Well, All of you don’t know that I was in Bangalore last weekend attending a session of the “Ashtavakra Gita”. I had an experience which is worth sharing…After the recent controversy I had built up some barriers in my mind that meeting Guruji would be difficult than ever. Besides, I had always felt that getting close to him is difficult and requires you to be a staunch volunteer or Teacher etc.I had gone to Chennai for an official trip, return was planned on the weekend. I decided to take a sneak peak of Guruji at Ashram. Took a torrid night BUS journey with little sleep from Chennai to Bangalore. Reached early morning at a friend’s place to freshen up … couldn’t get any sleep there also and found myself at Ashram gates around 4:30 PM on Saturday. It was very hectic and so the thought of meeting Guruji hadn’t occurred to me till that time… Just a Darshan was enough! So here I was registering for a room at the Ashram reception at about 4:45 PM. The guy standing next to me asks… “Where are you coming from ?” - “Chennai”. After exchanging pleasantries he asked “With which group do you plan to meet Guruji ?” - “Dunno”“Come along with our group from Kerala… Darshan time @ 5PM”… I stared at him in amazement… Was he joking, You mean just like that… - “Yes Ofcourse!”I joined the kerala group [last to have arrived] outside “the Kutir”. And there I saw…. Swarms of people (Not less than 1000) waiting for Darshan. So the rising feeling settled… “Koi chance nahi (I thought no chance to see Him or meet Him)” I said to myself. “Okay, Be with them” I thought. After a while announcements were being made from the area where the security guards the way to the kutir… every body started moving forward… slowly, I don't how we reached right at the start… and then the announcement “Kerala group” …. What… In first… Is this a dream… all of us go inside.
There I was sitting in the darshan area with more than 100 devotees expecting Guruji to arrive. He comes... Walks through… Smiles… Winks… Taps.. listens to weeping ladies… accepting gifts… Shaadi (Marriage)?… "haan haan karo!” (YES YES go for it.) he answers to a devotee… tapping with the lotus flower he moves forward. And then he arrives… I stand up and talk (for the first time ever)… he listens casually, doesn’t answer, looks at me then… the golden tap! PHEW! I sit and grasp what had just been conspired by destiny… Whatever was bothering was offered, offered without trying!I made way out for other devotees… awed by the happenings… I look at the watch… it was about 6 PM!! Never ever in my life could I have imagined an effortless Darshan in an hour’s time. Those who have been there and done that know the significance! Outside I met my messiah … the guy who offered me a seat on the bus to Heaven… I hugged him… told him about the effortlessness of the experience… He said “My Wife and infant son had also come to see him from Kerala. They couldn’t cause my son got unwell… It is not you who wants to see him… My Guru wanted to see you!” Incidentally, his name was also “Shiju”, which is my school’s best friend’s name at whose place I had stayed in Bangalore!
Jai Gurudeva!
With Love
Shantanu Somani
There I was sitting in the darshan area with more than 100 devotees expecting Guruji to arrive. He comes... Walks through… Smiles… Winks… Taps.. listens to weeping ladies… accepting gifts… Shaadi (Marriage)?… "haan haan karo!” (YES YES go for it.) he answers to a devotee… tapping with the lotus flower he moves forward. And then he arrives… I stand up and talk (for the first time ever)… he listens casually, doesn’t answer, looks at me then… the golden tap! PHEW! I sit and grasp what had just been conspired by destiny… Whatever was bothering was offered, offered without trying!I made way out for other devotees… awed by the happenings… I look at the watch… it was about 6 PM!! Never ever in my life could I have imagined an effortless Darshan in an hour’s time. Those who have been there and done that know the significance! Outside I met my messiah … the guy who offered me a seat on the bus to Heaven… I hugged him… told him about the effortlessness of the experience… He said “My Wife and infant son had also come to see him from Kerala. They couldn’t cause my son got unwell… It is not you who wants to see him… My Guru wanted to see you!” Incidentally, his name was also “Shiju”, which is my school’s best friend’s name at whose place I had stayed in Bangalore!
Jai Gurudeva!
With Love
Shantanu Somani
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