I have been to many darshans with Swami Vishwananda over the years and I have found that every one is always a new and unique experience. Swami is aware of everyone’s thoughts but he doesn’t want to talk about this. Once as I was sitting near him in the front during a darshan, I noticed many incidents that could not be explained with a conventional worldview as Swami gave darshan to each person: He asked a child to take education more seriously as he had skipped out of school. He gave another child only a sweet and told me that this child was just coming for the sweet. He gave me a handful of vibhuti packets to give to someone at the back of the room as this person was in need of it and had to leave soon. When I hoped for a special piece of prasad, he asked for the whole bowl and picked out my favorite piece. These numerous miracles occur all the time around him. 
Swami Vishwananda is someone who loves God with all his heart and soul in a very pure and childlike way. This approach to loving God creates for him a very personal and natural relationship with the Divine, and thereby he resonates with people in a way that their lives may be transformed. Swami’s goal in life is to touch the hearts of people who are spiritually and magnetically drawn to him in such a way that they are motivated to adopt a spiritual life centred on God. 
Once Swami and I went together to Rodrigues, a small island off the coast of Mauritius where we stayed at a small guesthouse. The son of the family who lived in the main house was 20 years old, which happened to be the same age as Swami at the time. The son began mocking Swami, making fun of him as a spiritual person who performed miracles, etc. Swami graciously tried a few times to talk to the son in a reasonable way, but met with no success. Soon Swami quietly removed himself from the uncomfortable situation. At that time I was astounded to see that instead of getting hurt or angry, he actually had compassion for the young man. Swami allows people to choose whether they relate to him as guru, brother, friend or just a ordinary person.
When I met Swami Vishwananda the first time, I felt that I had known these eyes for a long time. Together with my husband we had a short conversation with him, not knowing what to say or ask. When I finally managed to speak, I muttered: “Swami, can you come and bless our house?” He replied: “It is all in the hands of the Divine, when the time is right, and if it is meant to be, it will happen”. Then he said: “Ah, maybe five years time”. I was shocked, five years is a long time. In later years I came to realise the phrase: 'Man asks and forgets, but God never forgets'. Swami kept his promise; exactly five years later, I had a phone call from Swami and he asked if we were free and that he would like to come and visit us. I was thrilled. He came home and blessed us all, and we had a beautiful lunch with him.
When Swami Vishwananda established the Shirdi Sai temple in Mauritius in 2002, he concentrated a lot on the construction of the temple and where to put which murtis. One night Ganesha and Hanuman appeared to him, both huge, and asked him to be placed in the temple as well. Swamiji said to them:” Oh, you are both far too big, there is not that much space.” Thereon the two shrunk to a 
smaller size and repeated their request. Swamiji said:” You are still too big!” This went on for a few times. Swamiji told us:” It was so funny, at the beginning both had such mighty voices, but the smaller they made themselves the higher their voices became.” In the end they were small enough when they asked again- this time with some sort of Mickey Mouse voice:” Do we now fit into your temple?” “Yes”, Swamiji answered, “now I´ll find a spot for you!” The next morning some devotees came to visit and they brought exactly the same statues in the same seize and posture in which they had visited him at night. 
When you meet your Satguru, you feel, that this is a very special encounter. And you try to grasp, who or what he is, but you cannot grasp him. I am always wondering in my encounters with my Satguru Swami Vishwananda: How do I deal with my Guru? He is so near and yet so far away. How can I ever live up to him? Often I have felt clumsy or disrespectful without wanting to be like that. I have always suffered from this conflict.
One day in Steffenshof, I had a conversation with Guruji. This conversation came about only through Pritalananda who told Guruji that I had something on my mind which than made him to summon me. I got the impression that he was actually a bit amused about my shyness. After this conversation we walked down the stairs together, when I said from the bottom of my heart to him: “I am so sorry when I am sometimes disrespectful towards you, Swami.” He answered straight away: “I don´t care, that’s your problem. You are suffering, not me.”
Prajna, Centre Springen
Swami Vishwananda Darshan: At the beginning of the Darshan he spoke about how we make ourself miserable with our mind! Of course, with a thinking like this, our live will be difficult. 
oillamps blessed by the Goddes, which we put in front of the windows, to invite her to come!
Whenever a sick person comes to see Swami for healing, he always tells them that he will pray for them. When a spontaneous healing occurs, he always points out that it is God’s work. I have never heard him say that he healed anyone. According to him, there is no one who can call himself/herself a healer. I have heard him say of healers that they are only tools in the hands of the Divine.
A woman from South Africa told us that during the darshan she received from Swami Vishwananda some vibhuti. Then she asked also Swami to help her nephew, a child who could not speak since he was born. Swami Vishwananda gave her a small packet of vibhuti and told her to give some vibhuti to the child. As she went back home, she put some vibhuti on the child’s tongue and the child began to speak! Glory to God for this miracle and thank you Swami Vishwananda for your help.
