Since my son had Dassehera holidays, we wanted to take him to some place outside Bangalore. My wife said she prayed to God that she will come to Shirdi when my daughter was born 2 years ago. Our tickets to Shirdi were confirmed just 3 hours before the departure of the train. So we packed our bags and boarded the train towards Shirdi on 6th August 2011. I have a great liking for samadhi shrines of Siddhas. So I was also happy that I am going to visit a great Siddha's samadhi shrine and that too of a Datta avataar's.
We had reached Shirdi at 3PM on 7th August. Shirdi was very crowded and the boarding charges in hotels were exorbitant. We managed to get a decent hotel for a reasonable rate (ofcourse its high but its a festive season). We quickly had bath and set out to have darshan of the great Siddha. There was a very long queue. We were in the queue for almost 2 hours. Instead of discussing some worldly things, I thought I will chant "Om Sai Ram" mentally. After chanting this mantra for a while I have noticed myself chanting a mantra on Guru. This happenned automatically. Realizing this, I went back chanting "Om Sai Ram". Again same thing happens. This mantra gets converted automatically to the one on Sri Guru. Just for your information, the mantra on Guru is the one I often chant during the course of a day. This is my method of Guru Smaran. It works for me. But quite surprising thing here is that I was chanting a mantra on the great Siddha Sri Shirdi Sai baba. But it automatically gets converted to the mantra on Sri Guru. After this incident, I started chanting the mantra on Sri Guru. This shows that the same Guru Principle works in all the Siddha Gurus. They are all same. They are all grace bestowing powers of God. These thoughts were coming to my mind as we approached the samadhi shrine. I have started visualizing my Gurudev in Sai baba and again visualized Sai baba in my Gurudev.
When I saw the idol of Sri Sai baba, I felt for a split-second that I have seen my Sri Gurudev. I don't know whether it was the result of the visualizations that I have been doing while waiting in the queue. But what is more important is that my Gurudev came to my thought when I saw the great Siddha Sri Shirdi Sai baba.
After the darshan of Sri Sai baba, I came across a room where people were doing PARAAYAN of Sai Sat Charitra and Sri Guru Charitra, which is a holy book that details the life histories of the first two avataars of Guru of Gurus Lord Dattatreya. These avataars are Sri Sripada Vallabha and Sri Narasimha Saraswathi. I wanted to read Sri Guru Gita in the paraayan room. But my son wanted to roam around the mandir complex. While my wife was doing some shopping, I came across a short book, which is an english version of Sri Guru Charitra written by Sri Ekkirala Bharadwaj. Before purchasing the book I wanted to read the foreword. And the foreword mentioned the importance of reading Guru Charitra and mentions that to understand the deeper meaning of SRI GURU, one should read "Sri Guru Gita", which I read quite regularly (ofcourse some times laziness takes me over). And the book is all about finding a Guru and doing seva to HIM to achieve liberation. I came across another book in the shop on Sri Dattatreya. The back cover of the book says that one should find a Guru and surrender to HIS lotus feet. So where ever I went in Shirdi, I came across this constant message of "IMPORTANCE OF SRI GURUDEV FOR SELF REALIZATION".
I have purschased a book on the life history of Akkalkot Swami Samarth. I thought of reading it in the bus while returning from shirdi to Bangalore. After purchasing it, I opened the book randomly at a page that talked about the tenets of Datta Sampradaya, which are as follows:
Even Bhagawan Nityananda was an avataar of Lord Dattatreya. Bhaskar Mhaskar, the author of "Jaya Jaya aarati Nityananda" was directed to Bhagawan by lord Dattatreya in a dream. And bhagawan gave the darshan of lord Dattatreya to him. Even many considered Swami Jnanananda as an avataar of lord Dattatreya and some devotees used to read Sri Guru Charitra in front of HIM.
From all these experiences that I had in Shirdi, which I owe completely to Sri Gurudev's Grace and Compassion towards me, one can understand the following:
Jai Gurudev !!
