A Journey of Faith

By Subhasree, London

1st of January 2019. The beginning of a New Year. An unexpected opportunity to meet Mohanji at His home in Palakkad! (Especially after having a blissful meeting on 30th December evening with Mohanji along with my father, husband, son and sister-in-law.)

It was a miracle in itself. Mohanji was supposed to have left for Bangalore the previous day. I was leaving for London on the 1st morning too. Starting the New Year with meeting Mohanji and taking His blessings was a faraway dream, though it was a sweet desire of a devotee’s heart! As always, Mohanji heard. He stayed back on the 31st in Palakkad for some reason. I thus had the blessed opportunity to meet Him for a short while in the morning before He left for Bangalore and I left for London.

The brief meeting was very powerful indeed, along with His New Year message; He gave us some very powerful insights. He gave me clarity with His crystal clear instructions for a project that I was working on. I was in a blissful state. While Mohanji was talking with His gaze straight into my eyes, 1000 watts of energy transfer was taking place and I had totally lost the sense of my being-ness. It may have been just a few minutes, but that was enough to clear blockages from a life time for sure! In that blissful state, I had no more wishes, no more desires. I felt complete. With that satisfaction and utmost joy in heart, while I was about to leave, Mohanji asked me when was I leaving? I mentioned to Him I would be leaving in couple of hours through Mumbai with a 15 hours break there. Spontaneously Mohanji told me, “Why don’t you go to Nithyananda Ashram?” Super silly me, I asked Him, “Which ashram?” He said, “Ganeshpuri.” What? I was shocked. How could I go to Ganeshpuri in the evening? How would that be possible? Was it even practical? Though these thoughts had rushed into my mind, I did not utter any words to Him at that time. He also gave me suggestions about two other things to be done, which were related to the project that we had discussed before. So again, my logical mind agreed to these two tasks, but going to Ganeshpuri sounded an impossible idea.  Anyway, I did pranaam to Mohanji, received a hug from Him and bidding farewell, returned home.

While I was feeling blissful by meeting Mohanji, I also had a bit of sadness in me that my husband Harish could not come with me to Mohanji’s house to meet Him as he had gone to the airport to drop my father. I was then telling to myself, he is doing his duty, I am sure Mohanji knows. Little did I know at that point, a miracle was waiting to grace Harish! When Harish returned home from the airport, he had a mysterious smile on his face. He slowly showed me a photo on his phone. Looking at that, I was speechless, my mouth wide open! It was a picture of Harish with Mohanji! When? Where? I was speechless with excitement. The sadness that I had, melted immediately and gratitude flowed from my heart for this grace from Mohanji. Harish explained that while he was returning from the airport, on the highway, at a tollgate, his car driver spotted Mohanji standing outside His car on the other side of the road (going on the opposite direction, towards Bangalore). So, Harish asked the driver to stop the car and rushed to the other side of the road and met Mohanji. Well, now this was no less than a miracle! Spotting Mohanji standing on a highway lane that too on the opposite direction! How often do such coincidences happen? Why was Mohanji standing outside His car on a highway? Rajesh Kamath, who was travelling with Mohanji, posted a message on a WhatsApp group explaining so well, what had happened. I must share it here.

Rajesh wrote,
“A routine stop at a toll booth… As we pay and leave, we hear a bang! Looks like the bad boys behind hit our car. I come out but can’t locate the damage or find out the cause of the sound. I check with the toll booth attendant to find out what happened. He explains patiently in Greek, Latin and Malayalam. All I understand is the word bundy (which means car in Malayalam) repeated many times. Yes. I know it’s the tale of two bundies. But what happened? He responds in Creole, Taiwanese and Malayalam. I give up. Walk to our driver to request for help with an offline Google translate. Right then, Mohanji Himself steps out. The attendant explains that the bad boys were trying to avoid paying the toll and hit us in the rush. They sideswiped the fender on the left which was protruding slightly. Mohanji takes them to task in rapid-fire Malayalam. I rapidly interpret bits and pieces correlating intermittent English words and hand actions – can’t see bundy / speedbump? what’s the hurry? drunk? extended party? They sheepishly apologize and accept their mistake. Mohanji’s New Year message comes to mind. Everything starts with acceptance. But we all know that karma and bundy damage need to be paid in full. It’s the law. Mohanji asks me to take pictures of the number plate and the bad boys, and tells them to pull over to the shoulder to discuss further. They comply.

