Monsoon Journal

By Liz Monteiro, Record staff WATERLOO — Highly skilled immigrants in Canada are living in poverty because they can’t access jobs in their fields and they face racism that is embedded in Canadian institutions, a Toronto community activist told a group of people gathered in Waterloo to talk about how better to integrate immigrant populations. “Racism is not just in individu- als … it’s embedded in our struc- tural institutions,’’ said Uzma Shakir. “We need to change the source of the problem. For God’s sake be radical,’’ Shakir told more than 200 people gathered at the Luther Village Sunshine Centre for a community forum Wednesday. The forum focused on how best to create a local immigration partnership council made up of settlement agencies in conjunc- tion with school boards, hospitals and local government to better serve recent immigrant popula- tions.

Some of the areas the council hopes to act on include increasing civic engagement, employment and improving set- tlement services. Citizenship and Immigration Canada asked communities to look at forming an immigrant council to bring various groups together. The Region of Waterloo received $175,000 in a federal grant for the initial steps in the project and is working with the Centre for Community Based Research and the Waterloo Region Immigrant Employment Network. Shakir, the past president of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, said lan- guage is fundamental in terms of preserving culture and protecting it, and if organizations are not equipped with the diversity of lan- guages, “the problem is not the people but the organization.’’ “We carry the bag of multicul- turalism but we won’t carry the price of multiculturalism,’’ she said. There is a significant shift in the demographic of immigrants coming to Canada and Canadians need to be ready, she said. Most are people of colour coming from places Canada has never seen before, such as Africa, Asia and Latin America.

“These immigrants are highly qualified, more than ever before in the history of immigration,’’ she said. But newcomers, who settle mostly in urban areas, are dispro- portionately living in poverty, said Shakir who calls this the colour of poverty. In Waterloo Region, 22.3 per cent of residents are immigrants or refugees and by 2031, it’s expected the population of new- comers will increase to 30 per cent. According to Statistics Canada, the region is one of the top seven Canadian communities that newcomers choose to call home. Shakir said civic engagement of immigrant populations will come when they feel ownership and a sense of pride in their coun- try.

“The challenge is how can we change Canadian norms and become in tune with the global- ized world we live in,’’ she said. “We have no problem buying clothes made in Bangladesh but we have a problem when they come here. “If you are a person of colour, you are seen differently,’’ said Shakir, who knows many skilled visible minority immigrants who are working as taxi cab drivers and pizza deliverers in “precari- ous” temporary employment. Ghazala Fauzia, who attended the forum, said she hopes by talk- ing about barriers facing new- comers that some of them can be better understood by other Canadians and why living in Canada can be a struggle for recent immigrants. Fauzia came to Canada in 2006 with her husband and four children. Her husband, who was an engineer in Pakistan, is now working as an engineer here, but Fauzia, who had a master’s degree from her homeland, felt she had to enrol at Wilfrid Laurier University’s social work grad school to work in the social serv- ices sector in the region. “From the first day I arrived here, I didn’t feel I had an equal status coming as an immigrant,’’ Fauzia said.

“I feel like I’m a lower-class citizen. “I feel there is no place for me because I don’t have a Canadian philosophy or have Canadian norms,’’ she said. Fauzia said her family chose Canada because they were told that it valued multiculturalism, “but I don’t see it.’’ Fauzia said immigrants must change, too, but “we don’t want to change ourselves completely. I want to keep my identity.’’ Julia Langham, regional man- ager at Libro Financial Group, said employers must recognize they have an opportunity to address the needs of a changing demo- graphic and be leaders. “We have to get this. It’s an economic imperative,’’ she said. “We need to be proactive and have conversations and dialogue so we know the face of our changing community. “We can bury our heads in the sand but the stats say it will change,’’ Langham said. “If we do nothing, we will still have a changed workforce and as employers we will be scrambling.’’ lmonteiro@therecord.com

By Liz Monteiro, Record staff KITCHENER – `Hate is dan- gerous, prejudice is destructive and it’s these actions that lead to the genocide of a people, Barbara Pressman told more than 300 stu- dents gathered at Kitchener City Hall Friday. “Imagine when one group wants to kill one group because of their colour, religion, or sexual ori- entation,’’ said Pressman, long- time president of the Waterloo Region Holocaust Education Committee. “That’s what genocide is . . . when one group wants to kill another group that is different from theirs,’’ she said. Pressman reminded students gathered to commemorate the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination at the city rotunda that as a society we must remem- ber the past so we can ensure it’s not repeated. But history has shown that murder of a people continues, she said, naming other groups that have faced genocide of their peo- ple. They include the death of one million Armenians in 1914, six mil- lion Jews during the Second World War, the Cambodian people in the 1970s, Muslims in Bosnia and the mass killings of Rwanda’s Tutsis and Hutu moderates in 1994.

