The state of Divine Love is a wonderful state. When a talk about God proceeds, and both the speaker and the hearer are absorbed in tasting the sweet nectar of that talk, let it proceed even if God Himself appears on the scene, let it not by any means be disturbed. There is a unique sweetness in all talks of the dearest. When one develops relish for it, he will not desire anything else. The ways of Love are quite peculiar and uncommon. He who has got the relish of Divine Love, what else requires to be accomplished of him? The Lord examines only one’s love. And Divine Love stands on a higher pedestal than even the Lord Himself. Absorption in Lord’s meditation with faith and devotion, with consciousness about the Lord’s virtues, power, truth and secrets, means tasting of Divine Love, or being plunged in the Divine essence.

(Excerpt taken from The Secret of PremaYoga

– The Longing for God Vision, Gita Press)

The Divine Name is replete with countless divine virtues of God, such as forgiveness, compassion, serenity, love, wisdom, even-mindedness, guilelessness, and so on. Just as a tiny seed of a banyan tree, when sown in a fertile soil and carefully watered, grows into a beautiful plant and eventually into a full-grown tree , even so the Divine Name sown in the soil of the heart and fed with water in the form of holding communion with devotees of the Lord and study of the scriptures give rise to the tree of divine virtue. The idea is that by muttering, chanting, hearing and dwelling on the Divine Name, the Divine virtues of the Lord are naturally manifested in the devotee’s heart. These are some virtues of the Divine Name.

The practice of chanting the Divine Name and singing and hearing it in the mind, eradicates all sins and evil propensities, like egotism and attachment, partiality and prejudice, lust and anger, greed and infatuation. It further rids one of immoral habits such as lying, hypocrisy, thieving, committing violence and adultery; it ends all sorrow. The worshiper develops all noble virtues and right conduct which qualify him for God-realization. Such is the glory of the Divine Name.

The Lord and His Name are identical; nay, His essential character and Name as well as the knowledge about Him are one and the same. In fact, it is the Lord Himself who stands manifested in the form of His Name. He who understands this, grasps the truth of the Divine Name.

Mental Japa of the Divine Name is a hundred times more efficacious than that carried on with a mere utterance alone. And if this mental Japa is accompanied with reverence and love its efficacy becomes infinite; and, further, if it is performed with singular love and kept secret it ensures speedy God-realization. He who realizes this secret shall never commit sin on the strength of the Divine Name. Such is the secret of the Divine Name.

(Excerpts from The Secret of Premayoga - The Longing for God-Vision (Gita Press))

There are many saints, who leaving their houses, stay in forest, caves or hermitage and in solitude, in order to get liberation or salvation for themselves. They do not care for other people and are always self-absorbed.

SathPurushas (the Incarnations of God), are not of such a type. Rare are the sadhus and saints, who, after attaining God-vision, strive for the welfare of the people. SathPurushas mentioned in “Some Sathpurushas”, are the best examples.

“Blessed is the country, blessed is the family and blessed are the chaste parents, where these Extraordinary, Transcendent, precious and pure jewels were born.”

“Better than reading is hearing, and better than hearing is seeing. One understands the scriptures better by hearing them from the lips of the Guru. Then one does not have to think about their non-essential part.”

When Grace comes, the stream of remembrance flows into the mind continuously, and everything necessary is done to maintain the remembrance. The remembrance must be unbroken like a “thaila dhara”, which means the flow of oil. When oil is poured from one vessel to another, you see it flows unbroken. The moment there is a break in the remembrance of God, at once the ego-sense takes possession of us and darkness sets in.

Some people open the windows of their heart to receive Grace while some others keep them closed and they do not get it. But even to keep the windows of the heart open requires some inner aspiration and longing, and that longing can come to us only through the Grace of God. This is true because we see that all do not want to keep the windows open. We keep them shut. The result is we do not enjoy the benefit of Grace.

Therefore, it is not that Grace is not on us, but we are not prepared to receive it.

The ways of Grace are indeed mysterious!!

SATHGURU SRI RAJALINGA SWAMIGAL of THIRUVANNAMALAI

SWAMIGAL’S LOVE AND GRACE ON HIS ARDENT DEVOTEE

Shri. Velu, residing in Thiruvannamalai, had known Guruji for the past 6 months. In this short span of time, Shri. Velu’s love for his Swami was so firmly and deeply established, that his relationship and Divine experiences with Swamigal, leave a profound impact on all of us. It brings great rejoicing to all our hearts…

A few months back, when Shri. Velu had visited Swamigal, His Holiness had asked Shri. Velu to sit with Him, and chant Mahaan’s Moola Manthram. After a while when Shri. Velu had been chanting the manthram, the beads of the japa-mala in his hand started to quickly run across his fingers on their own!

It later happened in his own home too, when he was once chanting Mahaan’s manthram…

Recently, in the past month at the time when Guruji was taken ill, Shri. Velu, with his family, had once visited Swami. Guruji, during His illness, had bouts of severe coughing, and was severely short of breath, and barely able to converse. When Shri. Velu was with His Holiness, His cough completely stopped, and Guruji was able to talk to him and his family, for nearly an hour!

