 |
| A scenic pan of the entire Hadshi temple complex taken from the guest house. |
On the morning of October 31 I woke up with mixed feelings. As I bowed down in front of the door of His room my heart seemed to cry out, "Oh no! It is over today!" The trip actually was not about to end and Mumbai still awaited Swami's arrival. But I was sure that one glorious chapter of this odyssey was definitely close to conclusion. Hadshi is so beautiful a place and the beauty had been magnified million times because of Swami. Leaving it would be painful.
We filed out of the Mandir towards our rooms silently. Only half of us who would sleep outside Swami’s door, were awake – the others were still sleeping. Those who had woken up had also woken up to the reality of the imminent parting from Hadshi. Nevertheless, with Swami, joy soon overtakes sorrow.
“Yes, we may be leaving Hadshi, but we would be doing this with Swami”, I said to myself. Swami is the One who adds joy and profundity to our lives anywhere and as long as we carry Him (or He carries us whether in life or in the physical realms as He was doing now), there is no need to feel despondent. Life with Him is bound to be good and memorable. Like they say, “Life with God is an endless hope and life without Him is a hopeless end.” And that is something which I hope to remember all life. All the joy and peace is life is in Swami - not in any worldly objects, money, name, fame, relationships etc. Everything becomes beautiful if I have Swami; else everything is so meaningless.
As the day advanced, we were told to pack our bags and get ready. After taking some snaps of the sunrise, I headed to the poolside where we were served steaming breakfast. Once I was through I decided to go to the guest house as someone had mentioned that from there one could capture a good view of the entire temple complex. Soon I landed there taking along both, the video and still camera, with Ganesh as my accomplice. We secured permission to go to the terrace for shooting. A lovely breeze was blowing and that made me feel that I must come back to this place again. The temple looked beautifully set against the backdrop of the towering hills. Completing our shoot, we made our way back to the mandir and to the top to join the others as they waited for Swami to come. The time was 9:00am.
Twenty five minutes past nine, Swami emerged from His room. He immediately called Mr. Shivajirao Jadhav and discussed with him about the gifts' distribution that had been planned! Swami then moved amidst us and for the second time during the trip, waded through us and seated Himself against the southern wall of the room. Immediately CG, Raghuram, Gopi sir and Sai Dath proceeded to do Paadaseva. Mr. Jadhav was holding some covers in his hand and he wanted Swami to gift it to the boys. Swami took hold of one of them and gave it first to Gopi sir. He actually wanted it to be opened.
 |
| Sivakumar "showing" Swami the use of a digital photo viewer. |
(Dear reader,
If you have come directly to this post, I would like to egg you on to enjoy the full story with its history. Link to part 1 is given below and the link to the next part will be at the end of each previous part. Thank you.
The previous part which is Part 8 is located at the link given below in case you missed that.
Part 9 continues below)
So, out came the big polythene bag and the gift wrapping, and now was seen a box within which was a multimedia viewing device. Swami took this in His hand and slowly began to press the different buttons on it. Soon Shiv Kumar sitting nearby mentioned to Him that it needed either batteries or power connection to function. Swami smiled and next asked all of them to be distributed to the boys. As this went on I took a few pictures. The elders were given the idols of Vitthala-Rakumai too along with this gadget (it was a digital photo frame). I now moved to a better angle when Swami looked at me and gestured that there was no need to shoot. I immediately retired and sat down. With each passing elder, I tried to move closer to Bhagavan, and during this process I noticed Swami asking specially for Dr. Dash and gifting him too with these goodies.
After the elders, Swami presented His tokens of love to all those who had served in the Residence including the State President and the others. I was happy to see that Ravi Bhaiya had picked up the camera and was busy taking snaps. Swami had not told no to him right? I began to massage His feet and was thrilled at this opportunity. This is what happens when you listen to Swami - even a denial becomes an opportunity!
