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Sometimes planes fly above our Forest. They make a terrific noise and I get annoyed because we have to interrupt our discourses. Not Valentina! She waves cheerfully to the planes and exclaims, "God bless you - happy landing!" I am convinced no plane with HER blessing, will ever crash.
Is there a handicap or so-called misfortune which She does not turn into a blessing? She offers us Her vision, "Look at it through my eyes and you will praise the Lord!
A young man. with a slight handicap, felt sorry for himself because he cannot get a good job, he cannot get a girl to go out with him, he has no wife and no children.
Valentina to the young man, "Do you know how FORTUNATE you are because you do not have a steady job? If you had a steady job you could not come here to your private lessons with me! You would have been just an ordinary young man with no chance to expand and to grow, to eradicate your weaknesses and to become the fine young man you are now. I am PROUD of you! Not only did you make much remarkable progress in regard to the asanas - you dropped some of your weaknesses and you serve! You take time to take care of a patient worse off then you! And you indeed are better off without girl friends - they are only trouble makers!
Don't you realize that your pension is a blessing? It gives you an opportunity to study and to quietly choose your work."
Valentina has the charming habit to show off this handicapped person to the rest of the students. He deserves all the praise She gives him. She turns every handicap into a glorious possibility, into a blessing in disguise. She does not allow anybody to feel sorry for this young man.
This morning I saw a young girl at a distance. She wore slacks and a sweater. I cannot see very well at a distance and could not distinguish her features. The minute I saw her walk, I knew: VALENTINA! There is not a woman in the world who has Her walk, There are many gifted and graceful dancers with flowing ease and grace, but Valentina's gait is more than grace, Her walk is like WINGED VICTORY personified! It almost sings, "I know how it feels to have wings on your heels!"
There is bravure and elan in Her walk, keen daring, strength and courage, optimism and the conviction, "VICTORIA!" But not a trace of ostentatiousness. She moves so naturally, gently and easily. Compared with Her, everybody else CRAWLS. Her fiery determination is contagious. When Valentina walks, She looks like a torchbearer. If you didn't know ANYTHING about Her, Her walk would reveal a very precious part of Her life and character - and it is "Venturesome Joy."
(A lesson in graciousness)
Valentina asked me to pick up a manuscript at Her place. When I entered Her home, its serene atmosphere enveloped. You feel Valentina everywhere. No evil or ignoble thought ever entered this place. It breathes perfect peace and harmony. And it induces prayer.
Knowing how precious Valentina's time is, I dared not recline in the chair. I expected to pick up the manuscript and run, - but you don't know Valentina. She received me like a Queen. She made me feel so good. She radiated joy, as though She was delighted to have me as Her guest. She offered me refreshments. She offered to hang up my wet towel in Her garden. If the basket I carried wasn't too heavy for me? Would I like to leave part of its contents at Her place? She offered to tie my shoe laces. I know She would have received anyone with the same graciousness. She gives you the center of the stage and makes you feel comfortable and happy.
On various occasions, I mentioned Valentina's generosity - students warned me, "Do not admire anything Valentina has - She will give it to you. I did not admire the lovely jewelry She gave me.
Valentina showed me the photo of a great artist on one of Her records. She reconciled me with my appearance when She pointed out to me that he looked like my twin-brother. He certainly does! And She gave me the record.
She pointed out to me very carefully the way to the bus station. Leaving Her home, I felt like walking on air.
What a lesson She gave me. I remembered with repentance the way I had acted when, on a very busy day, a young woman called on me. I wish I had received her the way Valentina received me (although She had very little time.) I know there is room for improvement in all of us. All we have to do is to watch Valentina.
An artist had a dream of charm and beauty. He turned it into a dress. It was not really a dress. It was a vision materialized.
The dress was hanging somewhere, waiting for its wearer. It would have been wasted on an ordinary woman. It waited until it got the chance of its life. Valentina did not wait for the dream - She did not know it existed - the dress waited for Her! It came to life when She wore it. And HOW She wore it! Its creator must have visualized Her - auburn hair and golden skin - he must have dreamed of spring in the Forest.
Valentina turned the Forest into a Festival when She approached us. Her walk is always graceful - yesterday it was like a joyous dance. I expected Her to break out into dance at any moment. The dress reminded you of Spain - a wide skirt, flowers on a white ground - when She walked, it was clinging to Her like the waves of the ocean - a tight-fitting bodice in soft green, the lovely shade of green of new leaves in spring, and a bare back. The dress invited Castagnettes and a fan. When Valentina wears it, I am concerned about Her safety. I am afraid She might be kidnapped. Women might die from envy. There might be car-accidents, because the drivers, instead of watching their wheel, were staring at Valentina.
