woke up next morning lying on the carpet. At some point I must have simply fallen asleep, exhausted but extremely happy. In any case I felt really great that morning. I was full of energy and happy all round!
Still radiant, I reached the office.
That day I found working really easy.
Anna, my assistant, seemed very surprised at the change in me and kept giving me quizzical sideways looks. One could actually see what was going on in her mind: she was astonished at my sudden good mood since recently I’d been nothing but frustrated and irritable. The way she was looking at me, she probably thought I was freshly in love.
But just to be on the safe side, Anna didn’t mention it. It was wait and see for the moment. In any case it was a wonderful and even successful working day.
As a reward, I visited my favourite bistro for lunch. What a wonderful day! – I ordered spaghetti mediterranea and a latte macchiato.
I somehow felt like celebrating.
I picked up the book I’d brought with me and began to read it.
But suddenly a slip of paper fell out.
I picked it up and was surprised to read the following:
The more you concentrate on the inner world, the less problems you will have with the outer one...
As yet you are still confined,
but if you manage to meditate daily and
expand your consciousness from the finite world
to infinity, you will be free.
(Paramahansa Yogananda)
It took my breath away. Where on earth did this slip of paper come from? Was Guruji perhaps here, too? I looked around the bistro but everything was as usual. Although there were some people sitting around the tables, of Guruji there was not a single trace anywhere.
Slowly it began to dawn on me that the things happening to me just now were not a matter of “common sense” and still less a matter of “understanding”.
I read the quotation again. One thing was clear – this slip of paper was no coincidence. Of that I was absolutely sure. This note had to be a message for me! Meant for me quite personally! This was probably all Guruji’s doing. And I was immediately filled with affection for him. I popped the note carefully into my pocket.
These notes with messages apparently from another world were as precious to me as a whole treasure of diamonds. In short – I began to understand that they would one day be much, much more valuable than anything one can buy.
The rest of the day passed by in a flash. Together with the rest of the team, Anna and I sorted out material for the new summer collection. We found wonderful, colourful designs and marvellous soft-flowing materials. The mood in the office was relaxed and cheerful.
Once I finally got home I decided to redesign my living room by transforming a corner of it into a place of meditation. I placed the new, saffron-yellow cushion I had bought during my lunch break onto the ground, placed a small table before it, and hung up a magnetic board on the wall, to which I attached my two precious slips of paper.
No sooner said than done. I then set up a few candles – and the job was done.
On finishing, I looked at the result and was happy with what I saw.
Somehow it looked rather ceremonial, almost like a small altar.
That was it exactly – now I had my own small private chapel.
Happy with the effect, I sat down cross-legged on my new cushion and inaugurated my new meditation corner.
Peace, quiet, and doing nothing, into which I took a deep dive, were my entry tickets.
At first the wildest thoughts filled my head once again, but this time I let nothing deter me. Again and again I affectionately enveloped my irritating peace-killers in soap bubbles and let them drift away. For a while this continued, but finally I managed it: I was filled with a wonderful, deep feeling of joy and was moved to tears. It was an incredibly uplifting moment!
This had to be what Guruji had been talking about.
I felt simply incredible – as if I had bathed in pure happiness for a moment.
The next few days passed by like an express train. I had quite a lot to do but the new collection was almost complete and looked very promising.
As I was told later, apparently all the members of my team, and especially Anna, noticed that I was beginning to change. A new aura seemed to surround me in fact. I frequently had a big smile on my face and was suddenly full of understanding and consideration for others. Working with me was a lot of fun. And God knows, that hadn’t always been the case. The stress I had apparently still spread around me only a short while ago was suddenly gone. And this was all happening despite our being in the very middle of the most hectic phase of developing our collection!
At first my team was sceptical, but with every passing day the working atmosphere got better and was more relaxed, and the office climate became cheerful but focused and creative.
Finally there came a day when I managed to truly astonish my employees. I announced that the room next to my office, which had been relegated to serving as a storage room, was to become a place of meditation and retreat. Anyone who felt like it could seek refuge there and enjoy some peace and quiet.
I make no further comment.
I lovingly decorated the room in yellow and orange tones and placed large cushions on the floor.
At home I drafted a short booklet on finding peace and quiet and placed it in clear sight in our new “office”, the room of tranquillity. Whoever felt like it could read it. It was simply an offer, nothing more!
I had noticed what good these periods of peace and relaxation did me and sensed the power and energy these breaks released in me; now I only desired that my employees might also develop a taste for this and reap the benefits, for in the meantime I had realised how immensely constructive the activity was that could come from an apparently passive state of doing nothing.
Having experienced all these positive changes, I was filled with a real yearning to see Guruji which grew ever stronger.
Finally I could wait no longer and (once again) I dropped everything I was doing and set out to see him. I walked towards the pier and...
It was the same ‘old’ story.
I was back on the raft with Guruji who greeted me warmly and took my hands into his, beaming broadly.
We sat down and drank some tea together. And immediately the familiar and wonderful feeling of warmness which emanated from Guruji streamed through me.
Yes, I was really back in the most beautiful place in the whole wide world!
Guruji sank down into the lotus position on the floor. Warm and soft sunlight radiated in and around the raft and once again there was a heavenly atmosphere. The strange thing was that it had been foggy outside and the sun had not broken through before I had stepped onto the raft...
