---

The Fakir and the Science of Miracles/Chapter Fifteen: Freedom of Choice: Hatred or Love

---

Chapter Fifteen:
Freedom of Choice:
Hatred or Love

Ram visited Pierre every day and directed Pierre’s efforts in the spiritual labor over himself.

And in the cell now, Ram was surrounded by attention and reverence from almost all of his cellmates. For them, their emotions were very unexpected and surprising. They listened to Ram and… believed him! And all of this was not just because he did not reveal to the guards who was guilty for Boer’s wound, and not just because before their very eyes Boer, who was supposed to bleed out and die, not only survived, but was now outwardly quite healthy.

The very state of amazing benevolent peace emanating from Ram seemed to dissolve all negative thoughts and emotions in the space around him and now filled the whole prison cell. It was as if an invisible sunlight surrounded Ram and dispersed the darkness in the surrounding space.

On several occasions, after Ram passed through the wall into the neighboring cell to visit Pierre, those who were previously inveterate villains and criminals tried to discuss among themselves what was happening.

With all their desire, and no matter how hard they tried, they could not find any malicious intent or self-interest in Ram. They discussed among themselves all their doubts and suspicions, and their surpise at this man was without end.

And whenever Ram returned, the space again became filled with such a state of peace and kindness that negative thoughts could no longer be held in their minds. Emotions of aggression and anger could not survive in his field of love!

Only Boer was filled with hatred.

Most of the time, the prisoners who, “as fate would have it”, turned out to be neighbors of Ram were now devoted to conversations with him. And, through these conversations, they received answers to many of their questions.

And Ram’s answers, which were expressed in very simple words, often dumbfounded his listeners and changed their understanding of how they could live.

The possibility of selfless help to each other and to other people at first seemed to them like an absurd and empty fantasy. On several occasions, they expressed their doubts to Ram, saying:

“How could it even be possible to give money — not on credit — but simply out of a desire to give, disinterestedly? Or, how could it be possible to help people find a decent and honest job, or to help find housing for those who may need it — without any benefit for oneself, even in the future?

“How to imagine such a life? Even just imagining it is hard! What if they cheat you? And what if in response to good, you receive evil?

“Is it really possible to help others, requiring only one thing in return; namely, that those who received such help willingly help others too when they themselves ‘get back on their feet’?”

And Ram told them that the reward for helping is namely the joy of giving!

All this seemed very unreal to them…

But Ram very confidently said that they will live in the reality that they themselves create. And that those who are not disappointed with their first difficulties and failures, will soon feel the Great Power, Which people call the Holy Spirit. He also said that the joy that a person feels in his or her spiritual heart, which at first may only be for brief moments, will grow steadily! Only heart love makes life full of meaning, kindness, and happiness! And everyone has a choice on how they will live further. But, of course, all this is possible only when appropriate personal efforts are applied to this…

* * *

Only Boer himself was gloomy and did not participate in these conversations. Everything that Ram said caused rejection and anger in him. Everything connected with Ram seemed to destroy the very foundations of his own life, and he hated Ram for everything.

What was happening around Boer also caused irritation in him. And this irration and rejection in him were only further increased by what his cellmates had told him about how Ram had healed him, and by how they said that Boer should be grateful to him. He was also angered by the facts that the giant, who had wounded Boer, even asked him for forgiveness, and that Ram himself was also trying to talk with Boer.

Unbearable malice strangled Boer! He recalled again and again all those who — either by lies or by violence — had forced him to be a “good boy” ever since childhood: he was completely hated by his father who would beat him with a belt, and he was hated by his drunk mother, and by the overseer of an orphanage, and by a priest who severely threatened him with all the terrible torments of hell… He hated them all. He hated those who had broken and mangled his whole life! And words about kindness and justice only increased the hatred in him.

Throughout his whole life, he always did everything contrary to the calls to love and the calls to be kind…

He poured out the anger that was accumulating in the soul — on all people…

He hated and despised all people without exception — both the strong, whom he dreamed of deceiving, and the weak, over whom he could triumph in episodes of his cruel violence.

He sought freedom for himself only, and he belived that such freedom could come from having so much “power” that he could exceed the strength of others and prevent others from committing violence upon him.

He wanted to suppress and command others, and inspire fear…

And his whole life was a struggle for this perverted “freedom”.

He moved from one situation of his own cruelty — to another even worse one, until the prison became an almost permanent habitat for him.

… One day, Boer was taken out of the cell and brought to the office of the head of the prison:

“So much time has passed, but you still have not fulfilled the order. Why? Do you no longer need freedom and money? Have you given up?”

“Some things happened… And now, I no longer have weapons…”

“You have no more than two days. Otherwise, that magician will be free, and you will rot in prison! Then no one will cancel your life sentence!”

… Boer received a new murder weapon and conveniently hid it in his clothes.

