Darshan of Masters
There have been so many instances where devotees would come and tell us that their master appeared in their dream and sent them to Swamiji.
Swamiji would always tell us that depending on the spiritual progress and the needs of a sincere devotee, the master will take the responsibility for the disciple. He will make himself available in the physical form if the disciple requires the physical form of the master.
Paramahamsa Yogananda's darshan to a longtime devotee
It was April 2005. Swamiji was touring the USA. He was conducting the Nithyananda Spurana Program in St Louis. It was an intense program. People from St Louis and nearby towns came to attend this program. After NSP program, we had the healers' initiation at the Hindu Temple in St Louis. It was Monday morning on April 18, 2005.
One of the attendees at healers' initiation came from nearby town, Bloomington in Illinois. He was a Caucasian man, male about 55 or 60 years of age. He had been on a spiritual path for decades, following Paramahamsa Yogananda. While he was very touched by Swamiji, he had a lot of conflict within him as to whether he should attend the Healers Initiation program. In this program, as explained earlier, Swamiji opens the Ananda Gandha Chakra and gives us a technique to experience perennial bliss by giving us the keys to experience Nirvikalpa Samadhi. That night the devotee had an intense dream and clearly saw Yogananda in his dream tell him, "Fool, do not have any conflict. You go and attend the program being given by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM." As you may imagine, this was a serious jolt and wake up call for this devotee.
He came a little late for the healers initiation. As he was entering the hall, Swamiji smiled at him and asked, "What did he come and tell you last night?" The devotee was quite shocked with this question. Swamiji then allowed the devotee to narrate the incident to all of us.
Mahavatar Babaji's darshan
Our St. Louis organizer, Ma Gnanapriyananda was traveling with us during 2006 Himalayas tour. She is a very shy and quite person by nature. As we were going on mules near Gowrikhund, Swamiji was showing us the area were Mahavatar Babaji appeared before Swmaiji and whispered in his ear, "THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM". Swamiji's darshan of Mahavatar Babaji took place a shortly before his enlightenment experience.
Ma Gnanapriyananda approached Swamiji and asked him if he could please grant her the darshan of Babaji. She was an ardent follower of Babaji for decades and wanted to see him. Swamiji gave her blessings. As she was going up the mountains on a mule, near Gowrikhund, she had the most beautiful vision of a young man, in golden color. She said this was the most beautiful sight she ever saw. She could not utter a word. He was sitting down in front of a tea stall. She knew instantly it was Babaji. She was unable to utter a word. This experience lasted for 2-3 minutes. During this experience Babaji never looked directly into her eyes, but the vision was intense and beautiful. For 2-3 days after the incident she had a fever and she just seemed to be very quiet and introverted.
After her fever subsided she approached Swamiji and told him about this incident. Swamiji laughed and said, "So you wanted to see him and he appeared". He caught her hand for a few moments and said, "Ma, you really had the darshan of Mahavatar Babaji. He did not look directly into your eyes because you were not ready to handle his energy. He has however showered his blessings on to you. Enjoy and cherish this experience"
He then went on to tell us that when an enlightened master takes the responsibility for a disciple, he will ensure that the disciple is enlightened. He will always be available to them in whatever dimension or form he is required in, so that the disciple continues to grow towards the ultimate experience. He then said that this is why Babaji still appears to his disciples from time to time to help them in their path. He then said, "Poor Babaji, even after 2,000 years he needs to keep appearing and giving darshans. And me, I have so many of my idiot disciples around me. I don't know how many thousands of years I need to be available for you guys!" And in his characteristic manner, burst out laughing!
Osho's darshans
These days, my daughter Nithyananda Sree has taken well to writing. In fact she organizes compiled books using Swamiji's discourses and question and answer sessions. I am now going to briefly describe her experiences, but will tell you upfront that I may not share specific names of individuals in order to protect her space and privacy. In 2006, Swamiji sent her along with a few other Sanyasis and Sanyasins to Osho Ashram. He told them to go and learn how they take care of guests. Swamiji is always willing to learn from others and improve. Nithyananda Sree, in 2006, was 15 years of age. She has taken up Naishtika Brahmacharya Diksha and wants to pursue the path of Sanyas. Swamiji gave her a probationary period where he wants her to try the brahmacharya diksha. If this is not for her, he will tell her to take the path of Grihastha. The moment she landed at the Osho ashram, she had very intense experiences. I will describe some of them to you.
When they were in the ashram and watched an Osho discourse, she had a strange sense of being intensely present when the discourse was delivered. She saw the person in whose body she was. In fact she felt it was her who was inside this body, but the body was that of a Caucasian female. She then attended dynamic meditations at the center and during one of the meditations, she heard in no uncertain tone, Osho's voice which said, "Idiot! You have come at last. Now do not miss the Master and get the job done" She also had a similar intense darshan of Osho walking with the person who was her with a different body and they smiled. This happened near a bamboo grove in the commune. She also saw a person in his late 50's. The moment she saw him, she had a strange feeling of intense love. Later she realized that she, in her past life was very close to this person.
I am not purposely giving more details to protect my daughter's privacy. But after this trip a new sense of purpose has engulfed her. We were traveling with Swamiji in USA during this experience. Swamiji smiled and said that the divine has granted her this experience so that she can realize why she has come down during this birth and not deviate from this path and get the job done!
