Yogananda wrote Adano Ley (more than a decade before he was ordained a Swami) in Montreal, Canada, and told him to teach meditation, but Adano didn’t even know how to meditate, much less how to teach it.

Adano sat in his favorite Greek restaurant pondering the dilemma. He was the sole customer till a rugged, husky backwoodsman dramatically trudged past the empty seats and plopped down at Adano’s table.

The stranger discoursed on meditation and philosophy, precipitating a stimulating conversation.

Adano was invited to the man’s house to continue the discussion, and he promised to teach Adano how to meditate.

They walked to a nearby three-story house.

The man produced a key to the downstairs apartment, and they entered a spacious room packed with sundry antiques.

The woodsman removed his hat and coat, claimed a cozy chair, and announced, “This is how you meditate, boy.”

He closed his eyes and completely ignored Adano.

Soon after his meditation “lesson,” Yogananda sent a man and woman to Adano for meditation instructions. Adano decided to introduce them to his new acquaintance for more instructions.

The three approached the woodsman’s house and knocked on the door.

No answer.

Adano continued knocking till an annoyed woman poked her head out of an upstairs window, demanding to know the trio’s business.

Adano described who they were looking for, and the woman said she knew of no such person, and nobody lived downstairs anyway.

In fact, no one had lived there for years.

She opened the downstairs door with her own key to prove the point.

The numerous antiques were gone. The room was dusty and empty.

It was obvious that the cobwebby room had been unoccupied for a very long time.

Adano and his companions knocked on doors up and down the street in an attempt to locate the mysterious backwoodsman. Adano never saw his meditation “teacher” again.

“Lost weekend experience” was Adano’s term for this kind of unexplained event.