Some Experiences with the Divine

What was that formidable light?
I was in high school. I went to a A-Type boarding school in Athgarh in order to claim the full National Talent Scholarship. The school was 44 miles away from my village Adheigundi. In 1977, for rural India, 44 miles was a great deal of distance. No buses used to go to my village. We had to walk 1 mile to the nearest village to catch the bus. I was visiting home as I usually did 1 to 2 times a month. My father was a spiritual man, a man who never forgot to read and practice Bhagavad Gita daily. There was this bus that left at about 4 AM in the morning, when it was still pitch dark. My father and I left home for the bus stop at 3:30 AM in the morning. It was pitch dark and there was an eerie quietness of the night filled with the usual nightly noises of the creatures. We had to walk this stretch of the road flanked by paddy fields to the brink of the mountains in the horizon. There were no houses or no one else. While walking on this stretch of the road, my father and I all of a sudden saw this fireball about the size of a large pumpkin at about a two block distance away where there was this p0nd of the other village Karilo. I had heard many ghost and related stories about Karilo pond but never really came across anything close to it in my many passing of the pond at night until that night. This fireball was glowing in an alternating on and off mode every 3 seconds or so. I had heard about a story about what people referred to as "padachari" or "field grazer" before. Padacharis are apparently people who eat fecal matter from the pond banks at night and apparently their mouth spews out glowing fireballs. My father had also told me that a male jackal's mouth apparently spews out fireballs also. Not knowing what it was, I was afraid. I was very afraid but kept it to myself while continuing to proceed with great fear. I started praying hard to Lord Jagannath. After a minute or so, I had to talk to my father about it. Even though his response was meant to be reassuring, I could read between the lines and gathered that he was afraid also. He asked me to pray and told me that he was praying too. Within a minute or two of our praying hard with intense devotion (aarta form of prayer, a prayer while someone is facing grave danger), I could not believe my eyes what I saw. The fireball raced toward the paddy field to our left all the way to the mountains and disappeared. The estimated distance it travelled within 2 seconds or so was about a mile or more. I was relieved from my fear. To this day, I do not know what it was. But I know my prayer was listened.

Mother Kali Fulfilled my Desire
My wife and I were on our way to a social gathering. On the road, I said to my wife, "It would be nice to have a picture of Mother Kali for my sadhana or penance and worship." Typically we get our pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses from the ISKON temple. We had made a few visits to the temple but never saw a picture of Mother Kali there. My wife said, may be we need to visit the ISKON temple again and look there. In any case, the desire for the picture of Mother Kali stayed in my mind. The very next day, one of our friends, Mrs. Rout (Chitra apa) called Smriti and told her that she visited a friend's house a day before and saw all these pictures of gods and goddesses brought in from India by the friend. When she saw Mother Kali's picture a thought came to her that I might like that picture. So she went ahead and picked it up. It is a big 3' x 2' picture of Mother Kali in her vishwarupa or universal form. I had never before expressed my interest in Mother Kali to Chitra apa. When the great Mother wants to be worshiped by her chosen devotees, she shows up at their door steps in mysterious ways. The naysayers will say this is a coincidence. I do not believe it is.

Expansion of Being
I was doing Omkar sadhana. One night I saw Mother Durga in my heart. My being expanded and kept on expanding. I am watching myself. All of a sudden my entire being expanded to fill the entire universe. I lost my sense of identity for a moment. I became afraid and the moment I was afraid, I came back to my own restricted body at once.

Distance Healing of a Friend
A close friend of mine (used to be my best friend) was suffering from some health problems. He had a terrible fever. He and I talk probably once every two years these days. It happened to be that evening I talked to him and he told me about his ailment. I told him that hope he felt better and I would pray for him. That was all I had said. I went to start my worship of Divine Mother Durga followed by meditation. I asked the Mother to heal my friend and asked the Mother to show my friend that she exists. I finished my meditation and prayer by 1:00 AM and applied the mantra technique of distance healing. I used the Chamanda Mantra which I had been doing mantra sadhana with. Next morning before I got to the office, I saw an email from my friend who never emails me (neither I emailed him) this short email that filled my heart. He starts out by saying, "You won't believe what happened last night. At about 1 AM, Mother Durga came in my dream and caressed me. I woke up at once with profusely breaking sweat. My fever was gone and I was healed." He had no idea that I would pray Mother Durga. He did not know when and what I was going to do. It was a miracle. Mother's ways are mysterious.

