"Your architectural dreams will materialize later. Now is the time
for study!"

Thus incidentally my guru revealed in his simple way the coming of
three great events in my life. Since early youth I had had enigmatic
glimpses of three buildings, each in a different setting. In the
exact sequence Sri Yukteswar had indicated, these visions took
ultimate form. First came my founding of a boys' yoga school on a
Ranchi plain, then my American headquarters on a Los Angeles hilltop,
finally a hermitage in southern California by the vast Pacific.

Master never arrogantly asserted: "I prophesy that such and such
an event shall occur!" He would rather hint: "Don't you think it
may happen?" But his simple speech hid vatic power. There was no
recanting; never did his slightly veiled words prove false.

Sri Yukteswar was reserved and matter-of-fact in demeanor. There
was naught of the vague or daft visionary about him. His feet
were firm on the earth, his head in the haven of heaven. Practical
people aroused his admiration. "Saintliness is not dumbness! Divine
perceptions are not incapacitating!" he would say. "The active
expression of virtue gives rise to the keenest intelligence."

In Master's life I fully discovered the cleavage between spiritual
realism and the obscure mysticism that spuriously passes as
a counterpart. My guru was reluctant to discuss the superphysical
realms. His only "marvelous" aura was one of perfect simplicity.
In conversation he avoided startling references; in action he was
freely expressive. Others talked of miracles but could manifest