Spritual 1

AN Ordinary House-Wife’s Extraordinary Spiritual Experiences-Part-I Right from my child-hood days, I was very much eager to know about God. Who is GOD? How is God? How God was born? Who are his parents? These were some of the hundred and odd questions that were cropping up in my mind, for which I was very much eager to know the answers. But then, I was under the impression that these were some of the questions which were beyond the comprehension of my young and innocent mind. Inspite of this, I was eager to see and experience that GOD. After passing through the phase of innocent child-hood days, I entered College. There, I had the opportunity of reading “Gnanayoga” of Sri Swamy Vivekananda. After going through that book, many of my doubts were cleared. Right from my early days, I was in the habit of reading books pertaining to great Sages and mahatmas. This increased my spiritual hunger so much, that I also wanted to see and experience that “GOD”, like they did. Once, when I was singing devotional songs in my parent’s house, the entire room vanished when I realized that God is Omnipresent. In yet another incidence, when I was in the College Hostel, I was bowing with folded hands in front of the photo of Lord Thirupathi Venkateswara, when I experienced a beam of light emanating from the centre of the forehead of the Lord entering my forehead between my two eyes. After this experience I lost all worldly attractions, resulting in total renunciation. At this point of time, I wanted to give up this worldly way of life and go to the Himalayas for meditation But, I consoled myself that thinking on these lines is not the right path for a girl studying in the College. During the rest of my College days, I did not allow my mind to dwell on God and kept it firmly wrapped under control. I then lead an ordinary life like all other girls. After my marriage, I had to stay in tents for nearly six months in a year with my husband during the course of his survey works. I felt as though we were staying in a Rishi’s Ashram. During our stay in Bellary, I was worshipping all the Hindu Gods. Then my ambition to see all those Hindu Gods got a fillip. One day we offered a special pooja at the Lord Eswara and Goddess Parvathi temple. The temple priest informed us

2

that “The God will fulfill whatever wish the mind can think of”. Immediately, without batting an eyelid I wished for “Sakshathkara”. Then a flower fell from the right side of Goddess Parvathi Idol. At that time I was under the impression that “Sakshathkara” meant the appearance of Goddess Parvathi and vanishing after a few moments. But, afterwards I realized that it was not so. ”Sakshathkara” means the complete understanding and realization of the God. After returning from the Eswara Temple, I started receiving different messages emanating from human beings, animals, birds, plants and trees. Vibrations were also emanating from my head. Their intensity was great. Due to this, there was change on the body and mind. I vowed to God to cure me from this. Gurujis were also consulted. Inspite of all these, it was very difficult to concentrate my mind on daily routine chores. After about six months, everything became normal. Under these circumstances, different sounds were being heard and lights were being seen. In order to escape from their harassment, I resolved that the correct answer is to leave this mortal body. But, before leaving this mortal world I wanted to behold God. With this ambition in my mind, I humbly prayed to God to manifest before me at least once. From the very next day, all the Pantheon of Hindu Gods started appearing. All these Gods and Goddesses were emanating from my body and then re-entering from where they came inside the body. Once, Anjaneya manifested before me and asked “What do you want? I will provide. My immediate reply was “for heavens sake I do not wish to have any boon; please disappear.” In that condition, I did not like to ask God for anything. I had seen Lord Ganesha many times. Coconut, banana, camphor, incense sticks all materialized in Astral bodies and performed pooja to Lord Ganesha and vanished. When all these Gods were emanating from and going back inside my body, I felt that my intestines in the stomach vanished and I could not consume any food. Also, I thought that the Gods residing in my stomach could be sullied if I ate any food. But, how long could I stay without taking any food? If I walked on the floor, I

