Niranjan V Mudbidri
1983 Brindavan

A few months back I was asked a question by one of our brothers as to what Swami means to me. I was taken by surprise as I had never thought about it. Swami has blessed my family by making us a part of His life from our childhood. We have grown into adulthood and now realise that He has been the most important person in our lives. It has been a continuous process of learning and unlearning. When I was younger, I used to wonder as to what Swami’s discourse was about. I used to get bored and doze off. I never thought that whatever He spoke had any relevance to my life.

He blessed me with opportunities in His physical presence. Apart from having the unique blessing graduating from His institute, He blessed in His infinite grace to sing His Bhajans and play the Tabla in the Mandir during the early 80s. I never learnt music formally, but He was kind enough to bless me to sing. He used to have fun at my cost as I had to sing Bhajans and play the Tabla everyday morning in the Mandir. In those days the ladies also sang. Inevitably they would slow it down. Swami used to vigorously keep the beat so that the ladies would sing faster. To keep pace with Him I had to play the Tabla louder and faster. He would sit on His throne look at me and smile or laugh as I would be sweating profusely and had no time to wipe the sweat away. He would not talk to me much, but would always look at me with His penetrating eyes. I used to wonder why.

Today I realise that He has His own ways with each human being. I realise that He, through His gaze, actually was penetrating the core of my life. All the discourses that I did not listen, and dozed off, have embedded in my mind and seem to spring up and answer a lot of my questions on life.

One of His Pearls of Wisdom that is my life’s guiding principle is, “Be Good, Do Good and See Good”. Though it has been a challenge to practice this, I have tried to simplify it by relating it to more mundane relationships. I pray to Him every day to make me a good son, brother, husband, father, friend, kin, boss, subordinate and also a stranger. I conduct myself in a manner that will make interactions pleasant and good. When He blessed me to leave Parthi in February 1986, He assured me that He will always be with me. I believe that when He is with me I cannot conduct myself in a manner that He would not approve.

Swami is the breath of my life. I cannot see Him physically all the time, but He is a feeling, like air, always with me.

Brother Niranjan Mudbidri owns a financial services business. He is part of the alumni service activities. While in the institute he was involved in Bhajan Singing, dramatics & sports