My first private interview with Swami Vishwananda lasted two minutes. I walked in thinking to myself ‘what am I letting myself into?’, sat down and asked him what I was supposed to do, as I had no idea of what a Guru was or did. He said in the sweetest voice ‘tell me your problems’ to which I began to cry. He then materialised a pendant for me with Shirdi Baba on one side and Lakshmi on the other. Who would have thought that five years later I was to become a brahmacharini, let alone a brahmacharini with the same name – Lakshmi.
I left the room with a heavy feeling in my heart and still crying. When I got home I sat on my bed looking at the pendant, trying to fathom what had just happened and was in tears. The crying continued incessantly. I remember trying to hide from people at home because I didn’t know what was happening. By the third day I could no longer take it. Swami was still in the country and so I called Swami Vishwananda ’s cousin who was the one who introduced me to Swami, and told him what was happening. He said not to worry and that it happens to a lot of people. Within five minutes of getting off the phone the crying stopped.
Life from that day onwards has never been the same. Spirituality took a different turn altogether. Everything that I had read about in spiritual books I began to experience. I noticed that everyday I was learning something new and that progress on the spiritual path had quickened. Being around Swami Vishwananda was amazing. That feeling of finally being somewhere where I belonged, being ‘at home’ was so beautiful.
So much was happening with Swami in my life that it was easy to forget things that were once so important. I prayed for so long for someone to come and help me, to answer all the questions that I had about life that two or three years after meeting Swami, I realised that He was this person I had been asking for all my life. He opened my eyes to a lot of things. I was changing inside, all for the better. I felt Him there everyday of my life.
I also began to notice little ‘miracles’ happening. For example, money turning up whenever I needed it most, things working out to my advantage, little desires being fulfilled, all of which I knew were because of Him. There was a darshan in London in February 2004 and that night it snowed and the temperature was freezing. I was fortunate enough to travel home in the same car as Swami Vishwananda but I remember my feet being so cold that I actually wished I was in a warmer car! While I was talking to my friend and Swami Vishwananda was talking to his cousin I kept saying in my mind ‘my feet are so cold, my feet are so cold’. After a while I suddenly felt warmth in and around my feet, as if someone had put a heater right underneath them. Thanks Swami for saving my feet from being frozen to death!
by Lakshmi - UK
19 Sept 2009
A shower of Love
My first private interview with Swami Vishwananda lasted two minutes. I walked in thinking to myself ‘what am I letting myself into?’, sat down and asked him what I was supposed to do, as I had no idea of what a Guru was or did. He said in the sweetest voice ‘tell me your problems’ to which I began to cry. He then materialised a pendant for me with Shirdi Baba on one side and Lakshmi on the other. Who would have thought that five years later I was to become a brahmacharini, let alone a brahmacharini with the same name – Lakshmi.
I left the room with a heavy feeling in my heart and still crying. When I got home I sat on my bed looking at the pendant, trying to fathom what had just happened and was in tears. The crying continued incessantly. I remember trying to hide from people at home because I didn’t know what was happening. By the third day I could no longer take it. Swami was still in the country and so I called Swami Vishwananda ’s cousin who was the one who introduced me to Swami, and told him what was happening. He said not to worry and that it happens to a lot of people. Within five minutes of getting off the phone the crying stopped.
Life from that day onwards has never been the same. Spirituality took a different turn altogether. Everything that I had read about in spiritual books I began to experience. I noticed that everyday I was learning something new and that progress on the spiritual path had quickened. Being around Swami Vishwananda was amazing. That feeling of finally being somewhere where I belonged, being ‘at home’ was so beautiful.
So much was happening with Swami in my life that it was easy to forget things that were once so important. I prayed for so long for someone to come and help me, to answer all the questions that I had about life that two or three years after meeting Swami, I realised that He was this person I had been asking for all my life. He opened my eyes to a lot of things. I was changing inside, all for the better. I felt Him there everyday of my life.
I also began to notice little ‘miracles’ happening. For example, money turning up whenever I needed it most, things working out to my advantage, little desires being fulfilled, all of which I knew were because of Him. There was a darshan in London in February 2004 and that night it snowed and the temperature was freezing. I was fortunate enough to travel home in the same car as Swami Vishwananda but I remember my feet being so cold that I actually wished I was in a warmer car! While I was talking to my friend and Swami Vishwananda was talking to his cousin I kept saying in my mind ‘my feet are so cold, my feet are so cold’. After a while I suddenly felt warmth in and around my feet, as if someone had put a heater right underneath them. Thanks Swami for saving my feet from being frozen to death!
by Lakshmi - UK