he can materialize an extra body and work through it!" Together we
entered the saint's room.

"Look, those are the very sandals he was wearing at the GHAT,"
Kedar Nath Babu whispered. "He was clad only in a loincloth, just
as I see him now."

As the visitor bowed before him, the saint turned to me with a
quizzical smile.

"Why are you stupefied at all this? The subtle unity of the phenomenal
world is not hidden from true yogis. I instantly see and converse
with my disciples in distant Calcutta. They can similarly transcend
at will every obstacle of gross matter."

It was probably in an effort to stir spiritual ardor in my young
breast that the swami had condescended to tell me of his powers of
astral radio and television. {FN3-2} But instead of enthusiasm, I
experienced only an awe-stricken fear. Inasmuch as I was destined
to undertake my divine search through one particular guru-Sri
Yukteswar, whom I had not yet met-I felt no inclination to accept
Pranabananda as my teacher. I glanced at him doubtfully, wondering
if it were he or his counterpart before me.

[Illustration: Swami Pranabananda, "The Saint With Two Bodies", An
Exalted Disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya--see pranabananda.jpg]

The master sought to banish my disquietude by bestowing a soul-awakening
gaze, and by some inspiring words about his guru.