Before a recent pilgrimage to Assisi, I received the beautiful gift of spending a few minutes with Dada Vaswani and sought his blessings for my journey. A much revered and beloved teacher to millions, his eyes lit up as he enthusiastically shared a few stories from the life of St Francis.
With each story, Francis' life seemed nothing short of a spiritual thriller. Born into a family of affluence, he led a charmed existence with nothing to want. In his youth, after a series of personal transformations, he went into a deeply introspective phase, while simultaneously engaging in impulsive acts of generosity, be it emptying his pockets to give to beggars or parting with his expensive clothes to the poor.
His father who had great expectations from Francis was deeply distressed as he saw his son rapidly distributing away all his wealth. After trying his best to get Francis to change his ways, when one day he could take it no longer he finally dragged Francis to the Bishop requesting his intervention.
However, Francis shocked the assembled gathering by saying "I want to live like the birds in the sky, and experience their purity and freedom. The rest (my father's wealth) is of no use to me."
Thus saying he removed all his clothes and lovingly offered them to his father saying "My heavenly Father sent me to you naked, and now you are sending me naked back to Him."
As soon as Dada Vaswani said this an unmistakable peace descended into the room, and we held a few moments of prayerful silence before parting ways. Something about this story shook my very being and brought up in my heart the images of countless befikr fakirs (carefree renunciates) who have joyfully sought God in playful and prayerful poverty.
If you want your dream to be
Take your time, go slowly
Do few things but do them well
Heartfelt work grows purely
If you want to live life free
Take your time, go slowly
Do few things but do them well
Heartfelt work grows purely
Day by day, stone by stone
Build your secret slowly
Day by day, you'll grow too
You'll know heaven's glory
If you want your dream to be
Take your time, go slowly
Do few things but do them well
Heartfelt work grows purely
If you want to live life free
Take your, time go slowly
Do few things but do them well
Heartfelt work grows purely
Day by day, stone by stone
Build your secret slowly
Day by day, you'll grow too
You'll know heaven's glory
If you want to live life free
Take your time go slowly
If you want your dream to be
Take your time, go slowly
If you want your dream to be
Take your time, go slowly
If you want to live life free
Take your time go slowly
If you want to live life free
Take your time go slowly
