My Guru: My Swamiji

Sastang pranam at your lotus feet dearest Swamiji.

This post is being submitted in response to Medha ji’s Guru Challenge.

Let’s first analyze the word ‘GURU’. ‘GU’ means ‘darkness’ and ‘RU’ means knowledge or ‘liberation’. The one who takes us from ‘GU’ to ‘RU’ is the GURU. There may be multiple Gurus in many people’s lives. If literature reference is to be referred Lord Dattatreya had as many as 24 Gurus right from the pancha tatva to the beetles. Yes, if one can carefully observe, there is knowledge flowing from all the manifestation of nature. Nothing is insignificant in the creation of the creator.

In my case or rather our case, we have an undoubted Guru in form of OM SWAMI or simply Swamiji. But before that let me give all of you a prelude of mine and Sanghamitra’s notion on God-men.. 😉 . During my childhood, I knew some self styled God-men who had wrecked havoc on life of their devotees. Our immediate neighbour was struck by one of these fake Gurus. He suggested that there was a Lakshmi idol buried under the dining area of their house which needed to be dug out! The poor devotees followed the instruction and there was a 5 feet ditch dug at the place. The ‘Guru’ offered Puja day and night in the ditch while his disciples just went on sprinkling holy water everywhere in the house.

Finally, after ’15 hours of non-stop puja’, the golden idol, appeared! (which was planted just before the discovery 😉). The ‘Guru’ summoned for a big list of items to offer puja to pacify the Devi as when he cut a lemon, ‘blood came out of it’. Chemistry guys, you know how it is done, right! There were pujas, haribols and what not; money flowed like water or (alcohol)! After the puja was complete, the households were offered ‘Prasad’ laced with sedatives. The entire house was emptied of all evil omens including financial and golden items😉. The house was in a mess when police arrived and all the family members were carried to hospital where all of them recovered bodily but died spiritually.

Sanghamitra had also similar bitter experience when one of her friend was molested by one of the ‘Gurus’. Just search ‘OM SWAMI’ on the internet and you will come across a fake Guru (Big Boss participant) Swami Om. That is the irony of our Guru culture. What more, very recently, our very own Hyderabad was rocked and shocked by the murder of two teen aged girls by their own highly educated parents for getting them back in Satya Yug! We have one of the Gurus who has established independent country called ‘Kailash’ who has a Look Out Notice against his name by Indian Police. Still he claims, if he is allowed to enter India with due respect, then only COVID Curse on India and the world will vanish! We have such great Gurus in our lifetimes, can you imagine! I am able to hear applauding sound from the supporter of the (in)famous Mamaji who had a great influence on P V Narsimha Rao’s Congress govt. One fine day you discover that your Guru is a most wanted criminal disguised as a Guru to save himself / herself from the law or has uncontrollable libido to fulfil his kamuk requirements. This reminds me Swamiji’s famous dialog “Aadmi ya to kam mein laga rahta hai ya fir kaam mein!”

With this prelude, you all would have definitely understood how difficult it is to find a ‘True Guru’ in our lifetime. When Voleti Madhavi started her spiritual journey, she carefully scrutinized a list of Gurus and passed on the info to me. One of them is Michael Mamas. He is very influential and genuine. Gour Gopal Das ji of the Iskon is another name which we discovered together. Swami Mukundanand (an IIT and IIM alumnus) who has a channel called JK YOG. His voice, speech and throw feel one with divine energy.

I was told by Madhavi ji about Om Swami ji about 2 years ago. I would like to tell the readers, that she is a very strong minded lady and verifies things by diving to the bottom most depth to find out the reality. You can dub her “Lady Sherlock Holmes” of our lifetime! After all the tahkikat, she signalled a green flag on Swamiji! She is kinda Gyan Marg fellow whereas I am aBhakti Marg fellow as far as spirituality or compassion is concerned. In such situations, my heart takes over my mind due to which sometimes I got fleeced easily! Anyway, she used to tell me to study (not read) Swamiji’s books after visiting the Ashram. She also gave me the prasad from Badrika Ashram. But as the saying goes, “I was not a patra at that time to appreciate what I received”. Swamiji might have smiled as I took the Prasad like any other Prasad. But the chain had been established even unknowingly!

