“This building is in danger of collapsing! Everybody must evacuate this building immediately!…”
Please forgive me for not blogging recently – I’ve been tied up with moving the health food store and stationery stores that I manage. I suppose by now, I shouldn’t be shocked or surprised by any new challenge that arises on Parsons Boulevard.
Probably my first big Parsons Boulevard challenge was in the summer of 1976. It was a hot, hazy, summer day and I was in the back room of Guru Stationery doing some bookkeeping. The block was very quiet and I foolishly propped open the front door to get some air. I didn’t hear the robber until he was already standing in the doorway of the backroom hiding in his hand what I thought to be a knife. As I sprung up from my desk, the thief motioned to stab me in the stomach, but as I moved to protect my midsection, he revealed his weapon—not a knife, but actually a lead pipe—and he began pummeling me over the head! I instinctively began chanting God’s name and, after several blows, the thief left me lying on the tile floor in a pool of blood.
Within seconds one of Sri Chinmoy’s students happened to walk in. Seeing me bleeding on the ground, she burst into tears. I remember being very moved by this and tried to assure her that I was OK. In those days, New York City was not only dangerous, but the ambulances were notoriously slow. However, she had the presence of mind to call the police and report that I might have been shot. That probably saved my life because the emergency response was immediate. Within minutes the police arrived and an ambulance whisked me away to a nearby hospital.
Sri Chinmoy, was just returning from a trip abroad. When informed of the news, he rushed from JFK airport to see me in the hospital. Though bandaged and groggy, I remember feeling overwhelmed with gratitude at seeing my teacher. Sri Chinmoy didn’t say anything. He simply meditated on me for a few minutes and then gave me the sweetest smile. That smile was the start of one of the most powerful inner experiences of my life. I didn’t realise it at the time, but Sri Chinmoy had put a very strong blessing on me to recover. Within hours I could feel a blazing aspiration within my heart and for the next 10 days I had the deepest meditations imaginable. I was in heaven! I was so consumed with love of God that I could barely sleep. I was certain that if I could keep it up, I would attain enlightenment within a few months!
Unfortunately, as I improved my aspiration gradually subsided, but everyone agreed that my recovery was nothing short of miraculous. In fact, 2 weeks later, I was back working in the store when a police officer walked in. He had heard about what happened and was wondering if the guy who was so badly beaten had actually survived. I smiled at him and proudly replied, “Not only did he survive, but you’re looking right at him!”
Ever since this first event, I was on guard to expect the unexpected. Once, I spotted a band of rowdy teenagers walking up the block from the subway carrying a fire extinguisher. I could tell they were up to no good, so I ran to the front door to prevent them from coming in. Unfortunately, the guy with the fire extinguisher managed to get his foot in the door and through the gap proceeded to empty the entire canister in my face! I refused to budge but, in the end, it didn’t help too much. Not only did I look like a ghost but every item in the store was covered with a thin coat of white powder!
On another occasion, one winter, a truck plowed through the front of the store. Fortunately, it was after business hours, so no one was hurt.
Then there was the time we had a gas explosion in the basement of the building. I was behind the counter in Guru Stationery speaking to someone on the phone. Suddenly, I heard this enormous boom and the sound of glass shattering. I vividly recall calmly telling the person on the phone, “I’m sorry, but I think I better go. The plate glass windows of the store just exploded into the street and all the florescent lights just crashed down in front of me!”
So you might understand that, by now, almost nothing shocks me at the workplace. But I must confess becoming a bit unnerved when, about a year ago, the building we are in appeared to be sinking…
It first started with cracks in the windows. Then the front door started sticking and periodically we would have to shave it down so it could close. Then, a few months ago, cracks started opening up in the sidewalk and when a large mirror in the health food store suddenly cracked, I finally decided to call in an engineer.
The engineer found some serious problems and recommended immediate action. However, he assured me that the building couldn’t collapse since it was held up by steel beams. That was reassuring to hear since the cracks in the sidewalk were getting visibly larger and the storefront was actually buckling. Then it happened…
With cracking in the walls of the building on the floors above us a ceiling caved in on one of the apartments. Fortunately, no one was hurt but, as a result of the 911 call, the place came alive.
“This building is in danger of collapsing! Everybody must evacuate this building immediately!…” The fire department didn’t know how unstable the building was and didn’t want to take any chances with people’s lives. All the tenants in the building were evacuated, as were the stores. Five fire trucks closed off Parsons Blvd. and the local police and firemen were joined by city officials and fire chiefs from other boroughs. Even the media showed up!
A team of experts set about to determine why the building was sinking into the ground. At first they thought that the foundation was crumbling, but when they opened up the front facade they were shocked to find that 2 of the main steel beams holding up the building had completed rusted through, and had actually been displaced several inches. I’m not making this up — upon discovering the damaged girders, one of the engineers unabashedly bolted across the street! The chief architect said he had never seen anything like it in his life and called it a miracle that the building was still standing. I immediately thought of Sri Chinmoy who has protected us all these years and, since his passing, is obviously still protecting us. I told the architect that the people running the stores pray and meditate a lot, and he replied, “Well, you must be doing something right!”
Emergency welders were immediately called in to reinforce the girders. When the president of the welding company arrived he inspected the damage and reaffirmed that the building could have collapsed at any moment. After shaking his head in disbelief, he proclaimed to the architect, “I’m telling you, the only thing holding up this building is God!”
Three weeks after the store was closed we were able to move Guru Health Foods to a new, but much smaller place a block up and, just yesterday, we began working on a new place for Guru Stationery. There had been a fire in the location many years ago so when I pulled the old tin ceiling down I got covered in black soot. It reminded me of the fire extinguisher incident of long ago but pulling the ceiling down has been a lot more fun! The original stores in which I have worked my entire adult life (if you can call me an adult!) remain boarded up, but we are still hoping to return someday.
One big lesson I learned from all this is the impermanence of everything in the outer world and it has inspired me to take my spiritual life more seriously. The other thing I learned is not to show up for work before saying a serious prayer for God’s Protection!
