Foreword by the author - B Radha Krishna Murthy (BRK)
On the day of poornahuthi of Panchagni Homam, the man who came looking for Swamiji was from Jillelamudi, Guntur district and his name was Annamraju Ramakrishna garu. He had Swamiji’s darshan in Srisailam’s Tirupathi satram, even before Swamiji came to Hatakeswaram and we all saw Him. I also found out that he was given a mantra by Swamiji to be blessed by the Supreme Mother. Ramakrishna garu meditated the mantra with utmost sincerity and devotion and one day he received a message from Jillelamudi Amma to visit Her. Since then, he started staying in Jillelamudi and one day, Amma enquired about Swamiji and asked Ramakrishna garu to bring Swamiji. Ramakrishna garu informed the same to Swamiji and invited Him to Jillelamudi.
Swamiji accepted his invitation and started to Jillelamudi, along with Ramana Baba. Swamiji informed me that He also wished to visit Kariyar, his taposthanam from there. With the fear that Swamiji might not return if He visits His taposthanam, I tried to follow Him. Without their knowledge, I boarded the same bus and sat in the backseat. The bus travels from Srisailam to Guntur. In the middle of the journey, Swamiji noticed me sitting in the backseat but did not ask me to join them. I did not move from my seat either. They got down in Guntur and went to Annamraju Madhavarao garu’s house in 5th lane, Brodipet. My elder brother B. Anjaneyulu garu’s house and younger brother B. Gurunatha Rao garu’s house were also in the same locality.
With the hope that Swamiji might call me inside, I sat on a bench outside Madhavarao garu’s house. As the night fell, I still was not called inside. I thought I will spend the night in my brother’s place and come back in the morning. But before I could leave, Swamiji asked me to come inside. Swamiji said to me, “You mentioned that your house is nearby right? Come, let’s go there”. I sensed that Swamiji wanted to have some privacy and hence, decided to take Him to my younger brother’s house. His house was empty as they were staying with our second brother, B. Kasi Vishveshwara Rao’s family at that time. Swamiji told everybody in Annamraju garu’s house that He will be back in the morning and started with me to our house. It was a house built with thatches and did not even have doors. However, there was ample ventilation and a nice breeze filled the entire place. I laid down a few mats for Swamiji to sleep. Swamiji exclaimed, “Ah! It feels so good” and fell asleep on those mats.
The next morning, I informed all my brothers and they came to have Swamiji’s darshan. In the presence of our father and our neighbor, Ramakrishna Sastry who was a priest, we performed paadapooja and offered new clothes to Swamiji. After the pooja, Swamiji got up and went into the next room to see my father who was unable to get out of his bed. Swamiji sat next to my father on the same bed and spoke to him for a while. Pointing towards me, my father told Swamiji, “I’m leaving my son in your hands”. Swamiji reassured my father, “You do not have to worry”. In this way, on 26th June 1969 my father had Swamiji’s darshan and three months after that, he expired on 9th September 1969.
We offered payasam as naivedyam and after the pooja, Swamiji Himself served the payasam to our entire family. In those times, we were all struggling financially and there were days we went to bed with empty stomachs. However, after that day, either because of us performing Gurupooja or Swamiji Himself serving us the payasam, none of our brothers’ families faced those difficulties ever again.
Such is the divine grace of Sri Swamy Poornananda. When we surrender ourselves to him, along with us, He blesses all our future generations. All we need to do is take one step towards Him. In return, He takes ten steps towards us to shower His blessings
|| Sri Poornananda charanam sharanam ||
to be continued...
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