Opening the Golden Lotus
Musings from our founder, Arran Stephens
The year was 1967. I was twenty-three and had just completed seven incredible months in India, studying the inner science of meditation with one of the most renowned spiritual teachers of the 20th century, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974). I had traveled extensively with him on tours throughout the subcontinent and now it was the eve of my departure. I asked my revered mentor about establishing a natural foods vegetarian restaurant to serve society, to earn without compromising ethics in an environment conducive to practice. He wholeheartedly encouraged this wish, gave some further advice and affectionately patted me as I left Sawan Ashram for the airport.
I was already too familiar with uncongenial workplaces. I felt there was a crying need in North America to provide wholesome, artfully prepared natural foods in an atmosphere of mutual respect. I then decided to establish a vegetarian restaurant—the first of its kind in Canada.
Back in Vancouver, a For Rent sign in a defunct second-hand store caught my eye. While not normally prescient, I was certain that this was the future home of the business. I was about to discover how clearly-fixed mental images could manifest in the objective world through unrelenting effort. Others may call this process creative visualization.
I had only $7.00 working capital, but that didn’t hold me back. A lease for the store and a four-bedroom suite upstairs was negotiated on a hope and a prayer. Those with means whom I initially approached had no interest in investing in my risky scheme, but a humble bank-teller saw the vision and agreed to co-sign a $1,000 loan. Another $500 soon arrived unexpectedly in the mail from a family friend. After settling the modest rent, phone and utility deposits, I negotiated the purchase of the entire assets of a failed restaurant nearby for $500. Within two months the Golden Lotus—Vancouver’s first vegetarian restaurant — came into being on a $1,500 budget and 12-16-hour workdays.
Many unique and wonderful people were drawn through the doors like bees to honey, some as customers, some as employees, some as seekers. Quarters upstairs housed the growing circle of workers and the living room became a communal study space. While there is a golden lotus within us, the worldly lotus began to bloom, and many were attracted to its fragrance.