When he was brought back to the cell, he met Ram’s long gaze. It seemed to Boer that this man… knew everything…

The knife seemingly burned his body through his clothes, as if it had been heated in a fire…

At night, Boer had a dream in which he killed Ram. That dream was very similar to reality. In it, he killed the fakir with the knife; however, the fakir did not die, but came back to life with an affectionate look and said that there is no death, and that freedom consists in not obeying the anger and hatred boiling inside… But Boer did not want to hear about it even in the dream!

But those eyes of the fakir… — they then looked deep into the soul… Love flowed from them… The fakir said: “There is another way out of suffering, there is another way to live!…”.

But even in the dream, Boer could not allow himself to believe that the love, which the fakir emanates, really exists… The emotion of remorse, which could have washed and cleaned the soul, approached Boer from the depths; but this emotion was rejected by him with great effort… His state of inner guardedness against everything around — with the help of hatred — blocked the emotion of remorse!

Waking up, he still felt the gaze of those eyes and saw lips that said: “Do not!”…

Having not fully understood the dream, Boer woke up wondering what exactly does “Do not!” mean.

He saw Ram surrounded by all the inhabitants of the cell. He was again telling them something. And the others listened with attention to him…

Thoughts, like a hackneyed record, sounded in Boer’s head: “He is alive, still alive… I just need to stick a knife into him and I will be free! And then he will stop torturing me!”.

It seemed to Boer that he was choking with anger… He felt for the knife hidden under the mattress.

Boer, with the determination of a fanatic, saw Ram’s back. And, with a staggering gait, he came close and thrust the knife…

It was so unexpected that no one had time to hinder what had happened. After all, everyone had been intently listening to Ram’s speech.

Ram, turning to his killer and looking in his eyes, said:

“But there was a different way, a different choice!…”

… The prisoners wanted to tear Boer apart right then and there for the murder…

But Ram’s almost lifeless body managed to utter the words:

“Do not take revenge!…”

* * *

Boer, of course, was not released as a reward for his atrocity… He was placed in solitary confinement. Life imprisonment — that was the result for him.

Boer was no longer afraid of anything, not even death… He realized that he had completely ruined his life: he mutilated and squandered it…

Ahead of him, there was only death and, after that, the unknown…

At times, he saw the face of Ram — as if in a dream. But it was actually in reality. The face of Ram, consisting of Light, spoke and answered his thoughts… He received mental answers that could never have crossed his mind…

* * *

Before that event, Ram’s friends were busy doing everything for his release from prison.

The money and connections of the young Count Alex were set in motion. And everything very quickly began to bear real fruit…

The preparations for the release of Ram progressed very successfully. It seemed that only a little more remained before the charge would be dropped completely. The false witness agreed to withdraw his statement, and the case was soon to be closed without any fuss and without a trial.

It seemed that everything was settled…

And then… they received the news that Ram was killed by a cellmate in prison…

Katya was in despair! She did not cry, but there was a feeling that soon she might even lose consciousness.

Tom held on a little better.

He decided to go get Ram’s body from the prison, telling his friends:

“Alex, Katya! We do not all need to be present for this. I will go alone and hire people. Wait for me here! When I return, then we will decide how to proceed further…”

Alex wanted to support Katya… But… how could he console her?

Katya whispered:

“We were too late! Do you understand?! We did everything so slowly! We could not save him!… He saved my life, and, for Tom and me, he was…”

… Katya sobbed… Alex hugged her and stroked her hair…

“We did everything we could, Katya, dear! I love you, I will do everything to make you happy! I understand that right now my confession of love is not appropriate, but I will do everything I can!

“We can create our own circus. And you and Tom will recruit a troupe and perform…

“Or, if you want, then we’ll leave to my country estate…

“I am ready to do anything that you say, anything that you ask!”

“Wait, not now, Alex! You didn’t know Ram…

“I probably love you too… A few days ago, I would have been happy with such words as those.

“Yes, I thought that one day we would create our own magic show. And this show wouldn’t be dependent on anyone! We would make all the decisions ourselves! But now… all this does not make sense — without Ram!…”

“You yourself explained to me about the immortality of souls, about Love, Which is Divine and All-Encompassing… You told me so much about what Ram taught you!…”

“Yes… I know all this, I understand everything. I understand that for Ram there is no death and that he is with God and in God. And there — in the Unity of all the Perfect Ones — he is well! I understand all this!…

“I will surely cope with this!

“But I don’t know how now everything can become good here…”

* * *

Tom came back. The people, hired for this, brought in the body of Ram and laid it on the table in the middle of the room. They got their money and left.

… The face of Ram’s lifeless body was so calm and beautiful!…

Katya thought that the Light around his body was getting brighter and brighter… And that his eyelashes shook…

Ram opened his eyes and sat down.

