Fond memories of bliss – Part 4
Let me now travel down the memory lane. This is about a good twenty years ago.
My eldest brother Swaminathan is known among family circles as Babu. He was the first in our family to come into the fold of Sri Swamiji. Then came my other brother Sundar.
Those times were golden periods for us, as Sri Swamiji was not known to the world and we had a very good opportunity to stay in His divine presence for long hours. There used to be just five or six aides with him.
My brother clearly remembers the initial days of his association with His Holiness.
During that time, Sri Swamiji used to ever be in deep consciousness of His Holiness Sri Chandrasekerendra Saraswati Swamigal of Kanchi alone. Any word that came from his mouth would be about the Saint. Even if He tried to talk something else, He wouldn’t be able to.
Whenever He heard someone with the name ‘Chandrasekar’, His eyes would start watering like a perpetual fall. Hearing that very name would horripilate Sri Swamiji. The same would happen when He saw the Maha Swamigal’s photograph or even a bus that went to Kanchipuram.
Looking at these, I could cognize that some divine transformation was happening within Sri Swamiji. I couldn’t understand anything beyond that.
During those days, Sri Sri Swamiji used to stay in a small room. This small room had no bathroom or toilet nor did it have any sophistication or facilities for communication. It used to contain only a mat and a photograph of the Kanchi Maha Swamigal. Those were the only belongings of Sri Swamiji.
Then Sri Swamiji would never touch money. He wouldn’t take bath nor brush his teeth for long periods. His diet was very restrictive. It was devoid of rice. His only intake was some buttermilk and fruit juice.
He used to meditate for long hours without any break. He would get lost in His meditative world for hours together. Often, He would sit in the room and ask us to lock it up from outside. He would sit in His posture for meditation at 8:00 am. He would go deep into this state. We would open the room at 2:00 pm only to see Him in exactly the same posture as He was that morning.
Once, it was about midnight, and I went to see Him. The room was locked from inside and I noticed that a queer and wonderful fragrance emanated from the room through the door aperture. The fragrance was just divine and unexplainable. I knew for fact that the room did not contain any flowers, incense sticks or any other artificial fragrances whatsoever. I was astounded by this strange experience. Confused, I went back to sleep.
The phenomenon was ringing in my mind all through the night and the next morning, I knocked the door. As soon as Sri Swamiji opened the door, I narrated to Him my earlier night’s experience. Sri Swamiji gently replied, ‘Yes! that happens at times, when I am in meditation.’
Sometimes, in the nights, when I go to His room, I would not find Sri Swamiji. However, He would be back the next morning. He would avoid answering our questions about his absence. When compelled, out of love for us, he would reveal that He was meditating in the burial ground!
I have heard similar stories about great Mahans like Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Seshadri Swamigal etc. The boundaries of my intellect were limited in that I could relate these experiences of Sri Swamiji to those of such great Mahans. I never comprehended beyond that.
