Sri Yukteswar chose the following morning to grant me his KRIYA YOGA
initiation. The technique I had already received from two disciples
of Lahiri Mahasaya-Father and my tutor, Swami Kebalananda-but in
Master's presence I felt transforming power. At his touch, a great
light broke upon my being, like glory of countless suns blazing
together. A flood of ineffable bliss, overwhelming my heart to an
innermost core, continued during the following day. It was late
that afternoon before I could bring myself to leave the hermitage.

"You will return in thirty days." As I reached my Calcutta home,
the fulfillment of Master's prediction entered with me. None of my
relatives made the pointed remarks I had feared about the reappearance
of the "soaring bird."

I climbed to my little attic and bestowed affectionate glances,
as though on a living presence. "You have witnessed my meditations,
and the tears and storms of my SADHANA. Now I have reached the
harbor of my divine teacher."

"Son, I am happy for us both." Father and I sat together in the
evening calm. "You have found your guru, as in miraculous fashion
I once found my own. The holy hand of Lahiri Mahasaya is guarding
our lives. Your master has proved no inaccessible Himalayan saint,
but one near-by. My prayers have been answered: you have not in
your search for God been permanently removed from my sight."

Father was also pleased that my formal studies would be resumed;
he made suitable arrangements. I was enrolled the following day at
the Scottish Church College in Calcutta.