The flying mala

I was in class 10. I had written the board exams for the first time. I was extremely apprehensive of the results. I had done my best yet was unsure how the results would unfold.I was worried and repeatedly sent prayers to Swamiji. It was 4:30 p.m in the evening. My grandmother was standing outside the living room speaking with our neighbor. My grandfather had just finished his tiffin and returned upstairs. My mother was busy in the kitchen. As i finished my 10th round of prayer or more something unbeleivable happened. I had asked Swamiji for some sign that my prayer was heard and he had taken action. There was a huge photograph of Swamiji in the living room. There were three malas of sandalwood on the photograph. As i finished my prayer and stood looking at the photograph, one of the malas suddenly came alive. The static mala suddenly moved forward and with a terrific force was thrown away from the picture and fell down ten feet away. I was stunned for a moment. There was no external force in operation that caused the movement. I picked up the mala and placed it back on the picture. After ten minutes the phenomena repeated itself. I was dazed. No one else was around to witness this event.My heart told me that my prayer had been heard and Swamiji was communicating to me through the garland falling that action had already been taken. I got a score that matched my expectations. I was extremely pleased with my results.

I bow to Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji for showering his grace and compassion!

The Guru's holy feet

Several years back, Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji appeared in a dream vision. In this vision Swamiji was sitting on a podium with several devotees seated below. As we all waited for the guru to speak, he turned around to me and lifted his feet or padam. As i wondered about the reason, his feet drew my attention. On the feet were divine symbols marked. This included conch and stars. Swamiji put down his feet once a select few of us managed to get this unique darshan. To me he seemed to communicate that he was no different from our Lord Narayana on whose feet are similar markings. It is believed that the feet of the divine are very different from ours and these markings symbolize their celestial nature. The dream vision ended there.

Swamiji lives on

Recently i woke up with a distinct dream. The dream felt more like a vision except for the fact that it was all in black and white. I was accompanying my grandmother and walking down the street in Chennai or Bangalore. As we walk, we are approached by a car, a fiat. As we both wait to see who it was, a devotee of Swamiji alights and informs us that Swamiji is alive. I am indeed very surprised as i have never met Swamiji in real life. I am in fact thrilled and ask him where Swamiji is. I don't beleive him, in fact. As we discuss, he reveals that Swamiji has all along stayed in the house of one of his devotees. While i am still filled with disbelief and enthusiasm, the devotee leaves. Another car arrives shortly and whom do i see but the great master himself alighting from the vehicle. His radiant eyes, supremely calm countenance and an all knowing gaze stunned me for a moment. He got down from the car and stopped in front of me and peered it seemed into my soul. He spoke in a very controlled, calm manner pausing between words. 'So you thought i was gone long before?' he asked. ' What made you think i am not alive?'. ' I have been alive all along and continue to live amidst all of you'. He said. I was speechless. My guru whom i regretted not meeting and speaking to was in front of me in flesh and blood, reprimanding me for my lack of faith in his existence. My heart jumped with joy. Finally i was seeing my guru after all these years. My grandmother is equally excited. She speaks to Swamiji as in old times very gentle, very affectionate and in a friendly manner. Both our hearts are filled with joy. Swamiji gets back into the car and rides away flanked by devotees. I woke up with a clear memory of the whole dream vision. And the heart was filled with immeasurable joy and the mind kept recalling Swamiji's message.

The Guru indeed lives on! We are fools if we think any other way.

Sri Radhakrishna Swaminey Namaha!

