Gifts for Om Swamiji

While moving on hard, slippery and precipitous spiritual path, my pace was unexpectedly accelerated after practicing the short and crisp tips advised by Om Swamiji. My footing on the path became firmer and I felt an eruption of fountain of divine ecstasy, everlasting joy and unruffled peace within me. Earlier I was travelling on a bicycle with a punctured tire and now, I was in a high-speed bullet train or rather it would not be exaggerating if I would say Soyuz rocket, the safest spacecraft. I wanted to thank Him. To express my gratitude, I wished to buy gifts for Him.

As you all know, saying yes to gifts goes against His principle. Gifts, big or small, burden and overwhelm Him. So, He says that if we love Him, don’t offer or get material gifts for Him. We can use them elsewhere, anywhere. He will be happier.

In my school days, I was too fragile and would fall off ill very frequently. Due to weak immune system, common cold, cough, measles, fever, mumps, diarrhea, allergies and infections were my besties who did not want to leave me alone. Moreover, one of them would always accompany me. Their company came at a high cost of missing my school for several days, taking bitter medicines, swallowing bland food and confining to a corner of double bed. 

My parents tried hard to keep me away from infections by putting restrictions on me like playing only in a neat and clean gardens and terraces with kids with sound health and not in dirty and dingy streets with heaps of garbage with shabby and disheveled kids. I was instructed to change my route if I ever saw filth pile or grubby street beggar on my way. Slowly, I developed the habit of taking a big roundabout around any filth, garbage or rag pickers.

Some days back, in the market, I saw four rag picker young children carrying gunny bags stuffed with paper, plastic and other materials. I decided to give them gifts to overcome my fear of being caught up by germs and to shed the soiled barrier in between us. I bought bananas from the nearby fruit shop and handed one to each of them. They wanted more without finishing it. I asked them to eat as many as they could. The elder one who was about six years old ate two bananas and went away. The two small girls followed his steps. The younger one who was about two and a half years old, a cute boy ate one whole banana, took second, finished it too and asked for more. How hungry he must have been! I gave him the last one that I was holding in my hand. He grabbed it. He smiled.

His genuine and sweet smile resembled Swamiji’s. His soft smile, his white teeth, his magnetic eyes were the same. His smile was like a sudden beam of light illuminating the darkest corners of my heart. It purified my heart as well as filled my heart with universal love. I felt Swamiji dwells in all. His face once again brightened up with adorable smile, a divine smile. I was now sure, Swamiji smiled.

Before I could bow to thank him for giving me a good opportunity to give gifts to him. He quickly ran away to join his peer group. 

Burning of negative tendencies of my mind

 “Oh! God, she did it again!” My mother uttered with a bit of anger and surprise in her voice. I was an infant and was suffering from diarrhea. She lifted me up from the bed, took me to the toilet, cleaned me; put me back on the other side of the bed. Since morning, this happened for the sixth time. She was damn tired. “You have not only spoiled your clothes but bed sheet as well.” She screamed on her little self or rather on herself. She lifted the bed sheet for cleaning. She was shocked to saw a huge centipede exactly on the same spot where I was laying few moments before. Consequently, she was not only scared but astonished as well that afterwards she started considering me ‘divine’.

On returning from school, I proudly told my mother that I had dropped a nuclear bomb on a classmate who spoke harsh words to me. She tried to kill the baby demon in me who had just started raising its head, “Do not abuse. If anybody said such wrong words to you, then you do not react to them which means they are still with that person but if you respond to them, it means that you have accepted them like a gift. Therefore, just ignore.” I tried to prove my point, “She is not a good girl and speak ill words all the time. Her siblings, cousins and all her friends are like her.” She was firm on destroying Rakshasa. She soothingly explained, “Live like a lotus flower which grows in muddy water but rise above it to bloom.”

“They will be finished.” I told my mother after returning from a relative’s house. The Rakshasa had grown bigger in me and was smiling frenziedly. She shivered like a dry leaf. She had a firm believe by that time that I had a vaak sidhi. She remained in shock for a few seconds, gathered courage to speak and advised not to utter such words. I was in college at that time.

After hearing groundless accusations time and again, I said, “You will never be able to become mother.” Inside me, the giant Rakshasa was laughing hysterically. When Ma came to know about this incidence, she again instructed me not to say anything pessimistic and to kill the demon right here and right now. Nevertheless, I failed.