The day-long event is spon- sored by Cross Cultures and the Social Planning Council ofKitchener-Waterloo/Community Information Centre of Waterloo Region. Pressman stressed that as individuals we should not rejoice in the suffering of a human being even if they were the oppressors. “I have never heard a (Holocaust) survivor talk about hatred of their captives because this would be a natural feeling,’’ she said. Pressmen told the story of lis- tening to a Holocaust survivor tell her story in which she lost her entire family in a concentration camp at the hands of the Nazis. When she was asked if she hated the Germans, she said: “To hate the Germans, I would have to hate the children. ‘‘Who can hate a child,’’ Pressman recounted.Pressman said that the mur- der of a group starts with an idea – that the other is not as good, that they are evil, or that they are vermin. “We need to educate our- selves to the signs that lead to harm and violence,’’ she said. Pressman told the students to embrace diversity and that differ- ence is a gift, not something to be feared or hated.

“Diversity gives a richness of life,’’ she said. Simone Morrison, a Grade 12 student at Waterloo Oxford District Secondary School, said the idea of forgiveness stands out for her especially when she hears the stories of Holocaust survivors who don’t hate their oppressors. “When we listen to their sto- ries we get angry. How can some- one have so much hatred and do this to someone else,’’ said the 18-year-old student. Morrison said it’s important to remember forgiveness and she recalls the anecdote related to hate that her mother often reminds her of. “My mom says carrying hate is like carrying a heavy garbage bag of hate on your back,’’ she said. You need to get rid of it for yourself, for your peace of mind, Morrison said. Aziza Mohamed, who came to Canada from Ethiopia in 2008, said she’s glad students are encouraged to attend the race relations event. “It’s important to talk about peace,’’ said the 15-year-old Eastwood Collegiate Institute stu- dent. Sara Abshir, who came to Kitchener from Kenya last August, attends Forest Heights Collegiate Institute, a diverse school where she feels welcome. But Abshir said talking about racism must continue. “This event shows there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed.’’ lmonteiro@therecord.com

A new education bursary is being introduced to help newcom- ers get the local training they need to find a job in their field.

The Ontario Bridging Participant Assistance Program will help cover the cost of short- term college and university bridge training programs that are not covered under the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). The 19-month pilot proj- ect is expected to help more than 1,800 newcomers enter bridge training programs in high-demand fields.

The targeted, fast-track and flexible training provided by these programs helps skilled newcom- ers get jobs that match their edu- cation, skills, and experience. These programs also offer work experience such as internships, clinical placements, job shadow- ing and mentorships, as well as employment services such as interview preparation, labour market information and job search skills.

Bridging Programs was app- roved for New Bursary recently. Ontario is introducing a new education bursary of up to $5,000 per person to help cover the cost of short-term college and univer- sity bridge training programs that are not covered under the Ontario Student Assistance Program.

Currently, 13 programs in eight colleges and universities are approved under the bursary program.

By Chuck Howitt,

Record staff

WATERLOO REGION - The company has gone out of its way to hire immigrants as interns and kept some of them on as perma- nent staff. Staff members have acted as mentors to other immi- grants during the difficult early months in a new country.

Other employees sit on a steering committee planning pro- grams to help immigrants find jobs and encourage other employers to hire internationally trained individuals.

“Walking through their facility, it very quickly reminds you that we’re really a United Nations,” said Peter McFadden, executive director of the Waterloo Region Immigrant Employment Network.

For these and other efforts to assist immigrants, Christie Digital has won the inaugural Waterloo Region Immigrant Employment Network Award. It was handed out Wednesday night during the annual Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards at Bingemans.

“They are a very solid and strategic partner,” McFadden said of Christie Digital, which makes digital projectors for movie the- atres and projection systems for large-audience venues, business presentations and the like at its plant on Wellington Street North in Kitchener.

