Kashi Reborn and Rediscovered

Dadi: "Beta Guddu, tonight I'll tell you a very different kind of story - about a young boy named Kashi and the teacher who kept a promise across lifetimes."

Guddu: "Across lifetimes? Like reincarnation?"

Dadi: "Exactly! This is a true story from the book "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda. He was a great saint who lived not so long ago."

Guddu: "A real story? Not from ancient times?"

Dadi: "Real and recent! Yogananda ran a school called Ranchi Ashram. Among his students was a brilliant twelve-year-old boy named Kashi - very bright, very devoted."

Guddu: "Like a regular school?"

Dadi: "Yes, but also teaching yoga and spirituality. One day, something strange happened. Yogananda accidentally said to young Kashi: "You will die soon.""

Guddu: "That's terrible! Why did he say that?"

Dadi: "Sometimes yogis can see things others cannot. Yogananda immediately felt bad, but the words were out. Poor Kashi was deeply affected. He came to his teacher's room and said with tears, "Sir, if I die, will you find me when I am reborn? Will you bring me back to the spiritual path?""

Guddu: "That's such a big request!"

Dadi: "Very big, beta. Yogananda didn't want to make such a difficult promise. Finding someone's soul in a new body across all of India - maybe the whole world? It seemed impossible."

Guddu: "But did he promise?"

Dadi: "Kashi asked him every day for weeks. Finally, Yogananda said, "If the Heavenly Father helps me, I will try to find you.""

Guddu: "What happened to Kashi?"

Dadi: "(sadly) Yogananda went on a trip and told Kashi to stay at school where he'd be safe. But Kashi's father came and took him to Calcutta. There, the boy ate contaminated food and got cholera. Within days, he was gone."

Guddu: "Oh no... the teacher wasn't even there!"

Dadi: "Yogananda was heartbroken. He had made a promise to a dying boy. Now he had to keep it. But how do you find a soul that has been reborn?"

Guddu: "How, Dadi? There are so many babies in the world!"

Dadi: "Yogananda used a special yoga technique. Every day for six months, he would sit in meditation, send waves of love from his heart, and try to feel where Kashi's soul had gone. He would raise his hands and sense for direction, like a compass seeking north."

Guddu: "Did it work?"

Dadi: "Patience, beta! One day, while walking through a neighborhood called Bowbazar in Calcutta, Yogananda felt something - like electricity in his fingertips! They guided him down a small lane called Serpentine Lane."

Guddu: "Like his hands knew where to go!"

Dadi: "Exactly! He knocked on a door. A couple answered. Yogananda told them, "You are expecting a child. That child will be a boy. He will have certain characteristics..." He described everything about Kashi."

Guddu: "Were they scared?"

Dadi: "Confused but curious! Months later, they had a baby boy. And when Yogananda visited, the infant - who couldn't even talk yet - showed immediate recognition! The baby reached for Yogananda with unusual excitement."

Guddu: "The baby knew his old teacher?"

Dadi: "The soul remembered, even in a new body. And here's the most amazing part - the parents had named their child Kashi! Without knowing anything about the previous boy, they had given him the same name."

Guddu: "That gives me goosebumps, Dadi!"

Dadi: "Truth is stranger than fiction, beta. Yogananda helped raise the new Kashi on the spiritual path, just as he had promised."

Guddu: "So he kept his promise even though Kashi was in a completely new body?"

Dadi: "Love doesn't forget, beta. The bond between a true teacher and student, between souls who care for each other, continues across lifetimes. That's why we should cherish our connections - your family, your teachers, your true friends. These bonds are not accidents."

Guddu: "Do you think we knew each other before, Dadi?"

Dadi: "(smiling) Who knows? Maybe I was your student in some past life, and now I'm your grandmother. The universe has a way of bringing souls together again and again."

Guddu: "I hope we find each other in every life, Dadi!"

Dadi: "So do I, beta. So do I. Now sleep, and may your soul always remember those who love you."