Bill Browning A printer- ‘Swami Pressananda’ :

People were used to seeing Bill Browning in rather casual clothes. A printer, he had spent more than twenty years doing printing for Chinmaya Mission publications.

Many a time he arrived at Gurudev’s spiritual camps with freshly printed camp souvenirs in tow, with hints of printer’s ink still visible on his hands. For many years he had also been clean shaven. Then, one time he arrived at a camp held at Humboldt State University in Northern California wearing a suit and sporting a new beard. Even Swamiji at first did not recognise him. When he did, he let out a yell of surprise and delight.

No one else recognised him either. Bill had tea with Swamiji, with people in an adjoining room looking on. Still, no one recognised the Bill they all knew. After tea, Swamiji led Bill into the room where the devotees had assembled for satsang and introduced him to the group:
“Here’s my Swami friend from India,” he said.

People came up to Bill and greeted him with folded hands.

After the two had had their fun, Bill’s identity was revealed, but Swamiji continued to call him ‘Swami Pressananda’ for the rest of the camp.

Chinmaya Mission