Sometimes," he replied. "But there is a great deal of positive in your nature also."
"Why look at the drains," he said to us on another occasion, "when there is so much beauty all around?"
12. As you will see in the next chapter, he was concerned for the upliftment of all mankind. That was his mission on earth: quantitative, not only qualitative. Qualitative also, of course, for he brought techniques for transforming human consciousness through people's awareness and use of energy.
Some of his disciples were concerned only with their own salvation. That was fine by him, but he was grateful when he found anyone who wanted to bring his message to the whole world.
"New hope for all men!" was his motto.
13. Nothing ever excited him. Always, he was deeply calm. He could laugh. He could also move quickly, when he had to. But he was always calm.
Once, late for a lecture, he set out at a run. "Don't be nervous," a student cautioned.
"One can run nervously, or one can run calmly," was the Master's reply, "but not to run when you need to is to be lazy!"
14. One thing I noted about him was his always-blissful outlook on life. I would notice this fact not only in his calm, inward expression, but also from the deep bliss I often felt in his presence.
15. He was deeply loving to all, and concerned for their well-being. My mother once visited me at Mt. Washington, and was scheduled to have an interview with him. I asked him beforehand, "Sir, will you please pray that she be brought onto this path?"
"Yes," he said, so almost abruptly that I wasn't sure he'd even heard me correctly.
At the end of his interview with her, and as she was leaving the room, he followed her to the doorway. There they shook hands in farewell. He continued to hold her hand, however. Speaking out loud, he prayed to God and to our line of gurus, and said, "May you be brought onto this path." This, for me personally, was a deeply moving moment. With tears of gratitude, I touched his feet. In fact, toward the end of her life she did begin meditating.
16. Always, he was very much the leader. Wherever he went, something about him commanded respect. This fact was clearly evident, of course, in the demeanor of the thugs who menaced him during his early years. But he always emanated a quiet aura of authority.
One woman in the Hollywood Church congregation told me that when she first saw the Master, it was through a restaurant window. Suddenly, then, she tugged at her husband's sleeve.
"Look, Dear, through that window! That has to be the most spiritual man I've ever seen."
He was always, and quite naturally, in control of every situation. Wherever he went, people deferred to him. Speaking for myself, though I loved him deeply, I always held him in deep awe.
17. He had a strong, deep voice, filled with power. There was no self-abasement in his humility. There was a suggestion, rather, of his attunement to the power of the universe. Yet there was lightness also.
One night at the monks' retreat at Twentynine Palms, in California, I was suddenly awakened by a feeling of a great divine presence in the room. I was sleeping, along with several other men, on the floor of the living room. At once I sat up to meditate. Then I looked out the front window, and saw the Master walking slowly outside. Instantly I got up, went out, and touched his feet.
Later he commented with a smile, "I thought I was seeing a ghost!"
18. He had great divine power, as we saw in the story of that thug who menaced him in Lakeside Park, Chicago.
19. Yet he was respectful toward, even appreciative of, others' opinions, even when these differed widely from his own. One time a disciple, Dan Boone, wrote him a scathing letter, which reflected the delusions Boone himself was going through at the time. When the Master next saw him, he said to Boone, "You should take up writing. That was the best letter Satan ever wrote me." There was no sarcasm in his voice: only admiration and respect.
20. He wanted nothing from others except their own highest happiness. Once, after he'd scolded a disciple, the disciple said, "But you will forgive me, won't you?"
His question surprised the Master. Pausing briefly, he then said, "Well, what else can I do?"
21. He had keen insight into human nature. For even though a master no longer has any delusions-to the point even of wondering how anyone could be so blinded by them-he well remembers all the incarnations he himself suffered as he went through those same delusions himself.