Guruji had told him that Velu’s presence made him feel happier and He felt His condition in a better state!

Shri.Velu was Mahaan personified, to have kept our Beloved Guruji in good cheer, during His sickness and ordeal!

Such Devotion and Such Divinity!

Shri. Velu felt the fragrance of Sambrani (Frankincense), all the while, in Guruji and Mahaan’s Presence.

In the days following Swamigal’s Samaadhi, Shri. Velu had been regularly visiting Guruji’s bereaved family, and Swami’s Samaadhi. He was blessed with Swami’s Darshan in the form of a beautiful butterfly, on several occasions.

With such verve, confidence, and sheer joy, he informed us yesterday, that whenever he closes his eyes in prayer, thinking of Guruji, he is blessed with a heart-warming Darshan of His Holiness, in the form of a butterfly, wherever he goes!

He is so inspired by Swami’s showering all His Love and Grace, that he refuses to allow any depressing thought to overcome him.

Blessed is he, who served our Swami, during His last days on earth!

His faith in Guruji shall ever remain an inspiration to all of us….

SATHGURU SRI RAJALINGA SWAMIGAL of THIRUVANNAMALAI

DIVINATION OF SWAMIGAL

Dear SESHA BHAKTHA SAMAAJAM,

I wish to share my recent experience of Guruji’s reassuring Grace…

Glory be to my Beloved Guru, my Lord – Blithe Spirit,

O tender-hearted one!

Who continues to shower His Grace upon His Bhaktha,

like the beautiful sunshine,

filling his heart with beauty and colour,

everlasting joy and hope….

Glory be to my Lord whose breath upon me

gives me reason to live…!

4^th. August, 2010, Bangalore.

It was two days after the earth-shattering feeling of having lost our Dear Swamigal. We were back in Bangalore, and I had been with Harsha to school, to drop him. He refused to go in, still clinging to me, crying. Suddenly Harsha’s teacher distracted him with a tiny yellow butterfly that came flitting by his side. Before I knew it, Harsha had already caught the butterfly. Feeling bad for the poor creature, I feared it would get crushed between his fingers. When he freed the butterfly, I was amazed to see that it few away unscathed! For such a tender creature to flit away unhurt, after such a firm grip was amazing…Soon Harsha finished his school, and the day passed, uneventful.

5^th. August, 2010, Bangalore.

The next day, again, I was waiting for Harsha’s return, at his school. As soon as Harsha returned, we made our way to the car, and just as we were to get in, a small yellow butterfly came flitting by and perched on my dress, for about nearly 30 seconds. When I noticed it, it seemed to be the same yellow butterfly I had seen the previous day! (or rather another one of the same kind!)

I wanted to show it to Harsha, but as soon as we got in, it again flew away. A little disappointed, but wonder-struck at how the same butterfly could approach us again, left me pondering….We were still on our way home, and it might have been less than 10 minutes, when our driver announced that there was a butterfly inside the car. Much to my amazement, it was the same butterfly again! Fearing it might be blown away by the wind, we rolled up our windows, and were gladly watching it. It was perched still, on the glass of our front window.

When we almost got home, I opened the windows to let it free. Suddenly, I saw that the butterfly came hovering around me, and over to Harsha’s face, hands, and it nearly touched his eyes! Harsha was laughing enraptured! He did not make any attempts to catch it. It still hovered around, and after a few moments, flew out!

I was thrilled beyond words to think about this incident, even at this moment!

I heard from kith and kin, how a beautiful butterfly made its Presence felt, by all Bhakthas and Sishyas of Guruji, not only during the sacred ceremony of the interment of His mortal frame, but also the following day, when a few other Bhakthas visited His Holy Samadhi to pay their last respects to Him.

It was a striking parallel – definitely not a matter to be taken lightly! Why, of all the days had a butterfly to repeatedly visit us, and stay with us for quite a while, especially inside a car! It had never happened before! The way it hovered around us, left us in no doubt, that it was our most Beloved Guruji, Swamiji, who had come to shower His Divine Love, Grace & Blessings and to reassure us of His Omnipotent Omnipresence!!

SATHGURU SRI RAJALINGA SWAMIGAL of THIRUVANNAMALAI

SWAMIGAL’S DIVINE REASSURING PRESENCE

Namskarams to All Sesha Bhakthas,

The day before yesterday, when I was in office I got a call from my husband, Jambu, that Vedika was not not well and her teacher had called. I was speaking to him standing outside my office room where there is a Photochromic Glass, wherein you can see outside but people outside cannot see you. While speaking to him I saw a YELLOW BUTTERFLY outside the glass – as I spoke I saw it. It did not move from where it was, and I tapped it from inside but it did not move. It felt as if it directly saw me! The same incident repeated yesterday when I spoke to mother in the afternoon!

