All World
Gayatri Pariwar

The Pilgrimage – 2
When I first started out I thought the pilgrimage might entail some hardships. But I was determined to live at need level, that is, I didn’t want more than I need when so many have less than they need. Penance is the willingness to undergo hardships for the achievement of a good purpose. I was willing. But when hardships came I found myself lifted above them. Instead of hardship, I found a wonderful sense of peace and joy and conviction that I was following God’s will. Blessings instead of hardships are showered upon me.

I remember my first lesson on the pilgrimage was the lesson of receiving. I had been on the giving side for many years and I needed to learn to accept as gracefully as I had been able to give, in order to give the other fellow the joy and blessing of giving. It’s so beautiful when you live to give. To me it’s the only way to live, because as you give you receive spiritual blessings.

I was tested severely in the beginning of my pilgrimage. Life is a series of tests; but if you pass your tests, you look back upon them as good experiences. I’m glad I had these experiences.

If you have a loving and positive attitude toward your fellow human beings, you will not fear them. ‘Perfect love casteth out all fear.’

One test happened in the middle of the night in the middle of the California desert. The traffic had just about stopped, and there wasn’t a human habitation within many miles. I saw a car parked at the side of the road. The driver called to me saying, “Come on, get in and get warm.” I said, “I don’t ride.” He said, “I’m not going anywhere, I’m just parked here.” I got in. I looked at the man. He was a big, burly man—what most people would call a rough looking individual. After we had talked a while he said, “Say, wouldn’t you like to get a few winks of sleep?” And I said, “Oh, yes, I certainly would!” And I curled up and went to sleep. When I awoke I could see the man was very puzzled about something, and after we had talked for quite some time he admitted that when he had asked me to get into the car he had certainly meant me no good, adding, “When you curled up so trustingly and went to sleep, I just couldn’t touch you!”

I thanked him for the shelter and began walking away. As I looked back I saw him gazing at the heavens, and I hoped he had found God that night.

No one walks so safely as one who walks humbly and harmlessly with great love and great faith. For such a person gets through to the good in others (and there is good in everyone), and therefore cannot be harmed. This works between individuals, it works between groups and it would work between nations if nations had the courage to try it.

Once I was hit by a disturbed teenage boy whom I had taken for a walk. He wanted to go hiking but was afraid he might break a leg and be left lying there. Everyone was afraid to go with him. He was a great big fellow and looked like a football player, and he was known to be violent at times. He had once beaten his mother so badly that she had to spend several weeks in the hospital. Everybody was afraid of him, so I offered to go with him.

As we got up to the first hilltop everything was going fine. Then a thunderstorm came along. He was very terrified because the thundershower was very close. Suddenly he went off the beam and came for me, hitting at me. I didn’t run away although I guess I could have — he had a heavy pack on his back. But even while he was hitting me I could only feel the deepest compassion toward him. How terrible to be so psychologically sick that you would be able to hit a defenseless old woman! I bathed his hatred with love even while he hit me. As a result the hitting stopped.

He said, “You didn’t hit back! Mother always hits back.” The delayed reaction, because of his disturbance, had reached the good in him. Oh, it’s there—no matter how deeply it is buried—and he experienced remorse and complete self-condemnation.

What are a few bruises on my body in comparison with the transformation of a human life? To make a long story short he was never violent again. He is a useful person in this world today.

On another occasion I was called upon to defend a frail eight year old girl against a large man who was about to beat her. The girl was terrified. It was my most difficult test. I was staying at a ranch and the family went into town. The little girl did not want to go with
them, and they asked, since I was there, would I take care of the child? I was writing a letter by the window when I saw a car arrive. A man got out of the car. The girl saw him and ran and he followed, chasing her into a barn. I went immediately into the barn. The girl was cowering in terror in the corner. He was coming at her slowly and deliberately.

You know the power of thought. You’re constantly creating through thought. And you attract to you whatever you fear. So I knew her
danger because of her fear. (I fear nothing and expect good — so good comes!)

I put my body immediately between the man and the girl. I just stood and looked at this poor, psychologically sick man with loving
compassion. He came close. He stopped! He looked at me for quite a while. He then turned and walked away and the girl was safe. There was not a word spoken.

Now, what was the alternative? Suppose I had been so foolish as to forget the law of love by hitting back and relying upon the jungle law of tooth and claw? Undoubtedly I would have been beaten — perhaps even to death and possibly the little girl as well! Never underestimate the power of God’s love — it transforms! It reaches the spark of good in the other person and the person is disarmed.