Yogananda offered the above explanation, indeed, for the reason why Jesus would have had, first, to transcend delusion in a former life to be able to help others in this one. No human being, even a master, is ever directly a Son of God. I have read that claim on the part of disciples of other paths besides the Christian. Yogananda's answer to that was, "What would be the point? It is the destiny of every soul to merge back into oneness with God. But if a miraculously produced, direct incarnation of God were to descend on earth, what encouragement would that give to human beings to 'Go and do likewise'?"
22. The Master was a flawless mirror to the world. Thus alone could he bring out the best in people. To everyone he met-whether a disciple or chance acquaintance-he reflected back his or her own higher Self. In fact, he actually appeared physically different depending on the consciousness of the person he was reflecting.
There are two photographs that dramatically demonstrate this phenomenon. The first is one of Master with a famous opera singer and disciple, Amelita Galli-Curci. Yogananda's face is transformed with a gentle, feminine quality, and his physique seems delicate and frail like Mme. Galli-Curci's.
In the second, Master stands next to Senor Portes Gil, who was then President of Mexico. By contrast, Master face appears like a mirror of Portes Gil's hearty, masculine, jovial visage, and his body looks stocky, sturdy, and full of energy.
These two photos of Master seem hardly to be that of the same man, the change in facial expression, comportment, and energy is so dramatic.
These photographs and this subtle, unannounced, and serviceful activity of Master's demonstrate two things: First, Yogananda's complete lack of ego, to allow him to reflect back to each individual his own inner, divine Self-unmarred, on Master's part, by any egoic identification with or attachment to his own body. Second, Yogananda's unflagging commitment to spiritually help and act as a divine instrument for everyone he encountered.
As Master said, "Everyone whose path has crossed mine in this lifetime has been for a specific purpose."
23. He was inwardly childlike. I myself had always thought that a sage must be solemn, smiling only in concession to the weaknesses of ordinary human beings. To correct this impression in me, he once bought a few toys. (This episode occurred at his Twentynine Palms retreat.) We were seated in the kitchen at the time. He asked that something be brought to him. Whatever it was came enclosed in a paper bag.
The Master asked someone to turn out the light. We heard a few chuckles from him, along with a little crinkling of paper. Suddenly, sparks began flying out the barrel of a toy revolver. The light came back on. Then the Master looked at me.
"How do you like that, Walter?" he asked. (Walter was the name by which he always called me.)
"It's fine, Sir!" I replied, still trying to get over my astonishment.
Then, gazing at me penetratingly, he spoke, quoting the words of Jesus: "Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of God."
He finished that charming lesson by firing, from another toy pistol, an object which rose in the air, then opened into a tiny parachute. We all watched solemnly as the parachute descended to the ground. I never saw him play with those toys again. I suspect he'd bought them only for my sake.
24. He laughed readily, but when he chose to be serious, no one could make him even smile. His control in such ways was remarkable. I never saw him succumb to hilarity.
25. His generosity extended far beyond mere money or material gifts. It included also, for example, allowing others to have the last word; deferring to their opinions; applauding whatever good they did.
26. He never judged anyone. Judgment he left to God. He was, truly, a friend to all.
27. I've indicated this before, but he had a strong will power. I remember a public function when he wanted to blow a conch shell. It seemed he had all but lost the knack for doing so. Instead of giving up with a self-deprecating smile, however, he continued determinedly through several tries until some sort of sound emerged. I can't say the sound was pure or beautiful, but it was, unmistakably, the sound of a conch shell!
One afternoon, after I'd served lunch for him and a few guests, he had me sit at the table with him for a time. He then tried to flip a fork into his empty glass. Again and again he failed. When finally he succeeded, the fork broke the glass.
"But I got it in!" he announced with an impish smile. I think he was teaching me a lesson in perseverance, whenever I set my will to anything.
28. His nature was enthusiastic, but never "bouncy." He never reacted emotionally to anything. His enthusiasm was always an expression of his bliss in God.
