I wonder how a devotee, who is but a drop in the ocean of Guruji's being, can express her feelings about Guruji. However, I will try to articulate what the Guru's grace has meant for me.
When we meet the Guru, He turns us Godward. During this journey of the soul towards God, the Guru submerges us and exalts us in His love - as disciples who have surrendered to Him know. In the Guru's divine earthly form, the disciples find the mother's love, the father's guidance and the brother's protection. One finds all these forms of love as a distilled essence in the
satguru.
Guruji is God on earth and He is showing us the way to Him with the light of knowledge. To shepherd His disciples on the right way, the Guru has to occasionally be harsh on them. He is like the potter, one of His hands hammering the pot (that is, the disciple) into shape; the other supporting it from the inside. Only the Guru can do this because He wants the highest for His disciples. Yet His heart is full of compassion, mercy and grace for His disciples.
Indeed if one wants to have
darshan of God within one's heart, if one wants to be enlightened, then one has to earnestly seek the presence of those
mahapurushs who have attained the
parabhakti (supreme devotion) of the Lord. Only the seeker or disciple who enters into a process of osmosis with the satguru and follows His teachings can swim across the ocean of
samsara and win liberation from the cycle of birth and death. This is the true relationship between the satguru and His disciple.
Guruji is our living God. His love knows no bounds. The more we love Him, the more blissful our life gets. From time to time, Guruji alerts us about our goal and shakes us up from the slumber of our humdrum lives. He wants us to recognize the divine potential within and not to keep sleeping in ignorance.
A dream transfer takes place
I met Guruji eight years ago and I was His forever at first sight. Before coming to Guruji, I was a devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba. I had great faith in him. Then a dream transfer took place! In my dream, I saw the marble statue of Sai Baba that was kept in my drawing room. It disappeared and Guruji was sitting in its place. I was so happy that I embraced Him.
The next day when I went to Guruji's, He said that I had squeezed Him with a tight embrace the previous night. I was surprised: how had He known of my dream? Instantly, I understood that Guruji is God Incarnate. Nothing is hidden from Him; He knows everything about us, our past life and the future.
But, He does not reveal these details. Once when I was pressing Guruji's lotus feet, He told me that after three years I would know why He had called me to Him. I was perturbed and wondered what the reason could be.
I forgot what Guruji had said. Then three years later, my husband had heart and kidney problems. We took him to Mumbai and he was in the ICU for 15 days. During all those troubled days, I kept Guruji's photograph in my hand and prayed to Him incessantly. My anxiety mounted. I told my daughter in Delhi to go to Guruji and apprise Him of my problems. Guruji, however, pre-empted this, saying that Aunty (that is, me) was connected to Him.
I learnt anew that Guruji knows everything and there is no need to tell Him anything. Thanks to Guruji's grace, my husband's condition improved and we returned to Delhi. I went immediately to Guruji and tried to thank Him repeatedly. Only then did Guruji point to the reason behind us being called to Him: He said He had to give a new life to my husband.
We all know that life and death are in the Creator's hand and if Guruji gives a new life to a person, it just shows who He is - God.
Pain therapy with betel leaves
I had had quite a fall and my leg had to be operated upon. After the operation, my leg used to give me constant and agonizing pain. Medical treatment had had no effect.
I put my problem before Guruji. He blessed some betel leaves and asked me to put them on the site of the pain. After I did so, the pain increased. I went weeping to Guruji. He said He was taking out all the pain and sure enough after some days the pain eased. I took no medicines henceforth.
For three years, there was no pain, then suddenly it reappeared. Guruji was in Jalandhar at the time, and I did not know what to do. My sister took an appointment with the doctor. I inwardly prayed to Guruji and told Him that had He been around, I wouldn't have gone to a doctor. I also asked Guruji to be with me at the doctor's clinic.
With much trepidation, I went to the doctor. I told him of the problem and also that for three years I had not been taking any medication. He asked me who had been treating me and I told him all about Guruji. The doctor reached for his briefcase, took out a photograph and asked me whether it was this person. There, before me, in answer to my prayer, was Guruji. I was overwhelmed and started crying.
The doctor reassured me, saying that when Guruji was my doctor there was nothing left for him to do. I retuned home and my pain eased away.
One might wonder if this is possible. But this is actually a slight instance of Guruji's overpowering grace. In Guruji's durbar, science itself fails. Guruji can even take your suffering away in your dreams.
