I came to know of Guruji in March 2009, when my father's cousin brother and his wife had come over to see him. My father had been battling cancer since 2005. They had brought Light of Divinity, Guruji's
granth of blessed
satsangs, with them. After they left, my mother came into my room and during a casual conversation, she gave me the holy book. I was looking for a new book to read. Little did I realize that it was no ordinary book, but a truly divine book blessed by Guruji Himself.
After reading Light of Divinity for a few days, I began making a connection with Guruji. I have always been a non-conformist as regards religion and sects; I have believed from a very young age that there is one God and we all are His children. I have, however, right from first memory prayed to Shivji and chanted Om Namah Shivay to pay obeisance to the Almighty.
The first conscious connection that I made with Guruji happened in a dream: I distinctly remember that I flew down to Paris for some work, where I found myself standing in a huge grey castle and heard a voice saying '
Tenu Aana Te Payega' (You will have to come.) I could feel Guruji's presence in that dream, though I could not understand what it meant and who had called out to me.
I continued to read Light of Divinity and subsequently had repeated dreams - Guruji calling me. He kept saying '
Tenu Aana Te Payega'. I did not pay attention to these dreams and felt these were tricks my subconscious was playing with me. But from May to July 2009, everything I did led me to Guruji.
Towards the end of June 2009, I visited Jalandhar during a summer break from work . The plan was to stay with a college friend, and then go to Amritsar for a day to have
darshan of the Golden Temple. Driving from Jalandhar to the Golden Temple, I talked to my friend about my dreams of Guruji. The distance between Jalandhar and Amritsar is covered in an hour and a half. We lost complete track of time as my friend kept driving and listening to my experiences. Before we knew it, we were on a strange road. And the journey seemed to have only lasted for 40 minutes. Another 5 minutes spent looking for directions, and we realized that we had reached the Golden Temple-via a completely unidentifiable route. We rationalized that we had somehow gotten on to a short cut that reached the Temple without getting into Amritsar City. After darshan, we tried looking for the same path back to Jalandhar, but couldn't find it, which made us take the normal way back and that definitely took more than an hour and a half.
On our return to Jalandhar, I narrated my experience to my friend's mother. She told me that Guruji had a house (that is, the temple) in Jalandhar and recalled His blessing to them: when an infant, my friend's face had a protruding nerve, and Guruji had cured him. That evening, without even knowing that this was Guruji's
adesh, I was sitting in the Jalandhar Temple. We had
chai prasad there. Guruji's birthday celebrations were round the corner and the temple was being repainted.
After returning to Delhi, on July 7 my girlfriend (who was with me during the Jalandhar trip and at the Mandir) and I decided to go for a movie at Select Citywalk in the evening with a few friends. To our amazement, there was a huge celebration organized at the mall for Guruji's birthday. We reached the mall when the celebrations were coming to an end. My girlfriend went to see what was going on and was given a collage of Guruji's photographs by renowned photographer Raghu Rai. Ever since, I have had Guruji in our
puja room at home, and each day He looks over my entire family.
That same month, I visited a friend who had returned from England and narrated the satsangs. She smiled: the Guruji I was talking about was the reason she got admission in a prestigious London college. She strongly recommended that I visit the Bade Mandir.
For my girlfriend and I, all roads led to Guruji for the next few months. My girlfriend had darshan of Guruji in her dream where He said "
Kalyan Ho" (Bless you!) In fact, every place-be it a shop or a friend's house-spoke of Guruji's presence in the form of a photograph.
When we visited the Bade Mandir, I could feel the strong presence of Almighty Guruji. I realized I was truly blessed and prayed that He guide me in my journey of life. I prayed for my father's health and our well-being. I must confess that even at this stage, the non-conformist in me kept asking questions: How could God come on earth and pick who to bless? Why should there be any particular path that leads to Him? Shouldn't performing good deeds alone be sufficient to receive God's blessings?
In November 2009 I fell ill to a rare liver disease. High stress at work coupled with an extremely busy lifestyle may have caused it. Unfortunately, I could not visit the Bade Mandir during this time and could only seek Guruji's blessings a month later on December 15th-it was my birthday and I was there at midnight.
Over the months, my health showed no significant improvement; the doctors couldn't diagnose the problem. In September 2010, I had a terrible dream relating to Guruji and the Bade Mandir. I saw something so terrible that I cannot describe it to date. I was shaken up for days and felt my connection with Guruji had also been shaken.
My health deteriorated and the doctors found positive markers for an autoimmune liver disease. They suggested a liver biopsy. Despite my faith in Guruji having been shaken, He ensured that I would not even need to go through the biopsy. And, my autoimmune markers also came out negative.
Throughout the year of 2011, Guruji blessed me time and again with His divine presence. As in 2009, everything I was doing lead me to Guruji. I began listening to all the satsangs uploaded on Guruji's website; I prayed to Guruji; asked for His blessings to help me keep my faith; and sought His guidance.
Recently, I visited the Bade Mandir again. I could now comprehend the meaning of Guruji's words
Tenu Aana Te Payega.
Guruji recently gave me darshan. In a dream, some evil power was around me, making me helpless when Guruji appeared from the sky. He took a lightning bolt and hurled it at the evil power, instantly protecting me.
Now I find His presence in every place that I go to. On Diwali, while I was praying to Guruji at a
puja in my father's office, a Babaji who graces the occasion every Diwali, came in and said: "Hamare Guruji ka adesh hai ki tu bahut taraki karega. (It is Guruji's fiat that you will be very successful.)" Incidents such as this are now countless.
More than the experiences that I have had or heard of, my soul now completely feels connected to Guruji and it can clearly see that God is always looking over us and out for us. God has come to this world in the form of Guruji to guide us, protect us and make this world a happier place. Guruji is great and His methods are beyond the comprehension of our simple minds. All that I can say is that even before we come to know that Guruji is the absolute supreme power, He is already looking over us. He gives us darshan at an opportune time and helps us in our life's journey. Even if our faith in Him is shaken or lost, He still showers His unconditional love upon us and guides us back to His loving path. He is omnipresent and ever-so kind. I continue to pray to God, as I did since I was a child, by chanting Om Namah Shivay followed by Guruji Sada Sahay to seek His blessings. Jai Guruji!
Sumeher Bajaj, a devotee
April 2012