3

used to hear voices saying “Mother Earth.” These voices created an impression that I was actually walking on Mother, which created a panicky feeling in me. Then I was becoming so scared that I would sit on a mat at one spot without moving. In case I slept, I would feel that I was actually sleeping on Adishesha- the seven-hooded serpent. Adishesha vanished as soon as I opened my eyes. While I sat, stood, walked or slept, Adishesha would open its hoods in the spiritual body above my head and this gave a feeling that I am being given some kind of protection, which I could not gauge. This continued to happen for a few days. What is the panacea to escape from the harassment of these Gods? I just wanted to be away from all these Gods. In order to do just that, I thought I would be happier if I Joined Christianity. From the next day itself, Jesus and Mary started appearing before me. I also started hearing the name of “Allah,” “Allah” many times. In view of this, I realized that the remedy to my problems will not cease by joining other castes. Therefore, I decided to stay as a Hindu and find a suitable remedy here itself. Later, I realized that all roads lead to the same goal, i.e., GOD. Even though all Gods and Goddesses came out of my body and returned to the same place, I did not realize that God was within me. All say that there is only one God. When such is the case, I was astounded and confused about the appearance of so many of them. Once, I experienced one of my own astral body coming out of my physical body and saw this world from the sky. On another occasion, I could see all the planets passing one by one below me. Another day, countless number of my astral bodies came out of my physical body. Inspite of this, I did not feel that God is within me. Before my marriage, my mother had told me a number of divine experiences, this is still fresh and evergreen in my memory. Once when my mother was extremely sad, Parvathi-Parameshwara appeared before her, consoled my mother and vanished. Another exhilarating divine experience happened to my mother when she had gone to Kashi on a pilgrimage along with a few close relatives. One early morning, all of them went for a holy dip in the river Ganges and started walking to the

4

holy temple of Kashi Vishwanatha for Poojas. It was a bit dark at that time of morning and the streets were dimly lit and the group was floundering to walk properly. When this was the case with others, a bright ray of light appeared and guided my mother up to the temple and vanished. There were some more divine experiences which were told to me by my mother. My father toured the entire World during 1932. He was a social reformer. He was helping poor people a lot. He preached “simple living and high thinking” and followed the same dictum in letter and spirit. He was neither receiving any gifts from others nor giving to others. From this it is possible to know the antecedence and the future of different persons. We also tried to follow in the same footsteps. In order not to hurt the feeling of others, we had occasionally accepted and given gifts. The overall effect of visual experience of the innumerable Gods and Goddesses had adverse impact on my body and mind, which was difficult to sustain. This gave a feeling that I might have been wrong in craving for total realization of God (Sakshathkara) from Goddess Parvathi. In order to avoid or come out of this problem, I thought that there was only one way, i.e to go to a place where there is no God. But, realizing that from time immemorial all great sages, mahatmas have said that God is omnipresent and that there is no place where God is not present and there fore my wish to go to such place became futile. During this period of my experience, I could not concerate fully on my day to day household duties. Due to this my body was becoming weak. But, when my body regained some strength, the attraction and eagerness towards God was enveloping. I could not gauge what is right and what is wrong in life? I could not differentiate between these two and was in a total dilemma. If anybody told that this is the right path to follow in a given situation, I completely believed them. In such a bewildering situation, my husband came to my rescue and guided me properly step by step towards righteousness. It is common belief among Hindu wives that their husbands are living Gods. This way, I started searching God in my husband. Afterwards, I used to see Lord Eshwara and Anjaneya in my husband. The body of

