One fine evening, my grandfather who is an avid, regular reader of the newspaper exclaimed with an excited tone that Sringeri Mahaswamigal is coming to Chennai. For all of us in the house, joy knew no bounds. My father who had seen Acharya from a long distance 17years before at Sri Ananthapadmanabhaswamy temple described the Darshan as a life changing experience for him. He added that only the truly deserving and the fortunate get the glimpse of His Holiness. There is a saying in Tamil, 'Avan Arulal Avan Thaal Vanangi' which means he who seeks the Divine has already been chosen by the Divine. Even the mere glance of Jagadguru Mahaswamigal is enough for this lifetime and for many more lifetimes to come. On hearing this, I became pensive. 'Will I be the fortunate one? Will I at least get a view of him?' I prayed and aspired from the bottom of my heart, to Lord Ganesha and to Paramacharya (Kanchi Chandrasekara Mahaswamigal) whose photo is stuck on the refrigerator and who I often turn to whenever I am troubled. My prayers were not demanding. I just simply stood before him and prayed truly without expectations. And it happened....
On 20th June, I returned exhausted from college. I found that my parents and my sister had gone to Rathnagireeshwar temple- Besant Nagar as His Holiness was visiting there. They returned back worn-out and said they were crushed by the huge crowd and couldn't get a proper Darshan of Him. I felt bad and this time we all of us prayed strongly to at least get a small view of Him.
On Thursday, 28th June, one of my sister's classmate's driver knocked and gave us a card. "Wow!! A personal invitation to visit Mahaswamigal!!". I became overjoyed. All of us couldn't contain ourselves. My mom went to the prayer room and did pranams exclaiming "Thank you God Thank you!!!". I was ecstatic. It was one of those days that God reminded me of His constant presence. Tears came out my eyes.
Today, 1-7-12, being Pradosha has been a landmark day in my life. I had the golden opportunity to see Lord Siva himself in the form of Sringeri Jagadguru. I constantly repeated:
Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Deivo Maheswaraha, Guru Sakshaath Para Brahma Thasmai Sri Guruvey Namaha!
The program at 6:05 pm started with an invocation by Smt. Sudha Raghunathan who sat right behind me the whole time. The place was huge. Many people had assembled. There was even a big screen arranged so that people seated far behind can have a good view of His Holiness. My mom, sister and I were asked to sit in the ladies section right beside guruji and just 10m away from Him. Mahaswamigal glanced at everyone in the audience. His very presence carried joy, peace, lustre and immense tranquillity. The moment His compassionate glance fell on me, it was a feeling as if my whole body, mind was dipped in pure amrithatheertha. I felt so peaceful, so rejuvenated. Nothing else was important to me. I was born for this. My whole life I had been wandering aimlessly swinging to and fro like a pendulum. His penetrating look steadied my nerves, refreshed me brought immense peace and happiness to my heart.
I felt so contented and thought this was enough and was preparing to leave when my mom stopped me saying that His Holiness is about to speak. What? A double blessing? What have I done to receive all this? Such thoughts wandered my mind and then His Holiness started to speak.
His Holiness' speech in brief:
A sanyasi should always adhere to non violence. Especially these four months being a rainy season, he must not wander out as he might disturb small living creatures under His feet. He said that this Chaturmasya Vrata, he would have simply loved to stay indoors at Sringeri and being an Ekanthapriya would not have mingled with the crowds. But, it is truly because of the devotion of the people residing in Chennai that has brought Him here. He knows how each and everyone struggle and fight in crowds and don't mind even waiting for hours in queue to have a Gurudarshan. He blessed each and everyone present and said His only prayers are that each person should uphold the highest Dharma and Cling to Truth. On July 1st 1966, His Holiness had got introduced to His guru and he remembered that day and on this very same day year 2012 he feels immense pleasure to come to Chennai.
His Holiness spoke just for 20 minutes and while he was leaving to perform Sri Sharada Chandramouliswara pooja, my father did pranams to Him and had a close glimpse of the Guru's Holy feet. Acharya swamigal smiled at my dad and retired inside.
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