29. He always knew how to act appropriately.
One time, a newspaper sent two young women to interview him at a hotel. They wanted to enter his room, but he said, "Let's talk out here in the corridor." Both women wore provocatively low-cut blouses. The Master, throughout the interview, gazed fixedly into their eyes. As they left, they seemed disappointed. Yogananda went to the newspaper and asked the editor why he'd sent them, really.
"If you'd invited them into your room, or allowed your gaze to shift down for even a second," the editor responded, "I'd have plastered that story all over the front page."
"That's a terrible thing to do!" exclaimed Yogananda. "So in that way you ruin the reputations, and maybe the lives, of perfectly innocent people. I call that contemptible! A newspaper should report the news, not create it. And even if it does create it for editorial purposes, it should not be scurrilous."
30. Yogananda had an amazing ability to speak insightfully on any subject. When doctors were present, he could speak with them, using even their own specialized terminology. No matter what the subject, in fact, his ability to tune in to the consciousness of others made it possible for him to know everything they knew.
This gift was particularly evident in his ability to know every trend in religious history without having studied that era. He was no scholar, but somehow he knew all about the history of Christianity; the special missions of Buddha, of Shankaracharya, of Ramanuja, of Chaitanya. And he made clear his own place in that progression. Equally, without having studied it, he understood the whole history of Christian schisms, sects, movements, and countermovements. I myself had studied Christian history, and was amazed at his insight into all of it.
31. Physically speaking, I was impressed by his posture. It was always firmly upright. Somehow it was evident to me that his consciousness was always both centered in the spine and at the point between the eyebrows.
32. Although the Master was very accepting of others as they were, when it came to their aspiration for perfection he was uncompromising. In my own efforts to develop devotion, I had finally reached the point where I felt I had some cause for self-satisfaction. Master, however, was not satisfied. Soon afterward, he said to me, "If you love yourself, how can you love God?"
Chapter Twenty-Two: Miracles
A boatload of fishermen in Encinitas came back to shore early one afternoon. Yogananda was walking on the beach, and saw them. He didn't know the men.
"You are back early, aren't you?" he asked.
"Yeah," they replied despondently. "No fish."
"Why don't you go out one more time?"
Something in the way he'd spoken those words induced them to make one more effort. They returned from that final outing with a boat full of fish.
And so grew the legends around this strange swami who had so recently settled in their midst.
Miracles were a part of Yogananda's service to others. He seldom spoke of them, but among those whose lives were associated with his, miracles were common. Rarely did he himself even refer to them.
One day a disciple, Debi Mukerjee, was traveling by car with the Master. Suddenly the Guru said, "Stop here a moment!" The car stopped at the curb, and Yogananda, getting out, walked back a little distance to a small variety shop, which he entered. Inside he wandered about, selecting a few seemingly useless items, then took these to the front counter. When the proprietor, who was a stranger to him, had totaled the sale, she became quite excited. Then, when he paid her, she burst into tears.
"I very badly had to have just this sum of money today. Closing time was approaching, and I'd almost despaired of ever getting the amount I needed. Thank you, Sir! I was praying so deeply to God. It's clear to me that you are His answer to my prayer."
The Master returned to the car, got in, and left. He said nothing about the incident. "As far as I know," Debi told us later, "he never used any of the items he'd bought there."
There was another, mostly amusing miracle he performed at Twentynine Palms. This one he did tell us about, chuckling as he related the story, though this was something that happened to him, rather than being done by him.
Jerry Torgerson, about whom I wrote earlier (the one who said, "I'm sorry I'm so stubborn, Sir"), had decided to make sure the roof never leaked. His solution was to cover it with concrete! He had just nailed tarpaper to the top, driving many nails into the roof, when a rare storm blew over Twentynine Palms, bringing with it heavy rains. In the house, buckets, pots, bowls, cups, and every possible other container were placed around frantically to catch the water that dripped in every room. Even so, nothing was really safe.