Miracles of Swami Satyananda

First of all, I was running late to catch the train at Cuttack. My cousin brother-in-law was rushing me to the train station in his motor cycle. My wife was coming to see me off in a car. We were going to the railway station separately because we thought that the motor cycle may be faster because it can swerve through the complex traffic patterns of Cuttack and make me reach the station faster. On the way, my cousin brother-in-law (my wife's first cousin) and I realized that there was no way we would be able to make to catch the train which was scheduled to leave Cuttack at 1 PM. I prayed hard for my desire to go to Rikhia to visit Swamiji was very intense. My prayer was intense. I said in my mind to Swamiji that if you really would like me to visit you, then please please make the train late by 15 minutes. It was unbelievable that when we reached the railway station, we learned that the train was running 15 minutes late. The train that almost always comes on time came at 1:15. I was very happy.

On my way, I came to converse with a gentleman who is a high official in the railway department. The gentleman was so nice that when we got off at Howrah station, he insisted that he paid for my dinner. He told me he knew where things are since he has been traveling for a long time in that route. If it was not for him I was going to go hungry since I would not have dared go out of the station to eat. The Guru or the Divine Being works mysteriously through the minds of people.

I had never been to Jasidih (the station for Rikhia). It was time to get off at the Jasidih station at about 3 AM. I was all alone. I felt uncomfortable to be alone and I had no clue where I was going to go at that time of the night in Jasidih. There were two gentlemen in the same compartment who were also getting off the train and asked me if I knew where I was going. When I told them I was there to visit Swami Satyananda's Ashram, they said they were there for the same reason and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told them I did not. They said not to worry, they already had a place reserved and invited me to stay with them. They made arrangements for taxi in this strange town and I accompanied them. I learned that all places were already booked up in town by people visiting the spiritual event to be held by the Swamiji. I could not thank the two fine gentlemen from Pune for their kindness and generosity for keeping me with them for two nights. Again the Guru works in mysterious ways.

While attending the spiritual event, we took a taxi at the end of the day from the Ashram to the hotel. The second night on our way back, I wanted to cover the taxi costs. I took my wallet out and paid the dues to the taxi driver and then went inside the hotel. In the lobby, for some reason I was trying to feel my wallet and it was not there. I looked everywhere on me and the pathway from the taxi to the lobby. The two fine gentlemen helped me look for it as well. We nearly searched for about half hour. I sat distraught in a chair. There was a young swami with us who tried to cite "Dukhesunudvignamana........" meaning "a yogi should neither be ridden with anxiety at the time of sorrow and nor should be elated at the time of happy moments....". I have been an avid reader of the Bhagavad Gita and always tried but mostly failed practicing the principles of the Gita. This was a test. This was a true test because my wallet contained my green card. I was not worried about other credit cards and cash as much. But I was worried sick for the green card. My mother was going to accompany me on my return trip to the USA. I kept thinking how am I going to enter the USA let alone my mother. I was truly worried sick. I lost my balance of mind. I failed Gita's advice miserably. The fine gentlemen and two young swamis accompanied me to the police station to lodge a complain, which I did. I came back to the hotel and sat down in the lobby in a very disturbed state of mind. At this time the one of the young swamis asked me to pray. I prayed swami Satyananda extremely intensely, in an extreme aarta mode to help me out in this situation. I prayed for about 5 minutes. The taxi driver who had dropped us off, comes to the lobby and says "I have your wallet but you have to come with me to get it". I immediately gave him a tight hug and called him a brother. I vividly remember that moment. He said, when I paid him my wallet dropped to the ground which he picked up. He said no matter how much he wanted to keep it he could not keep it and turned it to another fellow. We walked together to this place about two blocks away. I was quite apprehensive where he was taking me. But I was in a dire situation so I did not care. We approached this cement building with a few gentlemen standing there. One gentleman comes and hands me over the wallet. I thanked them from the bottom of my heart and heftily rewarded the taxi driver with cash from my wallet. Nothing was missing from my wallet. I got back my sanity. It was a huge test on my state of mind which I miserably failed. Another incident that showed me the miracle of intense prayer. Whoever is reading this, I must say that when you pray in a genuine situation, pray intensely. It is easier said than done. Intense prayer will never go unanswered.