Tweet

A Guru Story
In year 2001, my parents came to New Jersey for the first time and saw their formerly normal IITian son frequently wearing whites, meditating an hour a day, doing yoga and kriya and doing satsangs all over temples in NJ. At that time, I was making six trips a year to Montreal to be with the master and all that flood of love and energy was making me very tearful and emotional. I would drive with my parents to the mall with the 28 Bhakti Sutra tapes in my car’s deck and hallway; my eyes would completely cloud up and wash over like a torrent of sudden east coast rain. His love is the most intoxicating feeling I have ever known, and I don’t think driving under the influence makes your passengers feels safe, does it? Now when Guruji walks with or blesses even with a stray monkey, people assume that monkey must be some saintly being. So one day I was that monkey. I got to walk with guruji from his kuteer to the meditation hall and in the hallway of the Montreal Ashram in one of those tearful, spaced out moments, for no particular reason, I got a stream of hugs from a line of about fifty or sixty people including mothers and children and some very young and attractive young men and women from all over the world. That was a huge shock for my very traditional parents on their first trip abroad. What was much more painful for them was my newfound propensity to preach. The more tearful my parents got about the whole ‘our son has lost it’ bit, the more I ‘shared the knowledge’ with them. They probably got all the knowledge sheets that existed at that time from me, and then some original stuff from me too. Finally mom had enough and decided to go meet guruji. I was sitting with Guruji upstairs, when he suddenly said in Hindi ‘Oh, Amma aai hai, teri shadi karana chahti hai (Amma is here! Hmm… so she wants to meet me so that she can get you married’. He stood up and in his magical flow, white robes and all, gently stood at the top of the stairs. I don’t know what my mom saw from the bottom of the stairs but she could not stop her tears for the next half hour or so. Once the tears stopped and she could speak, she said, ‘Guruji, I feel so great around you, but Ajit preaches to us all the time – he talks about death and once he even drove us to the graveyard and said, Ija why do you make a long face, we are all going to die. Besides, he is our only son and he doesn’t want to get married. One day he even put his car in the ditch.This is not good, I want you to make him normal again ’. Guruji gave a big smile and pinching my cheeks, poked me and said – ‘Kyon re, tu bada gyani ho gaya hai, Amma ko bhi gyan de raha hai (You have become so wise now that you even give knowledge to amma(mother) now?)’. And then he turns to my mom and says, “Amma, tum to khush ho ki ye is taraf aa gaya, kaheen aur phans jata to na jane kya hota (I know you’re happy that he came to me, if he had got stuck somewhere else, it wouldn’t be so)”. Mom finally smiled, got a hug from guruji and touched his feet. For me, that was quite an ego buster. I don’t remember having preached to my parents ever again. As for my mom, her tears have continued since. She’d see him and she’d flow in tears. And art of living was never a subject of debate in my family ever again either. Ajit Tripathi
Guru Story - Art of Living Universe
Wish to share YOUR Guru Story with the whole world? Mail it to us at mygurustory@artoflivinguniverse.org and we will share it with everyone. Jai Gurudev!

Tweet

Please make sure you click on 'Display images', to ensure all the images are displayed properly

A Christmas Story
I first saw His face eighteen years ago on a TV, on a basic course that I took because a person I had just met didn't want to take it alone.I had no idea what it was, but I was seeking at the time and thought I'd give it a go. From that day onwards He has been with me. So many stories of every day miracles, so much love in my life, so much guidance and wisdom, tears and joyous laughter. Here is one: I love Christmas music. On my computer I have over eight hours of uninterrupted Christmas music, ranging from Handel's Messiah to Run DMZ. My friends and family do not enjoy the music as much as I do so when I found myself alone on Christmas morning I connected the computer to my stereo system and settled in to getting the house ready for the holiday accompanied by 8 hours of seasonal music. As I was cleaning the kitchen, I thought to myself that I should have put some bhajans into my Christmas mix, that it would have been a nice addition. Just as the thought come into my mind Krishna Das began to sing Guru Sharanam. Now mind you, there were no bhajans in my eight hours of Christmas music and yet here was Krishna Das, singing praise to the Guru. I checked the computer to see what was highlighted in the playlist, and there was nothing. With tears of gratitude I enjoyed my Christmas gift and when the song ended, I was about to start the Christmas music again when I decided to wait and see what was next............to my utter amazement (and delight) it was Bob Dylan singing "You've Got to Serve Somebody". Merry Christmas to me. I am sharing this because we are all so blessed to have Gurudev in our lives. Sometimes we may doubt that He is with us and it may seem that we are all alone, but we never are. Jai Guru Dev with much love and gratitude, Dawne Ferguson-Prance
Guru Story - Art of Living Universe
Wish to share YOUR Guru Story with the whole world? Mail it to us at mygurustory@artoflivinguniverse.org and we will share it with everyone. Jai Gurudev!

Tweet

Silver Jubilee
Jai GuruDev! My mind was set on the Silver Jubilee celebrations (Feb 17-19th 2006) ever since Guruji announced it. But my 7 year old son's upanayanam (thread ceremony) date was fixed for the 19th of Feb .The Maha Kriya on the 19th was initially scheduled to be in the morning and so was the upanayanam muhurtam. I could'nt be at 2 places at one time.’What to do?’ I prayed to Guruji but at the same time I was happy that during the Silver Jubilee we would be in Hyderabad which means closer to Bangalore than Bahrain (where we stay). Later, the Maha kriya time was shifted to the evening. Then one day, during my kriya, this deep intention came up of being there for the Mahakriya and a message which said 'I’ve changed the time for you, how can you not make it now!?’ My mind started racing excitedly, thinking it must be possible for one to travel from Hyderabad to Bangalore in 4 hours, even if not by regular airlines, then at least by helicopters. This led me to contact our globe trotter real estate friend for a solution. The upanayanam was to get over by 12.30pm and there was a flight from Hyderabad to Bangalore at 1.30pm that would reach Bangalore by 2.30 pm and hence would give me just enough time to be able to attend the Maha kriya!! So now both were possible and my son's sacred ceremony (that I had actually initiated) took place on one of the most auspicious days and hours later, I was in the midst of 25 lakh people, doing the Sudarshan Kriya and meditating! Thanks to my mother -in law, husband and family that not only on the 19th but I travelled (though crazily) two times to and fro between Hyderabad and Bangalore to attend the opening ceremony on the 17th and then the kriya on the 19th. I had tears of gratitude for Guruji, for it was His grace and blessings that got me over there and when after the Kriya, Guruji said 'Wish for something tonight' , I silently wished that ALL those who were instrumental in my being there i.e. my husband, family, pilots, my aunt, auto rickshaw drivers... everyone...be blessed!! I had all that I could ever ask for...the bliss of oneness was overwhelming! - Bhramara Madduri
Guru Story - Art of Living Universe
Wish to share YOUR Guru Story with the whole world? Mail it to us at mygurustory@artoflivinguniverse.org and we will share it with everyone. Jai Gurudev!