After several more setbacks the deal went through, and Atmananda, Dana, Anne, Tammy, and I moved in. Atmananda occasionally paced the carpets of the new Centre, improvising a song from Fiddler On The Roof in which pious dairyman Tevya aspires for a little wealth from God.
"If I were a realized soul!" Atmananda began. "Ahhh yaahtuh daahtuh daahtuh yaahtuh daahtuh daahtuh daahtuh duhm. All day long I'd bittih bittih buhm. If I were a realized soul! Ahhh wouldn't have to work hard... "
Once at the new Centre, Atmananda recited for me the money mantra.
"Ya devi sarva bhutesu ratna rupena sangsthita nastasvai namastvai namastvai namo nama," he chanted soulfully.
If I could have followed his words down the corridors of time, I would have seen him—
Ya devi...
Dramatically increasing the cost of public meditation lectures and seminars.
... sarva bhutesu...
Charging one thousand dollars a person for weekend desert trips (1987).
... ratna rupena...