Yes, Guru Ji

In his latest blog. Om Swami ji has talked about his guruji, who passed away on December 1, 2022. While every word in the blog is beautiful, I was struck by the degree of acceptance of his guru. Whenever asked to do anything by his guru, Om Swami ji had just one response:

“Ji Guru ji.

This total acceptance of the guru’s commands is the essence of the Guru Shishya Parampara, the Guru Disciple relationship.

Shri Suktam, the Vedas and the Upanishads were created thousands of years ago. Yet, they have survived intact, and still retain their power to influence people. It all because of the oral tradition of the guru disciple relationship, that seems to exist only in India. Not only have these texts survived, but the esoteric meaning behind the words has been transmitted through the oral tradition. Isn’t that an amazing contribution to the world?

Classical music is still alive and kicking all over the Indian sub-continent. Again, it is the guru disciple relationship, as practiced even today in the various gharanas across the sub-continent. Sufi music has survived, and even evolved by practicing the guru disciple relationship. Leading exponents of qawwali music like Rahat Fateh Khan trace their lineage back hundreds of years, to the time of Amir Khusro and Hazrat Nizamuddin.

During my time on earth, I have met a number of self-realized people starting, with the Bengali saint, Anandmayi Ma. When I met her, I was at the lowest possible point of my life. Barely a teenager, I had lost my father and my elder brother within the span of a year or two. I was in the very depth of depression, made even worse by a bout of typhoid fever. My aunt in Varanasi took us to meet Anandmayi Ma and this really turned my life around.

How can I even begin to describe that first meeting? It was in her beautiful ashram, by the bank of the Ganges River. She wore a white saree that only served to enhance the radiance of her face. She smiled at me, and this stirred something in my heart and life seemed worth living again. She seemed to be the face of God, and, if God was smiling at me, I had everything to live for.

My mother and I had more meetings with her, in her various ashrams across North India. Shortly after my marriage I met her with my wife. She gave us some fruit as prasad and about nine months later, my son was born. This is the magical power of being in the presence of great beings like her. We kept up our connection with her, as householder devotees, until she passed away in 1982.

I also met Nirmala Devi, Shakuntla Devi, the hugging saint Mata Amritanandmayi and quite a few others. We met the Shaktipat guru, Swami Chidvilasananda at her ashram near New York, practicing the Siddha Yoga path.

Most recently, my wife and I came across Om Swami ji in some you tube videos. We bought some of his books and took his Sadhana and meditation courses on line. We are planning a trip to the Bhadrika Ashram in February next year, and, if Om Swami ji so wills it, the trip will materialize and we will meet Swami ji.

The guru’s words are very powerful if we take them to heart; otherwise they mean very little. Once, in school, I got very poor marks in a physics. However, my teacher added the following words on my test paper;

“Niraj, you can do much better.”

I took those words to heart and acted on them. For me, this was no less than a guru mantra, and it worked. I studied very hard for my next physics test and aced it. My teacher was very surprised. Then I decided to do the same with my other science and maths subjects. I started doing well and this encouraged me to try for the IIT entrance exam. I succeeded and this changed my life forever; I became an engineer. If I had ignored the teachers’ words, they would have meant nothing.

If the words of a physics teacher are powerful, how much more powerful would be the words of a self-realized person, if we sincerely follow them? I must confess I haven’t been too good in this regard.

Om Swami ji has given us so much wisdom in his you tube discourses. He has given us blogs that are full of wisdom and inspiration. He has offered courses on Meditation, Kundalini Yoga and others. I have been blessed to receive two of these courses for free, thanks to my writings on os.me and to Medhaji’s writing courses on this platform. What have I done with these precious gifts? Not enough, so far. I have to be more diligent and follow the instructions given by Om Swami ji himself and do my sadhana every day.

Ji, Guru ji.