This series chronicles sweet experiences recounted by the devotees of HH Maharanyam Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji as well as some divine experiences of Sri Swamiji himself. These articles are translations from the series “Madhuramaana Mahaneeyar” that is published every month in Madhuramurali Tamil monthly magazine.
My Guru As I See Him
Wherever Sri Guruji sees a river, He immediately desires to get down into the river and take a dip. He has almost had a dip in all the holy rivers across India, several times. After the bath, He would either stand in the river or sit by the banks and meditate for long. He would enjoy floating deepa (light) on the rivers at night.
When we all went with Him on our Kaashi trip, He asked us to light up the deepa and set them afloat. We followed His words and set a lot of deepas afloat in the river. When they floated away, it was a spectacular sight.
A lot of people, while coming to get Sri Guruji’s darshan for the first time ever, wonder, ”I have seen Him in my dream and He looks exactly how HE was in the dream”. Similarly, when devotees invite Sri Guruji to their homes lovingly, He would agree, bound by the love, despite the numerous commitments. But, on several occasions, He would not be able to honor those invitations. He would visit them in their dreams and pacify them.
Prior to moving into the current dwelling place, Sri Guruji stayed at the residence of a Sri Maadhuri named Komala for sometime. We were all doing bhajan along with Guruji, in the hall of her home. Suddenly, Komala and I saw a bright halo around Sri Guruji.
One night recently, my daughter Vishnupriya, had a dream that Sri Guruji graced her with holy ash all over His body and rudhraaksha mala. Upon waking up in the morning, she came running and shared her dream lovingly with me. She went upstairs to get Sri Guruji’s darshan and was stunned seeing Him. The reason being, Sri Guruji was wearing the holy ash and rudhraaksha, outside of His normal routine.
While doing meditation in solitude, or chanting nama with Sri Guruji’s picture, or singing in the sannidhi of Perumal when Sri Guruji is out of town, we may feel a sudden flash of inexplicable fragrance, tranquility or vibration in the body. It is the special power of Sri Guruji.
Sri Guruji shared about an incident that happened a long time ago in His discourse during the Brahmothsavam. I am writing about that here.
Someone who was deeply devoted to Sri Guruji was in a state, where he was troubled frequently by an adversary. They had threatened that they would come with goons and attack him. The devotee conveyed this to Sri Guruji. Sri Guruji prayed to Perumal, fearing that something might happen to His devotee. Sri Guruji had a vision during meditation that night. In that, He saw that the devotee that He was praying for was sitting while surrounded by a glowing shield of letters forming “Om Namo Bhagavathey Vaasudevaaya” encircling him.
So Perumal never lets go of those that have strong faith and devotion towards Sri Guruji.
Original Tamil article published in Madhuramurali Magazine, Nov 1996 issue
Chronicled by Smt. Jayanthi Janakiraman and translated by Smt. Mangala Gowri Sridhar, Jacksonville FL
