Bill Hughes
In Gratitude for 50 Years with the Guru
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In 1971 I was visiting with a friend and psychology professor at Portland State University. We had spent many hours the previous year talking about consciousness, meditation, religion and parapsychology and as I was leaving his office he mentioned that there was a class going on down the hall on the Bhagavad Gita that might interest me. It was being taught by taught by an Indian Swami. I checked the class schedule and showed up the same week to look at auditing the class. The teacher was Nitya, and I was immediately intrigued and inspired and continued the remainder of the class. After a few classes my future wife Nancy (who had also joined the class) and I were invited over to the ‘Overton house’ in NW Portland where Nitya was staying along with a number of his young students. We started attending his evening lectures and getting to know the other inhabitants of the house (many of whom are friends to this day and were the first members of what would become an extended Gurukula family that stretches around the world).
We continued our studies with Nitya the following year and in the spring moved into a VW bus for a summer of travel. Our first stop was in San Francisco and the house on California Street where Nitya was staying. We stayed for several weeks to be with him and it was there we met more friends and students including Nancy Yeilding and Peter Moras and continued our instruction and friendship with Nitya.
In the coming years we went on to study with Nitya whenever/wherever we could, when he visited Portland or taught at different universities in California. This would become a pattern over many years until his responsibilities in India curtailed his travels. Our relationship became a cornerstone of our spiritual education.
A few memories of too many to include:
He was teaching at Sonoma State in 1974 and I was helping him with cooking dinner one night when he casually mentioned he needed a reason to come to Portland. I considered it for a day and asked if he would be willing to come to Portland to do a wedding—ours—and he graciously agreed. We were married in a park in Portland (photos attached) that August and that became another important connection and blessing of many more that intertwined our lives. He helped design the house we built in 1979 and 1980, and blessed and gave ‘first letters’ to both our sons.
In the fall of 1977 and winter of 1978, we embarked on a 100 day study of the 100 verses of Atmopadesa Satakam composed by Narayana Guru. Students came from all over Portland (Deb Buchanan, Scott Teitsworth, Nancy and I came from 20 miles west of the city), from California and Washington, and even Australia. The day began at 6:00 AM with a reading of the verse followed by Guru giving his commentary, which became the basis for his book That Alone, The Core of Wisdom. We would then all go about our daily lives and jobs and reconvene to discuss the day and the verse at 7:00 PM. For myself, and for many who were there, it became one of the most intense and rewarding studies of 100 Verses (and almost 50 years later it continues to teach and guide us).
In 1980 many of his Western students made the journey to India to meet at the annual convention in Varkala. Nancy and I bought round the world plane tickets and made our way to India. For many of us it was our first trip to India and a great adventure. After Varkala we journeyed to Ooty and spent time with Guru there where we continued classes and traveled to other Gurukulas. It was quite an experience and further strengthened our connection and instruction with Nitya.
During the 80s Guru traveled to the US frequently, often staying in Portland to teach classes at Portland State or the Portland Gurukula or traveling to Island Gurukula Aranya on Bainbridge for Guru Puja and work on the press building there. Whenever we had the opportunity we took advantage of the time and it became an integral part of our lives and studies.
In 1991, we packed up our kids (then 8 and 11) for another trip to Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and an extended stay in India. The boys traveled well and it was an eye opening experience for them. We met Guru in Ooty and after we had been there a short time Guru proposed a trip—we rented a minibus, piled in, and traveled the length of Kerala, with Guru patiently listening to the boys’ tapes of Tom Petty and the like. We were lucky enough to stay with disciples and friends of Guru and made many new friends and saw much of Kerala. Most of the places we went, Guru would give talks to large groups of people. Most of what he said was in Malayalam so I understood little. However, I was often on the podium with Guru in my role as president of the Narayana Gurukula organization in the US. The few times I spoke, the listeners likely understood less of my English than I had of the Malayalam, so not much responsibility.
In 1999 we planned another trip with our sons to see Guru, as his health had been failing. Our plans changed dramatically with Guru’s samadhi but we decided to go anyway and we were able to visit with Prasad other friends and to attend Guru’s Samadhi celebration in Ooty. A huge gathering of luminaries, swamis, disciples, and friends came to pay tribute to a truly great man.
Though Nitya’s physical presence has gone, his guidance and influence continues to this day. Many of the friends we have made since those days in 1971 have become our extended family, which has grown even more over the years. Our studies continue—with a class at the Portland Gurukula that has gone on for over 40 years and still meets weekly for much of the year, to Nancy Yeilding’s online classes which reach around the globe, to my own private studies of the many philosophies that Nitya drew on for his wisdom teaching. 50 years on, I am more grateful than ever, and hopefully a bit wiser for the lessons and a little more graceful in how I live my life.