Fond memories of bliss – Part 17

While in Premika Bhavanam, Sri Swamiji usually sits in a corner of His room for meditation. A photo of Sri Premika Varadan is placed just by the side of where Sri Swamiji usually sits. Even on days when Sri Swamiji is out of town, the deity on the picture would be decorated with flowers and incense sticks would be lighted.

It was a time when Sri Swamiji stayed in the Ashram for an extended period of time. Sri Bhuvan Sundar, one of Sri Swamiji’s devotees and caretaker at Premika Bhavanam routinely decorated the photo with flowers.

After a few days, Sri Swamiji returned to Premika Bhavanam and went into His room. He went to the corner of the room. No sooner did He sit down in that place than He looked up right into the eyes of Bhuvan Sundar who was standing by the door. Sri Swamiji asked him, ‘Did you sit in this place and try to meditate?’Bhuvan’s face betrayed his surprise when he said ‘Yes!’. With a beautiful smile on His effulgent face, Sri Swamiji said, ‘Yes! I can feel it!’ Sri Sri Swamiji says, ‘People speak of seven wonders of the world. But these are not the real wonders. The real wonder is the way the Mahans wander about in this world, in spite of their high state.’

The state which Mahans revel in cannot be understood by commoners. Out of their infinite grace, sometimes they stoop down to our level to express their extreme love and devotion for God.

Recently, when Sri Swamiji visited Bangalore, He went to Sri Sundara Hanuman temple that is being constructed there. When He was in the temple precincts, a person approached Sri Swamiji and handed over a small Srinivasa Perumal idol to Him. The deity of the Lord was beautiful beyond comparison. Our Guru Maharaj kept the idol with Himself and kept looking at the beautiful form of the Lord on the idol. He was so much immersed in the love for the Lord that He kept staring at it for a long time, admiring is divine beauty.

That day, a devoted couple came to the temple to have Sri Swamiji’s darshan and were present with Him. When they watched Sri Swamiji staring at the idol for a long time, one of them approached Him and asked, ‘Is the idol Sri Swamiji’s Pooja Murti?’

Sri Swamiji momentarily looked at them and nodded in the negative. He continued, ‘This is a small man-made idol. If the Lord in this idol itself is so beautiful, I am just imagining how beautiful He would be in His real form!’

The couple were simply moved by Sri Swamiji’s words.