 

Unexpectedly, Harish Thottungal (Subhasree’s husband) makes a sudden entry! More Malayalam fire power. We move to the shoulder of the road. Turns out the bad boys know a thing or two about the bundy. No major damage. Fender is popped back in. Mohanji lets the bad boys go. They are taken in by Him, ask His name and request a selfie. Harish thanks Him for the unexpected grace, greets, hugs and takes a selfie. As I get back in the car, I wonder why this happened. Besides the crash course for me in Malayalam. Harish’s desire to see Mohanji? A spiritual push for the bad boys honouring a contract from some past life? Reducing karmic effects for the car passengers by transferring impact to the poor unsuspecting bundy? A seemingly casual incident that may have far reaching effects in the lives of those involved in this drama and also maybe someone in a hitherto unknown remote corner of the universe. We will never know. What we should know in this year and beyond is that He is much more than the eyes can see, the heart can feel and the mind can know. Never take Him or anything related to Him lightly!”

Hearing about the incident Harish narrated and reading what Rajesh wrote, I was in total awe! What a start to the New Year! Such grace! Eyes seeing it, heart feeling it. In this excitement, hidden was even more exciting events for the rest of the day. Take a coffee break (vegan) if you want, before starting to read on the remaining part of the exciting story of the day! Okay, so here you go!

After sometime, while on my way to the airport, I thought of Mohanji’s words, “Go to Ganeshpuri.” At that point, I realised, Mohanji would never say anything without a purpose. He will not give instructions if it can’t be done. So that’s it…the moment I heard this inner voice, I checked the temple timing on their website. It said 9:30pm, Shej aarati! My flight was supposed to land in Mumbai at 4 pm. I had to meet an ailing aunty for some time. I figured out that even if I meet my aunty and start around 6 pm, I would reach Ganeshpuri before aarati time. I also had to do the other two tasks that Mohanji had advised! Well, I surrendered to Mohanji and said, “Okay, I am ready…take me where you want me to go.”

Practically, it wasn’t as simple as saying, okay I am ready. I had two suitcases and a nine-year-old child with me. Taking a cab from the airport, doing the trip up to Ganeshpuri with the luggage and the child was not a very simple and easy plan. However, regardless of what the logical mind says, the moment surrender happens, Guru takes care! That’s always true!

When I checked in my luggage and asked if I needed to take it out in Mumbai, the person said that we would only get the luggage in London! A spontaneous, “WOW” came out! So now, I didn’t have to pull my luggage with me around in Mumbai or to Ganeshpuri, just the cabin bag. One problem was taken care of.
I was going to stay at a friend’s house for the night. Her dad had recently passed away, so not meeting her or not going to their house was not an option at all. However, going to their house around midnight made me a little apprehensive as I didn’t want to disturb them. But when I told my friend, Hemangi, about Mohanji’s advice to go to Ganeshpuri and invited her to join me too, she agreed immediately. I must mention here, my friend has some physical issues and she is not very mobile. For her to follow me to Ganeshpuri and returning so late wasn’t a very normal and easy thing. I was actually pleasantly surprised when she agreed to come! Well for me, another worry was taken of! Second problem sorted!

While waiting to board the flight, I had a chat with Preethi (Madhu’s wife) and I told her about this idea of going to Ganeshpuri. She and Madhu immediately agreed that they would join me too! In fact not just join me; they would actually take me, my son and my friend, to Ganeshpuri in their car! That meant I didn’t have to worry about booking a cab or worry about safety about going to a faraway place in the night and returning back! “Wow Mohanji,” I said in my head. Third problem sorted!

I relaxed before boarding the flight. Guess what, the flight was delayed by an hour! Ah, not a pleasant thing to happen! With 9:30 pm as the deadline to reach Ganeshpuri and meeting my aunty before that, amidst the Mumbai traffic, the travel was not going to be easy. Every minute was important. But what could I do. I realised, maybe it was a test for my conviction! Am I going to stick to the plan or drop it? No, I wasn’t going to give up. I knew if Mohanji wanted me to go, He would make sure I reach there. I held on to this thought for the rest of the evening.

