Foreword by the author - B Radha Krishna Murthy (BRK)
Our trip to know Swamiji’s life-story had successfully reached an end and we started our return journey to Srisailam. From Swamiji’s taposthanam, we first went to Saattur as Swamiji had agreed to take Gurumatha with us. Gurumatha was staying in Swamiji’s brother Sri Sankaranarayana garu’s house in Saattur. Swamiji asked me to visit Sankaranarayana garu’s house alone as He waited in the railway station, along with Raju garu. I told Sankaranarayana garu that we wished to take Gurumatha with us and sought his permission. He agreed to it and said that we could take Gurumatha with her consent. I bowed down to Gurumatha and requested her to come to Srisailam with me, to which she agreed and was ready to leave with me instantly. Gurumatha and I left Sankaranarayana garu’s house in a juthka cart and reached the railway station.
Swamiji was waiting for us at the station. As Swamiji approached Gurumatha, she was unable to recognize Him due to her poor vision. She thought Swamiji was a sadhu and was about to bow to Him. Swamiji stopped her and said,” Amma”. Gurumatha then understood that it was her own son Kameswaran. Even the greatest saints are infants before a mother’s love. Seeing Swamiji after so many years had brought boundless joy to Gurumatha. In that happiness, she held Swamiji close to her and wept. On witnessing this precious moment in the Saattur railway station, Raju garu and I became emotional too.
After leaving from Saattur, we got down in Madurai. We took a room there and spent the night in Madurai. Swamiji Himself draped Gurumatha in new clothes and readied her for our journey. On the next morning, as we were in the railway station’s waiting room, Swamiji asked me not to eat anything that day. Since it was an instruction from Swamiji, I followed it without asking further questions. In the afternoon, we could smell wadas in the station and Swamiji asked me to bring the freshly made wadas for everybody. Swamiji ate a small piece of wada and said to me, “Today is your father’s monthly ceremony (maasikam). Your brothers just finished performing the ceremony in the house”. Immediately, I washed Swamiji’s feet in that waiting room and prostrated before Him. “The ceremony was performed very well. Your father had attained mukti”, said Swamiji. It is written in Gurucharitra that when such ceremonies are performed to our ancestors in the sannidhi of a Guru, the ancestors attain mukti. With this incident, Swamiji taught us the importance of performing the monthly and annual ceremonies to our ancestors.
This is an example to show that once we reach Swamiji’s sannidhi, He takes care of every small aspect in our respective lives and guides us in the path of mukti. My father had passed away in September, before we began our journey. Being completely involved in the tour, I had forgotten about the monthly ceremony. However, Swamiji made sure to remember it and showed His grace on me and my family.
From Madurai, we stopped in another railway station and reached Ongole and then took a bus to Srisailam. We intended to tour Tamil Nadu without informing Swamiji but He accompanied us and showed all the significant places relating to His birth, childhood and tapas. Swamiji Himself narrated the history of every holy place that we visited. With Swamiji’s blessings, we were able to have the darshan of many great saints. We were deeply moved by the respect and love that all the great saints had showered towards Swamiji.
Through many wonderful experiences, Swamiji taught me that anything can happen if you have good fortune. All the devotees were blessed with the priceless padukas of Sri Rakhadi Baba and the opportunity to perform service to Gurumatha.
We stepped into Tamil Nadu with absolutely no money and after having faced no trouble, returned to Srisailam with our beloved Gurumatha and the invaluable padukas of our Paramaguru.
to be continued...
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