On Rudrabhisheka and stopping the rain

While starting for the ‘Thirtha yatra’ in June, we were prepared for the rains. With a relative (he had come down from Lucknow with his wife and daughter) who had in-depth knowledge of Vedas and Puranas, it was an altogether different experience. He explained the significance of the different temples and about the idols.

Starting from the Mangeshi temple and Shantadurga temple in Goa, we went to Gokarna. Halting in the vicinity of Om beach, went to the Gokarna temple to conduct puja next day morning. Visited the small Shivling submerged in water, which is a ‘swayambhu’ ling.

The drive to Murudeshwar was very scenic and our guests were taken aback by the beauty of Murudeshwar. They were totally enamored by the vast sea around the guest house.

Then we drove to Sringeri and on the way, visited the Mookambika temple. Since our guests wanted to visit the ‘Rishyashringa’ temple, we found out its location. It was planned to visit Rishyashringa temple the next day morning. While I was meditating, I saw the picture of a clock with the needles showing the time ’11.45’, twice. I wondered what was going to happen at 11. 45 on that day.  

We reached the Rishyashringa temple and asked to get abhisheka done, for us and for our guests. The priest suggested that instead of two abhishekas, we could get a rudrabhisheka done and the puja will be done at 11.45. So, at 11. 45,  we were all sitting and listening to the chanting while rudrabhisheka was being performed. Then I understood the meaning of seeing the clock with 11. 45 during my meditation.

From Sringeri we drove down to Manipal and took a hotel room to stay.  On all the previous days of temple visits, it was pouring heavily and we were always using the umbrellas. In Manipal I requested that we may be allowed to visit the Udupi Krishna temple without the pouring rain. I got the message that it will be clear during our visit and I could wear appropriate clothes since they won’t get wet. And it turned out to be true. It was totally clear till we reached back to the hotel and the rain resumed later in the night.

It was interesting that in all the temples we visited, the moment we reached inside, there used to be ‘Aarti’ being performed. 

The clogged pipes

Just a day before we had to leave for one month vacation, water stopped coming from the tap in one bathroom and in the green house. They were having a common connection. Since water was coming in the other bathroom, we could manage.

The crucial point was that the watchman had to water the plants in the green house in our absence. It was impossible to get a plumber on immediate notice. I called upon the higher forces as well as Reiki and performed whatever I was told to do, and told my husband to not to check the pipes for an hour.

After an hour, when he opened the tap, a lot of gurgling sounds came and muddy water started flowing, with chunks of dirt. After about ten minutes, the water became clean and there was normal flow of water through the taps. 

Tiruvannamalai experience

The Shivaratri of 2012 was spent in Tiruvannamalai. Tiruvannamalai is a world renowned pilgrim centre located at the foot hills of Annamalai hills. It came to be built over a period of more than thousand years. Many kings particularly the Chola and Pandiya Kings, apart from the King Krishnadevaraya in the 15th century were involved in its making. Shiva and Parvathi are the two deities that are worshipped here at Arunachaleeswar temple. Shiva is prayed here in the form of Agni.

While going for the darshan, I requested for a miracle. There were two queues, separated by iron railing. We chose the inner one, aspiring to go closer to the deity. People were moving faster on the other line and as we came closer, saw that there was a common entry point from both the lines. Since a gate was obliquely placed in front of our line, when four persons from the other line got entry, only one person from our line could go in. The thought came to the mind that we must have chosen the wrong line.

When my turn came to enter inside, the person standing near the gate talked some thing loud in Tamil. I couldn’t understand what he said, but he gestured me to move back. I moved back, disappointed, not sure what was happening. Then the closed the gate that was obliquely placed till then and I could get in through the space that opened up, for a darshan standing just in front of the deity. My heart filled with gratitude and reverence, for the darshan as well as for the miracle.

The realms beyond

The ten days Vipassana meditation course expanded my inner world beyond my expectation. What surprised me more were the incidents related to the outer world.

It was total silence and almost eleven hours of meditation for nine days (the silence ended on the tenth day). There was not to be any communication of any sort with any body. So I left my mobile phone at home in Belgaum when I went to the Vipassana centre in Kolhapur.

On coming back after the course I called up my friend to tell her of my experiences. She told that on the second day of my course she dreamt of me. My face was same, but I looked very tall and my hair was very long. She was surprised and asked me how I became taller at this age. I explained to her that my spiritual aura was expanding due to the meditation practice and she saw it in the physical sense.

My daughter told that she dreamt of me on the fourth day of the meditation period. She saw me with my head covered, and I told her that this course was too much and that I was leaving. She exclaimed, ‘Oh mom, how can you do that? This is not expected of you at all.’ During the time at the centre, I was always covering my head to keep away the cold breeze. And on the fourth day I was thinking, ‘This is too tough. I will never recommend this course to any body else.’ So the sentiment that she dreamt about was correct. But as she told, quitting in between is not my nature.

My friend from UK told that she had never felt so connected with me than those ten days, when we didn't even talk over the phone. Routinely we talk once every five days or so. Hence it was surprising that without having any contact with each other, she felt very much connected with me.

But what really took my breath away was the information I got four days after the meditation period. I got a call from an old friend. She told she had a missed call from my cell phone on the day when I was at the meditation center. She had some visitors at her house and there were two couples who had experienced miraculous healing effects of Reiki. Then she told them that her friend (myself) is also into Reiki and similar practices. At that particular time her phone rang and she saw that it was a call from me, of course it went as a missed call.

I explained to her that I had left my cell phone at home and I was in another place doing meditation in total silence. So it must be divine intervention that she got a missed call from me at the moment that she was talking to her friends about me.

I have been into different spiritual practices for the past three decades and each one has taken me forward and added tremendously to my understanding of life and its mysteries. During the ten day Vipassana practice, they insist that to give a fair trial to the technique, one should abstain from any other spiritual practice. Before entering the campus for meditation, I left everything outside, including my extra sensory perceptions, intuitive capabilities etc., In doing that, in effect, I had left a part of me outside. According to my daughter’s explanation, that part of me was doing all these things. Well, to me the explanation sounded logic!

Moving to another dimension

After her untimely demise in 2008, my younger sister’s presence was always with me. She was guiding me, giving me strength, love and advices. The truth that the destruction of physical body doesn’t mean your end is a great solace. Even though innumerable past life regressions that I conduct prove this fact, first hand experience is a great teacher.

In July 2010, suddenly I got the message from her that it was time for her to move to another dimension. I would no longer feel her presence continuously as it used to be. She wanted to move on from near her husband and she instructed me to tell him to light a lamp near the Tulsi plant at dusk and pray for her. She planned to make the transition then.

When I called him up, he was totally surprised since on the previous night he had vivid dreams of my sister.

From next day onwards the daily presence of butterflies around me as I stepped out of my house stopped. This used to be the sign that she was around me.

Later, on my trip to Kerala, I was having a chat with my cousin sister, who was very close to my late sister. She mentioned off hand that two months earlier, she was remembering my sister very strongly. Immediately I asked her to check the date when she felt that. And it was the same date that I got the message of her transition to the next dimension!