Christie Digital also took home a second award. Chief executive officer Gerry Remers was the win- ner of the Michael R. Follett Community Leader Award for his work with organizations such as Communitech, the United Way of Kitchener-Waterloo and Area, the Leadership Waterloo Region Advisory Council and the Arts Dean’s Advisory Council at the University of Waterloo.

Other award winners were:

Business of the Year (more than 20 employees): The Kitchener office of the national law firm, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP. Cited for its legal expertise in a diverse range of services including intellectual property, infrastructure, life sci- ences, financial services, technol- ogy and manufacturing.

Business of the Year (less than 20 employees): The Kitchener franchise of Anytime Fitness, located on Victoria Street North. Co-ed facility honoured for its club design, marketing, com- munity involvement and business strategies.

Environment Award: Stemmler Meats and Cheese, a Heidelberg business founded in 1985. Honoured for new technol- ogy and up-to-date practices in refrigeration, recovery systems, water treatment, food safety and recycling.

Innovation Award: University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy. Located in downtown Kitchener, the school is the only new one built in Canada in the past 20 years. It brings together educa- tion, diagnostics, treatment, research and commercial applica- tions of pharmaceuticals.

Volunteer of the Year Award: Mandy Dennison of Research In Motion. Cited for her work as vice-chair of the chamber’s young professionals committee and her implementation of a social media strategy at the chamber.

Workplace Training Award: Grand River Hospital. Honoured for its weekday and weekend workshops, leadership training program and learning manage- ment system featuring in-house courses offered online.

Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award: Kurt Wissent, man- aging director and owner of a Premier Homecare Services fran- chise on Bridgeport Road East in Waterloo. Serving Waterloo Region and Guelph, the franchise provides non-medical homecare to people wishing to live inde- pendently in their own homes.

Non-Profit/Charitable Award: Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation. Launched in 1984, the longtime foundation was cited for building local endowment, addressing needs through grants and provid- ing leadership on key community issues.

chowitt@therecord.com

By Martin DeGroot Last spring, a group of University of Waterloo Drama stu- dents and faculty travelled to Calabria in southern Italy as part of an exchange program. In the fall, the Italian component of the partnership a group called Teatro del’Acquario reciprocated with a visit to our region.

For the Waterloo group, one of the results was first-hand expe- rience with the Commedia dell’Arte, a theatre tradition that began as early as the 14th centu- ry, came to full fruition in the Renaissance and is very much alive throughout Italy today.

Next week, there’s an oppor- tunity to see first-hand what hap- pens when young Canadians interested in drama encounter, study and then try their hand at a performance inspired by one of the oldest and greatest European theatre traditions. The show is called Masks on Meds: The doctors of the Commedia dellArte. It’s a double header: the program includes Molires The Flying Doctor as well as The Dumb Wife by Bari Rolfe.

These plays exemplify various aspects of the Commedia dell’Arte style: Use of masks, exaggarated action, and various et ceteras throughout the text -opportunities for extemporization and embel- lishment. The director is Gabrielle Houle, a specialist in Commedia dell’Arte who led a full course of study on the subject last fall. A general instruction that stu- dents received during the audition process gives us an idea of what to expect. Keep in mind that the characters are bigger than nature and highly physical. Your goal: to entertain the public.

Commedia means more than just comedy. The original mean- ing is something like story-telling or theatre. Arte signifies the craftsman, the artisan. This began as the theatre of the guilds, the skilled trades popular entertainment, as distinct from the more serious commedia eru- dita. The Flying Doctor and The Dumb Wife are later works in which there is more emphasis on a written text than in the main tradition, which involves improvi- sation around a set story-line (the scenario).

Commedia dell’Arte includes a relatively small set of stock char- acters: Panatalone (an older, well- to-do merchant), the Doctor (il Dottore), il Capitano, Arlecchino (or Harlequin), Colombina, Pulchinella, the Zanni (valets or jesters who specialize in zany actions). There are also the lovers - amoroso the beautiful people, who are not portrayed with masks. It’s all about fun, especially poking fun at pretence and respectability. There are light- hearted digressions called lazzi, which can include word play or pantomime, and also juggling, acrobatics and physical horse play.

When I spoke with Gabrielle Houle, she explained how the masks are a critical part of this project as a learning experience: When the face is covered, an actor has to find alternative means of expression, primarily through the voice and the body as a whole. Masks on Meds is centred around il Dottore in this case, doctors of medicine. It could just as easily be a doctor of philoso- phy, science, law or whatever. Il Dottore hails from Bologna, where the oldest university in Europe is located. He’s a know-it- all who loves to pontificate on any and all subjects, but speaks most- ly nonsense.

