This series chronicles interesting experiences recounted by the devotees of HH Maharanyam Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji. These articles are translations from the series, “Madhuramaana Mahaneeyar” that is published every month in Madhuramurali Tamil monthly magazine.
Glimpses of Divinity
This article was originally written by Smt. Jayanthi Janakiraman in 1996, where she recounts some of her divine experiences with Sri Swamiji.
When Sri Swamiji sees a holy river, he would immediately wish to take a dip in it. He has bathed in almost all the sacred rivers in India. After bathing in the river, he would meditate for hours standing in it or sitting on its banks. At night, he would take pleasure in lighting lamps and setting it afloat in the river.
Once, when we went on a pilgrimage to Kasi (Varanasi) with him, he asked us to light lamps and set it afloat in the river. We lit many lamps and set them adrift on the Ganges. The lamps floating on the river was a sight to behold!
In the case of many devotees, when they come to meet Sri Swamiji for the first time, they exclaim, “I have seen him before in my dreams and he looks exactly like I saw him in my dream.” Similarly, when devotees invite him home, bound by love, he would accept the invitation in spite of his several commitments. Sometimes, he wouldn’t be able to make it. But they would have his vision in their dreams as consoling them.
Before Sri Swamiji came to Premika Bhavanam, he spent some time at the house of Madhusri Komala, where one day, when we were singing Bhajans in Sri Swamiji’s presence, suddenly, Smt. Komala and I saw a divine halo around Sri Swamiji’s head.
More recently, my daughter, Vishnupriya had a dream of Sri Swamiji with holy ash (vibhuthi) on his forehead and rudraksha garland around his neck. In the morning, when she went upstairs to have darshan of Sri Swamiji after excitedly sharing the dream with me, she was dumbstruck! Sri Swamiji had adorned an atypical attire – holy ash and rudraksha.
When we meditate in solitude or perform Nama sankirtan in front of Sri Swamiji’s photo or chant holy names in the sanctum of Lord Srinivasa Perumal in Premika Bhavanam while Sri Swamiji is out of town, many a time one may experience a sweet fragrance, or a divine vibration in the body and inexplicable peace. Such experiences are due to Sri Swamiji’s divine presence.
During this year’s Brahmotsav (1996) Sri Swamiji, in his discourse, reminisced an incident that happened a while ago.
Once a devotee of Sri Swamiji was being troubled by his enemies. They had threatened to beat him up. The devotee shared the same with Sri Swamiji. Sri Swamiji was deeply concerned and prayed to Sri Srinivasa Perumal for the safety of his devotee. That night, Sri Swamiji saw a divine vision in his meditation, where he saw the devotee sitting in the center, surrounded by glowing letters, “Om Namo Bhagavathe Vasudevaya”, that seemed to protect the devotee like a shield.
This shows that Lord Srinivasa Perumal never abandons those who have steadfast faith and are devoted to Sri Swamiji.
Original Tamil article by Smt. Jayanthi Janakiraman,
Madhuramurali November 1996.
Translated by Viji Ramakrishnan, Dallas TX
