Dear Readers,
Vikramaswamiji is the embodiment of love, compassion and strength. To me, HE is GOD in a physical body and a saviour of many souls. What I feel about HIM today has been realised through a period of time, with HIS grace. Initially when I visited HIM for my first darshan, it was with a feeling of scepticism.
MY FIRST DARSHAN
It was June 1995 that i was blessed with the darshan of Vikramaswamiji.
That time I did not realise that it will bring a great change in me. I
believed in GOD but was very reluctant to accept that human beings can
be Trikalagnanis and be GOD for you. In spite of my mother's repeated insistence
that I meet swamiji, I kept finding excuses to avoid it. I was having problems
with my Ph.D that time and I was undergoing career tensions. I used to
pray intensely to GOD but could not comphrehend that GOD wanted to talk
to me, face to face, in the form of swamiji. Finally I had to give in to
my mother and very hesitantly went with her. We waited for six hours. At
around 6 pm, i really got impatient and I told my mother that we shall
leave by 6.30 pm if we are not called in. At sharp 6.30 pm, swamiji called
us in. HE mentioned the conversation I was having with my mother outside.
HE knew all about me, my family and relatives as was evident from the questions
he asked. I was dumb struck, shaken to the core. That day I left from there
with a feeling of awe, hardly knowing that I had met my spiritual guru.
A SPIRITUAL CHANGE
After that day I acquired a stronger faith in GOD. I also got peace
of mind through prayer and I started looking at the world with a different
perspective, definitely a better one.
MY GURU
In december 96, swamiji made me sit in the puja room for a very long time and he told me later that HE had done that for a purpose. I could understand the purpose later when I realised that HE was my guru and HE could help me spiritually evolve.
HIS love and compassion for one and everyone, without any bias, HIS immense stamina to sit, listen and talk for long hours hearing the miseries of others, giving solutions to their problems are some qualities of HIS which have to be experienced for one to believe. HE is an indifferent friend who can show you the right direction of your life, taking into consideration the totality of the present circumstance and your prosperity in future.
Being away from home as I
was pursuing my degree at Bombay, I could not meet swamiji often. But he
would come in my dreams to show his presence with me always. The bliss
and joy that I got in prayer and my surrender to GOD is through swamiji's
GRACE only.
DREAMS
Swamiji conducts Bhajans on thursdays in each one of his devotee's houses.
In Oct 97, he decided to have the bhajan in our residence in Madras. I
being away from home was unaware of that as everything was being planned
suddenly. Before my mother could convey the message to me,I got a dream
in which swamiji told me that he would come to house that thursday to
light the lamp. So when my mother called, I knew she would inform me
about the bhajan.
I attend Geeta chanting classes
every thursday, here at Bombay. Inside my heart I had this unhappy feeling
that I could not attend any of swamiji's bhajan. One thursday night, swami
came in my dream where HE was there in a crowded house. HE was asking my
mother to have idlis. On friday I called home and asked my mother if she
had idlis on thursday. She told
me that she had been to swamiji's bhajan on thursday and the prasadam
was idli. So even though I cannot meet swami often, I feel HIS presence
with me. During March 1998, I was on a vacation to Madras for three weeks
during which I could have HIS darshan a couple of times.
MY FAMILY AND SWAMIJI
My family consists of my parents and a younger brother.. All of us have
tremendous faith in HIM. Whatever swamiji has predicted for all of us has
come true. It started with my brother's prediction. Two years ago, after
his B.Tech at REC Trichy , he was in a job with Reliance as a mechanical
engineer. That time, swamiji used to ask him about his interest in computers
and his going to America. Swami would say that HE would meet him at Sanfrancisco
one day. Today my brother is in a computer software job and he met Swami
in Sanfrancisco last week. Swami's prediction about my father's extension
after his retirement also came true. We had problems settling our property
which got solved with swami's grace as he had foretold. HE has appeared
many times in my mother's dreams where once HE appeared as Shirdi Sai Baba.
My parents are ardent devotees of swami and they attend HIS bhajans and
Arul vakku.
MY MESSAGE TO READERS
Peace of mind is most important in life and wherever we are in the world, we can get that only by looking inside oneself. We are so tied up with worldly anxieties and pressures that we are too occupied to do that. But having a spiritual guru can open those doors of one's pure heart and help remove the dirt of worldly passion. Vikramaswamiji can help you do that. If you take one step towards HIM, HE will take ten steps towards you, that's what HE says.
I pray that HIS glory spreads
and I keep learning from HIM as HIS student forever. I would like to quote
few lines from Rabindranath
Tagore's poem 'Fireflies'--
'I touch GOD in my song as the hill touches the far away sea with
its waterfall
The butterfly counts not months but moments and has time enough
Let my love, like sunlight surround you and yet give you illumined
freedom. '
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R.ANURADHA.
RESEARCH SCHOLAR,
MUMBAI
INDIA.