I definitely remember waking up in the morning. I was the first one up. And I just couldn't wait for the light to start coming through the window, because then it was time to get up, wake up, and embrace the day. And I was very, very young. And in the morning, there would be dew there. And just to look at every drop that I could, the sun shone upon it. It just sparkled, and I could see the rainbows, and I could see all these things. And it was so small, but so magnificent. I was there, part of that magic that unfolded every morning.
Every morning. There he is. The first relationship, as I'm learning to speak, I call his name. And what I call him is Baji. A lot of people are calling him Shree Maharaji. And that was a title, again, that was given to him, out of respect, totally out of respect, for what he had done in their lives.
He's my father. He was quite strict, by the way, quite strict. Very loving, but very strict. Yet, for the people, there's an incredible amount of reverence for him. And I'm looking at this, it's just normal to me. And this is who he is. He has this relationship with me. He teases me that, am I going to be doing this someday? And I said, yes. He says, and how are you going to do it? And I say, not like you. I'm not going to do it like you. I'm going to do it with quite a bit of love. And he just laughs at it.
But most of the time, I miss him. Because he's out traveling. And when he comes, that day is a very special day. And it's exciting. And it's just off-the-scale excitement that he's going to be there. It was so magical. It was so magical. All these thousands of people would come to see him. And to be in this sea of people. And all these people have come there with one focus. And they have come to know a little bit about themselves. And then, he would sit down. And he would start talking. And he would go to pin drop silence.
In fact, one time, I had organized an event in Dehradun for him. And I had requested that he come to that event. Then I hear that he's not coming. So I sent a letter saying, you are going to come, aren't you? Well, he got the letter. He realized that he had promised this to me. And so he canceled his tour and he came. And so I was just really excited. This is great. All my friends, all my school teachers, the principal all get to hear what this is all about. Of course, he asked me to put on my school uniform. His gray pants and blue blazer and the dark burgundy and blue tie. And I'm all set up. And he says, okay, now you speak.
I'm mortified. I'm like, oh, my God, no, not in front of my teachers. And, oh, by the way, speak in English. And he just said, you know, to everyone, he says, "Don't look at his body. He's very young. He's very small. Listen to what he's saying. It's very important." There I go. And I got up. And, you know, nothing was rehearsed. There was not an idea of performance.
It was something that I was really saying from my heart. And that message was, again, it was all about things that I had felt in my life, that there is magic, that there is joy. The source of that joy, the source of that magic is in me. And this was just woven in and out up until I was nine years of age to receive this, to be a part of this. The fact that I even got one day of that in my life, I feel I'm very fortunate. Just one.