On Grandfather's Day²

Grandfather’s Day is sweeter than the sweetest for me. A grandfather will never, never, never expect anything from his grandchildren. He will only give and give and give. The children who expect and demand constantly from the grandparents are going to be their sweetest and dearest grandchildren. Those who expect and demand feel that their grandfather is the only person who will meet with all their sweet expectations and demands. That is absolutely true! Grandparents have a larger than the largest heart for their grandchildren. When it comes to grandchildren, there is no such thing as the mind. It is all heart. So the entire world should be made of the grandchildren’s affection and the grandfather’s fondness. Then this world can be sweeter than the sweetest and beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful.

To each spiritual grandchild of mine I wish to offer my infinite affection, infinite love and infinite pride and pride and gratitude and gratitude.

Now I wish to tell a few stories about my physical grandparents. My father’s father was named Ramachandra Ghosh. His superior was an Englishman. It happened that this man was engaged in a lawsuit and he asked my grandfather to tell a lie in his defence. My grandfather did not agree; he did not want to tell a lie. As a result, he was demoted. Then, on another occasion, the same English boss asked him to tell another lie in his defence. Again my grandfather did not listen. This time my grandfather was fired! Then he left the village, without taking anything. He said, “I am not going to tell a lie to support this boss. The best thing is to move to another village.”

I can also say something about my paternal grandmother, my father’s mother. When I was born, our house in town caught fire. So her immediate prediction was that this fellow would be the destruction of our whole family. My mother contradicted her. She said that I would bring name and fame to the family.

My other grandmother declared that I would be a clerk. In our Indian villages, to be a clerk is a sign of knowledge. It means that you have gone to school. To be a clerk is something very special, very great. A clerk is one who deals with paper, and in that sense my grandmother was absolutely right. At the age of thirty-two I became a junior clerk here in America for three years. And now, every day, I deal with papers. So her prediction about me came true.

I never saw my mother’s father — not even his picture. But a picture was taken of my mother’s mother. My mother is also in that picture. It was taken before I was born. I have blessed the soul of this grandmother at least ten times while looking at that picture here in New York. I have such compassion for my mother’s mother. So I blessed her soul when she came back into this world. She is no longer in the soul’s world.