By a devotee from the UK
Everything starts with Shiva, ends with Shiva and unfolds as His will in between.
When I was asked to tell the story of how the Shiva Lingam I had at home ended up at the Mohanji Centre of Benevolence (MCB) in Scotland, I thought I could simply sum it up in two words ‘His will!’ However, it also seems to be His will to share the beautiful leela of how His journey there unfolded. Therefore, I humbly surrender to Shiva and allow these words to carry us all in His presence and grace as I recount His divine play. Just as He has filled my heart with so much awe and wonder, may this testimonial touch you all with His essence in some uplifting way.
Only Shiva knows when this story truly started, but in my conscious awareness, I trace it back to January 2018 when I lived in London. On a snow-laden winter’s day shortly before Shivaratri, when all was pure and white, I found myself invited to visit a friend’s warehouse. She has a crystal business, and I was looking to buy some. Since a young age, I have always been drawn to crystals, or rather, they have just come to me. I’ve been told that we actually never choose a crystal, but in fact, they choose us.
I have experienced the truth of this. That day I went to the warehouse with no particular expectation or firm idea in my mind. There was just a loose intention that whichever crystals were meant for me would come to my awareness and follow me home. On arrival there, amongst the hundreds of crystals, my eyes were immediately drawn to a particular section. There were some Narmadeshwar Shiva Lingams on a shelf. Wow! Shiva in such a pure form! My heart rejoiced, and I knew my Shiva had found me, and I had found my Shiva.
To give you some background, Narmadeshwar Shiva Lingams, as the name suggests, come from the very sacred Narmada River in India. They are swayambhu lingams, meaning they have formed naturally into the lingam shape, in this instance, through the flow of water. They are already jagrit or alive with Shiva’s vibration and energy. Therefore, we don’t need to do the Pranaprathista or awakening process with this particular lingam, as He is already fully present. These lingams are very pure and powerful. They are a true blessing to all.
Back at the warehouse, there was a range of different-sized lingams varying from a couple of centimetres to as large as 20 inches or so. The logical mind was looking at what it considered to be a practical size for my flat and personal use, but I kept myself open to whoever was calling to me, and one of them certainly was! It thus transpired that divine will defied logic, and I found myself bringing home a Shiva that was around 18 inches tall and 22 inches in circumference (I have never weighed Him, but He would have been over 20 kg). It is a conventional religious belief not to keep a Shiva Lingam higher than your thumb size in your house.
Something I was reminded of by my family. Bigger ones are only meant for temples and such spaces. My small flat in London was certainly not in this category by any means. I was just as surprised as anyone that He was the One. I wasn’t looking to buy such a big lingam! However, I simply trusted He was meant to come to me for some reason and with all my love, I gave Him a place in my heart and my home, and I hoped He would be happy!
Over the next few years, Shiva’s beautiful energy became a part of me and the space around me, within and without. However, come 2020 and the start of the covid period, I was rather unexpectedly and suddenly relocated by destiny, as borders closed and I remained at my family home overseas for three long years. I was unable to return to London for various reasons until April 2023. The day I came back to my flat, I immediately sensed that the lingam was calling for a new home. I just wasn’t sure where. Momentarily I considered whether He was going to stay with me abroad, but this somehow didn’t feel like the case.
I surrendered it to Shiva that He would go wherever He wished for the highest and that it would come to my awareness in some way. It occurred to me at this time to ask Vijay Ramanaidoo whether the Mohanji Foundation in the UK would like the lingam for the MCB in Scotland. I had first spoken to Vijay in December 2022 regarding the initiation of ACT4Hunger activities where I am now based. Having only spoken to him a couple of times and being a relative stranger to the Mohanji Foundation, I was hesitant to approach him about the lingam as it seemed, for want of a better word, completely random! So I decided not to act hastily and let destiny unfold as per Shiva’s will in divine timing. Since I had surrendered this situation fully, it was then out of my mind completely, and I simply forgot about it at that time.