In past, Swamiji has spoken of several children in the ashram. He told devotees during 2006 Jayanthi celebrations that these children are yogaprashtas, they have come very close to enlightenment, but somehow missed it. Now they have chosen the parents to come to Him to get this work done. He then told devotees, "You still have a chance not repeat their mistakes; otherwise you will again have to come back like them!"
Jesus Christ's Darshans
I had previously talked about my mother-in-law's darshan of Jesus Christ during the first ASP Swamiji conducted in Oklahoma City in August 2003. Swamiji conducted an NSP in Bidadi ashram in January 2008.
There was a person from Mumbai who attended the NSP program along with a large group of people from Mumbai. During the reminiscences at the end of the NSP program he told us his experiences. This person was a Hindu by birth, but has been following Jesus Christ for sometime now. He is the CEO of an IT company in Mumbai. A few months ago, he had an intense darshan of Jesus Christ where he was told by Jesus to go south of the Vindhya Mountains, near Bangalore to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. He was told by Jesus, this is a living Enlightened Master. He was also given an image of a person in saffron clothes with a turban. A few months later, one of our brahmacharinis, Ma Achalananda was at a spiritual conference in Hyderabad in May/June 2007 where she presented a paper on Nithya Spiritual healing. We had a booth at this conference where Swamiji's books and discourses in CD and DVD formats were being sold. This gentleman then came to the booth and he was quite shocked to see Swamiji's photograph. This exactly matched the image that was revealed to him by Jesus! He shared this experience with all the attendees during NSP and we video recorded his reminiscence.
Internet Darshans!
There have been even stranger incidences. We have had several visitors from remote parts of the world just come by and tell us that they were directed to Swamiji's web site for reasons unknown to them. There was a gentleman from Scotland who just showed up in Bidadi in early part of 2005. He was into yoga, meditation and pranic healing. He told us that when he was browsing the internet, out of nowhere web site popped up. He browsed the web site and was quite intrigued and just wanted to come and see Swamiji. He spent a full one month in 2005 and was fortunately able to do NSP by Swamiji and was initiated as a healer. I take it divine is now getting high tech!
But in all seriousness, there have been several such incidences that defy logic. There was someone from Iran and another from Pakistan who suddenly found Swamiji when they had health problems. They came and stayed with us for a few months to take healing from Swamiji.
I now understand when there is a sincere seeker; divine appears to him in whatever, shape or form based on the being's state in their spiritual journey and helps them with their path. If I heard this 4 or 5 years ago, I would not be able to digest this. But now, having seen these events unfold in front of my very own eyes, I know better. There is a point beyond which logic needs to be kept aside. Surely in our careers and professional dealings, logic is important. It can help us with a good paycheck, a good house, a good career, etc. But I hope you can have an open mind and realize that there is a whole new world out there which is beyond logic. I feel blessed that Swamiji appeared in our lives and gave us the intelligence to recognize and appreciate what we have – the rarest of the rare beings, a living enlightened master, a Paramahamsa who has reached out to us with open arms.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's Darshan to the Old Lady at Dakshineshwar
During Swamiji's spiritual journey, he was greatly helped by various enlightened masters, some of them were in the body and others were not in the body. Among the masters who were not in the body, Ramana Maharishi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Sharada Devi in particular helped him through darshans and gave him encouragement and confidence to continue on the path.
It was around the time of gurupoornima in the year 2007. Swamiji was back in Bharat from USA. He wanted to go to Dakshineshwar. Swamiji has not been to Dakshineshwar since his days of wandering. We first visited ghats on Ganga where Swamiji spent days together in meditation. It was almost towards the end of the tapas period where Swamiji's body was crumbling and his drive and burning desire to achieve this ultimate state was intense. As Swamiji told us, it was only when He dropped this intense desire and just relaxed, the final experience happened to him. After visiting these ghats, we proceeded to Dakshineshwar. Swamiji was accompanied by me and another devotee (now ashramite), Mr. Shiva guru who recently retired from a bank in a senior management role.
When Swamiji reached Dakshineshwar, he was so happy to be back. He looked at me and said, "Do you know every atom in this place is vibrating with the energy of Ramakrishna. I wish you guys can feel it" We then went to the temple where Ramakrishna worshipped mother Kali. The pujaris (priests) of the temple are direct descendents of Ramakrishna. We then proceeded to take a dip in Ganga. Just as we came out and were proceeding to see the bedroom where Ramakrishna slept, an old lady along with her daughter came to Swamiji, profusely crying. She fell at Swamiji's feet. She told in Hindi, "Baba, mujhe moksha de!" (In Hindi, Baba means father. This is how Swami's are referred to in North Bharat. She essentially asked Swamiji, "Father, please give me liberation"). Swamiji told me to tell her that whatever she wishes will come true. She then went on to tell me that she has worshipped Ramakrishna for over 50 years and the previous night she had an intense darshan of Ramakrishna where he said there is a Baba who will be in Dakshineshwar tomorrow. He told her to go and fall at his feet and seek liberation. Swamiji then told us that similar incidences happened when Ramakrishna walked in flesh and blood at Dakshineshwar.