I met Murshid in the fall of 1970 and was initiated by Wali Ali in 1971.
I loved coming to meetings, Murshid had a great sense of humor and sometime I would be the only one who heard it and would be laughing hysterically. When I concentrated on him—it was like we were for only ones in the room—I was totally away to him and was totally in love with him.
After almost every meeting I attended I would go over to him and kiss him and thank him for the class. Sometime he would hug me and talk with me for awhile—he always kissed me back.
He never liked it when people would ask him questions after class. I did this once and he said to ask it the next evening. I was hesitant and shy to ask; my friend coaxed me as Murshid looked right at me and said, "Are there any questions?" "Why do women feel depression so much?" He immediately got up and said to come to him and everyone should join hands. He lead us around with the Sri Ram Jai Ram dance and spiraled around till Murshid and I were in the center with everyone very close together and he ended the dance and said "Now are you depressed?"
I felt so much joy at that sequence of time—the mantra seemed to penetrate my whole being.
He always called me Susan—"My name is Shirley, Murshid"—"Oh!" From Wali Ali received the name Wajuda—which means joy.
The year he passed from his body I visited Lama and he gave me practice. I cried a lot and he told me to stop crying and be joyful!
My whole lesson and Murshid was “Speak up and be joyous!”
One afternoon he was watching Perry Mason and cracking walnuts I joined him. An Anacin commercial came on and he said “You know how to get rid of arthritis. Grape fruits—eat lots of grape fruits! About 4 years later I had arthritic pain and tried it and it works!
I studied horticulture at City College—had the same teacher as Murshid. He spoke well of him and always commented on the time he met Murshid's mother—he said (Harry Nelson), ”as soon we came in she talked and Sam shut up—and she talked the whole time—he never said a word!”
We never discussed horticulture—I was not involved in it at the time. I would have loved to, though.
Murshid’s presence is definitely felt in the department and different areas of campus. Mrs. Echols who taught botany—now teacher in the department—plant identification – speaks well of him and mentioned the time and he was always asking which plant would do well in the Middle East—she mentioned something about Artichokes but you would have to contact her on this—I can’t quote. She would be more than happy to help.
Another experience that I felt shortly after coming to meetings was: I was working as a cashier and during the day I would feel tremendous amount of energy flowing out my hands. I asked Murshid about it and he immediately summoned Saul and I together. He asked Saul to test and see if he could feel any energy coming out of my hands and Sam said, "Yes!" And Murshid said alright, laughed and patted me on the back. So I presumed it was healing energy and joined Saul’s healing class, which was a very high experience for me.
I hope you can read this—excuse my spelling—hope it will help you in your effort to keep Murshid alive. He’s very much alive in my heart and I’m only happy to give you any more information you need.
Much Love,
Saraswati
(Wajuda) 2314 Felt t. Santa Cruz, CA 95062