Swami Kriyananda Stories — Ch. 18: “He’s Still at Fry’s”

Fry's Electronics store interior view with shelves
If it had anything remotely to do with electronics, you could probably find it at Fry’s — sadly, the famous chain of gloriously geeky stores is no more.

Speaking of cameras, in the summer of 2018 I conceived the idea of adding a video camera to my photography gear. I hoped to find something small and inconspicuous that I could use during music rehearsals and in the classrooms at Living Wisdom School.

While investigating the best models, I watched several videos that recommended using a Segway MiniPro two-wheeled hands-free scooter to shoot smooth dolly (in and out) and trucking (sideways tracking) video shots.

Swamiji loved to find new gadgets that would help him serve Yogananda’s work. Whenever he was due to stay at our Mountain View Ananda community, a group of us would gather in the driveway to greet him upon his arrival. Invariably, we would receive a phone call announcing that Swamiji’s plane had landed, but that he wanted to visit the big Fry’s electronics store in Palo Alto.

Perhaps thirty or forty minutes later another call would come, “He’s still at Fry’s – you can probably expect us to arrive in the community within an hour.”

Knowing his interest in electronic gadgetry, I wondered if the Segway would pass the test and be useful for the work. At any rate, before setting off to Fry’s I asked God and Master and Swamiji to guide me to do only what they wanted.

I found that Fry’s had lots of MiniPros in stock, and that there were new and refurbished models. Which should I buy? Feeling that I should be careful with God’s money, I picked up a refurb in its bulky, thirty-pound box and put it in a shopping cart. Before I had gone ten feet, I heard Swami’s cheerful voice say, with his usual boundless enthusiasm, “I would have got the new one!” I duly returned the refurb to the shelf and exited Fry’s with a brand-new Segway and a smile in my heart.

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