5

Lord Eshwara within my husband’s Body was light blue in colour. On seeing this, my mind felt and was filled with bliss. I could understand that this glimpse of light blue color is an indication of the true depth of pure Love towards God. I now experience and know that the formless (Nirakara) God is Present in the body of my husband. My husband considers me as equal to him in all respect. He also considers that we have two bodies but with a single soul. Most of the people have misunderstood this aspect of treating husband and wife as equal. In a broader way, this means that one has to give respect to one another. When I see him (Husband) as God, I could feel the spiritual power traversing in my body, which was difficult to sustain. At that time, what ever thought came to my mind used to be fulfilled. I was wondering if by chance my thoughts were to be bad, the result would also be bad. In view of this, I used to tell lies to a limited extent in order to reduce that spiritual power and afterwards, I used to tell the truth before my husband. In the beginning, with the sole intention of seeing God, I used to do only good things. Afterwards, I experienced the true meaning of “Nishkama Karma”. During our early married life, whenever there were difficulties, I used to pray to God. Then my mind used to contemplate and realize the correct way of solving the difficulties. Like that we were solving those difficulties. I was not in a position to under- stand the intricacies of these thoughts and deeds. I fully realized my spiritual faculties after I read “Wisdom of the Ancients” authored by Dr Lobsang Rampa. I felt so satisfied after reading that book. I understood that the awakening of the Kundalini has resulted in these happenings. Then I understood that through the opening of my Third Eye, I could experience that God. Instead of saying the awakening of Kundalini, I could say that my inner “Shudda Chaitanya” has awakened. I was under the impression that this “Third Eye” opens only to Lord Shiva. I did not know that this could happen to me also. I never thought that there is any connection between this Kundalini and us. The meaning of that was also not known to me.

6

My astral body used to travel to different places along with our house, when I experienced my “Chaitanya” becoming one with the “Bramhanda Chaitanya”. I realized that God is present in all human beings, animals, birds, plants, trees and in all things. When I was grieving for a Guru to guide me in the spiritual path for realization Of God, I realized that the Guru and the God are both within me. Athma is God and it is Guru also. Then I was worshipping the Formless God {Nirakara} in my mind. I experienced that my “Athma” itself was the Formless God {Nirakara}. “Tell as to which form and shape you wish to assume? And you can have it.” A voice was heard. Then I experienced from the extinct Dinosaur which was living millions of years ago to different animals, plants, trees, birds, human-beings coming out of my body donned different forms and shapes. I experienced the inner meaning of Vamanavatara, Kurmavathara, etc, which are present in the Hindu Dharma. I saw the astral bodies of Eshwara, Ganesh, Subrahmanya, Vishnu, Sreedevi, Bhoodevi, Saraswathi, Sri Rama, Seetha, Lakshmana, Anjaneya, Adishesha, Kaginele Adikeshava,UdupiSreeKrishna,Vaidyanatheswara,Lakshmi,Brahma,Dharmachakras,D attatreya, Kali,Durga,Chamundeswari, Tirupathi Balaji, Mahaveera,Gommateswara, Kamadhenu, Kalpavriksha, Jambuvantha, Bharathamathe, Viswamitra, Ayyappa, Kanyakumari, Adi Shankaracharya Ramanujacharya, Kashi Viswanatha, Puri Jagannatha, Sringeri Sharada, Swami Vivekananda. Bhakthe Meera, Menaka, Shakunthala,

Peepal

tree,

Saligramas,

Jyothirlingas,

Devala

Maharshi,

Vishnupadagalu, Shani, Ugra Narasimha, etc., coming out of my body. In addition to these, I saw the astral bodies of a few of my close relatives, my father-in-law, Paramahamsa Yogananda,Babaji, Sree Ramakrishna, Sharada Devi, Tagore, Subash Chandra Bose, Mahatma Gandhi, Vishweswaraiah, Rajaji, Rajendra Prasad, Tilak, Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Dr Radhakrishnan, Patel, J.Krishmamurthy, Jesus, Mary, Pope, Queen Elizabeth, Abraham Lincoln, Sphinx, Sikh Dharmagrantha, Aravindo, Anne- Besant, Aravindas Mother, Ramana Maharshi, Confucius, Ranade, Basavanna, Yamadharmaraya Jhansi Rani, Jayachamaraja Wodeyar, Narasimharaja Wodeyar, my father and mother, Pashupathinatha, King Cobras, Siddaruda,