One of my knees started paining and I went to my family doctor. He asked me to get an X-ray done and have painkillers. That very night, Guruji came in my dream and wanted to know what was ailing me. I told Him about the knee, and He just kept His hand on it. The next morning the pain was gone.
Guruji is so intimately one with His devotees that He can read their minds and hearts. One
sangat evening, when Guruji was giving out photographs, He gave one to me too. As I was taking it away, He called me back and gave me six more photographs. I was reflecting on the fact that one of my sisters had died and He immediately called me again. He took back one photo and gave it to a lady devotee sitting next to me.
The rope of faith
If you want to attune to Guruji, if you want a heartfelt intimate relationship with Him, you will have to sow the seed of faith. The seed will sprout the bud of trust. Then, holding on to the rope of your faith, surrender yourself to Guruji. You will then find that you are truly in touch with divinity and through the
Satguru's grace, the impossible becomes possible.
The
aarti (prayer) of Lord Ganesh mentions four blessings: "The blind get eyes/ the lepers get a good form/ the barren are gifted with child/ the poor are made rich." In Guruji's durbar, I have seen all these blessings showered upon devotees. Cancer has been cured, the childless have been blessed with children and no one who has come to His durbar has gone empty-handed.
All you need to do is to never abandon your faith.
Guruji is the avatar of Lord Shiva. He has come to earth only to bless us. But, Guruji has cautioned devotees that He has not opened a shop, where one will come, touch His lotus feet and their work will be done. If we wish for His grace, we must learn to be worthy of it.
Guruji sometimes confesses to feeling sad. He feels sad that everyone asks Him for worldly things, no one wants the real blessings - the love of God, devotion, unflinching faith in the Guru, total surrender and complete trust in Him.
I request you with folded hands that if you want something from Guruji ask for the dust of His lotus feet, crave His
darshan and remember Him with every breath.
The rose of love
Occasionally with great love in His voice, He calls me Meera. I believe that whoever sees Him falls in love with Him at first sight.
The effect of His
darshan on me is such that I start weeping in His durbar. Once my daughter scolded me about this habit, saying the rest of the people think you carry a burden of grief. I told her that I do not cry, but the tears fall of their own accord when I see Guruji and my heart fills with love. My daughter would have nothing of it. She told me to control myself and not to drop a tear.
A minute later, I found my daughter crying. I asked her why she was crying, but she didn't know. I told her that Guruji had made her too feel His love.
On Valentine's Day, rather evening, I lighted the lamp in my
puja room. I told Guruji that I had not loved anyone more than Him ever since I had met Him. I told Him, He was my Valentine and that gifts are exchanged on this day. I added that I had nothing of my own that I could give, since I owed everything to Him. Would He then accept my tears of love? But, I told Guruji that I would expect a gift from Him.
Soon I got busy with my chores. That Valentine night, Guruji came in my dream. He took off a garland of pink roses from His neck and put it on mine. It was the perfect gift.
Come to Him and experience Him for yourself.
By Guruji's side
Some time ago, Guruji had gone to Meerut and we were lucky enough to accompany Him. Guruji was to return to Delhi that night. As He sat in the car with a few devotees, I wondered whether I'd ever get the chance to sit with Him. Those sitting next to Him were really lucky.
The incident vanished from my mind. Once there was a wedding in Delhi and I attended it with both of my daughters. Guruji came, called me and asked me to have
langar with Him. I dared to ask Him where and He told me at Empire Estate. I was delighted and told Guruji I would reach there with the children. To this, Guruji replied that I would go with Him in His car. I cannot express how overwhelmed I was.
There is no limit to Guruji's love and grace. The nectar of His love keeps blessing us. All these incidents are but a drop in the ocean of His being. I only pray to Guruji that He always keeps me at His lotus feet and that I keep remembering Him till my last breath.
Have complete faith in Guruji and understand that our betterment lies in whatever He does. If we keep faith in Him, no worry can lodge itself in our brains. He knows all about us. He is merciful and graceful; then why should we worry? Only he is worried who has no faith and whose mind wanders among subjects.
I have seen nectar or
amrit falling in Guruji's durbar. The fragrance of His love makes you fragrant. With these words and with
pranams (salutations) to Guruji, I rest my pen.
Meera Malhi, 'the dust of His lotus feet
July 2007