True Experience

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Like That He Taught Me

 

Swami has said many times,

 

"Just because I walk and talk like you, it doesn't mean we are the

same. Don't mistake my everyday appearance for what I really am. My

position is that of Avatar, to guide and assist you through this

Kaliyuga age."

 

Swami, with great patience does exactly that in so many different

ways.

 

One summer's afternoon in 1994, I was sitting in the front of block

two in the Sai Ramash Hall in Whitefield, listening to one of

Swami's discourses. It was one of those days when everything had

gone amiss and I felt a strong sense of being let down. In this

negative state of mind, I sat with arms folded in an effect to

prevent further pain.

 

At the end of the afternoon's discourse, Swami began to sing his

favourite Rama bhajan, then instantaneously He beckoned us to join

in the singing. The cheerful crowd began to clap and sing with

enthusiasm - infact the entire hall seemed to come alive and move

with the music. But I stubbornly remained motionless - still hugging

myself.

 

Swami who was not far away looked down with concern as I sat there

still and silent. Then all of a sudden the hall turned a misty

brilliant white. I gasped and looked around me but within a few

seconds the assembled crowd, myself included, were engulfed in the

gathering mist. I rubbed my eyes and blinked but the luminescence

continued to gather. As I sat there watching, the mist seemed to

take on a life of its own. It began to thicken and intensify in a

manner that seemed to reflected the joyfulness of the singing. When

the bhajan came to its climax, I could no longer see anything as the

mist had completly enfolded me.

 

At the end of the bhajan I glanced up at Swami. He, too, was

encircled by the mist, but to add to my surprise, a powerful light

shone around Him. Not entirely convinced I was seeing correctly I

thought to myself, 'someone must be shining a very strong spotlight

on Him.' I peered around the hall for signs of extra lighting but

there were none. When Swami turned slowly around to preform Arathi,

I clearly saw at the back of His head, and unattached, a milky white

shiny disc. When He moved, so the disc moved with Him, never

wavering from its position.

 

After the Arathi, Swami began to walk away and the disc became more

apparent. I can only describe it as a halo, but unlike those seen on

pictures of Christian saints. Swami's halo had a radiance that I

felt was somehow charged by His divine essence. When Swami reached

the door, both the mist and the halo disappeared.

 

The memory of that long ago afternoon is as fresh today as it had

been then. Swami had given me a wondrous insight to encourage me

during a time when I felt like giving up and it was 'LIKE THAT HE

TAUGHT ME.'