It indeed is true that our Guru is constantly in touch with us in some or the other way. Guiding us, taking care of us.

Namskarams

Shyamala

6^th. August, 2010

SATHGURU SRI RAJALINGA SWAMIGAL of THIRUVANNAMALAI

SWAMIJI’S DARSHAN

My recent divine experience proves that our dear Guruji is still alive in our hearts and will shower his grace upon us every time. Meditation and repeated chanting of our Sesha Mahan mantram will take us closer to the divine. My humble request to all sesha bhaktas is to keep chanting Mahan Mantra as this is what our Guruji wanted all of us to do devotedly.

I’m writing below a few lines thinking about my Lovable Guruji who is my biggest inspiration in life.

Last Saturday evening while in meditation I had a divine darshan of our beloved Guruji who was dressed in White, from neck to foot. He looked at me and smiled at me with a beautiful divine glow on his face. I bowed in front of him and touched his feet.

OM SATHGURU SRI SESHADRI SWAMIGAL TIRUVADIKKAE

Namaskarams,
Shankar

10th. August, 2010

MAHAAN SRI SESHADRI SWAMIGAL OF THIRUVANNAMALAI

Sesha Mahaan loved service and held up Paropakara (selfless service) to others.

There might have been saints who would have been content to achieve realization for themselves and those who neither moved with society nor their little finger, for the benefit of others. Mahan Sri Seshadri Swamigal, Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi, Hazrat Tajuddin Baba, Shri Swami Samarth, Sri Gajanan Maharaj etc; were certainly not one of those self-centered ones. They loved service and held, Paropakara, or service to others, as a noble ideal, to live up to.

THE TEMPLE CAR (RATH) MOVES

On one festive day, during the Brahmotsavam for Lord Arunachaleswara of Thiruvannamalai (10 days celebration – Karthikai-Deepam) with thousands of people drawing the Chariot (Rath) for Sri Ambal (Sri Unnamulai Amman), it got stuck in a depression at a point with inadequate space for movement. Lot of efforts at pulling it out, did not succeed. The chariot car (Rath) had got firmly anchored in the depression. In spite of strenuous efforts, for about two three hours it could not be moved.

Swami appeared all of a sudden from nowhere. Swami applied His hand at two or three spots of the stuck wheel and with His own hand pulled the hemp rope. Seeing that Swami Himself was giving a helping hand, the other people joined in the effort. Immediately the temple car (Rath) started moving freely! People expressed their appreciation saying that the Devi Herself had pulled the car (Rath).

MAHAAN SRI SESHADRI SWAMIGAL OF THIRUVANNAMALAI

SWAMI APPEARED TO HIM,

NONE OTHER THAN “SRI PARVATI DEVI”

Brahmasri N.Subramania Iyer was a pathfinder of mantra Sastras. He was a famous votary of Sri Vidya. He had authored valuable religious books like Sri Nagara Vimarsam, Gurthathwa Vimarsam etc. Our Swami was his Parama Guru. He was happy to worship Swami, who, knowing his intentions, instructed him to see him early morning at Kambathu Ilayanar Shrine (Karthik Swamy) situated on the eastern side of Sri Arunachaleshwar temple. At Brahma-Muhurtham he met Swami.

At that time a miracle happened. Swami for a moment appeared to him with the grace, beauty and rubicund complexion of none other than Sri Parvati Devi. On seeing Swami, he was overwhelmed with devotion and forgot himself. Subsequently he was given an upadesa and went back. From the above, it is clear that for the welfare of humanity, Sri Parvati Devi Herself manifested as Swami.

MAHAAN SRI SESHADRI SWAMIGAL OF THIRUVANNAMALAI

“I WILL SHOW YOU SOME FUN, COME HERE…”

Shri Venkatachalam and his wife Subbhalakshmi Ammal were earnest devotees of Swami. Quite often Swami used to visit them, take food in their house and talk to them in a jolly fashion. In the backyard of their house there were two poovarasu (Potia) trees and two drumstick trees. It was a new moon day. Swami dropped in at 4 p.m. and said, “Subbhalakshmi, come here, I will show you some fun.” When she asked what He was going to show, Swami looked into the sky through the open verandah and raised His hands calling out, “Come! Come!” Immediately one crow came, then another crow flew in, then five, ten, hundred crows flew in, likewise a number of other species of birds like pigeons, parrots, various types of sparrows, all flew in.

They all crowded the whole place including the neighbouring house, sitting on the ground, on the roof, on the trees etc; and started making noise and jumping here and there and playing. Swami was in the midst of the birds and played with them. Subbhalakshmj was watching the fun with curiosity. Then Swami took a strand from his shoulder cloth and blew it. Immediately all the birds departed.

“One turns away from the Guru who is near at hand and seeks to meditate on the Divine which is difficult of attainment, may be linked to one who throws away the treasure he already has and goes in search of a hidden treasure.”

- Sesha Mahaan