ENTRY 37-- Wonderful Counsellor

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An Excerpt from the Travel Journal of Nigel Fox (c. 1945)

ENTRY 37-- Wonderful Counsellor



As I update my travel journal; I must admit I was having a very good time of it. Although Miss Wilkes did not appear particularly keen to acknowledge it, we were becoming lovers (at least in a spiritual sense). We had spent several delightful evenings roaming the vineyards together, not to mention our excursions to the upper benches. She shared with me the most intimate details of her life. Most fascinating was the story of how she came to be associated with the Indian Messiah.

The first encounter had taken place years earlier. At that time Miss Wilkes was hoping to become a nun and dedicate her life to God and teaching. As a substitute at one of Lahore's Cathedral schools, she was teaching religious education to a class of ten year old children. While she was in the middle of the lesson, in walked the headmaster showing 'him' the benefits of English education.

Miss Hephzibah Wilkes was clearly struggling with the concept of the Holy Trinity: "It is like a lovely big shamrock," she described, to children who had never seen or heard of a shamrock.

A Pitiful Moment

At one pitiful moment when Bapu could bear it no longer, he intervened. "God is one," he told the students, "but he is so big, so different, that people have trouble understanding Him." The children nodded in agreement.

"It is for this reason that some scholars got together many years ago and developed the Holy Trinity. These good, wise men said that it is easier to think of God as three persons in one.

"God the Father is the person to whom we pray. Whenever we start a prayer we begin by saying, 'Our Father, who art in heaven,' for God is the true Father of all people and we are his children."

The principal and Miss Wilkes listened, astounded, as their humble guest explained the complicated concept in simple terms to the spell bound class.

"God the Holy Spirit is that small, still voice inside each and every one of us. He is the counsellor who whispers in our ear and guides us. The Spirit of God pours love into our hearts.

"Finally there is God the Son, who is Jesus. He is the Messiah, the anointed one, who was prophesied about in olden times. He is truly the Son of Man, yet a child of God at the same time. It is written in the Bible that he is the 'Word made flesh,' the 'Light of the World.' If we follow his teachings and example, then God will look down upon us from Heaven and be well pleased. The Bible proclaims that this great soul shall return at an hour when we least expect Him."

Then he continued, turning to gaze directly into Miss Wilkes' eyes, "Therefore we must always be waiting."

She experienced the most incredible feeling of pure peace; washing over her at that moment.

The Cross

"But why did Jesus have to die on the cross?" asked one child, a look of confusion across his features.

At this point the little man in the loincloth motioned to the children to gather round. As they all sat cross-legged in a semi-circle facing him, Miss Wilkes marvelled at his gift with children. When everyone was quiet he began to tell a story:

Once upon a time there was a Holy Man of God reading his Bible. He was reclining in the shade of a tree beside a river. On one of the branches was a little scorpion. After a while, this foolish scorpion fell out of the tree and into the river. The scorpion had never learned to swim, so he started to drown. As he was going under for the third time, the Holy Man of God reached down, picked up the scorpion and placed him safely back in the tree. However, as the Holy Man did so, the scorpion bit him on the hand. What do you think happened next? He asked the enchanted children.

They looked at him, blankly.

Well, once again the scorpion fell out of the tree and into the river. As he was once more on the verge of drowning, the Holy Man of God rescued him, again receiving a bite on the hand.

Now a young boy from a nearby village had been watching the Holy Man rescue the scorpion over and over, each time suffering a bite on the hand. Finally, when he could contain himself no longer, he marched up to the Man of God and said, "Why don't you kill that ungrateful scorpion who has bitten you on the hand so many times?"

The Holy Man turned, looked compassionately at the boy and said, "Do not be angry with the little fellow. He cannot help himself, for it is in his nature to bite."

Then the village boy retorted, "Why not simply do nothing and let him drown?"

The Holy Man smiled gently and replied, "I cannot help myself; it is in my nature to save."



Then India's Messiah asked the fascinated class, "Does anyone know who the scorpion in this story represents?"

Miss Wilkes, forgetting herself, cried out, "It is us - Mankind."

Bapu nodded his head in her direction. "Your teacher has answered correctly. And who is the Holy Man of God?"

"Jesus!" exclaimed several of the children.

"Yes," smiled the Mahatma. "People are like the scorpion, drowning in sin, and Jesus is always present, saving us. Yet our sinful nature hurts him very much. And what do the bites on the hand represent?"

A bright girl replied boldly, "The nails driven through his hands while being fastened to the cross!"

Nodding, he asked quietly, "Did the Holy Man love the scorpion?"

After a moment, a small, normally shy girl spoke up in a hesitant voice: "Yes . . . because the Holy Man suffered so to rescue the scorpion."

"Absolutely!" exclaimed Bapu. "And because Jesus suffered on the cross for our sins, we know he loves us very much, and we are forgiven."

The Blue Moon

Miss Wilkes and I continued to spend many hours together and, to my great joy, I began to sense that she was becoming fond of me. Once a month we would rise early and go to the hill of the Blue Moon. For an hour before dawn, because of the atmospheric refraction, the moon would become the colour of the sky at midday. The whole valley would be bathed in a full, rich, blue light. Due to its placement just above the horizon, the full moon appeared enormous. The effect was quite awe-inspiring.

"Logic is quite effective in understanding the physical world. Yet "space-time" in which we live is not reality. The four dimensions . . . "

Miss Wilkes' eyes reflected the moonlight, two limpid pools of the bluest blue.

" . . . just as to understand the physical world one uses 'logic', to understand the metaphysical, one uses 'ana-logic'."

Her skin was so smooth it seemed like satin glowing in candlelight.

"Ana logic thought or analogy is necessary, as we have no terms of reference for the Kingdom of God or the metaphysical . . . "

Her lips were full, rich, grape-red, inviting.

" . . . using analogy, Christ can make the most complex metaphysical concepts easily understood . . . "

All her features complemented each other perfectly.

" . . . 'analogic' stories make the Kingdom of God comprehensible to the simplest of the faithful . . . "

Her sunny smile could melt a heart of ice.

"Mr. Fox; are you listening?"

"Y . . . yes," I stammered.

She smiled, her wide eyes glistening, her dimples carved deep in the moonlight. She must have suspected that my mind was not fully in tune with the metaphysical. . .

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