He, smiling affectionately, said:

“Have I really taught you nothing? Why do you mourn the clothes of the soul if you know that this soul knows the Great Unity?”

Tom and Katya threw themselves into the arms of Ram.

Then, when everyone calmed down, Ram explained:

“My friends, you know that I can leave my material body! I told you how the bodies of the fakirs were buried in the ground for many hours, and then the owners of the bodies ‘rose from the dead’!

“Sorry to make you worry!

“I did not die and did not resurrect. I just stopped the vital processes in my body for a while — and people considered me dead.”

“Are you injured?” — Katya asked anxiously.

“Don’t worry, Katya! While I was ‘dead’, I repaired this body a little, and now it’s quite healthy,” — Ram answered with a smile.

Then he turned to Count Alex, who stood a little apart, watching with amazement what was happening.

Ram said:

“Alex, I want to thank you for everything that you have done for my release and for my friends! I hope that Katya and Tom have already managed to tell you a little about the fact that we were united not only by the circus…”

Katya blushed a little:

“I am ashamed, Ram, but I had very little time to tell Alex about the most important thing. But now you can continue to teach us all!”

“Yes, but you yourself need to learn to share your knowledge and understanding of the spiritual world.

“I will soon leave you for a while and give you some errands.

“We will meet again when you are done here.

“We will all leave here.”

“But what about the news of your death? What to do about it?”

“If they ask you about this, you can tell them that you dispersed the ashes into the wind. This is customary in India. Now I will change into clean clothes and then I will show and tell you something. Let us all relax! We’ve had enough worries for one day!”

… Ram folded the old clothes, which he wore in prison, and placed them on a metal tray. And with a flash of Fire, they turned into ashes.

“This is the fate of all matter: it turns to dust.

“And the purpose of everything that happens in the Creation is the multiplication of love in immortal souls!

“All right! These ashes can be dispersed!”

… Then Ram spread out a big map and showed his friends a place in the mountains.

“I’ll be waiting for you here. I will go there first, and the sooner the better. The ‘late Ra-Mak-Mey’ should no longer be seen by anyone! Therefore, I will simply move my body there without crossing any state borders. My body will simply disappear here and appear where I should be now.

“And you will follow me after a while in the most ordinary way. First, on a train. Then, on horseback. And after that, I will meet you.

“We will spend several months in the mountains. I still have a lot to teach you.

“In the cities, people live like ants in an anthill. People barely notice even each other and hardly perceive the world around. Their thoughts are only on food, their households, reproduction, and the accumulation of money… People are chasing many of the illusory values of the material world like wealth, fame, power, or a high position in society, believing that others will pay attention to the owners of all this, obey them, and glorify them!

“But by chasing all of this, it’s as if they are trying to use their palms to scoop up a reflection in the water. And if, in your palms, you try to take and hold a reflection in the water for a long time, it will flow out between your fingers along with the water…

“But there is another manifestation of life. This is the life of souls.

“Such a life is simple! And it can be filled with happiness!

“Where does this happiness come from?

“This is the ability of the soul to love, which can be realized at any time, at any moment. It is from these moments that a GENUINE LIFE can be woven!

“In this state of giving unselfish, unconditional love to other creatures, the passage to the world of Eternal Light and never-ending Joy opens.

In It, All are One in Love!

In It, one cannot lose Those Whom one Loves!

“This Light-Fire is the Creative Power of God!

“In India, It is called Brahman. You can draw a parallel with the Christian name: the Holy Spirit. But very little is explained about this radiant intangible Divine Power — even in the holy books of different religious movements. Nevertheless, all the spiritual ascetics who really perceived the Divine World knew about this Living Force and interacted with It.

“After all, God is the ONE CONSISTING OF THE MULTITUDE OF PERFECT ONES! This refers to the very many Souls That have achieved the Great Unity; They live in Mutual Mergence. They create and support everything that is needed in the Creation!

“At the place where we will go to in the mountains, it will be easier for me to show you a lot and tell you more about the Divine Power. The beauty of nature, silence, and solitude — make it much easier to begin to perceive the world of the non-material Light.

“But before you set off on the journey after me, traveling in the most ordinary way, you should take care of some unfinished business that you have here and one request from me. Perhaps, two or three more fellow travelers will be added to our journey.

“There is now some work for that lawyer who agreed to defend me. The day after tomorrow, there will be a review in court of one case in connection with some newly discovered evidence and circumstances.

“I hope that my young friend, Pierre, will be released, and he may even want to travel with us.

“Katya will have time to teach Alex what she already knows. After all, he has to make a decision about whether he wants to go with us on this path, which is not only earthly, but also spiritual.

“In the mountains, I can continue to show you all that which is much easier to explain when away from the bustle of big cities and an endless series of earthly affairs.

“And then, we will all together create a new magic show in order to little by little reveal to people the science of miracles.

“I already have some ideas!”

[To be continued.]