Tryst With Spirituality

Jagani Jagadish

The year 2002 will remain always marked in my memory as "Year of Spiritual Awakening". Things were going haywire both in my personal and professional life. I could easily say that both were in shambles. I lost my job, quite suddenly for what was really unreasonable in the 2nd quarter of the year 2002. My husband was also out of a job at that time and awaiting his next job which never seemed to materialise. Tension was eating the two of us and coupled with this was an atmosphere of constant bickering and discontentment in the house. After losing my job and being out of the rat race for a while, I began to think what was my life all about? A discontentment was brewing deep in the recesses of my heart. A deep rooted distinct feeling that a vital link was missing. A null, a vacuum, a void in my being. Of course, now, even knowing what it was, I was nowhere close to solving the gnawing problem. Was it a good job or jewels or a beautiful home? Increase in salary? No. That was not it. I knew I was seeking something, but frustratingly I couldn't put my finger exactly on what it was. I only prayed to Shridi Sai to help me in this quest. Sometime during all these disturbances in my life, I heard a distinct voice in my mind commanding me to go to Shridi. Now that was too farfetched an idea for me, on one hand I had lost my job and was barely making ends meet. On the other hand who would accompany me to Shridi which was a long journey from Bangalore? I shelved the idea for a later time and busied myself searching for a new job to relieve me from the immediate problem at hand. But Baba willed otherwise. Around Oct 2002, the money for the trip to Shridi virtually fell into my lap and the people to accompany me to this place were miraculously arranged. We arranged this trip at the last moment when no train reservations were available and were 130 on the waiting list. It seemed hopeless to expect to go. Then I heard of a package tour to Shridi being conducted. But even here we were on the waiting list. Again, wondrously at the last moment, ten people with both reservations fell out of the package trip and our seats were arranged, all this just three hours before departure from city station to this holy place. When the master calls, the common mortals have to heed the call. The Samadhi Mandir at Shridi was like a balm to my tired agitated mind. The waves of peace which emanated from the idol of Sairam filled my heart with peace and calm, I cried out to my saviour with all my heart to help me find bliss in my life and heart. Could it be that my outpouring was heard by the Lord and he directed me to my living Guru Swami Nityananda? I wondered. Soon after returning from Shridhi within a month we heard of a young enlightened master who was a jet age Swamiji, some of his teachings which we heard from this person had a definite appeal for us. To my friend and myself, this was a Godsend. It was as if Baba himself directed me to this living legend to enable me to discover bliss in my life.

I was already imagining what this Guru would be like and was excited at the prospect of meeting him. On Nov 22nd a meeting was arranged with him. He was very jovial and definitely belied our idea of a traditional guru - a serious face, a beard, etc. He spoke to the group casually and advised us to join the "Ananda Spurana Program" which was starting the very next morning. This is a residential program designed by the Guru, where he takes us through a series of meditations to cleanse the seven chakras. After this the "Ananda" in our being is uncovered. It is akin to a mirror with dust on it which the meditations erase leaving behind "Ananda" or "Bliss", which is our true nature. Swami, during these 2 memorable days interspersed his meditation techniques with jokes and stories. He stressed the importance of meditation in daily life. He urged the participants to spread his message of bliss to all.

It was unbelievable but after the Anandha Spurana program I felt I was floating in the clouds. There was a lightness in my heart after I had unburdened my soul to my Sadguru. It seemed almost as if Swami had performed a major surgery and implanted an inner permanent core of bliss which nothing could touch. I could distinctly feel the difference at the time prior to the program, I would take every daily mundane happening seriously and become depressed and dull. But subsequently, there seemed to be no place in my heart for all this, such things hit the core of my being now temporarily and got knocked off.

I can distinguish a constant, steady state in which my

mind is set. Below this level, my depressions are held at bay. My faith in my Guru makes me believe that he is holding me in this state and my heart swells in gratitude to him as this single thing has made a great difference in my life and the lives of my immediate family members who always bore the brunt of my depressions.

Swami Nityananda underwent so many hardships to discover bliss and healing! How fortunate we disciples are to be able to interact with this eminent person and receive bliss and healing all on a silver platter. We are indeed blessed recipients of his divine grace. Swami always teasingly remarks that like instant dosa, idli, he is showing us how to contact the divine instantly through healing. He always intones that to be in bliss is the hotline connection to God because that is the only state of mind to be in. While relating to the Almighty, his mission is to give this wonder key to millions of people and transform this discontented, overworked, indifferent planet into an ecstatic one, filled with bliss and compassion.

The next memorable event in my association with Sadguru was the healing initiation. Swami passed on his healing power to us with a brief initiation. Subsequently, as a token of our love and gratitude to our Guru, we were asked to heal the patients who flocked to the ashram for the divine person's healing touch. Swami considered the healers to be extensions of himself so he could reach his healing touch to thousands of troubled diseased people. It was an enriching experience. We would all go to the ashram, taking turns. Firstly, we would sit before Swami's chair and concentrate on being in a state of bliss for a few minutes after which we would carry the mood and start healing the patients. The energy seemed to flow like a flood from our palms to the patients. At the end of this, we would get rejuvenated in spirit and leave the ashram in an elevated frame of mind. All the tiredness of the day would vanish and added to this our gratitude to the divine would multiply manifold for giving us good health which so many people in the world were longing for and which many times we take for granted.

Swami would insist upon us that healing itself is a sadhana, the reason being that during healing your whole being is concentrated on alleviating the suffering of another, forgetting at that time 'the self'. Your thoughts of the Guru and bliss put you in touch with the divine. Hence, healing he believes is a prayer or sadhana.

