Finding Jesus
In 1980 my husband and I started a custom silk screen printing business. We rented a small office space about a block away from our home. Early one morning in 1981, I nearly fell off the chair at my desk when the phone rang and I heard Gururaj’s voice. He had never called me at work before so it came as a complete surprise when he asked me if I could help him find someone. He was staying at Vidya and Sujay’s house near Chicago. Even though I was unaware of what I was getting myself into, I replied, “Yes”. I had been meditating for several years using his profound meditation techniques and had experienced many wonderful physical and mental benefits so I was happy to help. Besides, how could I say “No” to my guru? Gururaj was very vague about the purpose of his request and did not provide me with any details. He asked if I knew anyone at the Chicago Police Department.
He wanted me to find an artist who drew suspects and criminals based on witness descriptions. My uncle was a well-known police officer at Police Headquarters in downtown Chicago but I didn’t dare call him. We hadn’t spoken in several years due to his disapproval of my marriage partner. When I hung up the phone with Gururaj, I said to myself, “Oh, no! What did I just get myself into?”
My mind was spinning and racing with all sorts of thoughts about who might answer the phone at Police Headquarters. What I would say if they asked me questions? Why would they provide this information to a complete stranger? Before making that cold call, I decided to call Gururaj back to see if he could provide me with some details. Vidya answered the phone and I heard Gururaj’s voice in the background. Vidya said that I should tell the artist that a well-known Indian dignitary was in town for a brief visit and wanted to find his old friend with whom he had lost contact. This certainly didn’t make it any easier for me. I did not want to disappoint Gururaj but I also didn’t want to sound like an idiot.
Once I got up the nerve I picked up the phone to call Police Headquarters. I wanted to speak with the artist directly so I wouldn’t have to explain to multiple people the purpose of my call. Without questioning the purpose of my call, they transferred me to the sketch artist. A soft-spoken African American man answered the phone. He identified himself as Officer John Holmes. I later learned that Mr. Holmes was the best in the business of drawing composites of alleged criminals based on witness descriptions.
I explained the assignment but only provided him with a vague description. He agreed to help but said he was backed up with police work and that he would not get to for several weeks or even months. If I needed this right away, he suggested that I contact a retired police lieutenant who had transferred to the Niles Police Department, a northern suburb of Chicago. This former lieutenant had developed a technique called the Identi-Kit System, which was being used by police departments and the FBI throughout the United States to track down criminals. The system consisted of thousands of facial composite images of films generated by a sketch artist, which were in a small file box.
There were images of eyes, noses, chins, eyebrows, mustaches and facial features. These film positives were used by law enforcement to create a likeness of an individual based on witness descriptions. I thanked Mr. Holmes for the information and called the Niles Police Department to find the lieutenant. I was told that he had recently retired from their department. I asked if they could provide me with his telephone number. They asked me to leave my telephone number and they would try to contact him on my behalf.
Shortly thereafter, I received a call from the retired Lieutenant. He confirmed that he had been using the Identi-Kit system for many years and was well trained in finding criminals. As is typical with police officers he had begun asking me questions. Who is this person that wants this information? Why is he looking for the suspect? I wasn’t sure how to respond so I told him I would get back with him with as much information as possible. I called Vidya and Gururaj got on the phone. I couldn’t believe my ears when he informed me that the person he was looking for was Jesus! He asked me to keep it confidential and not to tell the police officer or anyone else for that matter. He certainly didn’t have to worry about me spilling the beans. I did not want to go down in history looking like a complete fool. I couldn’t tell my husband either since he had been having doubts about Gururaj’s authenticity.
As Gururaj was plotting this outrageous scam I became more and more curious about the outcome. I had some previous dealings with police officers in Chicago so this was not something I relished. I envisioned my name being splashed across the Chicago Tribune or the Sun-Times…with something like, “Chicago Native Searching for Jesus.” I began to feel like I was aiding and abetting a scam artist. However, something deep inside me was stimulated so I persevered while participating in this outrageous scheme.