When I met Om Swamiji for the first time, I had a very strong desire to be free from these negative bondages and tendencies of my mind, theoretical I knew how it could be done but practically I was failing repeatedly. By His mere glance, the negative tendencies of my mind started burning. Suffocating demon inside me was dying a slow death. And I was feeling light, as light as a cotton ball!

Because of His Grace, I again became a divine baby in my mother’s eyes. :)

Pic : Divine baby ;)

My first meeting with Om Swamiji

 

“What is in breakfast? Maggi?” A young girl asked me while I was putting my belongings in my bag after returning from outside.

Maggi!?Maggi in Ashram? Simple meals like khichadi, dal bhaat (rice), ghiya ki sabji (bottle gourd veg) roti were served in ashram. This was definitely a unique ashram, which satisfied their young devotees’ taste buds with noddles!

“Sorry, I do not know. I did not go in the dining hall for breakfast. I went out to do some charity work.” I clarified.

“Why are you reading Tinkle?” A middle-aged woman inquired when she saw me reading a comic book.

Because it did not contain any prohibited content for adults! “I enjoy reading it.” I replied and immersed myself deeper in my book to avoid such useless conversation.

“How can you come all alone so far to the ashram?” An elderly woman with black dyed hair asked. She asked many personal questions, which I found difficult to answer or was not interested to share with a stranger. Moreover, the environment in the hall was as if there was a wedding reception of some distant relative because everyone was busy in chitchatting and making contacts rather than maintaining silence, calmness and serenity in the ashram. Feeling uncomfortable, I went out in the nature to enjoy my own company.

I spent almost whole day chanting mantras, meditating and relishing serenity by the riverside. Simultaneously, I was enjoying the coolness of water on my feet and the warmth of sun on my face. Soothing breeze bringing fragrance of nearby blooming shrubs, murmuring water between different sized and shaped rocks, bright orange ball playing peek-a-boo amidst clouds was all what I needed. I minutely observed fast moving lizards in or on water, insects vibrating on salsa beats near algae bloom, a crested kingfisher taking a steep dip in river to catch baby fish, an eagle on a huge tree and then flying somewhere in the far-off mountains, a pair of bulbuls singing the glory of nature.

Before sunset, I came back to the ashram hall. A teenager person announced my name and asked me to reach near the bookshop after 20 minutes. He showed the exact location as it was visible from the hall. As the time was less, I hurriedly get ready for Diwali celebrations, reached there before time, and bought a book ‘The Ancient Science of Mantras’ authored by Om Swamiji.

As Swamiji was signing the book, I told him my name. (And you all can see He gave His blessings with my name written on it!) In hurry to meet him, I forgot to ask any cooperative hall member what one had to do in this meeting. I never had any personal meeting with any saint before. From my previous experience of living in an ashram, I knew that the saints liked to answer questions and loved to answer difficult questions. I was not sure whether in this meeting I could ask.

“Can I ask a question?” I asked Him in a confused tone while He was signing with a luxurious pen.

“Yes, only one that is most important!” He replied softly.

My mind was full of spiritual questions. Now, I had to pick one cautiously, of which I could not find the answer anywhere on net or in books. I framed a question regarding the doubt that I had about my spiritual journey. I wished that haze would get clear and I would be able to see the path clearly.

After discourse, when He sang the aarti, my eyes became moist.

I totally ignored it, as it must be an effect of some chemical incense because woman like me did not cry.

Back home, while watching His one of the YouTube videos my eyes again turned moist. Then, my mind accepted it as a spiritual experience.

I practiced the point told by Him and found it beneficial. It accelerated my spiritual progress. Months later, I realized that it was a super special Diwali of my life as Swamiji removed the darkness of ignorance by lighting up a diya of knowledge in me. Now, the responsibility was on my shoulders to protect it from the negative gust of thoughts as well as by adding the oil of positivity, compassion and kindness to it so that it remained illuminating for forever.

You all must have heard this ‘Tubelight to thode der mein jalti hai!’(Tubelight lights after some time!) ;)

My First Visit to Shri Badrika Ashram

 In 2018, Diwali was falling in mid-week. Therefore, in the next week offices would be closed, employees would be on leaves and friends would be busy with their families, I could have a long week for myself. To escape from air and noise pollution of Delhi NCR, I decided to spend some time in the serene lap of Himalayas. On my yogi friend’s recommendation about Tushita Meditation Center in McLeod Ganj, I clicked the buttons of my laptop to book a seat. I was surprised to find that it was full. Oh, no! I missed the golden chance to meet Dalai Lama!

