Gopalakrishnan Ramanan
2006 Prasanthi Nilayam
To the Supreme One, who exists enveloping the whole universe, cognizing through every mind, seeing through every eye and working through very limb, I bow to Him with utmost reverence’.
Going ahead I wish to share some of my experiences with my Swami.
Glimpses of Divinity
Swami always says that one has to repeat God’s name all the time in order to get rid of evil qualities. If one does Namasmaran with such courage and conviction, one is bound to meet with success in all his endeavours.
In line with this I would like to share an incident which happened way back in 1995. This happened at a hotel in Mysore where my father, brother and I had been. My father was carrying about Rs.10,000/- with him. Feeling the urge of nature, he had to visit the restroom carrying the money with him. All of us came out not realizing that father was empty-handed. 15–20 minutes later he realized that he missed something, he immediately rushed back to the hotel. Meanwhile my brother and I started chanting ‘Sairam’ until he returned. Just when father reached the place, he saw an old man carrying the bag and walking towards him. The old man asked father whether the bag belonged to him. He then handed over the bag to my father, who thanked him profusely. In a wink, the old man vanished away just as he came.
God’s Delays are not His Denials
“Yato Vacho Nivartenthe Aprapya Manasa Saha” (Neither the words nor the mind can fathom and describe Him)
Every act of His is filled with significant meaning and is suffused with nectarine love. Be it the way of Ram’s response to Sabari or to the little squirrel, be it Lord Krishna’s response to Draupadi and the Gopikas, Lord Sainath of Shirdi’s response to Nanasaheb’s daughter or Swami’s response to His innumerable devotees, we find the same ‘Madhuryam’, the flow of unconditional love and the right time to show His ever- existing Love.
This incident happened during my days at Prasanthi Nilayam. During the Ganesh Chaturthi festivities I used to be part of the ‘student priest’ group as I had learnt Vedam to some extent before joining the portals of the Institute. On Ganesh Chaturthi, our group proceeded to Sai Kulwant Hall and parked our chariot with Lord Ganesh in it on the designated spot. A little while later Swami entered and went straight to the Interview room without noticing us. An hour passed and Swami had not come out. With heavy faces we decided to start the procession back as it was already late in the evening. We started circumambulating the hall as per custom. As we were ready to leave and had almost reached the exit gate, the skies opened up and heavy rains lashed keeping us rooted to our spots. After a while the rains stopped, and Swami stepped out! With great happiness we rushed to our original positions and were thrilled to see Him walking towards us.
As Swami was covering every group He reached our spot. We immediately knelt down and requested Him for a photo. But He was busy looking at the Ganesha idols. Then He blessed and gave us Padanamaskaram. Later in the hostel as I began writing that day’s diary I realized that He had timed it well to shower His blessings by arranging a torrential shower.
Let us all drown in the ocean of that Love that is eternal.
Brother Gopalakrishnan Ramanan is based out of Mumbai and works for a media conglomerate. His interests are music and sports. He is active member of Mumbai Samithi.