Around that same time period I had discovered a line art drawing of the Chicago skyline in a Michigan Avenue art shop. I was intrigued with the artist rendering and envisioned it silk screen printed on T-shirts for my business. The name at the bottom of the print was George Becker. I learned that he lived in Glenview, IL so I called him to get his permission to print his design on apparel items. We arranged a time to meet in person. When I walked into his studio, I found a sixty something year-old one-armed man with a pleasant personality. He told me he was famous for creating logos of the ship that was being used for Cutty Sark Scotch and Hushpuppy shoes. He showed me some of his other artwork, which included watercolor landscapes and line art drawings of people. George and I hit it off immediately. He was pleased and impressed with my presentation and my request to print his Chicago designs on apparel for the purpose of marketing them to retail shops and the Chicago Art Institute gift store.
After meeting George, I called Gururaj and told him that I found the artist who could draw Jesus. I arranged a meeting for them to meet. I told George that a spiritual man from India who had taught me how to meditate was in town and wanted to meet him with the possibility of commissioning him for a drawing. A few days later Vidya drove Gururaj to Glenview to meet George and me at the art studio. When Gururaj walked in, he looked at George’s drawings and paintings on the walls. He was quite charming in his Indian attire and began flattering George as he pumped up George’s ego up like a big balloon. Then he asked George to draw a picture of his friend free of charge. I learned later that George normally charged between $500 - $800 for these types of drawings. Then he asked George if he could complete the drawing in one week. I was surprised that George agreed to both of these outlandish requests.
The plot thickened. The next step of the plan that Gururaj was to make arrangements to bring everyone together to begin the process of finding Jesus. He wanted me, Vidya, the retired police officer and George to be present. At the last minute he also brought Gomila into the mix because he had been staying at her home. We met at the home of Gomila’s neighbor who was a police officer.
The plan was for the police lieutenant to bring his Identi-Kit system. As the witness, Gururaj was to be interviewed by the officer about the characteristics and facial features of the “suspect”. An Identi-Kit system composite would be compiled based on Gururaj’s description. George’s role was to be present to develop his impressions before beginning the actual drawing. Little by little Gururaj was weaving a plan to find his old friend Jesus.
Upon arrival, everyone found a seat in the living room to begin the session. Gururaj looked quite stunning in his Indian shirt and was very charming. He instructed me, Vidya and Gomila not to say anything but to just sit quietly and observe. A small table was set up for the police officer. He arranged his catalog file box, which contained hundreds of images and facial features of eyes, noses, lips, cheeks, mustaches and facial shapes. Then the questioning began. The officer began by asking Gururaj, “Where are you from? When was the last time you saw this suspect?” Vidya, Gomila and I suppressed our giggles as we braced ourselves for Gururaj’s response. He responded, “I see him every day”. Vidya, Gomila and I were like three young schoolgirls who were trying to hold back laughter from our teacher while we kicked each other under the table. I thought that the sham would be revealed and we would all be left holding Gururaj’s bag of tricks. The officer also looked surprised then Gururaj said, “I see him every day in my meditations.” Thank God he didn’t say something that would have the potential of humiliating us!
The next series of questions had to do with Jesus’ facial features, characteristics and appearance: “How tall was he? How much did he weigh? What color hair did he have? Was his face round, long or square? What about his cheekbones?” Gururaj injected that he had a gaunt appearance like he was hungry. “Were his eyebrows more like this one or that one?” With each response, the officer pulled out images from his little file box that matched Gururaj’s description. Gururaj was very animated as he paused and accentuated his responses while using lots of hand gestures. The police officer continued, “What color are his eyes? Does he have wide set eyes or are close set eyes? Look at these images and tell me what kind of nose he had. Now look at the lips.” At one point, Gururaj told the officer that this individual had a joyful expression, not sad. After the questioning was done, the officer created one complete composite bearing all of the features that Gururaj had chosen. Gururaj explained to the officer that he should give the composite to George who was going to make a drawing from the composite. I was grateful that he didn’t inform the police officer and George about who was depicted in the composite.