One and only you

A thousand gurus i have seen
Yet none like you, none like you,
Gentle, compassionate, spontaneous
Reliable, never failing, love incarnate
Swamiji, i owe you my everything
How do i say thank you when words dont suffice

Everytime i was stuck
Everytime i was lost
You came to me on your own
Showed me the way and walked quietly away
Swamiji, you are so simple, quiet,unassuming
Drew people from trouble with no expectations

A thousand gurus i have seen
Yet none like you, none like you

Though i have never seen you
Though i have never heard you,
Your voice i hear when i am confused
You i see holding my hands


When the whole world says i am wrong
I hear you saying its right
Thats all that matters to me, what my guru says
My trust is total Swamiji, your word is law

A thousand gurus i have seen
Yet none like you, none like you

When i think i am falling i call out
I close my eyes leaving everything to you
When i open my eyes what do i see
You carrying me to a place of peace
Ocean of mercy, ocean of compassion, my guru
I am thy vassal, for lifetimes to come

A thousand gurus i have seen
Yet none like you, none like you

Swamiji guides in meditation

It is said that meditation is a process that is helpful in focussing the mind and ultimately becoming one with God. Me and meditation are very far from each other since i am basically restless and cannot sit in one place for more than 20 minutes. A funny story i recall is worth sharing with you. I had signed up for a meditation and yoga class in Chennai since it was nominally priced and recommended by a colleague. The class commenced in the evenings from 5-7 and the first hour went in yoga and the second in meditation. Within one week the class was introduced to techniques of meditating on the different chakras or energy centres. First day we meditated on the point between the eyebrows, then the top of the head, second day on the heart and third day at the base of the spinal cord. I was hoping that at the end of the week i would be experiencing the flow of the kundalini from bottom of the back to top of my head as described in many books. But actually nothing happened at all due to two reasons. 

Meditation requires years of practice to experience even a small change. This is due to the fact that we become so set in our ways of thinking that to change our basic qualities takes a long time. The second reason which i thought was the real problem were -the mosquitoes. Our class was located right next to the Buckingham Canal which was once a happy gurgling  river but today a sewage discharge outflow ( similar to other rivers in India). By 6  the mosquitoes moved from their home, the canal to seek fresh sources of food namely my class members. As i sat with my eyes closed in meditation whether i felt energy rising or not i felt a hundred stings on my exposed hands and feet. The more i tried to focus on nothingness the more my mind started complaining about the pinpricks.  Maybe the teachers thought it would be a true test of concentration. However i failed miserably. Meditation came to be associated with mosquito bites. I would close my eyes and start counting the number of bites from head to toe. The Kundalini was working in a very different way. At one point i could not take it any more and requested that the organization use mosquito repellants. I had definitely not signed up for this component of the program and this was not disclosed either at the beginning. Thanks to my recommendation which required little thinking, the administrators started using repellants and the program quality improved. My faith in this process was shaken. I did not continue these techniques any further. Swamiji has also issued a clear warning to students against practicing Kundalini Yoga. This was a very important reason for discontinuation.

Once i came to USA i went through a difficult period of being alone at home, an unsuccessful job search process over a year and experienced great restlessnes. At this point meditation became a necessity. I sat on the floor and closed my eyes. Then i prayed to Swamiji as follows: ' Swamiji, i dont know how to meditate. Can you please guide me in meditation?' I kept praying for a while and closed my eyes repeating my prayer. As i did this i saw Swamiji appear in my mental frame sitting next to me. My mind could have generated this image too. He was sitting to my left and asked me to stretch out my hand. As i did this Swamiji held my hand in his and made me repeat Sai naam after him. My otherwise restless mind was instantly drawn into the chanting and after a while all thoughts ceased and i experienced great peace. When i came out of meditation i felt immensely refreshed. I went on to pray to Swamiji to bless me with even more of such peace. To my surprise a wave of peace swept over me and for one whole week i did not feel any restlessness at all. My mind was calm, uncomplaining, relaxed and enjoying the simple pleasures of life. I felt joy when the birds sang, flowers bloomed and relished food. It was simply unbelievable. 

Isnt it amazing? I am new to all this and as i described initially , am incapable of doing anything like meditation, yoga etc. But due to my Guru, his kindness, his grace the impossible becomes possible

Radhakrishna Swamiji helps secure an internship

I arrived in USA in 2006 to study at a prestigious institution. The process of getting admission and necessary documents was totally facilitated by Shri Radhakrishna Swamiji and Sai Baba only. As part of my course I was required to complete a certain period of time as internship with a recognized firm. Although I had been applying for more than 3 months I had not received any positive response from any firm. With the deadline for starting internships coming close I was absolutely worried about not finding any.