So, I arrived at Mumbai airport 1 hour late, yet managed to reach my aunty’s place and spent some quality time with her. Hemangi, my friend also reached there and soon, as decided, we were on our way to Preethi’s home to proceed on our journey to Ganeshpuri.
Then came more hurdles and tests; test of conviction, test of patience and test of faith! Evening time in Mumbai has traffic at its peak. A 15 minutes journey took us 1 hour 15 minutes! Much later than we had planned, we reached Preethi & Madhu, who were waiting for us in their car, right on the road! It was 7:30pm already. We had exactly 2 hours to reach the temple before it closed! Usually Ganeshpuri is a 2 hour drive from there, in normal traffic conditions. All were hopeful that we just might make it! Preethi was constantly praying to Mohanji, “Please keep the traffic clear.” Madhu had taken on a different avatar! His transformation into a rash driver in the depressing traffic condition was giving us goose bumps sometimes and sometimes the excitement of a roller coaster ride! Madhu had some magic wings on! He was literally flying the car! Suddenly Mohanji called Madhu to discuss something. When Madhu informed Him about our journey to Ganeshpuri, all He said was “Enjoy.” We all laughed out loud! What does He mean! Preethi screamed, “Mohanji you have to clear the traffic for us, please!” Madhu apologised for his rash driving. Sambhav, my 9 yr old son on the back seat, was quietly enjoying the bumpy ride! I was laughing inside – “You told me to go. I know You will make me reach there!”
As if the delay due to the heavy traffic was not enough, we even missed the exit to Ganeshpuri! Thankfully, before it was too late, Madhu realised it and at that exact time, noticed a small pass to be able to take a U-turn and zoom, he sped up again! Amidst all the excitement, we certainly had an amazing satsang talking all about Mohanji’s leelas. The two tasks that He had given me were also done during this time. While I was confident that Mohanji would make us reach there on time, I was still wondering, why did Mohanji ask me to go to Ganeshpuri? There must be a purpose behind His command. I had this question because my personal desire of any pilgrimage ends with meeting Mohanji. Meeting Him gives me the fulfilment of visiting any temple or place of pilgrimage. I don’t even desire or pray for going to places! Hence, I knew this was a command for a different purpose! What was it?
While I was sharing this with Preethi, she said that for her birthday that was coming in few days, she had a desire to go to Shirdi and Ganeshpuri. However, they had planned to go to Shirdi (and in fact they were supposed to leave the next morning) but didn’t have any plans of going to Ganeshpuri! Therefore, this sudden plan and that too Madhu agreeing for it instantly amidst his huge pile of tasks, was overwhelming for her. She was all teary while mentioning this and I thought “Ah, now I understand Mohanji…so this was your idea…to ensure that Preethi’s desire of visiting Ganeshpuri before her birthday was fulfilled!”
My friend Hemangi, who was with us, said that she had a wish to visit Ganeshpuri after her dad’s demise, as her dad used to regularly go to Ganeshpuri! But, with her health condition, it was impossible for her to plan a trip to Ganeshpuri! Ah, there you go! This was yet another purpose. I thought again, Mohanji’s leela was getting clearer to me.

That wasn’t all though. A friend from UK, Nelly-Anne, who was recently in India for a holiday and had a desire to visit both Shirdi and Ganeshpuri, had only managed to visit Shirdi. When she saw my message of going to Ganeshpuri, she immediately said, “Mohanji is fulfilling my wish of visiting Ganeshpuri through you. If possible, please can you bring a small idol of Bhagawan Nithyananda for me?” The purpose of Mohanji’s command was getting clearer.

The excitement was building up. We were counting minutes and seconds! Through the turns and bends of narrow roads leading to Ganeshpuri, over the potholes and bumpy roads, we were all sitting with tight lips, praying hard to Mohanji! I surrendered to Mohanji, “You told me to go, so You will make me reach there.” My faith was intact.

It’s worth mentioning that all this time, though it’s been 11 hours since Sambhav and I had started our journey from Palakkad in the morning, the 9 year old was amazingly calm! No restlessness, no stress, no uneasiness, no hunger, no call of nature….he wasn’t bothered nor did he bother any of us. This unexceptionally matured and calm behaviour from him was noteworthy! I realised, M magic was at work for sure!

Finally, the drama ended. Madhu parked the car in front of the temple gate. It was 9:26pm! We all jumped out of the car, rushed to the temple. Madhu helped my friend who had trouble walking. We all reached inside the temple, just about 2 minutes before curtains close. When we reached, the priest was putting the woollen cap and wrapping Bhagawan Nithyananda’s idol with a shawl. It was the usual wintery night ritual.
The moment my eyes fell on Bhagawan Nithyananda’s face, I froze.

Jan 2018 was when this new idol of Bhagawan was consecrated and I was one among the blessed ones to be there, sitting in this same hall, participating in the consecration events. That was my first ever meeting of Bhagawan Nithyanada (well in this life time!) Stepping into that hall, seeing Bhagawan’s face, memory of that day flashed back, my head bowed with immense gratitude to the Guru Mandala for having given me such a blessed opportunity, once again. While I touched my forehead at the marble Paduka of Bhagawan, I had no words to pray, all that was coming from my heart was, “Thank You Mohanji. Thank You Bhagawan for this darshan, for this grace.” I was too stunned to even pray for anything else or think of anything else!

 

When I got up after my pranaam, I noticed a very tearful Preethi. I realised how overwhelming it was for her as her desire was fulfilled! I said again, “Thank You Mohanji for taking care of everyone!” And in what a way! Hemangi was speechless too! Sambhav was curious, though quiet.

The curtains then closed! The priest explained, it was Ekadashi that day and hence no Shej Arati. They have to close the curtains exactly at 9:30pm, strict rules! Well, we felt complete and satisfied even with the 2 minutes of powerful darshan from Bhagawan.

