Nila Aarti with Mohanji

Surya Sujan, India

Surya Sujan, a dear friend and follower of Mohanji shares her recent experience with Mohanji during the Nila Aarati that took place in Kerala in January 2023.

For participating in the Nila Aarti, Sreeja, her son and I travelled from Kannur by the 5 am train. Sreeja and her son were there to get the Shaktipat and meet Mohanji. We reached the Nila Aarti venue by eight o’clock. Devadas, his family, and I helped set the stage at the venue. Mohanji also reached the hotel, which was near the venue where the event was going on. Soon the guests and those who had registered for this event started arriving. 

By 9 am – 9: 35am, I went to the hotel with Vipin Kudiyath because I wanted to meet Mohanji. I wanted to welcome him.   I was planning to surprise Mohanji, as Mohanji didn’t know I was coming to Palakkad for the Nila Aarti and this was the third time I was going to see Mohanji, so I didn’t tell him I would be coming. When I knocked on the door and went in, Mohanji was sitting alone. We had a great hug with lots of love from Mohanji. I was so happy. I felt the love as if it came from my mother, my Guruji, or my friend.

We then went to the Nila Aarti event. The Nila Aarti is celebrated on the banks of the Nila River located at Cheruthurti, Paangavu Shiva Kshetra, Trichur, Kerala. From that time onwards, I was with Mohanji. I managed the entire program as Mohanji instructed me to take the lead. We were seated in the first row. After the ‘Ashtapathy’ rendition, Mohanji was seated in a grand chair on the stage and the satsang began.

Initially, I was sitting with Mohanji, and I felt uncomfortable sitting in the same level as the Guru. I slowly tried to sit at the second-level seating position. But Mohanji indicated for me to remain seated next to him. The Nila Aarti was powerful to witness in the presence of Mohanji.

We had our lunch together at Mohanji’s insistence and were the first to have lunch. Then he told me that he had a meeting with Moksha Trust and I (Surya) should go to the room and wait for him there. I said I’d be waiting for him at the banks of Nila because I wanted to arrange the lamps – to pour oil on the wicks. I went straight from there with Sreeja. It was a huge surprise for me that Sreeja, with her four young, vibrant team from Ernakulum had come to volunteer.

Chitra, myself, Sreeja and her teams arranged the earthen lamps on the banks of Nila by 6 pm. Around 6.15 pm, Mohanji arrived and we welcomed Mohanji. A good concert of music and dance highlighting the importance of river Nila, followed by a Kathakali recital on Ashtapathi padam was organised. Mohanji then gave a brief speech that was direct, and precise regarding the importance of a river, the importance of a river to a human being and how it affects our lives etc. It was a powerful and succinct speech by Mohanji.

I had booked my return ticket along with Mohanji, but my booking was in another coach. Mohanji called me over the mike and said it was very late. Devadas came to say that Mohanji was calling me for dinner. I sat next to Mohanji for dinner as well. I feel so blessed and touched that Mohanji assigned various tasks that needed to be done and he wanted me next to him. I don’t know what connection I have with him that he gives me so much love and importance in front of everyone. After we had dinner, there was cake cutting. I washed Mohanji’s plates and we left together for the hotel where Mohanji and I had an important talk regarding some other things. After the HSTY yoga trainer left, I told Mohanji to rest or take a short nap. I set the alarm and took care of the other needed arrangements.

While Mohanji was resting, I read the small Gita book he had gifted me. I had just finished the preface and the first chapter when Mohanji woke up. It was 10 pm. Mohanji said, “Let us go. The train is at 11pm.” Soon Vipin, Mohanji and I came to the railway station, got into the train, and settled in our berths. My stop was Kannur, and the train would stop there at 2:00 am. Mohanji said it was an odd time to get off the train and that I should join him and go to Udupi. But I had not told my family about this and my car was parked at the Kannur railway station from the previous morning five am. So I said, “Mohanji, I’ll meet you at Palakkad on January 31.”

At two o’clock, I got down from the train after prostrating at his Lotus feet and quickly got into my car. While I was starting the car, somebody came and asked me to slide the window down. He said, “Your left wheel has a puncture.” I was shocked! He said, “Actually I was waiting for you, chechi. Your car was punctured early in the morning itself. We didn’t have your number. How can you go at this time? So I got a number from some other guy who can change the tyre with a spare tyre. I said, “I can’t sit here. Nobody’s here.” He said, “No. Don’t worry. You sit in this tent, and in the meantime, we’ll call the car mechanic and get your car fixed.”

There was no policeman around. Nothing was there on that quiet night besides a shed in the parking area. As I sat in the tent, after about 10 to 15 min, the mechanic came to fix the car. It was just the parking attendant, the repair guy and me in the parking lot. And this was because I had told the parking attendant man who was on night duty the day I boarded the train that I would arrive at 2 am early the next day, and the kind man was waiting for me after finishing his morning duty. He waited for me in the parking lot, not only to inform me that my car tyre had a puncture but also had rallied someone to repair my car. He said, “If you can repair it now, it will be fine. Otherwise tomorrow in the hot sun and this heavy traffic you can’t do all these things here. So I waited for you!” In 10-15 minutes, the repairman changed the car stepney.

Early that morning, we travelled to Shornur and were in the AC coach of a train, the 15th coach from the engine. Two elderly ladies aged 79 or 80, somehow got into the AC coach with three big bags as they could not locate their coaches. The elderly ladies sat down and desperately tried to figure out their seats, not knowing they were not in their allotted coaches. When I saw their tickets, I mentioned that their coach was closest to the engine, 14 coaches away from the current one. It was difficult for them to make their way to their coach with their pieces of luggage on a moving train.

As the elderly women reminded me of my mother, I carried their bags to their coach, helped them to their seats, and then returned to my seat. Everyone watched me walk up and down to help these elderly women including the Governor of Goa, Sridharan Pillai. I came back half an hour or 20 minutes later, fully drenched in sweat, but I helped them.

One of the elderly ladies told me, “You are like God to me!  Jesus himself has brought you to help us.” I said, “You deserve this help. It could be Jesus or Allah or any God! But you deserve this help because you are like my mother,” and returned to my seat. What you sow, so you reap! That’s probably why the guy in the parking lot waited for me till 2 am and also arranged a mechanic to change the car tyre.

I wonder who is orchestrating all this behind the lines. In Mohanji’s talk, he said, to accept our karma, accept ourselves and be a role-model to the society and our children. The parents should be role-model to children as children imbibe or follow the actions of the parents. This was a wonderful opportunity to serve two elderly people considering them as my parents.

|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||

Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 16^th February 2023

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