"Water fell everywhere," Master told us later, laughing, "except in my sitting room where I dictate, and in my bedroom. As the storm ended, Divine Mother played a little joke on me: One drop fell into a waiting bucket in the living room, and another drop in my bedroom, where I was lying on my bed with a bare upper body. In that room, the drop fell onto my stomach!"
He usually attributed to the Divine Mother any miracle he performed. During his visit to India in 1935-36, he went on a steamship with a few friends to "Ganga Sagar," where the river Ganges enters the sea. There, to everyone's horror, the ship began to sink. The passengers were panic-stricken. Suddenly, the ship began to rise again in the water, and everyone was saved. The passengers, seeing this swami on board the vessel in his orange robes, expressed to him their heartfelt gratitude.
"You all did it," Yogananda replied, "by your prayers to Divine Mother."
The captain then approached him.
"Sir," he said, "can you help me? My duty as captain of this ship is to shout loudly when the need arises, but as you can see, I have a constriction in my throat that makes shouting impossible."
"Well, let's see what Divine Mother will do," replied the swami.
Later, friends who had come with the Master heard the captain bellowing his instructions loudly to the sailors.
Encinitas was the scene of other great miracles. One time a local real estate agent came to the Master and asked for help.
"My wife is very ill," he said, "and the doctors are beginning to despair of her life. Would you please come see her, and pray for her?"
"I will pray for her," the Master answered, "but God doesn't tell me to visit her at this time."
Several days later, a secretary came to the Guru and said, "I just got a phone call. The real estate agent's wife died a few minutes ago. His heart is broken."
Only at this point did Yogananda feel the inner guidance to go there. As he entered the house, he found it filled with grieving relatives and friends. When he asked to be shown to the bedroom, they made way for him. There, he asked to be left alone. He touched the woman on the forehead and over the heart. After some time, she opened her eyes, then finally smiled up at him. She was completely healed.
One evening, the Master and Durga had just returned to Mt. Washington when an unbelievably fierce wind arose. He later said, "It was a karmic build-up from World War II." He told Durga to take off one shoe, strike it on the porch, and recite a mantra (which he taught her). In a few seconds, the storm ceased altogether. So unusual was this freak wind that it was reported next day in the Los Angeles Times. "For some reason," the paper said, "the storm ceased unaccountably-as suddenly as it had begun."
In Encinitas, the Master was entertaining about ten guests in the living room one day when he decided to serve them carrot juice, newly produced in SRF's processing plant. He called Michael Krull (later, Brother Bhaktananda), and asked him to bring a large pitcherful of it. Michael returned to say, "I'm sorry, Sir, but the supply has become exhausted."
"Isn't there at least a little bit of it left?" the Guru inquired.
"Well, enough for perhaps a third of a teacup."
"Bring that," the Master told him, casually.
Michael brought that small amount, and poured it into a pitcher. "Perhaps," he thought, "there's enough for everyone here to have just a drop!"
He took the pitcher around. Somehow it seemed fuller after each serving. There turned out to be quite enough in it to fill a glass for everyone. None of the guests realized what had happened. Only Michael was aware that it had been a miracle.
The Master told me that really great miracles are reserved for highly advanced disciples. He told us once that Oliver Black, in Detroit, was his second most advanced disciple, after St. Lynn. Mr. Black himself told me the following story.
"I was visiting Master in Encinitas," he said. "It was raining heavily, and I was in my bedroom, glad to be out of the weather. Just then, a young monk knocked on the door, and told me that Master wanted me to go with him for a drive. I looked doubtfully out the window. The rain was falling, if anything, even harder than before.
"'Well,' I said to myself, 'if he says so. But I wonder if we'll even be able to see out the car window.'
"I put on some protective clothing, then went to the front door-only a few feet away, as you know. I went outdoors, then stopped in astonishment. The rain had ceased. The sky was blue. There was no sign even of dampness anywhere. The car and the ground around it were dry. I looked at Master in amazement.