7

Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa, etc. Apart from these, I was hearing inner voices also. Now, I fully experienced the presence of the Formless God {Nirakara) within me. It is extremely difficult to explain these experiences and sometimes the words Falter. In totality, my experiences resulted in realizing the God as omni potent, Omni-present and Omniscient. Many a times, I experienced my body disappearing completely and taking the shape of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, animals, plants, etc., daily. At last it manifested in the form of “OM”. Once, a shining bright light appeared behind my head, which gave a feeling that the entire body was surrounded by a twinkling light.When we were in Belgaum, I could see our Bangalore house donning different Shapes. I used to travel along with our house in my astral body. I could see a seven-hooded Serpent protecting it by opening all its seven hoods over our house. In the beginning, I experienced that this world is illusory (Maya).First, the roof and then walls started disappearing. Later, the Sun, the Moon, the Stars and in the end the Earth also disappeared. This is the “Shoonya” {vacant} experience. There was no kind of sounds and a peaceful environment exists there. A delicate kind of light engulfed which gave peace and bliss to the mind. I wished that I could be engulfed in this state for ever. It is beyond words to describe this peace and divinity. As days passed, I could really understand and experience that Divine all pervasive God. Once, I heard a voice saying that the entire Universe is within me. At that point of time I experienced my body expanding and covering the entire Universe. Then this earth and another World were visible to my Third Eye. It took me a number of years to adjust to this. I experienced the Formless God’s Omnipresence engulfing the entire Universe and which was within me also. As this experience ripened, it was difficult to worship the Idols of God. When I experienced the God within me I wished to bedeck my body. Before this, I had told my husband that I do not wish to wear ornaments and that I would only wear simple cotton saris. His answer to this seemed to me very simple and

8

that was – wear all the ornaments; do not discard them from the body. But remove the attachment of those from your mind. Now, I ware all these with a detached mind. I could now understand the Inner meaning of my husband’s advice. I fully understood the meaning of “Vairagya”. Now-a-days, I always think of God and want to guide the ordinary human beings. Educating about the “Athma” is the highest and imparting the same to others does not require any language. It transcends the entire language barrier. “Athma” is also referred to as “Shoonya”. I feel that God is manifesting in me. At times, I feel I am that God. In view of this, I thought that “Ego” will engulf me. Then, I was pleading with God to make me a good house-wife. “The right path is to understand the true nature of OM” – a voice is being heard by me. Therefore, I am always concentrating on OM meditation. The dictum – one can earn the true knowledge after seeing or realization of God has been my own experience. When one gets the divine power, the body feels a passing of high voltage current. Many a times, while listening to the radio broadcastings of spiritual songs, the heart experiences a higher level of spiritual wave. The meaning of “Videhi” was understood in this context. It means the vanishing of this body followed by experience of God as “Nirakara”. This Experience will lead to a sort of bliss in the mind. Once, a powerful flame came out between my eyebrows and was glowing for some time. This phenomenon was repeated throughout the day. In view of this, our entire house was filled with a glowing light creating a peaceful environment. Please do not try to comment on my personal experiences. Select at least a few divine experiences of mine about God and try to incorporate them in your lives. The various weapons of God manifested themselves in my body. Their existence is true. A few of them have been demonstrated to me by God. I know minutely, the past, present and future of this earth. Whatever thought my mind contemplates used to be fulfilled .At that point of time I wished for the release of Nelson Mandela, the wall separating East and West Germany be

9

removed; let Tibet and South Africa attains freedom. Then, I heard an inner voice saying that all countries in the whole world will be free, ultimately leading to a peaceful life for all. But, before that, mankind has to pay a heavy price. There will be world wide earthquakes, floods, typhoons, and icy winds. These will result in unprecedented death and destruction causing un-imaginable pain. During one of my meditation, light rays emanated from my body reaching out to the entire Universe. About 5-6 years ago, I came to know that the entire populace of this world will abandon their religions and join the Sanathana Dharma. One God will rule this entire world. All will worship only one God – OM. Hindus will rule the world. Kannada takes a pride of place in the world. One culture will spread throughout the world. All human beings try to become good citizens. There won’t be any “Gurus” to guide this world in the righteous path. Everyone will understand that “realization” is itself the “Guru”. In addition the world will witness the opening of a “Sukshma Loka”. Those who have spiritually progressed to a high degree will fly in the sky from one country to the other and from one continent to the other. Also, they offer prayers in the sky. A un- imaginable, extremely beautiful world will be ushered in. God will certainly help atheists who follow the path of righteousness. “Athma” is within every one. But not all realize this truth. That is why, such people do not believe in the existence of God. For a person whose Third Eye {Divine Eyes} has opened, than person can see in a far more better way by sitting in the house about the day-to-day happenings of this world as compared to the viewer of television. It is then that you realize the smallness of this world. When I recited “Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi Om”, I felt extreme happiness. Whoever wants their mind to be in total peace as well as the world at large; they have to recite this three times a day. It could be done like this: in the first instance, recite the above to get peace to the body and mind; secondly, wish for peace in the whole world and thirdly wish for peace in the whole Universe. This has been practiced from ancient times by our Rishis and munis. Apart from this, the

