Fond memories of bliss – Part 28

One day, Sri Sri Swamiji in a lighter moment, while discussing the innumerable schools of thought and the confusion that they could result in, said, “One who cannot read, write or talk, contributes to the world in a very big way, in his own right, by not adding to the already existing confusions!”

Sri Sri Swamiji has always condemned the wrong use of these gifts of God.

Sri Sri Swamiji would say, “When we lift something heavy our arms get tired. When we walk a long distance our legs get tired. But our mouth and ears do not feel exhausted in spite of talking or listening endlessly! The Lord, out of his immense mercy, has blessed us with this gift of listening and talking so that we can always listen to His glories and chant His Divine Names.”

There are people who have not been blessed with these wonderful gifts of sound and speech. Of the various kinds of physical handicaps people suffer from, Sri Sri Swamiji’s feels deeply moved by the deaf and dumb for the one reason that they can neither hear nor utter the Lord’s Divine Names!

In May 2007, Sri Sri Swamiji visited Coimbatore where He met a little boy who was both deaf and dumb. Sri Sri Swamiji felt deeply moved because the child could neither hear nor utter the Divine Names of the Lord. One is reminded of the incident in Sri Bodendra Swami’s life where during his visit to a house for ‘bhiksha’ [food] the great Mahatma was moved to tears when he found that the little boy in the family was deaf and dumb.

Here, in Coimbatore, out of boundless compassion for the little boy, Sri Sri Swamiji signed to him to come close and wrote ‘Rama’ on his little palm, thus initiating him!