Sri Suktam Sadhana

                                                      To Read part 1: Sri Suktam Sadhana

Anyone who read my part 1, would think I was Gung-ho about taking part in Sri Suktam Sadhana. But, to the contrary, I have not done any Sadhana of Swamiji till then and was reluctant for 2 reasons

1. Fear of faltering/not completing the Sadhana.

2. Sattvic diet with no onion and garlic.

When I read the  Sri Suktam Sadhana post on 15.10.2022, I found it impossible to take part and didn’t even read fully and laid it to rest. I consoled myself, “let me memorize the 16 verses in one year and take it up the next year”. Next Saturday 22.10.22, I woke up with the thought, “An Avatar has descended and is moving heaven and earth to get a Sadhana done for our sake and I am not able to take part. Let me at least do Mahalakshmi Japa for 16 days”. I sat on the bed with crossed legs and did one round of ‘Om Shreem Mahalaxmiyai namah’. After Japa, opened the post to find 900 comments and found that I had missed taking part in the interaction. Spent the next 2.5 hours going through the entire comments and the post. I was glad to find that those who can’t participate can also contribute as patrons and receive prasad. I completed the payment and told my wife about the sadhana.

She read the post and asked me, “Why don’t we do this Sadhana?”. I explained that it would be impossible to follow a sattvic diet separately for ourselves. She replied, “It’s nowhere mentioned in the post about that”. I stood bewildered thinking, “The person who runs faster than a cheetah at the mention of sadhana and meditation is persuading me to do Sadhana. Oh! Mother, What play is this of yours?”. I warned her, “All of Swamiji’s Sadhana is Sattvic diet compulsorily, we can do it virtually as it is easier and how to buy all the necessary materials? they won’t be available here”. But she won’t listen to any of that. She said, “Tomorrow we are going to Coimbatore, aren’t we? we’ll get it all there”. Within 10mins she got the material list ready. I was indecisive and kept my fingers crossed till the last moment and tried to convince her that without a sattvic diet, the Sadhana will be compromised.

The next day – 23.10.22, the puja shops were all crowded to the maximum but we got all the materials needed for the Sadhana. But, still, I was not convinced as we will not be taking a sattvic diet. When we got back home, my elder brother had come to visit ( he stays in his home 10 mins away from ours). As we told about the Sadhana to everyone, my brother outrightly said that the Sattvic diet had to be followed ( He had already completed Navadurga Sadhana at his home the previous month). My blood brother, an Interventional Cardiologist, whom we all look up to and who has the final say in all important matters, convinced my parents that they can continue with the routine everyday diet. I and my wife will follow a sattvic diet separately prepared for us. Like a NATO treaty, a Saas-bahu treaty was unofficially agreed upon to maintain peace for 16 days at home. I felt elated for the first time to do the Sadhana and believed that it can be done. I sensed where this was heading, my procrastination for taking up Sadhana was being cornered and I could see everything aligning perfectly.

Come 24.10.22. When we sat for Japa and the first thing that flashed on the app screen was a message from Swamiji that the sattvic diet is mandatory. I asked my brother if it’s gonna be difficult with morning and evening clinical practice, to complete the Sadhana. He replied, “I get life-threatening near-death on-call emergencies, but everything aligned that my sadhana was never compromised. Just take the Sankalpa and see for yourself, all the obstacles and impediments will be solved without any effort from you”. I had goosebumps as he said those words and so did it unfold.

Every day,  I reached home by 10.30 pm after my practice. We decided to do only one round of Japa at 11 pm every day and we did maintain the timing. The Japa got over by 12.30 am. Got up at 3.30 am sharp every day without an alarm (it bewilders me even today). So, in 24hrs, I took rest only for 3 to 4 hrs at night and another 3 hours in the evening. I felt my body heavy and tired due to lack of sleep. But, as I did Japa and yagna, there was this calmness, somewhere deep down. I felt momentary glimpses of a shift inside me, like how the wave becomes the ocean. The shift in point of reference kept happening for the first couple of days. Maybe it was my head that got heated up due to apprehension. The stories behind the mantras as narrated by Swamiji were simply awesome. I always had a reverential attitude toward the Puranas and not a practical one and accepted it blindly. But Swamiji’s method of narration was very realistic and practical filled with emotions of love, attachment, envy, greed, and pain among kings and sages.

Two instances where the Sadhana was compromised were, 1 – I failed to mention ‘desi ghee’ to my wife and we bought yagna ghee which constituted only 10% ghee and 90% vanaspati. We realized it only on the 8th day. Then we changed to desi ghee for the next 8 days. 2 – The Samagiri we bought was old and had tiny insects in it. We were aware of it on the 2nd-day yagna. Luckily, the Samagiri we ordered online reached us for the third-day yagna.

In childhood, along with friends and relatives, we used to enact puja and worship photos of Gods. We took turns to be the pujari. I used to wonder how would it be to do puja and yagna like a priest and it got realized through Sri Suktam Sadhana. The Sadhana got completed successfully to our knowledge, not sure how many unintentional errors we committed.

For the first few days, my wife teased me, “you look so scared as if you are going for a job interview, I am getting scared looking at you”. “We are doing Sadhana of The Mother Divine, who is Akilaandakoti Bhramaanda Naayaki, is it an easy affair”, I told her. I decided to do the Sadhana in 2023  after memorizing the mantra but nature conspired to make me do the Sadhana and by-heart the 16 verses in 16 days. Now, it takes only 5 mins to recite one round of the Sri Suktam. The door of Sadhana which I refused to open and enter due to fear, Mother nature made my wife shatter the door to pieces and forced me to walk through it. When I check all the other Sadhana by Swamiji, a sense of elation and exhilaration fills me, as everyone will be able to complete it with the grace of the Divine. Now I understand, what is meant by, “Not I, but thou”. It’s just GRACE, GRACE, GRACE!!!

JAI MAA!!!