The promotional materials talk about an invitation to step into a world where doctors and charla- tans use both their knowledge and idiocy to cure their desperate patients. Something different that sounds like a lot of fun at a bar- gain price ($12, $10 students, seniors). For tickets call 519-888 4908 (space is limited). The show runs Wednesday to Saturday (8 p.m. each night) at Studio 180 (black box space in Hagey Hall). Martin DeGroot is executive director of the Waterloo Regional Arts Council. He comments on arts and culture Tuesdays in The Record. You can reach him by e- mail at mdg@golden.net.

Cambridge : Cameron Heights Public school student, Meera Sivakumar is working with Global Medic of Toronto to deliver water purification system and medical assistance to survivors of the dev- astating earthquake in Haiti. The powerful earthquake on Jan. 12 killed an estimated 200,000 peo- ple, displacing thousands and turning much of the nation’s cap- ital of Port-au-Prince into rubble.

At a fundraising ceremony on Saturday, Jan. 23rd at the Cambridge Centre Mall in Cambridge, Meera organised her- self to do a humanitarian effort. She received full support from the Tamil community of the Waterloo region, along with the Emergency Medical Staff (EMS) of the Waterloo region.

The members of the Tamil Cultural Association of Waterloo region were on hand to help organise the event and to raise funds. At the end of the day, Meera was able to collect about $1,200, for the purchase of Water purification equipment and Medical assistance for Haitians. Matt Capobianco, Manager Emergency program praised the efforts of young Tamils in the Waterloo region for taking a lead- ing role in helping people in other countries.

Sri Lankan Tamils have been at the receiving end but now they are taking a leading role in giving back to the needy around the world. Julie Colgan of Global Medic commented the efforts made by Toronto area Tamil com- munity for raising $50,000 for Global Medic during the civil con- flict in April, last year. Mr. Bala Thambypillai of the Tamil cultural association was delighted that events like this bring goodwill and public support to the community. These young children are our role models, he said. Previously, Meera has helped fellow Sri Lankans follow- ing the Tsunami and to fund a library at the Sri Ramakrishna Mission in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.

GlobalMedic teams are made up of professional rescuers-para- medics, police officers and fire- fighters-who volunteer their time and skills. GlobalMedic teams have trained landmine-clearance personal as medics. They ran field clinics treating more than 4,000 patients and provided clean drinking water to civilians in the North-East of Sri Lanka.

By Charlotte Prong Parkhill, Chronicle Staff Walker was in the kitchen cooking a pot of rice when she heard what she thought was a freight train. But when the noise grew louder and louder, and the ground started shaking, her sub- conscious told her what was real- ly going on. “Earthquake!” she shouted. Walker and nine other mem- bers of Waterloo’s Glen Acres Baptist Church were in Haiti that day, volunteering at the Mission of Hope near the town of Titanyen.

As she began to run out of the kitchen, helping an elderly mis- sion doctor, another woman who was coming down the stairs was thrown across the room by the tremors. Teenagers Jamie Dowsett and Josh Thresh were planning to leave Haiti the next day and had just finished saying goodbye to the orphans.

Their mothers, Lisa Weber and Lori Thresh, waited anxiously in the mission’s central courtyard for the boys to return. “We grabbed them and hugged them,” Weber said. “The whole process seemed to take hours and yet it was only sec- onds. Time seemed to stand still. It was so surreal.” After everyone from the mis- sion was accounted for, the group cast their eyes down the moun- tain, to the city of Port-au- Prince 35 kilometres away. “You could just see this huge cloud of dust rising,” Walker said. “I think everyone just kind of stopped breathing, and realized, this is really bad.” What followed over the next couple of days was equally surre- al - frantically trying to contact relatives to let them know they were okay; assessing the damage to the various buildings in the mission - the clinic, the school, the orphanage; and lending a hand however they could to injured Haitians nearby.

Five days after the disaster, they left behind all of their excess clothing and shoes, and caught a bus to the Canadian embassy. Controlled chaos reigned outside the gates, as Haitians lined up hoping for some assistance. “We just walked in.

