Fond memories of bliss – Part 3

It was a time when Sri Swamiji used to continuously travel to quite a few holy places and Samadhis of great Saints. Sometimes He used to travel alone, and at other times, someone used to accompany Him. In those days, my brother Sundar used to accompany Him on many trips.

It was one such trip when Sri Swamiji desired to go to the ‘adhishtanam’ of a great saint and we had the good fortune of going along with Him. When we were in the Saint’s Samadhi, Sri Swamiji went into meditation. We sat in a corner watching Sri Swamiji. Anyone who saw His visage and form could easily guess that He was in a deep state of meditation.

As we sat there watching the gracious form of Sri Swamiji in His meditative posture, suddenly this strange thing happened. To our shock, He disappeared from our eyes! We panicked. We started searching for him frantically around calling out ‘Swamiji! Swamiji!’.
We searched every nook and corner of the place in vain. After scouting all around the place ending up in a futile search for Sri Swamiji, we returned, only to see Him in exactly the same place, and posture as He had been meditating earlier!

We were astounded to see Him again. It seemed as if our eyes were playing tricks with us. Then we asked, ‘Swamiji! Where had you been? You suddenly disappeared from our eyes. We were worried and anxious. We went searching all around and we come back to see that You are very much here! How did this happen?”

Sri Swamiji gave a smile and said, ‘What is wrong with all of you? I have been right here all the time!’

A few years back, my mother passed away due to an unsuccessful medical surgery. Her death was a disastrous blow to our family. It was a grave shock as we had lost a moral support in our family. That immersed all of us in deep grief.
Who else could provide us solace and support in such a state of distress save our beloved Guru Maharaj? We opened our hearts and cried out to Sri Swamiji. Sri Swamiji pacified us and consoled us. He convinced us saying ‘Don’t worry. Your mother has reached a very good state’.
He further went on, ‘Your mother has reached the abode of Lord Ganesha. From there, she will bless your family. She will continue to be with you in all your family affairs.”

We did not understand the import of Sri Swamiji’s words, nor did we take it seriously.

Time rolled by.

Since then, there have been two weddings in my family, one that of my sister and the other of my brother. To my amazement, though both of them have taken place in different years, they were both held exactly on the auspicious day of Ganesh Chaturti!

Sri Sri Swamiji’s words which sounded esoteric earlier were being proved from time to time through such astonishing incidents comprehensible even to human minds!