Suddenly I noticed a man wearing a white dhoti and kurta, with long curly hair, but short and thin in stature, coming towards us with a pot of purified water ‘teertham.’ He gave some to all of us and asked Sambhav to open his mouth and directly poured some teertham into his mouth. Then I noticed he was also drinking some the same way. My attention then turned the other way towards Sambhav who was asking me, “Is this all Mum, for which we travelled?” I said to him, “Even if it’s for two minutes, it’s very powerful and we are blessed to have had these 2 minutes of darshan.” At that moment, Hemangi asked me, where did the man who gave us the water go? I looked behind. Preethi, Madhu and I looked at each other. May be he rushed out quickly. That quick! Hmm…we were all thinking the same. Madhu then said, he had noticed this man earlier, sitting at the back near the curtains. He said he felt as if this man was keeping the curtains open for us. A divine guide, for sure! We realised who came there! No grace mark for this guess…

We slowly came out of the temple, still in awe of this journey that finally, we made it and we got the darshan of Bhagawan. I felt blessed for keeping my faith intact … As we were stepping out, Madhu gave us a message from Sulakhe Maharaj (the head priest of Shirdi temple, whom he was going to meet the next day), that even 2 drops of nectar from Bhagawan is as powerful as a pot of nectar! That meant a lot! 2 minutes of darshan from Bhagawan is no less than a two hour darshan!

We then went around the temple and finally came near the pool of a natural hot water spring. Few people were inside the pool. We just satisfied ourselves by taking a few mugs of water to wash our face, head and feet. There comes Sambhav, with a crazy idea. “Mum, I want to go inside the pool.” “What?” I was stunned. No towel, no spare clothes, cold night, how is he thinking of going inside the pool! But, he insisted and came up with a cool idea, that he could just remove his shirt and jeans and go into the pool with his underpants on and when he came out, wear the shirt and jeans back on! Well, the child, who at home, needs to dry off immediately with a towel was telling me he doesn’t need one! Sambhav also has a very sensitive nose and gets bothered easily with smells. He noticed the sulphur smell in the water and saying it smelt like sewage, but didn’t let that bother him or stop him from going into the pool. So I finally let him go inside and he really seemed to enjoy quite a few minutes there. A much-deserved reward for such amazingly good behaviour all this time!

We then started to get back towards the car and at that time I enquired with Madhu whether there was any shop from where I could buy a small idol of Bhagawan for Nelly-Anne. Ganeshpuri that night around 10 pm was already sleeping. Dark, quiet and all the shops were closed. Well, maybe it’s not meant to be, I thought. Suddenly, I noticed a small shop at the end of the street had a light on. So we went there and to our pleasant surprise, the shop was open and I could buy an idol for Nelly-Anne. Mohanji made sure that even this desire of a devotee from thousands of miles away got fulfilled. We got into the car and started our return journey back to Mumbai. Everyone was very content with such a fulfilling ending to our exciting journey.

Before we realised, we reached our destination much sooner and much smoother than it was during the onward journey. I realised, this is the ultimate truth – till we find our Guru, our journey in the gross life is so treacherous, full of hurdles, anxious, difficult etc…but after we find our Guru, our final journey is smooth, easy, pleasant and effortless!

I thank Preethi and Madhu from the bottom of my heart for coming out on a busy evening to take us to Ganeshpuri, just with my one chat…. It’s their love for Mohanji, understanding that every word Mohanji utters is a command not to be doubted, analysed or missed! Indeed, this was a lesson to learn and an example to follow. I thank my friend Hemangi for being so patient and supportive and having no objection, or resistance and welcoming us to her house so late. Her support in my endeavour of completing my Guru’s command was indeed commendable.

Above all, my heartfelt gratitude to Mohanji for every single thing behind this journey, giving my husband and I the abundance of His love on New Year’s morning, giving me such a pious purpose for visiting Ganeshpuri and getting the darshan of Bhagawan before the end of New Year’s Day. This blessing and grace for me personally was beyond my imagination. His grace of fulfilling the desires of many more, Preethi, Hemangi, Nelly-Anne and maybe other beings who travelled with us that evening whom we may not have recognised with our physical eyes.

I thanked Mohanji with a text message and sent Him the photo of Sambhav inside the pool. Honestly, I had no idea at that point in time, the value of being inside that pool until Mohanji texted back, “This is the place where Bhagawan used to take a dip.” I understood one more purpose behind this journey, Sambhav getting unseen, incomprehensible grace and blessings by being in this pious siddha dham of Ganeshpuri!
My head bows to my Guru, who gives us purpose to make our life more meaningful while being in eternal joy and bliss.

Thank you Mohanji for your eternal Love!
Jai Mohanji.

Subhasree

 

||JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI||

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