After the session, I walked outside with the officer and thanked him for coming and sharing his expertise with us. Then he asked me about Gururaj. He said that he was quite an unusual and interesting fellow and that he had never met anyone like him before. We said goodbye and he asked me to please not reveal that he had conducted this session with us. I honored his request and never mentioned his name or his affiliation to anyone.
One week after the session Gururaj, Vidya and I were back in George’s office to view the drawing. George was just finishing up the details when we arrived and said that he had one final touch to complete the drawing. He took out a small artist pen that was filled with a white liquid and put a tiny dot on each of Jesus’ eyes, which made him come to life. Then Gururaj turned to George and said, “You are a master at your art!” George was very pleased. Then he turned to George and asked, “Do you know who you just drew?” George was very sensitive and intuitive so I was not surprised when he responded, “I think so.” At that point Gururaj informed him that he drew Jesus. He also said that pictures of other artist renderings generally depicted Jesus with blond hair and blue eyes. Jesus had dark hair, dark eyes, high cheekbones and a gaunt hungry appearance.
When the entire ordeal ended, I was completely amazed by all of the synchronicities of lining up all of the people who participated in the experience. I was grateful that Gururaj gave me an opportunity to take the lead in this adventure because I had been very close to Jesus during my childhood. I was born into a family of Catholics but my parents joined a Lutheran church when I was twelve and allowed me to explore many other denominations as well. When I left home at age 18, I began exploring Eastern religions including Buddhism and Hinduism. I joined the American Meditation Society (IFSU USA) in 1977 and found no conflict whatsoever with Gururaj’s teachings and other religious teachings (as shown on the IFSU emblem). Gururaj gave me the spiritual name, Dooreena, which he said means, “the totality of all scriptures”. In 1991, I became a member of the Council of the Parliament of the World’s Religions (CPWR). The keynote speaker for the 1883 CPWR was Swami Vivekananda, who opened the door to bring Eastern philosophies and ultimately meditation to the western part of the world.
A Buddhist monk from Thailand asked me to join him and other religious leaders in the Chicago area to begin preparing for the 1993 CPWR 100th year anniversary. I served on the Dialogue Committee and became known as “the Bridge” as a result of my ability to see the essence and oneness of all religions. I arranged dialogues at religious institutions throughout the Chicago area including Hindu temples, Sikh Guruwaras, Buddhist temples, Moslem mosques, a Zoroastrian center, Jewish temples and even brought in a Native American tribe. During the 100th anniversary event, religious leaders worldwide came to the Palmer House in Chicago to participate. The Dalai Lama was the keynote speaker.
After the finding Jesus experience, I moved to Glenview, IL to join forces with the artist George to start a new business, Apparel Graphics, Inc., which was around the corner from Villa Redeemer where we used to have IFSU USA retreats. I taught George, his wife and his son IFSU USA meditation practices. Gururaj found Jesus but was he really ever lost? I learned that Jesus and other avatars who have made an impact on humanity are still present. Their physical bodies may be gone but their spirits and teachings forever remain. The Bible quote, “Seek and ye shall find” is a powerful reminder that if we are truly sincere, we will each find our way on our spiritual path. Gururaj often said, “One can be a Christian, a Jew or a Moslem, a Hindu, Buddhist or Taoist and with proper understanding your personal religion can ignite your soul, deepening and accelerating your spiritual growth so you can really understand the core or the essence of religion.”
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As I was writing about this experience, I went online to get some information about the Identi-Kit System. One of the descriptions said: Anatomy of a scientific bag of tricks to conjure up the likeness of an unknown face. Based on the actual experience there couldn’t have been a better description
Dooreena Durbin