Miss Anne Forbes

In June 1964, when Shri Nathji visited America, he and Priya Nathji stayed for few days at the house of  Miss Anne Forbes in Boston. While Priya Nath was at Harvard he had come into contact with Miss Anne Forbes who was an elderly lady whose brother was the conductor of the Harvard University Orchestra. She had placed her house at Priya Nath’s disposal for a few days so that Shri Nathji could stay there after he had left the house of Dr. Smith. Priya Nath and Shri Nathji thereafter stayed for some time at the house of Miss Anne Forbes. She and her friends greeted Shri Nathji warmly at the house at the start, but later her attitude began to change when she saw the indescribably beautiful personality of Shri Nathji in contrast to which the portraits of her guru paled into insignificance.
 She was the follower of a spiritual organisation in America, and held regular meditation services in the basement of her house. When members of her group discovered Shri Nathji’s presence in the house they immediately became curious and desired to see him. Priya Nath admitted them into Shri Nathji’s chambers, where Shri Nathji was addressing some people. The impact of Shri Nathji’s personality was like a revelation. They had never witnessed such a living divine force before.
 When Miss Anne Forbes discovered that members of her group had visited Shri Nathji, she immediately wrote a note of protest to him and Priya Nath, asking them to stop all manner of spiritual meetings at the house.
 "I thought your guru asked you to respect all holy men and to hear what they had to say," said Priya Nath to her.
 Shri Nathji’s reply was very gentle and polite: "If it offends you, I shall not meet anyone in the house."

But on Shri Nathji Birthday, in the morning of June 23, 1964 came upon, Anne Forbes appeared with a large birthday cake at Shri Nathji's residence. Perhaps it was an atonement for her earlier rude letter. It was a measure of Shri Nathji's love that even those who went against him never ceased to love and respect him

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Anna Forbes was born in May 18, 1919 to Edward W. Forbes and Margaret Laighton and had four siblings.  Anne went to Shady Hill grade school followed by the Windsor School. She pursued higher education at Bennington College in Vermont where she got her Bachelor of Arts in 1941. As part of the war effort, organized by the War Manpower Commission, Anne went to a secretarial school for a couple of months followed by working in Washington DC as a secretary for several years. Shortly after the war, she became director of Fellowship House in Kansas City, an organization committed to religious and ethnic tolerance. She continued her education at Radcliff where she earned a Masters Degree in Social Anthropology in 1948. One of her teachers, Clyde Cluckhohn, recommended she do field work to qualify for a PHD program in case she wanted to pursue it and so Anne went to New Mexico where she did research in American Indian art. She developed a lifelong interest in the people she met as well as in the art and became close friends to a number of artists during this period including Joe Herrera. It was also during this time, that she started a collection of paintings by American Indians which she donated to the Smithsonian Collection of American Art around 2005.After her work and research in New Mexico, she returned home to Cambridge Ma., where she worked for the International Students Center from 1953-1957. 

 In 1958 from a suggestion of her mother, 'Peg', she became interested in The Self Realization Fellowship, a religious organization rooted in the spiritual teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. This became a lifelong commitment to following his teachings as well as to giving service and assistance to the Self Realization Fellowship organization. In 1970, Anne opened a retreat near Bennington Vermont where SRF members as well as those interested in the teachings of Yogananda could come to meditate and learn. She maintained and ran this retreat for the benefit of local and visiting SRF members. Anne retired from the retreat in 2005 and came to live with her nephew and family in Groton Ma., where she has been up until her dead on September 6, 2018 at age of 99.