Just over a month later, on the wings of Shiva’s grace, I was flying to the MCB in Scotland a few weeks ahead of the Pranaprathista taking place there. Flying, not just literally but also figuratively speaking, as my entire being started to open and expand noticeably from the heart from the very start of my journey there. It was clear that this was going to be no ordinary visit, and the MCB was definitely no ordinary destination. Arriving at the MCB, there was something intangible that my soul recognised.
With Shiva being my first and last love, my heart has naturally and firmly established its home in the purity of Kailash. It was unmistakable; my heart felt a sort of homecoming. It sensed and recognised the Kailash frequency in some way. This feeling grew, becoming more tangible and validated through all I experienced over the day and a half I spent there. Sulakhe Maharaj, the now-retired chief priest from Shirdi, and also someone else I know has shared similar sentiments and connected the MCB in Scotland to Kailash. Yes, definitely no ordinary destination, but most wonderfully extraordinary!
No sooner had we entered the premises, we were taken on a tour around the grounds with Christopher Greenwood as our guide. Within the first few minutes, he mentioned that based on a Vastu expert, the energy of the Centre is already very good, and it will just take Mohanji coming there to make it what it needs to be. However, there was a pond on the property that wasn’t a natural body of water. It had been installed by the previous owners as a requirement in case of fire. It had been advised that a Shiva Lingam would be necessary to help shift the energy of this pond.
As soon as the lingam was mentioned, my entire being became alert. I just knew. I felt this was no coincidence that a lingam was being talked about within minutes of my arrival at the MCB for the first time. Silence was no longer an option. I mentioned the lingam that I had to Chris and then also followed up with a message to Vijay about it. I had shared what I was meant to share, and now it was up to Shiva. When I returned home from Scotland, and I was before the lingam, I noticed for the first time that I could see Mohanji’s image on the lingam! This was just incredible and another confirmation literally staring me in the face. Subsequently, a couple of other people have separately mentioned being able to see Mohanji in the lingam to me.
Mohanji arrived in the UK a couple of days after I got back from my trip to the MCB. Vijay showed Him some photos of the lingam. The answer was yes! Shiva was going home to His Kailash! Everything began to align and move with such speed and ease. Mohanji’s energy at work, no doubt. Within another couple of days, I was bidding Shiva goodbye, and He was lovingly transported to Vijay’s house for the onward journey to the MCB.
I had first come across Mohanji a year after I got the lingam before I went to Ganeshpuri and Shirdi. I had gone to Skanda Vale and Kailash later that year, too, and He was brought to my awareness for a second time around then. Subsequently, it was through connecting with Shirdi Sai Baba and the ACT Foundation that Mohanji had once again come to the fore over the past couple of years for me.
Looking back as a witness, I could see all the dots connecting and how the synchronicities over the years had been the most beautiful and perfect unfoldment of Shiva’s divine plan culminating in this moment. I understood that I was only ever meant to be the lingam’s temporary caretaker until the Centre could come into manifestation. Once in place, Shiva would find His way to his rightful home and that too at the most opportune time of the opening of the MCB and the Pranapratishtas. What divine timing! What exquisite planning!
The lingam was never mine to keep, yet Shiva will always be eternally mine wherever He goes, for we are inextricably connected. We are One. I am so truly grateful and blessed that Shiva came to me in the form of this lingam, bringing tremendous purification, power and peace to me, my family and my area.
However, I am even more grateful and happy that His blessings will now touch countless more beings at the MCB. May they, too, find their burdens eased and their hearts lightened by His benevolent presence. May they, too, discover the essence of Kailash not somewhere outside but within the silence and stillness of their own being. Shiva is untouched by anything, for He is the Nirguna (formless with no properties or attributes), yet He will touch everything. In the end, He is simply everything. All is Shiva’s will. In the love, light and truth of Shiva, Jai Mohanji, Om Namah Shivaya!
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 17th July 2023
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