"'For you, Oliver!' he said with a quiet smile."
What amazes me about this miracle is that it required Master somehow to change the very dream of reality for that day. Otherwise, how did every sign of that recent rainfall simply disappear?
Another miracle, far less amazing but still impressive, occurred while Norman and I were plastering the side of a garage. The structure stood near the front gate. The plaster we were using was evidently old, for it kept hardening, and I had constantly to soften it with more water.
A certain point came when I had just mixed a new load of plaster and poured it out onto the board. Just then, the Master's car drove up on its way out the gate. It stopped, and we heard Master call out to us. We came down and spoke with him.
He held us there for about half an hour, talking on a variety of subjects. We were of course delighted to be with him. In the backs of our minds, however, was the thought, "We'll have to take a sledgehammer to that plaster, when we get back to the job!"
Finally he released us about a half hour later. On returning to our work, we found, to our amazement, that the plaster was as soft as though fresh plaster had been newly poured onto the board. We had no more trouble with the plaster for the rest of that day.
Outside Boston, during Master's early years in America, Dr. Lewis and some other people were in his car, driving to participate in a spiritual gathering. It was snowing heavily, so Dr. Lewis drove very carefully. As they came to a narrow bridge, however, another car traveling in the opposite direction skidded suddenly, and stopped in a position that took up the whole road. A collision seemed certain. Just at that moment, as if a giant hand were being placed on the hood of Doctor's car, an unknown force brought the vehicle to a complete stop, only inches away from the other car.
The stopping of a vehicle happened once more that I know of. Norman was driving a large flatbed truck down the steep incline below Mt. Washington.
"At the bottom, as you know," Norman told us later, "there's a sharp corner, below which there is that steep embankment. If I'd gone over that, I'd have been a goner. But when I tried to brake for the turn, the brakes failed! I tried frantically to pump them: They wouldn't work at all! I then looked up briefly and prayed to Master, 'Is this what you want?' Suddenly, it was as though a large hand had been placed on the hood of the truck. I was able to bring the vehicle to a stop, and to curb it by turning the wheels in towards the side. All I can say is, I guess Master still wants me around!"
Jerry Torgerson-the "stubborn one"-hitchhiked one day to town. "I knew Master didn't want us to hitchhike," he said, "and I haven't done so since that day, but at the time it seemed as easy a way as any to get where I wanted to go.
"Well, a car stopped by me. Three men were in it already. No one in the car looked savory. Still, I thought, 'What can they do?' So I got in. And then I found they had no intention of going where I wanted to go. Instead, they drove me well out into the country. There was nothing I could do about it; I just sat there helplessly, praying to Master.
"Finally we came to a farmhouse. Two of the men got out; the third remained in the car to make sure I didn't get out.
"The two men knocked on the front door, waited, then knocked again. No one answered from within. The men, looking a little shaken, went on to knock on all the windows. Still, nobody answered.
"At last, very nervous, they returned to the car, took me back to the highway, pushed me out, and then drove off at high speed.
"The next Sunday I stood in line to tell Master what had happened. When I reached him, his first words to me were, 'Jerry, I told you not to hitchhike! Those men wanted to involve you in a crime. I had to stop the ears of everyone in that house so they wouldn't hear their accomplices knocking.'"
Another hitchhiking incident involved James Coller. He was driving a car, with another monk beside him. James stopped to pick up a hitchhiker. They drove some distance further, when he heard a voice in his ear. "Look out! He's got a knife!"
"I looked back," James told us later, "and saw the hitchhiker poised with knife, wearing an expression of unholy glee, just about to drive the knife into my friend, seated beside me.
"'Put down that knife!' I shouted loudly. The man was shaken out of his uncanny trance. I stopped the car, and he got out immediately, offering no argument."
In 1955 I visited Switzerland. A woman came to visit me from Czechoslovakia. She had known the SRF center leader in Prague, a Professor Novicky (pronounced Novitsky). Czechoslovakia was under communist rule at that time, and in people's hearts there was much fear of their government.
