He came, he saw, he went away!
Sri Sathiamoorthy of our Coimbatore Kendra recounts one of the recent divine plays of Sri Swamiji —
A mass prayer was scheduled to be conducted in the city of Coimbatore. I was blessed to be a part of the organizing committee. Sri Swamiji had allotted 3 days for the program – May 9th to 11th, 2007. It was suggested that the function be held in an open ground rather than a closed hall. I had my own doubts about open grounds. Monsoons were round the corner and rains could easily play spoilsport. When this concern was expressed to Sri Swamiji, He said, ‘Don’t worry! Go ahead!’
Sri Nehru Vidyalaya School ground was booked. Extensive arrangements were made for the event. Invitations were widely distributed and we expected a good turnout.
On 9th May, Sri Swamiji arrived at the venue. Quite a number of devotees had gathered, and more people were still pouring in. Sri Swamiji ascended the stage and began His discourse. He discoursed in depth about the greatness of the Sanathana Dharma and through common yet less-realized facts and intellectual illustrations, drove home the fact that there was a Supreme Power above all of us.
The audience were in rapt attention and apart from Sri Swamiji’s leonine voice, there was no other sound. The sky was overcast. A cool breeze blew. It started drizzling lightly. Sri Swamiji went on with His speech. A minute or two passed. The cameramen who were covering the event dismantled their mounts and moved over to the roofed stage on which Sri Swamiji was seated. The folks in charge of the public address system grabbed plastic sheets and started covering their equipment. Sri Swamiji seemed to take note of these and yet did not stop.
The spellbound audience was unmoved. They were indeed getting thoroughly drenched in the nectarine rain of Sri Sri Swamiji’s discourse.
I looked up at the sky. I thought the rain god had arrived at the most inopportune moment. He was definitely not invited for the event! Looking at the 2000 people who had gathered there, I began to wonder how to accommodate them into shelters if this continued. As my chain of thoughts progressed, all of a sudden, the drizzles stopped!
The sky became clear again. That was when I realized the golden words of Sri Swamiji, ‘Don’t worry! Go ahead!’
The cameramen resumed their positions and the day went off in an excellent manner. The second and third day of events did not witness a single drop of rain!
On the last day, after the mass prayer was over, Sri Swamiji thanked all the participants for their presence. He specifically added, ‘I want to specifically thank one person. Generally, we invite one and all to attend this meeting. There is one whom we don’t solicit here.’ He said, ‘My thanks to the Rain God who helped us conduct the event smoothly through his absence!’.
Hearing this, I stood there awestruck at Sri Swamiji’s humility!
‘Well! But the Rain God came! I thought, ‘And He was gracefully driven away by Sri Swamiji as soon as he had Sri Swamiji’s darshan!’