During this period Swami would welcome the healers for a brief healers meet everyday. Here we could ask any question on spirituality to which he would give his reply. Interesting stories, anecdotes, jokes were shared. Somehow, every word uttered by our Guru had a strange effect on us. Every word had a strange power and remained etched in my memory.

There comes to my mind an incident in which THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM rendered his healing first hand. I had been suffering from fissure and skin problems since 1996. Nothing could heal this completely. I had tried all the dermatologists in the city but none could find out the cause of the allergy. All skin specialists claimed that allergies were difficult to determine. My skin would flare up in the neck region and would leave a black mark. The fissures would break up and bleed every now and then causing acute discomfort. Finally, after THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM came into my life, I decided to approach him. He placed his palm on my hand for a while and simply asked me whether I ate non-vegetarian food. He advised me to leave non-vegetarian including egg and I would be fine. I just followed his advice and have been sticking to it for a year and my problem has been completely solved.

Another case which THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM came to my rescue was with regard to my son. He is really a hyperactive child. Invariably, he got into trouble because of this. He would throw objects quite in a fit of hyperactivity without the intention of hurting anyone. But his bad luck, the flying object would almost always find its victim and my son would be the next one with his class teacher. His class teacher had had enough of him and things came to a stage where she complained to the Principal and sought her permission for me to keep my son at home and they would give him attendance. I was shocked speechless. What would I do with the child out of school? I decided to seek refuge in THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM again. I took my son to him and put the problem before him. He laughed aloud and asked us not to over react. After all, he said he is barely five and a five year old has to be naughty. But, nonetheless to pacify us, he placed his hand upon my son's head for a few seconds and said that he would be fine. And true to his word, we sensed a distinct change come over him. He was less active and believe it or not did not get into trouble seriously again. Again my gratitude to my Guru knew no bounds, step by step, time and again, I am being drawn to my Guru's lotus feet. In all my life's day to day problems, I think of him and draw a lot of energy from him and moral support. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM always says that he works in our lives, so there is often no need to tell him the problem verbally, it only involves connecting to him mentally with full faith in the Guru's powers. It has been wonderful to feel each and every problem getting sorted out so beautifully.

My only hope and prayer is to be of some service to my Sadguru and to grow spiritually into a better human being with his divine grace.

Jai Guru!

Kalpana Mani

When you placed my hand under your palm. Oh! My God how to express. I felt the touch of God himself on my hands. The touch of a baby is the most beautiful in this world.

But the motherly touch of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM just goes beyond it. I felt the extreme love of this world in your touch, which I have not realised before. In my life, I had never used word 'death', I feel afraid even when I hear that word from others. But after the heavenly touch of yours my inner voice said these words wholeheartedly, "I got my life fulfilled by this caring touch. I am ready to die now with this splendid happiness". But no, I am not ready for it as I want to live long, only to enjoy, devoted to my honourable THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.

I feel very lonely without you for even a minute. It

will be difficult without you during your foreign trip. But I made up my mind to be with thoughts of you from the past days, which is going to refresh me with joy. I am going to keep you with me by your portraits to fill your presence around and inside me.

When I look at others, I feel as if you look from inside me. When I laugh, I feel as if your laugh has been replaced in mine. Even when I shake my hands, when I speak, everything must resemble you. It is very natural, not prepared, without my awareness. I feel as if THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM has migrated inside me, in each cell. I feel this as an enlightenment in me. Swamiji is fully dissolved in my blood now.

In ASP, you teach us to thank everyone's favor. But I feel it is very important to thank a godly couple all my life. That is Swamiji beloved parents who gave us a wonderful, heavenly, graceful child. Whenever I see you I feel it!

P. Magesh

When I was attending the meditation course called ASP ('Ananda Spurana Program'), the very name happened in me. 'Ananda Spurana' means "Flowering of Bliss", which happens inside our being i.e., the 'Atma' attains the state of Ananda.

During the ASP, Swamiji taught us lots of meditation techniques related to the main energy centers of our body, called Chakras. Each meditation was to cleanse and energise each chakra. This made my vision towards life much more wider… much more broader…….and deeper.

I was a person who didn't even know about 'Meditation' or 'Inner Journey'. I had never even heard the word 'Enlightenment'. Even after hearing the word I couldn't trace its meaning. In such a state, I came to know about an 'Enlightened Master'. I came to know about him by his divine healing method i.e., healing through meditation. It was like a flood coming and filling a well in a desert area.

When I saw THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM for the first time, I was very surprised because he was so young. He was only 26 years and doing miracles, by healing the most severe diseases in the world. This showed that he is a person who knows the past, present and the future. So, he would certainly know what kind of a personality we could be in future. The only thing is, we must completely surrender ourselves to his sacred feet. We will definitely see our personality gets widened and we become much more aware.

He often says the ultimate truth is his very name. 'THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM' (permanent bliss) can be attained by anyone in this world. I am sure that the people the stage of 'THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM' would be much more superior to the stage of 'Enlightenment'!

A lot of things in my life became clear. Swamiji is a person who doesn't look at anyone's face. Instead he sees the Being, or Atma. That is why he allowed a person like me who doesn't even know the basic idea of spirituality to stay with him as an inmate.

He told me a small story that he is like a person standing on the 10th floor of a building - from that building he has a wide and broad view and he knows which car is coming at what speed and what distance. We are the persons standing on the road, we cannot even know or see if a car is coming.

Swamiji says, "When we share dukkha (misery) it becomes less. But when we share ananda (joy) it becomes more and more. When we just spread ananda it will be a blissful experience. But we are lucky to have with us an enlightened personality called 'THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM' i.e., the Ananda which is forever. When we spread THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, we too will be part of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM!