We have had the privilege of knowing Guru Maa since August 1975, when Her Guruji His Holiness Acharya Viswanath Dev Sarmaji and She visited the Air-India office in Calcutta. She met my husband Ashwani and was on Her way to London to teach numerology, palmistry and astrology at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan in London. My first meeting with Her was a few days later, when I was to interview Her for Eve's Weekly magazine. Her predictions, detailed in that article of 1975, have all come true. These included the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi's death, Rajeev Gandhi (described as a handsome young man in kurta-pyjama and draped in a shawl) coming to power as the Prime minister of India, Margaret Thatcher's victory and much more...
Ever since that meeting, we have constantly been in touch with Her and She has reciprocated our feelings with immense love and affection and has become very special to our family.
Her Holiness Guru Maa arrived in Singapore on January 19th. Her arrival was greeted with heavy downpour; weather she thought was conducive to staying indoors and eating ‘pakoras’ ! But She was game, when we told Her about the temple of Lord Sri Hanuman in Yishun, at the northern end of Singapore Island. The largest Lord Hanuman statue of this region is installed here. Dark clouds and pelting rain playing hide and seek along the route, we kept going ahead and Guru Maa got Her darshan. The rest of the evening was spent savoring every moment of Guru Ma's auspicious presence by the Sarwal family; Ashi, Avantika, Avinash and myself as we sat absorbed, listening to Her as She explained the significance of numbers; especially of number 108. This was an explanation that I have been seeking for a longtime, and had asked this question to many learned scholars, but no satisfying or comprehensive answer ever. The day ended perfectly when Guru Maa showered all of us with Her blessings and presented us with boxes of 'Mithai'!
On 20th of January, in the pre-dawn hours, it was an enlightening experience to witness Guru Maa bathe Her Lord with such utter devotion. After Baba's bath, we were privileged to drink the ‘Panchamrit’ (milk, honey, ghee, sugar, yogurt) and eat the fruit Guru Maa had so lovingly diced for us while we indulged in it for the duration of her stay. This was also the BIG day when we had invited some Hanuman bhakts over to receive Guru Maa's blessings and to have her lead us in prayer to the Lord. Ila Maheshwari began the session by singing a few bhajans to set the mood for the experience that was to follow.
Guru Maa explained the Hanuman Chalisa and then after answering questions, led us all in prayer. And this was the ultimate offering; the chanting of her version of Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram. The hall reverberated with over 50 voices singing lustily in unison. The vibrations and energy generated in our home was more than enough to get anyone on a positive high! There was a presence in the room, Most of us felt something beyond the ordinary. And Guru Maa confirmed this was due to the presence of the Lord himself, She saw Him and I believed Her.
Guru Maa then answered some questions and spoke to and blessed those who went up to Her. Finally She spoke on one of her favorite topics - The importance of being a vegetarian. This positively influenced some, into thinking of or vowing to convert to a life time of vegetarianism. I am glad it did just that for me.
Bhog was offered, and the last guests left at about 4:30pm. Around 6:30pm, we took Guru Maa to our friends Aneeta and Hemant Bansal's home. I t was generally an evening of learning and imbibing Guru Maa's words of wisdom. This was followed by dinner prepared by Aneeta. On our way home, we took Guru Maa for a drive around Chinatown that was illuminated for the Chinese New Year festivities.
On the third day of Her stay, after spending the morning in Hawan and meeting devotees, we took Guru Maa to see the famed shopping mall, Takashimaya on Orchard Road which is a Shopper's paradise! The next sop was at Vashima Goyal's home. Around eight children were there, sitting in attendance and eager with their questions ranging from "Who was Hanuman? Why was He in the form of a monkey etc.! I am sure She converted most of them into vegetarians too!
After Bhojan, we to Her for a drive to Little India, to show her hordes of people; all temporary workers from the Indian sub-continent who congregate in this area very Sunday.
On January 22, all too soon, it was time for Guru Maa's departure. The family joined Guru Maa for early morning prayers and was also joined by Aneeta Bansal. After the rituals, She blessed our home in Her special way, with rice and chanting and we left for the airport. During the drive, we asked Guru Maa a few more questions.
We were fortunate to receive Her blessings once more as we bid Her good-bye as She went through the immigration point at Singapore's Changi Airport. And our silent prayer was, " May the Lord be with You and bring You to our home again next year."
Her Holiness was now on Her way To Hong Kong, where Nayanmitra Kisnadwala awaited Her arrival anxiously. |
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