DOCTOR RICK

It’s the age when most men stop and whisper, “Oh, Lordy!”

Over the hill . . . “The Big Four-Oh” . . . forty

It’s downhill from here for most men around —

Even high flyers start back to the ground

But Rick’s an example of a new paradigm

How to live life from a space beyond time

What does Rick have to show the world? Plenty!

His age may be forty, but his body’s still twenty

He’s accomplished so much, and he’s barely begun:

The wisdom of sages, and still very young

Here is a man who is what he speaks —

The bliss that he talks about glows on his cheeks

Arising from such great expansion of soul

His words alone make you feel healthy and whole

Each word is so pure, and so rich, and so true

So close to Maharishi, and so close to you

In answering questions, Rick is a rarity

He responds with compassion, conciseness, and clarity

Giving out knowledge for Rick is high art

But above everything else, he captures your heart

He can lecture to thousands, in a cavernous hall —

Dr. Rick’s heart will encompass them all

His heart’s like an ocean, completely unbounded

If his heart has a bottom, it’s never been sounded

It encompasses everything, as unboundedness will

And here, in a word, is the source of his skill

Heart bridges all gaps, transcends all dualtiy

Re-connects life to its own immortality

Medicine, in truth, is both science and art

And uniting these opposite values is heart

He touches your pulse, and his heart is what feels

His heart touches yours, and this is what heals

As an ocean attracts all the rivers that flow

His heart attracts us — we share in the glow

Dr. John Hagelin has planted a seed

And Dr. Rick Averbach will follow his lead

In the field of physics, one of John’s aims

Is to take the old terms and to give them new names

The old names are backward, turned upside down

John Hagelin’s working to turn this around

In medicine, the names are just as unfit

So Dr. Rick’s doing the same thing with it

The word patient, we know, is a pure contradiction

And hospital food — this term is pure fiction

The nurse comes and tells you to put on this gown —

Perfect attire for a night on the town

How many times have our tongues been depressed?

Stick out your tongues and say “Ah” when you’ve guessed

When a doctor says culture, you know at the start

That he’s probably not speaking of music or art

When a test comes back positive, the outlook is bad

When a test comes back negative, everyone’s glad

Positive and negative — the meaning’s reversed

Like sickness and health — the wrong one comes first

Into this scene, in such disarray

Comes Dr. Rick Averbach, saving the day

Now we’re all speaking of soma and ojas

Of prakritis, agnis, dhatus, and doshas

Tanmatras, mahabhutas, and nadivigyan

Suryanamaskara, and on, on, and on

Gaps and samhita, bhava and marma

Pragya-aparadh — and do we hear karma?

Medical science, as it stands in the West

Is limited, partial — fragments at best

Rick is not only changing the nomenclature

He takes the whole field and returns it back home in nature

You needn’t look far for a world-class vaidya —

Dr. Rick Averbach’s right here beside ya

It was ’75 when Rick and Stuart met

Was it love at first sight? Not exactly — yot yet

They parted again, off to Governor Training

But the future was coming — now no detaining

Rick, now a Governor, in ’78

Met with Maharishi, and his question was straight:

“What should I do now?” Rick had to decide —

Take note of the way that Maharishi replied:

Maharishi said, “Go out and practice your craft —

And find a good partner,” he said, and then laughed

“Who should it be?” Rick asked from his side

“Anyone you’re comfortable with,” he replied.

Rick returned home and saw Stuart again

They were out on the coast, these medicine men

The chemistry sparked, and who would suppose —

Stuart was actually the first to propose

Rick pondered deep, pondered long, pondered hard. . . .

A split-second later, he said, “Okay, pard!”

The chemistry sparked for Susie and Joan

And they became partners, as one might have known

No professional bond was ever so strong

Pull one of their legs, and all four come along

How often have Susie and Joan been amused

To see even close friends get these two confused

Rick is called Stuart, Stuart’s called Rick

Averberg, Rothenbach — confusion runs thick

We’d almost predict it — who is surprised?

With people so gifted and so synchronized

They complement each other like sides of a coin

It’s hardly a wonder their forces would join

By themselves, they’re each great — but when they are paired,

Like Super Radiance, their greatness is squared

Time passes quickly — where does a day go?

Three years were three lifetimes in warm San Diego

They decided to move here, families and all

A week before Maharishi sounded his call

They moved here to Fairfield and little suspected

How their whole life-direction would be re-directed

They moved here to Fairfield — the word got about

And all San Diego soon followed them out

They opened an office in Ottumwa, nearby —

From San Diego to Ottumwa? — Who are these guys?

To be country doctors was not in their stars

They were destined to travel by jet, not just cars

Maharishi brought out Ayur-Veda and then

He simply and naturally turned to these men

“Establish a clinic,” Maharishi instructed

“A clinic?” They panicked —how’s it constructed?

Nature supported through Dr. Kasturi

The Ayur-Vedic master who’d guide them to glory

“First you must learn panchakarma,” he said.

“Panchakarma?” they asked with a scratch to the head

Stuart and Rick were doubly blessed:

They quickly became the first techs in the West

Who were their patients, you ask? Take your pick —

Pure self-referral: Stuart and Rick

The first techs, the first patients — so many firsts

Career paths were soaring in blasts and in bursts

The abhyanga “table” was down on the floor

With 700 people in line at the door

Rick had asked Maharishi about Ayur-Ved

Back in ’75 — it seemed like an aid

Maharishi replied that the time wasn’t right

Credit Rick Averbach with amazing foresight

In ’86-’87, they were back at the source,

In India, leading the first doctors’ course

Such precious knowledge — the rishis cognized it

But they took the knowledge and systematized it

And now they are authors — their book’s going to soar

For Stuart and Rick, there’s much more in store

When Rick’s name was chosen, the stars were propitious

He was given a name that is rather auspicious

Rk is the sound at the source of creation

A branch of the Ved, supreme revelation

Dr. Averbach turns ever back on the Self

His knowledge is alive, not in books on his shelf

Dr. Averbach turns ever back to the source

Setting all medicine on an evolutionary course

Look at the wisdom and warmth that appears

At the mouths of these doctors so youthful in years

Who can foresee what their futures may hold?

The layers of knowledge they both will unfold

The millions of people they’ll touch and inspire

To health and enlightenment, higher and higher

Ensuring that everyone, from the moment of birth

Enjoys nothing less than heaven on earth

September 29, 1989