We knew we would get to go home,” Thresh said. “We felt bad for the people who had to stay there.” Within 14 hours, they were on a cargo plane with 170 other Canadians. Watching CNN in a Montreal hotel room, Weber final- ly broke down and cried. “That’s what our families had been watching. No wonder they were so terribly worried and found it hard to believe we were safe,” she said. The poverty and spirit of the Haitian people had already had a profound effect on the group before the quake.

Every member of the group has returned with a new sense of gratitude for what they have here in Canada. And they all said they have a new per- spective on their day-to-day prob- lems. But most importantly, they now share a bond with the Haitians that can never be bro- ken. The immediate need is for aid workers and volunteers who are in engineering or health care. But in the future, each of them wants to return to Haiti, to help rebuild. “Someone in a third-world country is, to me, no longer a stranger.

They are now my friend. I mean, I used to give money, but it’s different now. We have a con- nection that I don’t think, for any of us, will ever be broken,” said Jurgen Czechowsky. “I hope that people don’t for- get about this two or three weeks down the road. This is going to take years. Literally years.”

By Liz Monteiro, Record staff CAMBRIDGE - When it comes to ethnic diversity, Prakash Venkataraman not only believes it, he lives it. The Indian-born man is the president and CEO of Redragon Oil and Gas Systems International Inc. based in Cambridge. Diversity is so important to him that his company name reflects his passion. Red in Redragon stands for reflecting ethnic diversity and dragon stands for his business partner and right-hand man Paul Hodgson.

Hodgson ’s wife comes from Wales and the Welsh flag has a dragon on it.  “I strongly believe I want to be the change, to prove and show that immigrants are contributing, ‘ ‘ said the 36-year-old father of two young boys.  “I wanted this (the company) to reflect Canada, ‘ ‘ he said.

And reflecting Waterloo Region ’s ethnic diversity it does. Venkataraman, who speaks Arabic, Tamil and five different Indian languages, employs 25 workers who hail from 12 ethnic backgrounds in countries such as Hungary, Romania, the Philippines, China and Thailand.  “The reason behind our success is the diversification of our employ- ees, ‘ ‘ he said.

The local manufacturer recy- cles used oil and is a specialist in oil processing and vacuum tech- nology. Their sophisticated sys- tems are able to retrieve clean oil from used oil. The system was created by Hodgson ’s father who worked for an oil company in the 1950s. The pair have updated the system and built 38 recycling systems since they opened in 2007. Redragon started as a consulting company in 2005. Last year, the company had $7 million in sales and hopes to sur- pass that with $10 million in sales for 2010. They have customers in 80 countries worldwide.

Venkataraman, an electrical engineering graduate, worked in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East before settling in Canada. In Oman, he worked for an offshore oil company, manag- ing 1,000 employees. The company wanted to open offices in Canada or Australia and he visited both countries for a week to decide which one he wanted to live in.

In Brisbane, Australia, Venkataraman stayed in a hotel, read local newspapers and visited the chamber of commerce office. He went to a supermarket, took a bus and visited nearby areas. Weeks later, he came to Cambridge. The Oman-based company had a customer here so he decided on Waterloo Region. He stayed at the Satellite Motel on Hespeler Road.  “People were friendly and helpful, ‘ ‘ said Venkataraman, who remembers going to the mall and pulling out a $5 bill from his wal- let and wondering about the amount he owed and a fellow shopper helped him.  “I felt like this is it. I felt at home, ‘ ‘ he said.

In March 2001, Venkataraman came to Cambridge permanently. Within six days, his wife, Suneetha, followed and the cou- ple had a house and car three days later. He said it ’s important to become community minded. For 20 years, he ’s been a member of the rotary club, and is the past president of the Rotary Club of Cambridge Sunrise. He is the cur- rent president of the Waterloo Region Tamil Association. For the first few years, Venkataraman admits he worked around the clock.

He had contacts globally and often flew to the Middle East and African nations to make presentations on his employer ’s oil and gas technolo- gy. Then on a trip to Nigeria to make a presentation to Mobil executives, he was kidnapped by local rebels who claimed that their government had taken their prop- erty and given it to foreign oil companies. Venkataraman sat in a chair surrounded by about 50 armed rebels, holding AK-47s for about five hours.  “One guy loses his patience and that ’s it for me, ” he recalls of the tense situation. Venkataraman choose to use his marketing skills and negotiate with the rebels.