When I started out on my pilgrimage, I was using walking for two purposes at that time. One was to contact people, and I still use it for that purpose today. But the other was as a prayer discipline. To keep me concentrated on my prayer for peace. And after a few years I discovered something. I discovered that I no longer needed the prayer discipline. I pray without ceasing now. My personal prayer is:Make me an instrument through which only truth can speak.

During my pilgrimage through Arizona I was arrested by a plainclothes policeman while mailing letters at the local post office in
Benson. After a short ride in a patrol car I was booked as a vagrant. When you walk on faith you are technically guilty of vagrancy. Yes, I’ve been jailed several times for not having any money, but they always release me once they understand.

There is a great deal of difference between a prison and a jail. A prison is something big that maintains some kind of standards. A jail is a little affair that doesn’t maintain much of any standard. And this was a jail!

They put me into a huge inner room surrounded by cell blocks in which they locked the women, four to a cell for the night. As I walked in I said to myself, “Peace Pilgrim, you have dedicated your life to service — behold your wonderful new field of service!”

When I walked in one of the girls said, “Gee, you’re a funny one, you’re the only one that came in smiling. Most of them come in crying or cursing.”

I said to them, “Suppose you had a day off at home — wouldn’t you do something worthwhile on that day?” They said, “Yes, what will we do?” So I got them to sing songs that lifted the spirit. I gave them a simple exercise which makes you feel tingly all over. Then I talked to them about the steps toward inner peace. I told them they lived in a community and what could be done in an outer community could also be done in their community. They were interested and asked many questions. Oh, it was a beautiful day.

At the end of the day they changed matrons. The girls didn’t like the woman who came in. They said she was a horrible person and said not to even speak to her. But I know there’s good in everybody and of course I spoke to her. I learned this woman was supporting her children with this job. She felt she had to work and didn’t always feel well and that’s why she was a bit cross at times. There is a reason for everything.

I asked the matron to visualize only the good in the inmates. And I asked the girls to visualize only the good in the beleaguered matron. Later on I said to the matron, “I realize you have a full house here and I can sleep comfortably on this wooden bench.” Instead she had them bring me a cot with clean bedclothes, and I had a warm shower with a clean towel and all the comforts of home.

In the morning I bade farewell to my friends and was escorted by a local deputy to the courthouse several blocks away. I wasn’t handcuffed nor was he even holding onto me. But he had a great big gun at his side, and so I looked at him and said, “If I were to run away, would you shoot me?” “Oh, no,” he said grinning, “I never shoot anything I can catch!”

In court that morning I pleaded not guilty and my case was immediately dismissed. In my personal effects which were taken overnight was a letter which had great weight in my release. It read: “The bearer of this note has identified herself as a Peace Pilgrim walking coast to coast to direct the attention of our citizens to her desire for peace in the world. We do not know her personally as she is just passing through our state, but since undoubtedly it will be a long, hard trip for her, we wish her safe passage.” It was on official stationery and signed by the governor of the state, Howard Pyle.

When I was being released a court officer remarked, “You don’t seem to be any the worse for your day in jail.” I said, “You can imprison my body, but not the spirit.” It’s only the body they can put behind prison bars. I never felt in prison and neither will you ever feel in prison—unless you imprison yourself. They took me to the spot where I had been picked up the day before. It was a beautiful experience.

Every experience is what you make it and it serves a purpose. It might inspire you, it might educate you, or it might come to give you a chance to be of service in some way.

Most of my speaking is now scheduled well in advance but I am still offered speaking engagements in a most unexpected manner.
In Minneapolis I was being interviewed by a reporter at a gathering of civic club members who were awaiting an address by the
Minnesota Governor. He was unable to make it so they invited me to speak in his place. Of course I accepted!

And speaking of governors, as I stepped inside the big front door of a State House one day, a nice friendly gentleman greeted me and shook my hand and asked if he could help me. I told him I was looking for the Governor’s office and he promptly took me there. “Is there anything else I can do to help you?” he asked. “I thought I might have the privilege of shaking hands with the Governor,” I said. “You have shaken hands with the Governor,” said the nice friendly gentleman - the Governor himself.
[Reproduced with glad consent of the publishers – Friends of Peace Pilgrim]