I told the following story which I heard in Narad Bhakti Sutra: “Once a saint visits a city. People start talking about him and his greatness. The king of the city also hears about the saint and wants to meet him. However, the king sends his chief commander to meet the saint first. When the commander goes to the hermitage of the saint, he is received very well. The commander feels happy and informs the king that the saint is very nice. King feels that the commander is thick skinned and may not be sensitive enough to judge the saint. So, king sends his minister to meet the saint. When the minister comes to the hermitage, the saint just meets him and speaks for a few minutes. The minister feels happy and informs the king that the saint is genuine. He does not want anything for himself. He didn’t try to please me. You must go and meet him. When the king goes to the hermitage, the saint comes out of his kutir (simple cottage) for a moment and goes back. He does not even speak to the king. However, the king feels happy and goes back. The disciples of the saint are surprised and ask him the reason for not talking to the king or not welcoming him properly. The saint says – for a good horse, the shadow of the whip is enough.” After telling this story, I said that Gurudev was in Pune last week. Many of you must have met Him. Some of you might be thinking that so and so had good Darshan (an opportunity to see Gurudev in person) but not me. Do not ever judge your meetings with the Master. Gurudev knows what to do when. Being in His presence itself is a big boon. I usually visit Bangalore ashram for Shivratri and Navratri. When the Aarati thaali (a small plate containing sacred ceremonial fire) comes to devotees, lot of foreigners open the photos of their dear ones on their phone and give Aarati to the photos. They feel that their dear ones could not come to meet Gurudev but at least they can get His blessings through the Aarati. When these foreigners get to meet Gurudev, they show their relatives’ photos to Him and seek His blessings. Here in India, we get to meet Him personally! So be grateful for it. With this, I concluded the follow-up. While I was packing my bag to leave, one devotee came to me and said – “Thank-you so much for telling this story. When Gurudev was in Pune, I could not meet Him because of a wedding in my family & I was feeling miserable about it. I thought maybe something is wrong with my karmas. That is why I could not meet meet Him. After listening to this story, I felt very light and relaxed. I do not have that guilt any more.” I usually do not prepare any knowledge points before conducting a session. Whatever comes to me at that moment, I share with people. This incident made me realise that Gurudev delivers the required knowledge through us and makes His devotees happy. We do not have enough time to count the blessings bestowed by our master! Just surrender everything to Him, move ahead in life, and spread happiness. Jai Gurudev.
- Dr. Sirisha
