THE EARTHQUAKE, THE DEATHTRAP, AND THE SAINT
The Northridge Temblor of '94 - and How a Blissful Monk Saved the Monastery Cook
At 4:30 AM thirty years ago today, on Monday, January 17th, 1994, the massive Northridge Earthquake hit Southern California, producing the most violent shaking the state had known since the Great San Francisco Quake of 1905. 57 people died and 9,000 were injured.
At that time I lived in a little garden apartment on Yale Street in Santa Monica, while working as the ashram cook at the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in nearby Pacific Palisades. When I moved in the previous year, I had noted with concern the large mirror on the wall directly behind my bed. "Hmm - in an earthquake, that could fall and decapitate me!" So I decided that at the first tremble of a temblor, I would cover my head in a pillow and roll towards the foot of the bed...forgetting, of course, that I had built a make shift entertainment center there consisting of cinder blocks, planks, a TV set, and a large bronze mirror leaning against the wall behind this death-trap - to give the room appearance of spaciousness.
The Friday before the quake, while working in the Lake Shrine kitchen, I received an unexpected phone call from Brother Bimalananda, a much beloved direct disciple of the great yoga Master, Paramahansa Yogananda. I was startled that he asked for me, as I had only met him once, and knew of no reason why this saintly soul would even know who I was, let alone want to talk to me.
(Brother Bimlananda, direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda)
"Michael! I understand you're coming to Hidden Valley on retreat this weekend?"
I hadn't told anyone, but in fact I was looking forward to a peaceful time that weekend at the SRF Retreat in Escondido near San Diego, 120 miles from LA.
"Well, in that case, maybe you could do me a favor? I need a ride from Encinitas up to Mother Center in LA on Monday morning. Perhaps you could pick me up?"
I was planning on returning to Santa Monica on Sunday night, but to spend three hours giving a ride to this blissful soul - widely believed to be in a more or less constant state of super-conscious bliss - was a blessing I would not pass up.
"I can stay over Sunday night, Brother - so glad to help!"
And so, that Monday morning at 4:30 AM I was awakened by the mild trembling of my water glass on the bedside table of my little room in the peaceful ashram retreat in Escondido. "Hmm," I thought, "a small quake. Either that or a large quake far away."
I dressed quickly and walked out into the garden to meditate under the stars.
Meanwhile, my garden apartment in Santa Monica, where I would have been asleep but for Brother Bimalananda, became a chaos of flying cinder blocks and shattered glass, raining down upon my empty bed. People spoke of the shaking as similar to a giant taking your house in his hands and violently shaking it up and down.
(An apartment building in Santa Monica after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake)
Later that morning I drove to Encinitas to pick up Brother, and we spoke of the news from LA, and how fortunate I was not to have been there.
"Yes," agreed Brother, "Divine Mother was protecting you."
I should note that I cannily placed my meditation blanket on the passenger seat, so that Bimalananda’s high vibrations would permeat the cloth for the long trip up to Los Angeles (a trip interrupted by a shopping errand lengthened by the enchanted devotees flocking up to Brother as he browsed for dog food). I still meditate on that blanket to this day.
There are many such tales of this wonderful soul. To Brother, of course, any miracles or blessings were due to the grace of Divine Mother through his beloved Master.
Michael Henry Dunn