'You ask the Prime Minister'

One story came to my mind. We were in Canada, and Guru wanted to meet and then lift the previous Prime Minister. Jean Chrétien was his name.

Mr. Chrétien had agreed to the meeting, but not to the lifting. Guru was going to meet him in this little anteroom of his law practice. So I went there for this meeting, As soon as we went in there, his secretary says to me, “Oh, no filming.”  So, when Guru arrived, I told Guru this and Guru said to me, “You ask the Prime Minister.”

Well, I mean, if Guru says you have to do it, you have to do it. But I was thinking, “How is this going to happen?” Because normally the Prime Minister would come in, and it would all happen very quickly, and I would miss everything.

Guru wanted to show him a video of all the famous people Guru has met, and I had it on a little portable player. I thought, “Well, this is my chance. When I put the player in front of him, this will be my chance to ask him.”

And that's what happened. I handed him the video, past one of his assistants, and he said, “Oh, this is very interesting.” I said, “Oh yes, and could I just film a little of you?” He said, “Oh fine, fine.”

So, I started filming, and his secretary walked in. She couldn’t believe that I was filming. She walked over to me and said, “I told you no filming.” I said, “Oh no, no, it's fine. I asked the Prime Minister, and he says, I can.” She couldn't believe that we'd gone around her, and she stood staring at me saying, “Ah, ah, are you sure?”

Then during that meeting, Guru kept asking the Prime Minister, “Are you sure you don't want to be lifted? You could be lifted.” Eventually Chrétien just said, “Yes, I'll be lifted.”  

So, the boys had already got the message to take down the lifting equipment, that it wasn't happening. They were driving away to the Canadian parliament building where Guru was going to have a concert.

Suddenly they got the call: “Come back, come back immediately! The Prime Minister's coming downstairs now.” So, they turned the van round in the middle of the road and drove back like crazy and were unloading it as fast as possible to get it done in time. They said they had never set it up so quickly. It was almost ready by the time he came out, which was perfect.

So Guru got these two things that were of great importance to him: He wished for the meeting to be filmed and he wished to lift the previous Prime Minister. Against all the odds, it worked!

Determination
Can challenge impossibility
And offer victory
To the Lord Supreme.

Sri Chinmoy 1

• 1. Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 27, Agni Press, 2002