How did the artist know the woman he designed it for? Nobody in the world could wear it the way SHE does. The devotee who gave it to Her must have known it would be profane to give it to anybody else.
When the children listened to the flute of the Pied Piper, they left their home and their parents and followed him.
This is exactly what happened to Gay - a little girl of six when she met Valentina. Her mother brought her and the doll to the class. She did not mean to leave her behind, but Gay and the doll forgot to leave. When asked by Valentina WHY she stayed behind, she said, "Because I love you."
Valentina ordered the child to immediately run after her mother, that the mother allowed her to cross the road by herself. But the child resented in such passionate and serious manner that Valentina at once granted her permission for the child to stay - there is no sense in arguing with fanatics! Through Valentina's tone and only through it, the child became very obedient and agreed to go back home after visiting with Valentina.
When we love, we want to be in the presence of the beloved. Whilst, before our classes or seminars waiting for Valentina, we express a certain interest for each other; the minute She arrives, we forget each other completely - nobody seems to exist except Valentina.
The children are under Her spell. Sometimes they play in the back ground of the Forest. When they see her in the distance, they rush up to Her and offer Her flowers. It is difficult to put Valentina's magnetism into words. When I do not see Her for two days, I feel like a plant who needs the sun and the light.
There were flowers in Valentina's home. When the child walked in, she impressed me like a wild flower. There was the music of the wind and the fields around her, contrasting with the music in the air of Valentina's home. I discerned a Fugue by Bach.
The child carried her doll, who resembles her. Her name is Suzy - she is half the size of Gay with large blue eyes, long lashes, a tilted nose, unruly, blonde hair, her upper body naked - she looked as wilful and as disobedient as her owner.
Valentina never "makes up" to children. She just IS. The children feel very close to Her - closer than the grown-ups (except those who will never grow up). The children are closer to heaven than the grown-ups - they love fairy-tales - they could never explain it - but I believe they SENSE that Valentina is a Fairy-Tale and they love to listen to the call of the Invisible.
So little Gay had invited herself and the doll. And Valentina acted like a perfect hostess. She offered to Gay and to me refreshments. She gave gay a brush to comb the doll's hair and a red kerchief for Suzy to keep her hair in place, a souvenir from China and, finally, a photo with a dedication.
Writing the dedication, Valentina was sitting under the lamp and the light cast on Her changed her suddenly into Leonardo's Angel of the, "Madonna of the Grottos." Valentina wrote, "To my dear friend Gay, in memory of her sweet visit with me."
I looked at the doll who was sitting half-naked on the couch and she looked strangely alive. Everything is alive around Valentina. So I said to myself - even Suzy is under Her spell. What next?
Valentina never asks questions, but the child offered information. She discussed with Valentina her boy friend in the manner a little girl would confide in another little girl. Valentina was very attentive. She listened seriously. The child's manners improved under Valentina's influence and her voice lost its shrill notes.
I was amused at the fact that the child ignored MY presence completely - she would have ignored her parents too.
Whilst we were still on the lawn, Valentina, the born dancer with keen observation, commented to me on the beautiful body of the child, her balance and grace - and sized her up as excellent dancing material. She offered to teach Gay dancing, together with other children. I am looking forward to the children's group. I know that this will never be an ordinary dancing class - they will be imbued with the Spirit of Yoga, and prospective devotees might be amongst them.
When Valentina left the house for a telephone call, the child followed her. "Wherever you go, I shall follow you." When Valentina left Her little Ashram to take care of Her sick husband, the child stayed with me, waiting for her father to pick her up. She did not take the least notice of me. She played with her doll when he came and promised her a good licking for disappearing so suddenly and remaining with Valentina, causing considerable upset to her parents who did not know WHERE she was until Valentina rang up.
There is hardly a human being who does not respond to Valentina's Magic Flute. Especially, as I once pointed out, those who are pure in heart - the children, the artistic and the intuitive - they will discern Her Inner Music. They will leave their friends and their parents and follow her!
I want you to know WHY I became Valentina's shadow. When Tom, the Poet, fell in love with the Queen of Fairies, he left his home and followed her Silver Bells. I fell in love with a Pure Soul and follow the Silver Bells of Her Infinite Love and understanding.
Fairy-tales DO exist. The story of Sivananda-Valentina is an Ideal which lived in my heart for a long time and asked me to give it a chance to live also in the hearts of others.
Frl. Gusti
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