I was particularly keen to join one firm more than the others. So even before launching any efforts for filing applications I started praying to Shri Radhakrishna Swamiji everyday to help me land an internship with that particular firm. I would do three pradakshinas praying to Swamiji for help. While I was making efforts to get this internship it was no easy task. A minimum of 5000 applications were received every year for this prestigious internship and only a handful were selected. While there was a period when none of my efforts were paying off following prayer those very same closed doors opened again. By the grace of Swamiji I got contacts who helped me present my application to the persons who took the decision to recruit. I wrote to numerous recruiting officers and forwarded my CV. Still there was no positive response from any of them.

With only a few more days for end of semester there was no internship in sight. I grew desperate at times yet my faith in Swamiji kept me sane and hopeful. I did not stop praying. I felt the power of Swamiji’s grace was stronger than any human recommendation. If Swamiji really thought I should get an internship he would definitely help. With this unshakeable faith I kept applying to other companies and gave quite a few interviews.

I almost gave up the idea of finding any internship when I suddenly received a call from the same firm I was keen to work with. They said they were interested in conducting a telephonic interview. I did my best at the interview. The interviewer said they were not too sure what the outcome would be. Within a few days they wrote to me saying they were willing to offer me the internship. I was thrilled beyond words.

It was unbelievable that I was getting to work with my dream firm and it took me quite a while to digest the joy and reality of all these events. I knew deep down that it was Swamiji’s grace that had worked through people, time and resistance to grant me that which I had been praying for, for more than 6 months. I definitely owed it to the people who helped me along the way as well but Swamiji was the force who moved their hearts in my favor. I had promised Swamiji that in case I got the internship I would let the whole world know that it was earned through him and my efforts had little or no role at all. I am keeping my word today and share with you all this act of divine grace and compassion on the part of Shri Radhakrishna Swamiji.

Swamiji gives a rose

By the time i was three years old, Swamiji had already attained samadhi. There was little chance for me to know him. Yet i always felt i knew him. I somehow felt very connected to him and infact mistook him for my grandfather, not knowing as a child that i could have only two grandfathers. So much of my interaction with Swamiji was through prayers.
I am sharing this today more out of the need to communicate his greatness to one and all. While there are several sannyasis who are well known, Swamiji was like the rare flower which blooms once in 12 years and to be seen by a few. He shunned publicity, behaving like an ordinary man yet touched the lives of many through his unseen actions.
When i was 8 or10 years old, along with my parents, paternal and maternal grandparents visited the Sai Spiritual Centre in Bangalore. We went to Swamiji's room, 'Hamsaniketan'. This room is special as it engulfs visitors with calm and peace. The room houses many of the artifacts used by Swamiji during his lifetime. This includes the clock which jumped by itself to remind a devotee of the time to serve neivedhyam to Baba in Swamiji's absence.

When we went inside i noticed a beautiful red rose on Swamiji's life size picture. I used to be crazy about roses, especially Bangalore roses. I badly wanted the rose as children do and asked my maternal grandfather to give it to me. My maternal grandfather Shri.R.Seshadri however told me that it was not possible. I was a bit dissappointed but quickly sent a prayer to Swamiji himself requesting him for the rose. I forgot all about it later and we returned home following the darshan.

Me and my cousin began playing in the backyard and were actually building a miniature temple for Sai with bricks we had found. Just as we were placing the Sai idol inside i heard my grandfather call out my name. I went inside to find him holding the very same rose in his hand. He explained to me that he found the flower while untying his dhoti. It had fallen from his dhoti out of the blue. He was very surprised. I was happy beyond words. Swamiji had granted my prayer though small and insignificant for adults but important for a child. If you thought i got the rose in one piece, not at all. It was quickly seperated by the petals and everyone took it as prasad. Swamiji let me know that he had heard me.