I touch my Guruji's Lotus Feet

Ashwani K Sharma, July 2007 हिंदी
I am going to reveal the divine journey I made from hell to heaven. Immediately, after my marriage I had cause to be perturbed, as my wife Geeta was suffering from asthma. She also remained disturbed and upset. She could not get a decent night's sleep and would weep wondering how she would pass her life. As her mother had already been suffering from the same disease, Geeta had seen what the disease could do.

But, as if Geeta's suffering was not enough, the problem haunted my daughter Tania as well. The entire family was disturbed. I would make the rounds of the market only to buy medicines required by my wife and daughter. Both had a restricted diet. They became very weak and the colour of their body and face became black.

Then Guruji met his daas (literally, slave).

The devotional temperament seeks to fulfil itself in principally four kinds of relationships with the Guru, seeing Him as the incomparable beloved, as the sovereign Master, as the sole friend, and the Eternal Father). Only Guruji knows what a hell our life was. He is the only one who can do the impossible. Thus, Guruji only said "Kalyan karta " (You are blessed) to Geeta and Tania and they became well. Someone asked me as to how it is possible that a man tells a diseased person 'Kalyan karta' and that human being, who is suffering from a big problem, becomes physically fit. Indeed, it is not possible at all - for a man. But, Guruji is God. Only God can do all the things, even those that are not possible. Guruji's blessings are all powerful. After my daughter and wife had recovered, I felt I was in heaven.

After some days, it was I who required His help. In August 2004, I felt chest pains at night. I went to the doctor who gave me first aid and sent me home with advice to take bed rest. After I got up the next morning, the pain started again after half an hour. It was serious. The pain could be felt in the left arm - a telltale sign of a heart attack. The doctor gave me first aid and sent me to the Hero Heart Center DMC, Ludhiana, and got my ECG done.

I asked a friend who was with me to take me to Guruji. My friend gave me a photo of Guruji the very next day, that is, on 6 August. My pain disappeared. On 7 August, doctors found that two of the cardiac vessels were blocked and operated upon me to put in two stents in the vessels. In the evening, my heartbeat stopped and death was declared.

Yet I regained consciousness after this final medical declaration! I did not know how much time it had taken me to come to senses. The doctors came to know of it when I answered their queries regarding my name and address satisfactorily. The doctors conferred amid themselves about the man they had just declared dead and seeing that I was very much in possession of myself, hurried me to the operation theatre.

They confessed that I had terrified them a lot. I know that I live only due to Guruji. If anyone dies, only God can give them a new life again. So Guruji is God.

Soon the doctors asked me what I was doing at the hospital and wondered whether I was not interested in going back home. Of course, I was. Two sangat members and friends, Mr Narinder and his wife, came to see me from Delhi. By that time, I was okay and was discharged from the hospital. After a fortnight, I went to Delhi to have Guruji's darshan to thank Him for giving me a new life.

At Guruji's I had langar. I flouted doctors' orders with impunity, since I was relishing eatables such as tikki and golgappa as prasad. Now I am fully fit and satisfied. If today I can write, it is only because of Guruji.

I have met Guruji and now I think that I have achieved everything in the world. I am very happy and free of tension.

On top of all this, Guruji has also given me his darshan. He showed me many things not possible for me to see otherwise. One day I was sitting near Guruji when I saw that Guruji had entered my body through the top of my head. I thought that after some time He would come out, but He did not. As this thought came into my head, I saw Guruji coming out and suddenly converting into Lord Shiva. The holy river Ganga began flowing from His head and entered my body. After that the sheshanaga came out from Shivji's body and entered His daas through the top of the cranium. The shesahnaga then wrote 'Om' and 'Om Namah Shivay' on my whole body. The sheshanaga picked out my stent and threw it out of my mouth. Now the sheshanaga takes care of my whole body and of my heart.

Guruji (Lord Shiva) told me that this sheshanaga would remain in my body always. Guruji then took out a knife, cut out a third eye and then entered my body through there and sat at the spot. Guruji then cut away my feet and fitted a new pair of feet with 'Om Namah Shivay' written on them and said they will only go there where everything will be Ok. Then He took out my eyes and inscribed the 'Om' there, saying that now the eyes will see only good things, not bad. The 'Om' was written through the medium of peacock's feather.

Guruji always lives with me. At any time we may leave our family members, our friends but Guruji always lives with us. He takes all our tensions and gives us happiness. He always lives with me. Guruji is everything to me in my life just like a father, mother, and friend. I cannot live without Him. I put myself, my children everything on the feet of Guruji. Whenever I want, Guruji gave me darshan as Lord Shiva and Mother Ganga always comes from His body into my head.

Once Guruji, in the form of Lord Shiva, threw a trishul (trident) towards me. It passed through my body and made a triangle around it. And Guruji said that this trishul would always stay with me. After a period of time, Guruji also took my heart out and gave me a new one. He said that there will be no problem in the future.

Then this very year, on May 17, 2006, while I was sleeping I dreamt that two messengers of the God of Death or Yamdoots were standing beside me in white clothes. They were telling me my time was up and that I should go with them. Immediately, Guruji appeared and told the Yamdoots that I was not going with them. The Yamdoots told Guruji that they had come to take me away with them. Guruji told them that though my time was up, I would continue to live on earth. He told them to go away. And they did so - without me.

I woke up. It was around 1:45 am and I felt that my heart was as tight as a screw. I thanked Guruji. He had again saved my life. Indeed, he has given me a new life many times. I only request that Guruji keeps me at His lotus feet till hundreds of lifetimes. And I pray that I should always be working as per His will. I hand over myself to Him forever.

I don't know much about the experiences I have had. However, whenever I look towards Guruji, I find showers of rose petals falling on His divine form from the sky. I have reached heaven from hell only due to the grace of Lord Shiva or Guruji. I wish that the new life given to me by Guruji should run according to His wish and be swayed by nothing else.

Ashwani K Sharma, Advocate based in Chandigarh

July 2007