Ray Avery - Rebel With a Cause

In 1973 I travelled with some backpackers overland from the UK through Europe to Asia. One day, in Amritsar, in the Punjab, some of the girls came back to the bus in a state of high excitement. We have just found the most fantastic guru, they said. You really need to go and see him.

The guru was obviously a man of wisdom, because he had stationed himself on the roof of a temple where he could clearly be seen from a nearby caf which was the local hotspot for itinerant backpackers. This was the sort of chai shop that sold fried banana fritters to cater for the sixties flower-power children.

Not expecting much, I decided to find out what he had to say, and ended up late one evening sitting cross-legged opposite him on a hot roof.

You are on a long journey, he said.

Well, yes. He could see the bus parked in the courtyard below.

But then he told me this story from the Bhagavad-Gita.

There was once a woman who had a son who she lovedvery much and wanted to be happy. So she went to aguru who agreed to grant her one wish for her son.

Choose carefully, said the guru, for you willonly have one wish and you will have to live with itsconsequences.

The woman thought for a long time before findingwhat she thought was the perfect wish.

I wish that everyone he meets will always love myson, she said.

Are you sure that is what you wish? asked the guru.

Yes, yes.

So be it.

And the woman went hurrying to find her son, butwhen she got to him she saw him surrounded by a throngof people, stroking him, kissing him, crowding aroundhim and preventing him from moving. He looked asmiserable as it is possible for a person to look.

The woman rushed back to the guru.

I have made a terrible mistake, she said. I need youto grant me another wish.

I am sorry, said the guru, but I told you I could onlygive you one wish. There is nothing I can do.

The woman wailed and begged and pleaded and finallythe guru relented.

Very well. Think of another wish for your son and ifit is the right one, I will grant it. If it is not, then thingswill stay as they are.

The anxious mother thought for a long time.

I wish, she said finally, for my son to love everyonehe meets.

That is the correct wish, said the guru. It is granted.

When the mother found her son again, he was walkingthrough a crowd of people. Most were ignoring him,others shoved him as they passed by, one even took offenceat something and spat on him. But his eyes were full oflove and his face had a look of total contentment.

The rooftop guru of Amritsar may have been speculative in the stories he told to the transient flower-power children who hung on his every word, but for me he spoke the absolute truth, although it would be some time before I totally understood it.

I spent the first part of my life trying to make people love me, and often failing, starting with my parents. Much later in life, thanks to a chance encounter with the brilliant Fred Hollows and some remarkable people in the developing world, I learnt how to truly love others, and every blessing I ever wished for came to me. Now I spend my time putting that love to practical use, changing the world, and this book is the story of how that became my goal.