getting the work done

[Guest guest]

This did upset some of the close devotees and they wanted to rectify the

situation. But Swamiji put a stop to their efforts. He bluntly told them,

“Noâ€.

He did not want them to stop the rumours. He said, “He is not getting this

work

done and so he considers that I have lost my powers. You are getting the work

done and so you consider that I still possess the powers. The real secret is,

you are getting the work done because you are faithfully serving me. There

are powers left in here but unless you give service to your guru, you will not

get your work done. So, I want you all to carry on doing the seva and do not

interfere with anything else.†This stopped the faithful ones in stopping the

rumour about diminishing powers of their Swamiji. The number of devotees coming

on Sundays reduced to about 1000. It included a number of devotees from far

off places. Those from far off places were showing more interest in finding out

how the activities at the ashrama were conducted. Few local residents also

started to take special interest in the activities. Narayana Rao from Mysore

press came every evening and looked after the paper work. This was a great help

for Swamiji. This resulted in Rao’s family becoming affectionate devotees of

Swamiji. Ramaswamy, a relative of Swamy, (In the previous ashrama of Swamiji,

before taking up Sanyasa ashrama), also gave his services to the maximum.

Krishna

Moorthy went to various offices to get the paper work done. In the process

many of the workers at the offices concerned became devotees of Swamiji. They

started to get the work done quickly for Swamiji. An episode concerning Krishna

Moorthy is well worth noting by the devotees. The change of use of the site

from agricultural land to that of ashrama brought in a demand from the

municipality to pay Rs.5000/- tax. As it is, it was difficult to meet the

day-to-day

expenses. How could Swamiji pay Rs.5,000/-? Krishna Moorthy was getting worried

and so he went to Swamiji and discussed on this issue. Swamiji instead of

assisting him said, “You better work out a solution for this problem

yourself.â€

Whatever plans Krishna Moorthy put forward was rejected outright from Swamiji.

Finally Swamiji told Moorthy, “Just tell me what contribution you can make

towards paying this bill?†Moorthy was after all a middle class worker and

could

barely meet his own daily needs. Still, as it was the work for Swamiji, he

said, “I will give Rs.108/-. But I have no cash now, it is only a pledge.â€

In a

similar way Swamiji talked to a number of devotees that day and managed to get

the pledge to cover Rs.5,000/-. The next day, Moorthy went to the office to

work. The head of the financial section called him in and said, “You claimed

less money in your returns last month. You are entitled Rs.300/- instead.

Happily Moorthy went to the ashrama that evening and told other devotees of the

good

news. As a matter of fact, many devotees had similar experience that day.

They had received more money than they had pledged to Swamiji from one source or

the other. They all understood that their Swamiji knows how much they are

going to get and hence made them take the pledge. Apart from Sundays and

Thursdays

there were not many devotees at the new site. This was a great help for

Swamiji. He could spend more time on meditation. That year Vinayaka Chavithi was

celebrated with great pomp. There were heavy rains during that period and hence

the devotees built a strong shelter over the fire pit for the homas. Swamiji

took the diksha for conducting the daily homa. He physically stood in the fire

pit and conducted the homa. Not many were blessed to witness this. The flames

from the fire were nearly 5 feet high. Few devotees observed that Swamiji’s

feet were covered with wet mud when he came out of the fire. They noticed the

surroundings of the fire pit of the homa to be slightly wet. They wondered as to

how it was possible with the present of the strong fire inside. Only Swamiji

must know the answer for this miracle. The time for “Devi Navarathriâ€

approached. They were conducted on a low key. There were not many devotees

during the

celebrations. Swamiji was still conducting the daily diksha, but was doing it

at different times. It was difficult for the devotees to know the actual

timings and many missed it. Those that were present were lucky to witness it.