10

Bhagvadgeethe also teaches “Sarvejano Sukhino Bhavanthu”. This means let there be peace to one and all. We should seek peace and contentment in our places. Then everyone will live a peaceful life. Once in a while, make it a habit to travel to a peaceful place and think about God. Then you will not feel the burden of this life and the mind will also become refreshed. In order to learn more about God, do all your works as God’s work. Offering sincere prayers to God once in the morning and once in the night before going to bed is enough. Realization of God comes only when you do not seek anything from him. However, at times one should seek something from him. In case of problems arising, plead with him to solve them; plead for good progeny, good husband or wife to follow the path of Dharma. Inspite of not pleading with him for any and all of these, he is the best judge to decide what to give and what not to give. Once when I had gone to Buddha Gaya, I saw Buddha on an Arali leaf that entered my heart. In the same way, OM written on an Arali leaf entered my heart. Once, all my intestines disappeared from my body and their place replaced by “Shoonya”. experiences of Shoonya. Once I saw eyes on my feet. I experienced crores of Suns entering my body. I saw images of OM every where. Once when I was dozing, people who were walking outside seemed to be so small that I remembered the Kingdom of Liliput of Gulliver’s story. I realized the true meaning of mother. There seemed to be no relationship between me and this world. Then I realized how to live in this world just like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. It is extremely difficult to fully understand “Sanathana Dharma”. Inspite of this, if you can understand “Sanathana Dharma”, then you can feel that you have understood a little about God. By just remembering about the spiritual giants born in Karnataka, one feels a high reverence. Reading their life history and understanding will be of much more use for all. The present generation has not seen such great souls. But in future, they are definitely going to see such spiritual giants. A few in Karnataka

11

had achieved the stage of “Shoonya”. OM is the name given to the Lord of endless, million Universes {Brahmandas}. This entire Universe emerged from that OM and all will ultimately merge into the same. In a subtle way OM means “Shoonya” also. When ordinary family people feel renunciation, even if they have everything the life has provided, like wealth and happiness they can live the life of a hermit. If you want to know who am I, you should have experienced and reached the “Shoonya” stage or should be an “Atma-Gnani

{one who has understood the

“Athma”.} The Sathya Yuga has already started. Miracles will happen. History of the world will change in a un-imaginable way. “Brahmacharye” means all that we do to experience and realize that all pervading “Brahman”. Brahman means Athma. God is essentially described as Formless and spiritually he can be termed “Nirakara”. However, in the worldly dealings he assumes different forms. Spirituality will start in daily life from now and attains its peak in due course of time. I do not wish either to go to heaven – the abode of only happiness, or Hell – The den of never ending grief. But, now I have the requisite courage, faith and firm belief of reaching the “Shoonya”. I.e GOD ultimately. The persons responsible for all of my spiritual attainment are my parents, my husband and above all the GOD. I have written all my experiences of the God in a brief form. I fully realize that the God is within me and he converses with me daily. From time immemorial, the saints believed in the existence of ONE GOD and I feel, sometimes, that I am that GOD. Address: Late Smt. S. R. Leelavathi, B.A., W/o Sri D.S.Vishwanath. M.Sc., No.122, Shreyas, III Main, Vinayaka Society Layout, Bhoopasandra, Bangalore -560094. Mobile; 9341348407.

Email [email protected] [email protected]

12