Whenever, she called me to talk about Swamiji and Sadhana, I would think of again the ‘gyan’ started! But, I never knew that I was getting a circuit established between my subconscious mind and Swamiji at a sublime level. As the universe was conspiring to link me with Swamiji due to ‘Swamiji knows what kind of good karma I did in my past life form(s)’. And as Swamiji says, bhakti and belief in God arises when you hit a rock bottom (the gate of sorrow) in your life. The phase set in: in the form of some serious lapses in my kartavya. I started hating me to the extent that I contemplated to end the life, took dozens of psychedelic drugs. But just tell me “If you have an orthopaedic problem but you go to a gastroenterology expert, what will happen?” The case was same. I needed to face the situation and taking the responsibility; I needed to resolve the same. Instead, I was hiding and being hounded by the same problem day and night.

One evening Sanghamitra made a SoS to Madhavi Madam. She asked me to join the community of os.me and I think that was the turning point. The moment I wrote the first post with all my problems, I was flooded with wishes and energies from loads of divine souls. I don’t claim myself to be an Eklavya. Never the less, I installed an image of Swamiji in my mind and started praying. I felt my first burst of energy, when I was about to enter the gamma radiation source room. (Yes, I also work in Gamma Radiation Field!). Gamma radiation experiments are a bit easier than neutrons. I started with the easier one and started re-building my lost confidence. I had an illusion of Swamiji in the Neutron Source Room which I wrote in one of my blogs.

Then I started following the videos of Swamiji. I read some of his books, blogs etc. The glow in his face and eyes attracted me like a superconducting magnet with zero energy loss. During his videos, when he faced the camera, I used to pause the instant and feel him gazing directly at my mind and hypnotising me. He reprogrammed me, the process accelerated with Sadhvi Vrinda Om’s book under the pillow. This was even further accelerated at Giga Electron Volt Energy (CERN Accelerator or the LHC) with a strong morning ritual. I picked up the Gayatri Pujan (not exactly sadhana, as I am still a novice) with all my heart as the word of my Guru. He continuously monitored me and is still monitoring me. He smiles at me whenever I look at his photo. I talk to him, ask for hints and I do get. Even yesterday during the afternoon nap, he appeared in Sanghamitra’s dream with the same contagious uncontrolled burst of laughter!

First time in my life, I could realize that I have got a Guru who cares. Just think, a person at the pinnacle of his career leaving everything, seeks the darshan of divine mother. Had he continued, he could have easily erected an empire like Microsoft or Google or Tesla or even a bigger entity. He is different. He is not the school drop out good for nothing fellow who takes of Baba giri to make quick bucks and lots of name and fame. Instead, he donated everything and chose to do sadhana in the harsh Himalayan mountains with little support. Then he established a small ashram in a very remote area and installed several gods and goddesses.

He is the only one who has revealed with full conviction about the darshan of mother divine without an eye bat. “Truth” and nothing else is reflected from his word, action and radiant body. Yes, he does not produce bibhuti just by rubbing hands, he does not offer sweet up his sleeves unlike some other Babas to impress their devotees. But he imparts the hardcore real facts of life which carry much more learning values of practical usage rather than showing gimmicks. Yes, he has the power and he demonstrated the same when the poor bird hit his glass window and was critically injured. Eyewitness account tells the flow of energy from his body to the bird’s body and how it got healed.

