Root Canal

[Listen to Asha read this story]

“Can we do this with no anesthetic?” Swamiji asked his dentist, Sheri Bernadett. She was going to do a root canal for him.

“We can,” she said, obviously reluctant. “I have done it that way before, but not often. I think I’ll be more uncomfortable than you will be, but if you can do it, I can do it.”

Swamiji had a headset and a small tape recorder. “This is the master tape of my newest album. I want to see if the mix is right,” he said.

Sheri said later, “He sat through the whole procedure with the headphones on. He didn’t fidget, in fact he didn’t move. He hardly seemed aware of what was going on in his mouth. I was close enough to hear the music and it was so beautiful, it calmed me down, too, and I stopped worrying about what he might be feeling.”