Where should I go? I kept searching net for good ashrams in Himalayas assuming that Shri Badrika Ashram required at least three months prior planning and was always full. After wasting half an hour or so, I decided to check the website once, as I needed only one seat. Voila! It showed seats available as Open Ashram Event was going on. Without any further delay, I booked my seat for four days. Now, I had a platinum chance to meet Om Swamiji!

Whenever I had to travel alone, I did a lot of research, which included reading website of that destination, reviews of various persons and guides, alternative routes and then selecting the best route. I booked my train ticket from Delhi to Kalka. From there, I would take a bus to Solan, from Solan another local bus to Mariog and from Mariog I booked a taxi to riverside of the ashram. I was super excited to cross Giri River by walking. I did not explore further, as I had already visited Nauni (15 kilometers away from Shri Badrika Ashram) twice with my family before.

On Tuesday early morning, the driver dropped me to HUDA metro station of Gurugram. As planned, I took the metro reached New Delhi railway station and from there to Kalka. On getting down from train, I saw foreigners going in opposite direction of the main gate. I inquired a local vendor. He informed me about Himalayan Queen, which was ready to leave for Shimla and foreigner’s craze for toy train. I strolled a few steps with the crowd of foreigners, saw T.T. standing there. I asked him, “Is there any seat available?”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Solan.”

“Go to the ticket counter, get a passenger ticket. A.C. seats are all booked. Only some seats in the last compartment are empty. Hurry up!”

I did as instruct.

After 2-3 long hours, the train stopped at a station. I looked outside the windows on both side but could not see a board. One of the passengers who was standing and could not manage to get the seat shouted, “We reached Solan!”

My eyes again searched for any display board with the name of the station printed on it, but I could not find any. The town looked quite big somewhat like Solan, I decided to get down with my luggage and bag. It seemed that the train had halted at outer. I was feeling guilty of not doing any research on this train route. I was confused. I slowly started moving toward the station. From my back, I heard someone, “Madam, where do you want to go?”

I turned around and found T.T. in black coat pant standing close to the door of the train and looking towards me. He repeated his question, this time a bit loudly.

“Solan.” I replied.

“This is Dharmpur. Get back.”

As I strolled towards the train, I realized he was not a wheatish complexioned man in uniform but a dark blue male wearing golden yellow dhoti, garlands around neck and a beautiful mukat on head. He was smiling nonstop for stopping me going in the wrong direction as usual.

As I climbed the stairs, I was surprised to find a danav with two huge horns on his head, munching peanuts and enjoying Bollywood song ‘Chikani Chamali’ occupying my seat who had earlier screamed, “We reached Solan!”

Give Up One Thing – Om Swamiji

 As in Zoom Satsang held on 6.6.2021 Swamiji asked us to give up one thing and only one thing neither two nor three. It could be sugar, tea, coffee, alcohol or any other bad habit or addiction, which we constantly thought about all the time and found it hard to get rid of.

After watching this live telecast, I got confused what should I give up.

I contemplated on the first option - sugar; I hardly ate one-teaspoon sugar per fortnightly. The sweets I prepared are mostly without any sugar and are mainly jaggery, honey, dates or raisins based. I do not add sugar in milk, mango shake or any other smoothie. It was not a thing that consumed on regular basis.

I moved to the next option tea, coffee and alcohol. I drank neither tea nor coffee. Moreover, I am teetotaler.  

I consumed good amount of processed foods like biscuits, namkeen, rusk, khakhada, bread, buns, paav etc but during my Sadhana, I completely abstained from eating any processed food as it might contain some onion or garlic flavor or anything that should not be consumed during Sadhana furthermore I preferred to eat simple home cooked food without onion and garlic.

Occasionally, I ate chole bhature and I could give it up for some time. However, it would be of no use as nearby Haldiram outlet was closed in lockdown. Samoosas, golgappas, pakoodas and bedmipuri all fell in the same category.

When I could not find anything much to change in my food habits so I tried searching other emotional and mental practices, which needed some change. I loved watching movies and had watched many movies from Bollywood, Tollywood and Hollywood. I could even watch movie in any foreign language without dubbing or subtitles in English or Hindi, the two languages that I understood well. From past near about seven or eight months I had not watched any movie as I was busy doing Sadhanas as suggested by Swamiji. Therefore, it was also not a correct option to give up.