“I spoke of the principles of Gandhi and freedom fighters and the need to strategize. I told them that with arms and ammunition they won ‘t win against the gov- ernment, ‘ ‘ he said. Slowly, Venkataraman started to win their confidence. He lis- tened as they explained their anger and agreed to act as a mediator on their behalf.  “No one had ever taken initia- tive with them or showed concern for them, ‘ ‘ he said. The rebels were so impressed that they offered him beer and escorted him to the airport to ensure other rebels didn ‘t kidnap him. When Venkataraman returned home, he began evalu- ating his life and considered strik- ing out on his own and starting his own company.

Hodgson worked with him at the Cambridge company and together they started Redragon.  “I couldn ‘t have done this without him. He ’s my right hand and my left hand, ‘ ‘ he said. Venkataraman approached the Waterloo Region Immigrant Employment Network, an organi- zation that tries to help local employers fill shortages by hiring skilled and professional immi- grants.  “My vision of a diversified employee base is to give roles to immigrants. If they have the will power and the passion, you can turn it in the right direction with the proper job, ‘ ‘ he said.  “The moment they come here they are asked if they have Canadian experience.

It ’s impos- sible to have it. That question doesn ‘t make sense at all, ‘ ‘ Venkataraman said. There were challenges such as candidates having necessary English-language skills but  “English is a language, not a knowledge ‘ ‘ and it can be learned, he said. Venkataraman, who ’s trav- elled to 120 countries and given thousands of presentations, said building relationships is crucial in business. It ’s a philosophy he fol- lows when travelling in unknown lands.  “You need to respect the culture and the person, ‘ ‘ he said.  “A simple hello in the local lan- guage shows you are flexible and adaptable. ‘ ‘ lmonteiro@therecord.com

WestJet will offer service between Vancouver and the Region of Waterloo International Airport starting in July. The Vancouver connection will provide guests travelling from Waterloo Region with the option to connect on to a number of des- tinations in the United States including Las Vegas, San Francisco and Honolulu.

WestJet launched non-stop daily service to Calgary from Waterloo Region in May 2007 pro- viding connections through their hub in Calgary to a number of Western Canadian destinations Fares start at $189 with two flights a day between the two cities.

“It was the first day of January 1886. As the master felt rather well that day, he expressed a desire for some time. It was a holy day and householder devo- tees came one by one and in groups, shortly after midday .Thus when the master came downstairs at three in the after- noon, more than thirty people were engaged in conversation in the garden under the trees, or inside the house. As soon as they saw him, all got up out of rever- ence and bowed to him. He come down to the garden path through the western door of the hall on the ground floor and was slowly proceeding southward to the gate when all followed him at a little distance.

When he come to the middle of the path leading to the gate, he saw Girish, Ram, Atul and a few other, sitting under the trees to the west of the path .They also saw him and saluted him from there and came joyfully to him. The Mater addressed Girish, all of a sudden before any- body had spoken a word, and said, ” Girish, I find, you say to one and all everywhere so many things about ‘this’ (that I am an incarnation of god) what have you seen and understood (about me) to make you do so?” Girish remained completely unmoved, and kneeling down on the ground near the mater’s feet, said in a choked voice with his hands fold- ed and face turned upwards, ”What more can I say of him, whose greatness vyasa and valmi- ki could not find words to express?”

The Master was charmed at this fervent utterance of the devoted Girish and blessed all the devotees assembled there through their representative, Girish: ”What more shall I say to you? May you all be blessed with the spiritual awakening” Beside himself with love and compassion for the devotees, hardly had he said those few words when he entered into Bhavasamadhi. Those words of profound bless- ing, untouched by the slightest tinge of the ego-sense, directly entered the devotees’ hearts, where they raised high billows of bliss.

They forgot time and space, forgot the disease of the master, forgot their previous determina- tion not to touch him till he recovered, and were aware only that, an extraordinary divine Being, out of sympathy for them in their plight, feeling excruciating pain at their misery and overflow- ing with compassion for them, had come down from heaven and called them affectionately to Him for giving protection, like a mother sheltering her children against all ills by covering them lovingly with the upper part of her sari. They became eager to bow down to him and take the dust of his feet; and filling the quarters with cries of ”victory to Ramakrishna” began saluting him one after another. As they were thus bowing down to him. the sea of the master’s compassion tran- scended all bounds and brought about a wonderful phenomenon. From: SRI RAMAKRISHNA THE GREAT MASTER.