I got my realisation in India in March 1979 at the age of twenty-two. I had been wandering around India seeking the joy I had lost in my life, looking for some kind of yogi. One day I met an Australian who had had a very powerful experience from Shri Mataji, so I went to Delhi to try to meet Her. Shri Mataji had been traveling around India giving public programmes, accompanied by some Indians and about thirteen Westerners and She was now finishing Her tour in Delhi with a week of evening programmes.
I arrived at the given address, a small bungalow in a quiet street surrounded by cool leafy trees, where I was invited in and given tea. Later, they told me to go over to the small pendal on the other side of the garden. There were about fifty people there, and I sat at the back with one other new Westerner, a handful of Western yogis and otherwise mostly middle aged Indian businessmen, like my father.
This struck me as very significant, as I really respected my father’s wisdom and thought, ‘This must be something different from the hippie gurus. These men are like my father and there is hardly a hippie in sight.’
Shri Mataji spoke in Hindi and after She had finished there was a pause. Suddenly all the Indian people rushed up to sit very respectfully at Her Feet. I did not get my realisation that night, but the next night I became completely thoughtless and slept a very deep restful sleep.
I went back to the following programmes; I would go early in the afternoon, which seemed like a very relaxed time, and Shri Mataji would come out and talk to the group.
Felicity Payment