The opportunity to be a part of CORD came in late 1984 as a result of a chance meeting with Gurudev in Delhi, where Dr. Kshama Metre met him at the home of a devotee. Dr. Metre gives this account:
I vividly remember my first glimpse of Gurudev. He was sitting on a couch and his glowing serene face and his orange clothes reflected the radiance and beauty of the setting sun behind him. The atmosphere in the room was peacefully divine and blissful, as if enveloped by his presence.
I was drawn to him like a magnet and knew from the very first moments that he was the person whom I was seeking and that he had the answers to the questions, “Who am I?” and “What is love?” that had plagued me and a few of my medical friends in our hostel some years earlier.
He asked me, “Are you attached?” Without knowing the spiritual implications of his profound Vedantic question (I thought he was asking me whether I was married), I replied, “No. I am not attached.” Gurudev chuckled when he heard my simple, prompt answer.
When I heard that he would be holding a spiritual camp soon in February 1985, I came to Sidhbari. I learned about the Bhagavad-gita, for the very first time in my life, from Gurudev. Listening to his discourses was like facing an avalanche. It was as if all the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle were getting fitted together. I realized that the answers to all my questions were there in Vedanta, being expounded so beautifully by Gurudev.