Unlike other Gurus, he does not force himself on the followers. He is rather happy with whoever follows him. He does not aspire to have a billion following him either. His nuggets of wisdom have really transformed my mind. As per him, if someone is close to you in terms of physical body, it does not necessarily mean that the person is close to you. But the thought process has started resembling a pattern then you have made the closest approach. Though I need a long way to go in my spiritual quest, I have started emulating my dearest Guru Swamiji. When I am finding in some unpleasant situation, I am just thinking, what Swamiji would have done in the same situation and things become easy pizzy, lemon squeezy. He is taking over my thought process and the effect is visible.

I have started responding to situations responsibly instead of reacting to them. The subconscious mind is slowly resetting from ‘be negative’ to ‘be positive’. My revenge seeking attitude, jealousy is slowly coming down. My anger has hit the lower circuit (a stock market trading jargon used in economics! Yes, I love economics a lot). My way of talking has undergone remarkable change. I have become more compassionate and am trying to help out others to resolve their problem. If I am getting upset in office due to professional reasons, I am not doing the postman’s job of transferring the same on to my junior colleagues or my family members. After full surrender at Swamiji’s feet, the following life changing transformations have happened to me

1.       I have started taking the responsibility of my karma whether good or bad.

2.       I have become more respectful towards the feminine energy and all the females in my life.

3.       I have become much more fearless and ready to accept challenges coming my path.

4.       I am now operating at an unprecedented speed to dispose my activities.

5.       I am able to prioritise my to-do list.

6.       At the knock of a failure, I am not getting disheartened, rather I am starting the troubleshooting process by chanting Swamiji’s name.

7.       I am not the old cry baby type anymore complaining and blaming circumstances etc., rather I am able to appreciate what I have. I am able to see the blessings and learnt to be grateful, offer gratitude.

8.       I have improved a lot in planning and communications. I am able to sense some things coming before hand itself and take suitable actions accordingly.

9.       I have started becoming more mindful while doing something and be present in the present.

10.   I have become more open to accept my mistakes and am willing to work on the shortcomings to improve myself.

11.    Wasting time has been a crime for me after listening to Swamiji.

12.    My meaningless internet browsing has crashed like the 9/11 plane crashes 😉 and my social media has become os.me .

13.   We, as a family, have bunked the ‘taking smart devices to bed’ culture as per Swamiji’s instructions and have started traditional methods before dozing off and believe me, we are sleeping like dead bodies throughout the night without any disturbance 😉.

14.   I am feeling an inner call to help guys trapped in the Mind Game of negativity. It is appearing to me as a duty.

15.   I have come to conclusion that not medication, but meditation, surrender, faith and belief are the brahmastra for any type of non clinical low phase. I am slowly learning to believe in myself.

16.   I have realized that no achievement can be pulled until one remains inside the comfort zone. You have to step out into the vulnerability by holding the hands of your Guru. Only then you will be able to experience your true potentials and strength.

17.   Life is uncertain. If a call comes, you need to leave, but why die before you really die 😉.

18.   In a team what matters the most is the ‘TEAM’ and not individual achievements. If you are behind or ahead of your team, you are out of sync. You need re-calibration to be with the team or in the team.

19.    Your life is not yours only. You have strings attached and you must respect the attachments without being very selfish.

20.   You need not be too hard on yourself all the time. ‘Let go’ will ease out your life and clear the mental block to progress further. That said, please remember that you do not have the license to repeat the same mistake again and again 😉. Neither analog grounding nor digital grounding, but spiritual grounding is require to ground all the mental noise (chatter) which is an indispensable part of any one’s life

I think I have written a really long post and have bored all of you beyond your fatigue recovery limits (another tech jargon 😉). This is my transformational story under my Guru Swamiji’s bless and grace.

OM SWAMI,

AVAHAYAMI,

STAPAYAMI,

PUJAYAMI,

GALATI MAAF KAROYAMI 😉

गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णु गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरा
गुरुर्साक्षात परब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः

I would like to end the blog in Swami ji’s style

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Thank you all. Jai Shri Hari…

Happy Rath Yatra and Jai Jagannath Swami Nayan Pathagami Bhava tu me…