One day, a man came to Professor Novicky and asked for guidance in his yoga practices. The professor was in a quandary. He didn't know the man, but he didn't want to refuse help to a sincere seeker. On the other hand, if this man was a spy, Novicky would be sent to prison. The professor asked Yogananda inwardly for guidance.
"Suddenly," my informant told me, "he saw Yogananda standing behind the man. Yogananda slowly shook his head from side to side. Novicky then acted accordingly, telling the man he didn't know what he was talking about.
"Later, he learned that the man had indeed been a spy."
Some of the miracles the Master manifested were not done directly by him, but happened at a distance to disciples who had placed themselves under his guidance and protection.
He decided to construct a new building on the same grounds as the Hollywood Church, after such structures became once more legal. It was to be called India Center. Andy Anderson, the foreman in charge of the construction project, told me one day with a bewildered chuckle, "I don't know why all you yogis don't get killed on this job! Around construction work, one has to be extra careful, but you all act as though you were in your living rooms. Some of you walk about, never looking up to see if anything's falling. Others will drop a two-by-four and never look down to see if anyone is below them. I've seen with my own eyes a two-by-four drop just as another yogi was coming closer. When the board fell, at an angle certain to tip it over onto this man's head, damaging him severely, it rose up-and, so help me God!-fell the opposite direction!"
One day, Joe Carbone (who later took the name, Brother Bimalananda) was climbing a steep ladder up the front tower, which contained one of the golden lotuses that had been rescued from the fallen temple in Encinitas. Henry Schaufelberger (Brother Anandamoy) was twenty feet up, plastering the tower. Joe Carbone had on his shoulder another hod of plaster, which he was carrying up to Henry. The ladder, as I said, was steep, and the hod on Joseph's shoulder was very heavy. As Joe reached up to grasp the highest rung, the weight on his shoulder pulled the ladder backward. There was nothing he could do about it but pray. According to all the rules of logic, he should have continued his fall and crashed onto the cement twenty feet below him. It would probably have been a fatal accident. Joe did the only thing he could think of at the time. Thinking of Master, he chanted "AUM!" in one long breath. As he did so, the ladder came slowly upright; he was able to grasp the top rung again, and finish his climb. Henry said afterwards, "I saw it happen. There was no chance for him!"
Dr. Lewis once telephoned his guru, who was in Encinitas, to ask help for a friend of his. The man was in the hospital in Chicago, and was on the point of dying. Yogananda prayed. "Suddenly," the Master said, "what seemed like a bolt of lightning went out of me. That very moment a loud thunderclap resounded in the man's room. Immediately he sat up, completely cured.
"A nurse in the room witnessed it all, incredulously. 'There was no hope for the man,' she reported later. 'And suddenly, he was as well as you and I!' She was a very materialistic woman," finished the Master. This story was one he himself told, to show people that, no matter how ill they are, there is always hope of a cure by God's grace.
Some of his miracles were of prescience. I haven't told any of those here, so as not to clog the pages with a plethora of them, but this one is amusing and I thought to share it.
During the Master's early days in America, he had a student, a young man, who asked the Master to make him a monk.
"No," the Master replied. "I see a good wife in your future."
"I'll never marry," said the man.
Some days later, the man announced to him, "I've met a beautiful young woman. She's . . ."
"No," replied the Master. "She's not the one for you."
"What do you mean?" expostulated the other. "She's perfect for me! We are soulmates."
"You're setting yourself up for a disappointment," the Master concluded.
Again, some weeks later, the man returned with a long face.
"You were right!" he announced. "She took my money, then left me for another. I want to become a monk."
"Your bride has still to come," insisted the Master.
"Never! I want to be a monk."
"Let's wait and see," Yogananda replied with a smile.