I did not have Netflix, Amazon prime or Cable subscription because I did not own a T.V. but I had huge bookshelves for keeping my books on different subjects. As I had stated earlier that I loved to watch cartoons but after following Swamiji’s instructions in ‘Attainment of Siddhis Part -3’, I stopped watching cartoons or news while having my meals. Now, I only watched cartoons occasionally, mostly when I was not feeling well or feeling a bit low. With mostly grey hair on my head, if I said I gave up watching cartoons it would sound more like a joke than a serious task for a spiritual seeker.  

I could give up lies but I was already practicing it from quite some time.

What should I give up?

Most of the time my mind is engaged in planning or preparation of the future. Slowly and gradually, it shifts from positive planning to negative thinking and then I find myself caught in negative thoughts, feelings and emotions worrying about the future that do not exist and that events or situations will never happen in the future. May be I overthink! As Swamiji has said in ‘A Million Thoughts’, “No imagination: Don’t imagine what may happen in the future.” I am giving up negative thoughts and nonconstructive imagination related to future.

I will welcome the future with my open heart as MA’s blessings! :)

Dear readers, so what are you giving up?

Lord Ram Tantra Sadhana in Sadhana App

 

Aha! Any moment Lord Ram will be physically present in my life to bless me with His Divine Presence.

Now, doing sadhana is a kid’s play with the help of Sadhana App. Numerous complicated steps of sadhana are just a click away with arduous Sanskrit mantra chants and detailed description. Moreover, the app does not allow you to even forget a single step out of all those grueling steps mandatory for doing a sadhana.

Although I had done many sadhanas before the launch of Sadhana App following the traditional method by flipping the pages of the book ‘The Ancient Science of Mantras’. Because of the use of water in the traditional method, my book pages had curled and wrinkled. There was discoloration of pages from white to yellow to pale yellow and to brown. By looking at my book it seemed as if I was doing sadhanas from eons. :)

Just for the sake of fun and to learn a new thing I tried Ram Tantra Sadhana on Sadhana App. It is the sadhana of mantra ‘Hum Jankivalabhaye Swaha’ in which ‘Hum’ is Lord Shiva, the dispeller of sorrow which destroy one’s lower nature and make way for positive growth, ‘Jankivalabhaye’ is Lord Ram, the consort of Janaki (Ma Sita) as well as the giver of happiness and peace and ‘Swaha’ is Shakti (Ma Paravati), the divine energy. With one mantra, I worshipped three deities. :) I imbibed new mantras like Ram Gayatri mantra. I learned new mudras like avahana, sthapana, sannidhana, sannirodhan sambodhana, sammukhikaran, avagunthana and amaratikaran. I enjoyed doing it so much that till now I have repeated this sadhana six times. You can login to Sadhana App and check my name on the leaderboard under the heading ‘Sadhana’. By mistake my name appeared on the top of the list. :)

While doing my last sadhana, I cried almost every day while chanting, worshipping or doing yagna. Mostly while offering flowers and garland to my Bhagwan, I cried hard. The tears of divine love flowing from my eyes purified my heart and mind. The divine love overflowed in such a large amount from my eyes that now I have to wear spectacles to clearly see my deity. ;)

Many times, during the sadhana when my mind was focused, I felt the energy of Lord Ram in the room. My visualization of Lord Ram improved because of repeated sadhanas in Sadhana App, and I could very easily feel His presence in my room. Now, I have to work hard, really hard so that the divine energy manifests in physical form and I could touch my deity’s Divine Feet.

Dear readers, after reading this post, if you want to do Ram Tantra Sadhana then do not forget to take a dip in the pond before entering the temple. ;)

Pic : Ram Temple in Sadhana App

Little actions make a big difference

 

“Madam, Wait! Wait!” A security guard said loudly.

I turned around and saw him almost running towards me. Just a few minutes before I gave him a tip while coming out of the restaurant.

“Madam, by mistake you gave me 500 rupee note.” He said hesitantly.

He must have noticed that I was busy chatting with my mother and without looking at my wallet I took out a note from it and handed 500 rupees to him. Although I was full occupied talking with my mother about some business problem, even then I was sure that I was taking out the correct denomination note for him.

He opened the note, showed it to me and softly said again, “Madam, it is 500 rupee note.”

“Today is my b’day! Please keep it.” I said and pondered that nobody had ever given him Rs. 500 as tip. Strange!

 

At that very moment, I realised why Om Swamiji emphasised so much on giving tips generously to waiters, security guards and other staff members of hotels and restaurants.

 

Pic : In the evening, a kid wished me ‘Happy b’day with this handmade card- a priceless gift! :)