We had reached Shirdi at 3PM on 7th August. Shirdi was very crowded and the boarding charges in hotels were exorbitant. We managed to get a decent hotel for a reasonable rate (ofcourse its high but its a festive season). We quickly had bath and set out to have darshan of the great Siddha. There was a very long queue. We were in the queue for almost 2 hours. Instead of discussing some worldly things, I thought I will chant "Om Sai Ram" mentally. After chanting this mantra for a while I have noticed myself chanting a mantra on Guru. This happenned automatically. Realizing this, I went back chanting "Om Sai Ram". Again same thing happens. This mantra gets converted automatically to the one on Sri Guru. Just for your information, the mantra on Guru is the one I often chant during the course of a day. This is my method of Guru Smaran. It works for me. But quite surprising thing here is that I was chanting a mantra on the great Siddha Sri Shirdi Sai baba. But it automatically gets converted to the mantra on Sri Guru. After this incident, I started chanting the mantra on Sri Guru. This shows that the same Guru Principle works in all the Siddha Gurus. They are all same. They are all grace bestowing powers of God. These thoughts were coming to my mind as we approached the samadhi shrine. I have started visualizing my Gurudev in Sai baba and again visualized Sai baba in my Gurudev.
When I saw the idol of Sri Sai baba, I felt for a split-second that I have seen my Sri Gurudev. I don't know whether it was the result of the visualizations that I have been doing while waiting in the queue. But what is more important is that my Gurudev came to my thought when I saw the great Siddha Sri Shirdi Sai baba.
After the darshan of Sri Sai baba, I came across a room where people were doing PARAAYAN of Sai Sat Charitra and Sri Guru Charitra, which is a holy book that details the life histories of the first two avataars of Guru of Gurus Lord Dattatreya. These avataars are Sri Sripada Vallabha and Sri Narasimha Saraswathi. I wanted to read Sri Guru Gita in the paraayan room. But my son wanted to roam around the mandir complex. While my wife was doing some shopping, I came across a short book, which is an english version of Sri Guru Charitra written by Sri Ekkirala Bharadwaj. Before purchasing the book I wanted to read the foreword. And the foreword mentioned the importance of reading Guru Charitra and mentions that to understand the deeper meaning of SRI GURU, one should read "Sri Guru Gita", which I read quite regularly (ofcourse some times laziness takes me over). And the book is all about finding a Guru and doing seva to HIM to achieve liberation. I came across another book in the shop on Sri Dattatreya. The back cover of the book says that one should find a Guru and surrender to HIS lotus feet. So where ever I went in Shirdi, I came across this constant message of "IMPORTANCE OF SRI GURUDEV FOR SELF REALIZATION".
I have purschased a book on the life history of Akkalkot Swami Samarth. I thought of reading it in the bus while returning from shirdi to Bangalore. After purchasing it, I opened the book randomly at a page that talked about the tenets of Datta Sampradaya, which are as follows:
- Selfless service and surrender to the Guru
- Discipline of naam smaran and meditation
- Purity of thought, word and deed
- Compassion and love for all living beings
Even Bhagawan Nityananda was an avataar of Lord Dattatreya. Bhaskar Mhaskar, the author of "Jaya Jaya aarati Nityananda" was directed to Bhagawan by lord Dattatreya in a dream. And bhagawan gave the darshan of lord Dattatreya to him. Even many considered Swami Jnanananda as an avataar of lord Dattatreya and some devotees used to read Sri Guru Charitra in front of HIM.
From all these experiences that I had in Shirdi, which I owe completely to Sri Gurudev's Grace and Compassion towards me, one can understand the following:
- The DATTA principle is present in all great God enlightened saints
- GURU's GRACE is a MUST for God Realization
- Surrender, Service and smaran of the GURU are the primary means to attract grace of Sri Guru
- Hold on to the lotus feet of Sri Gurudev and never leave them
Jai Gurudev !!