Again a few weeks later the man came, laughing, "You'll never believe this, Sir. A large, fat, very plain woman has been following me around. She . . ."
"Oh, oh!" exclaimed the Master. "She feels like the right one."
"Oh no, Master! No! Please don't be right. You were right the first time; please be wrong this time."
"She feels like the right one for you."
Well, the woman turned out to have an angelic heart. The man fell deeply in love with her; they married, and settled down to a very happy marriage together.
After the Master's death, he appeared to several people in physical form. To Swami Atmananda, in India, he came and embraced him with divine love.
To Daya Mata he once appeared in physical form also. Though he didn't speak a word, he conveyed consolation to her, which she'd been needing.
Norman Paulson left the ashram to get married.
"This is the first time in many incarnations that he has fallen," the Master said. "But he is deeply devoted. He will be all right."
One night, Norman was lying in bed when the door burst open and the Master appeared by his bedside, looking very stern.
"Leave sex alone!" he ordered. Alas, Norman, who had often disobeyed him, disobeyed him again.
The Master's influence continues to this day. In the mid nineteen-eighties, a woman came to the Ananda retreat to buy something at the boutique. She saw a small, laminated photograph of someone she didn't even know. It was a picture of Yogananda, but she bought it only because she liked the face. She placed it, face out, on her bookcase. Some weeks later, she returned to Ananda, saying, "I just had to return and tell someone what happened to me.
"I've had a hard life. My first fiance died of a terminal illness. My second was killed in a car accident. I was so heartbroken that I finally decided to kill myself. I was walking toward the door to get into my car and go drive off a high bridge.
"Suddenly that photograph expanded and became life-sized. It stood in the doorway, and wouldn't let me through. I decided at that point to drop my plan of committing suicide."
Another story (which I'll relate more fully in Chapter Thirty-One): Three weeks after Yogananda's death, his body was found to be incorrupt. This same phenomenon accompanied his incarnations as William the Great in England and Fernando el Santo in Spain. Is Yogananda's body still in perfect condition? The world will never know, unless and until someone breaks open the copper seal.
One day, the nuns went to his crypt to pray. Louise Royston, the elderly nun to whom I've referred before, suddenly felt him standing beside her. Distinctly, then, she heard his voice say, "I'm not in there!"
Let me end this chapter with a sweet story that occurred in his presence, a miracle that was brought about for him, but not by him.
He was in his living room in Encinitas with Sister Shraddha. Beside him, in a vase, stood a single rose.
A monk came to the door, and Yogananda went there to speak with him. Sister Shraddha looked casually at the rose, and saw it pointing toward the door. "But," she thought, "I could swear that, a moment ago, I saw it pointing at his chair!"
The Master returned to his armchair. Shraddha looked at the rose again somewhat absentmindedly. Wasn't it pointed at the door a moment ago? Now, it was pointing toward the chair! "Is my memory deceiving me?" she asked herself.
After a while, another monk came to the door. Again the Master went there to confer with him. This time, Shraddha made it a special point to look at the rose. It was now definitely pointing toward the door. Master came back. A few minutes later, she noticed it pointing, again, toward his chair.
"Sir," she said at last. "You have a new devotee!" She explained what she had been observing.
The Master looked at the rose, and smiled lovingly.
See Also: Intro
Return to Paramhansa Yogananda: A Biography


text:
CDC: Flu Season Hits Early and Could Be a Bad Year »
"Dec. 3, 2012 -- The U.S. flu season is here -- the earliest start since the "moderately severe" season of 2003.
Just as in 2003, the nasty H3N2 flu bug is causing most cases so far.
"This could be a bad flu year," warned CDC"...
Read the CDC: Flu Season Hits Early and Could Be a Bad Year article »
Potential Adverse Reactions to TESSALON (benzonatate) may include:
Hypersensitivity reactions including bronchospasm, laryngospasm, cardiovascular collapse possibly related to local anesthesia from chewing or sucking the capsule.
