An Acapulco welcome

Sometimes when I first arrive in a country or city, the soul of that place will greet me at the airport. Sometimes after a few hours or a day or two it comes to greet me. Other times I am greeted even before I arrive — either on the plane or at the previous place I am visiting. Sometimes the soul of one country or city comes to the previous place to escort me to its own place.

In Acapulco the soul of the city greeted me one morning when I was coming by taxi from my hotel to the hotel where the disciples were staying. At first the taxi driver did not understand my pronunciation when I said, "Hotel Versailles," so I showed him my key where the name of the disciples' hotel was written. I didn't see any meter inside the taxi, so I asked him how much it would cost. He said, "Forty pesos." Then he said to me, "Hindu?"

I said, "Yes, Hindu."

Then he put his hand on my shoulder very hard and said, "Amigo!"

As soon as he touched me on the shoulder, right on the windshield of his taxi I saw the soul of Acapulco welcoming me. The taxi driver was the instrument. This time the soul greeted me through an outer gesture.

Unfortunately, the taxi driver was a rogue. He saw the key, but he wanted to leave me off seven or eight minutes' drive from the hotel. When I showed him the key again, from forty pesos the fare rose to eighty pesos.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Salutations, numbers 9-12, Agni Press, 1983
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/slt_3