Foreword by the author - B Radha Krishna Murthy (BRK)
By Swamiji’s grace, Gurumatha’s health showed improvement. Since her vision also improved, she was now able to do all her chores by herself. Swamiji and Gurumatha were now staying in BHEL in my friend KBVG garu’s house. Many people who had Swamiji’s darshan in BHEL turned into His ardent devotees. Devotees started visiting KBVG garu’s house quite often for Swamiji’s darshan. I was now working in Pochampaadu Project, close to Nizamabad. This project, being constructed over the Godavari river, was in the development phase. Just like in Srisailam, a Project colony was built in Pochampaadu as well. This colony had a Ramalayam too. I spent my life constantly thinking about Swamiji and visiting Hyderabad for His darshan at every possible chance.
A superintendent named Subbarao garu was my neighbour in Pochampaadu. He was a deeply religious and god-fearing man. He once came to our house and offered to teach me rudram and panchasookthalu. I was not very inclined towards it, but since I could not turn him down, I learnt rudram and panchasookthalu from Subbarao garu. His father, Gopal Rao garu was a great devotee of Siva. Gopal Rao garu came to Pochampaadu during the time that I was learning Panchasookthalu from Subbarao garu. Gopal Rao suggested that it would be a good thing to perform Mahalingabhishekam to the Sivalingam that he daily worshipped to. As it was not very feasible to conduct the program in their house, he requested that the Mahalingabhishekam be performed in our house. I was also pleased with this suggestion and prepared a room in our house for the Maha-rudrabhishekam. In that way, for many days the Maha-rudrabhishekam was performed in that room. A few days after that program concluded, while I was at work, a jeep arrived in front of my office. Swamiji and Gurumatha got down from that jeep. My happiness knew no bounds on seeing them. Immediately, I took them to our house and made the necessary arrangements for them. Swamiji and Gurumatha were now residing in the same room in which the Rudrabhishekam was performed.
On learning that a kaupina-clad saint with thick matted hair has come to Project colony, many people came to have Swamiji’s darshan. Some of those people later became Swamiji’s closest devotees. Among them were the families of Sri Kishanrao garu and Sri KVG Krishnamurthy garu. Many of my colleagues from office also had Swamiji’s darshan. A divisional officer named Sri Bagayya garu, who worked in my office was a devotee of Sri Meher Baba. After hearing about Swamiji, Sri Bagayya garu also came to our house and Swamiji gave darshan to him in the form of Sri Meher Baba. After being blessed in that way by Swamiji, Sri Bagayya garu held Swamiji’s feet and wept in happiness.
We found it a little difficult to cook according to Swamiji’s and Gurumatha’s liking. They both preferred to have Tamil-styled dishes, while our cooking was majorly Andhra-based. I then thought that it would be a good idea to have somebody from Tamil Nadu, who can cook in a clean, delicious manner to suit Swamiji’s and Gurumatha’s preferences. I then remembered meeting one of Swamiji’s childhood friends in Kalidaikurichi, while touring Tamil Nadu. He had deep love and respect for Swamiji. I requested Swamiji that we can invite him to Pochampaadu and that he can cook for Swamiji and Gurumatha. After Swamiji accepted my request, I immediately reached out to the friend in Kalidaikurichi. He was extremely happy on being given the opportunity to perform service to Swamiji and came to Pochampaadu. The friend who came to Pochampaadu to render service to Swamiji was none other than Sri Krishna Shankar garu, who was a good acquaintance to all of us. While Krishna Shankar garu took care of Swamiji’s and Gurumatha’s meals, he quickly mingled with us and soon became a part of our family.
After having Swamiji’s darshan once, everybody longed to see Swamiji again and again. In that way, the residents of Pochampaadu Project colony would frequently visit our house to have Swamiji’s darshan. Apart from them, the people from Srisailam Project colony who had Swamiji’s darshan in Hatakeswaram and the people from BHEL who had seen Swamiji in KBVG garu’s house started visiting Pochampaadu too. One day, my friend KBVG garu came to my office in Pochampaadu. He told me that he had resigned from his job and decided to spend his entire life in the service of Swamiji, who had blessed him with a new life. I was shocked on hearing that, as KBVG garu had an extremely respectable job in BHEL and he was a married man with very young children. Not having a job would lead to financial troubles for him and his family. It is not possible for everybody to resign from an amazing job and place complete faith in Swamiji, without having a thought or worry about future. In this way, KBVG garu was subjected to the divine grace of Swamiji in a very short span.
From April 1969, all our lives changed. Before we knew it, Swamiji’s devotees kept increasing in number. In just a year, many families were blessed with the sannidhi of Swamiji’s holy feet. I had the fortune of closely watching many such families’ experiences with Swamiji. On seeing Swamiji’s divine form, His glorious lifestory and the ever-growing devotees around Him, we believed that Swamiji had taken form onto this planet for the accomplishment of a great deed.
to be continued...
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