CNS: sedation; headache; dizziness; mental confusion; visual hallucinations.
GI: constipation; nausea; GI upset.
Dermatologic: pruritus; skin eruptions.
Other: nasal congestion; sensation of burning in the eyes; vague "chilly" sensation; numbness of the chest; hypersensitivity.
Deliberate or accidental overdose has resulted in death, particularly in children.
Read the Tessalon (benzonatate capsules) Side Effects Center for a complete guide to possible side effects
No information provided.This monograph has been modified to include the generic and brand name in many instances.
Last reviewed on RxList: 10/30/2014
Tessalon FDA Prescribing Information
Additional Tessalon Information
Tessalon - User Reviews
Tessalon User Reviews
Now you can gain knowledge and insight about a drug treatment with Patient Discussions.
Here is a collection of user reviews for the medication Tessalon sorted by most helpful.
Report Problems to the Food and Drug Administration
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit the FDA MedWatch website or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Women's Health
Find out what women really need.


text:
Mike is the heartbeat of the band. His passion for the music is second to none.
Robert the bassist goes by Larry not Bob. His charismatic style adds a rhythmic pulse to the band. He is the glue that holds them together.
Joe's sound drives the band. From the first strum of a guitar chord, you know this is a rock show and JackMantra does not let you down
Bob is the lead singer but his name is Darrell. Figuring out their line-up is like reading an Abbott and Costello joke over and over.
Bio:Who is JackMantra?
- Is it a passion for the art or a drive towards a common goal? Is it a moment that you don't have to capture in a photograph because your mind would never dare to forget? Is it a memory of euphoria that you kept to yourself like a dark secret that you wouldn't even tell your closest friend? Is it one man or four? One thing is for sure, before November 2012 that's all it could have been....See Full Bio
FREE JackMantra Stuff
JackMantra will give the winner of each week's raffle one(1) of many awesome prizes which include a : Free JackMantra T-Shirt, or JackMantra CD/Download, or JackMantra Sticker, or Meet The Band, or Hang out at a JackMantra Practice, or Free Tickets(2) to any show!
Here's what you have to do to WIN!
- "Like" us and/or "Follow" us on Facebook and Twitter and make us aware of it…leave a comment, tweet, email, etc.
- "Share" us with all your "Friends" and "Followers".
- Make JackMantra your Favorite Band!! That's It!


text:
Ok so i am a newbe to handguns, but i have a ccw and am looking for a firearm to use as a carry weapon but also as a stopping weapon while i am camping. I went out today and shot a variety of guns. I shot an XD 40, a Beretta 9mm, a sig, a couple different Glocks (40,45,) and a Glock 23. I have a question i liked the beretta and the glocks but have issues with the safety on the glock, the price on the beretta is a bit out of my price range. The XD i like the feel and the safetys on but when i shot it it shot down and no matter how i corrected it always shot a bit low, now it was a rental gun so i am asking for personal input and opinions on guns simular to the glock and beretta and hopefully an answer for the xd.
Thanks :smt1099


text:
Skydiving.com now has a network skydiving location serving Northvale and Bergen County in New Jersey. Call Skydiving.com at 1-800-617-7948 for details, free information and specials on skydiving in Northvale, NJ today!
Popular Tags for Skydiving Northvale:
Skydiving Northvale, Skydiving in Northvale, Sky Diving Northvale, Skydive Northvale NJ, Skydiving 07647, Northvale Skydiving, Skydiving Northvale New Jersey, Skydiving near Northvale, Skydiving in Northvale New Jersey, Northvale Sky Diving, Skydive 07647, Skydiving Northvale NJ, Skydive Northvale, Skydiving Bergen County, Skydive in 07647, Skydiving NJ, Sky Diving Northvale NJ, Northvale, New Jersey
Sign up for our newsletter and receive updatesand specials on skydiving across America!