(South Africa, June 2009)
The location, where the Darshan took place turned out to be far too small. The visitors were divided in “shifts”, in order for everyone to be inside the room for a period of time.
Swami Vishwananda gave a talk. Here’s an excerpt of what he said:
“The mind cannot comprehend the heart!”
The heart is much stronger than the mind and God can only be found within the heart (through bhakti). Example: A king sent his two sons to the best ashram. After years they returned and he is asking them what they learnt about the Self. The first one sings mantras and praises of the Divine. The second one only looks to the ground and weeps. In that moment the king said: This one, my second son, got a glimpse about the Divine.
God is like the king in his palace: Someone enters the palace and in the first room is a well-dressed man. He is asking: “Are you the king?”
He answers “No!” Like this it continues from room to room- but in the last one, in the 7th chamber the king is sitting on a high throne with royal household and in all splendour. So the visitor has nothing else to say. He knows that is he standing in front of the king. The same way it is with the experience of the Divine through the different levels (chakras), which become more and more “splendid”. Finally there is no more question, because all the questions only arise from the mind. The heart is experiencing God! 
Last weekend the whole region around Kurnool has been flooded by the monsoon and the bursting of a dam. 
Here is an excerpt from a cry for help of the ashram:
"...10.000 houses and huts have been completely destroyed. Countless people have been left homeless in Kurnool and its environment. Alongside the raging river everything is devastated. Great suffering. The ashram was under water up to the second floor. The temples- the old one as well as the new one- were invisible. Nothing is left. Suffering with no end. Also Baba has nothing left. His rooms have been flooded up to the ceiling- also those on the first floor. Everything is gone. In spite of this the trust is distributing food every day to hundreds of people for that the homeless do not have to starve..." 
Swami Vishwananda always tells us to make proper use of our God-given mind. He does not like it if someone acts too emotionally or irrationally. He says that common sense is incredibly important. The cosmic illusion maya is created by the mind, and this is one of God’s greatest creations. We should not ignore this divine play, but instead adore queen maya because she is so powerful that even God can forget Himself due to her. We have to use the mind to examine and discriminate in order to go beyond this illusion. We must understand that we have a mind, but we are not the mind. The power of the mind is to be rational. We must use the mind fully, but not make it our god. The mind and the power of the mind must be our servant, as rationalism is very limited. The world and our personality are much larger. Swami says that the heart is a lot stronger than the mind. The mind has neither access to the dimensions of the heart nor the feelings of the soul. Even the strongest mind cannot grasp the power of the heart. 
Swami Vishwananda tells the story when his Cousin Ravi met the Divine Mother: "Once the Divine Mother came to him and he got the Darshan of the Divine Mother as Kali. You know Kali. She looks very scary in the outside, but very soft in the inside. When he saw the Divine Mother in Her aspect, he was of course very scared. So the Mother said: “Why are you scared? I am the Mother, you don’t need to be scared of me.” She blessed him and said: “Tomorrow I shall come to you, but you have to recognize me.” My cousin asked me “How will I recognize Her?” Then I said to him: “She said it to you. It’s up to you to recognize. If I tell you, then you will pass the test.” Well, but I gave him a tip : “Bow down to all the ladies that you see.” He said to me: “That’s a great task. Imagine how many Matajis I will meet.“ This is a simple test. From morning till late in the evening he will bow down to every Mataji that he met, even on the road in London. I tell you, I remember it was really funny to see the reactions of the persons. At the end of the day Maa came back and She was very happy with him and said: “Indeed you have passed the test. You have seen me in all the Mothers and you have received my blessing.” The Mother has come in a different form and gave the blessing.
So you don’t know when the Divine will come to you and which form the Divine takes to come to you. We think in our mind that the Divine has to come only in the form that we imagine. No, the Divine will never come in that form. In your inner self, your heart shall recognize the Divine Mother. So many times I have seen the Divine coming in different forms. And when I was ready to act, She stopped me and said “Keep quiet.” And this connection that we all have to God should be there. It’s not a connection with your mind, who is trying to understand always, but the heart to heart connection to the Divine. You heart, your consciousness will know about the Divine. So everyday you do have Darshan of God."
Coming to the second question if I believe in death: Well, no, I don’t. How many of you believe in death? Please be sincere. Lift your hand. How many of you believe in death? Nobody? Oh at least one person, who is sincere. Very good. Are you sure you don’t believe in death? Sincerely I said, eh? Be truthful a little, little bit towards yourself. Give me an answer please. (Person 1: Guruji, it depends on what we are looking. When you are looking at the body, well there is some change, we can call it death. If you look at the soul, it might be different.)
(Person 2: Yes, similar answer. I would say I believe in death, but I believe that death is changing everything. And what remains then is transformed and this is God too.” Yes, very good. Well, I said I don’t believe, because I know it doesn’t exist. It’s one of the illusions, like many other illusions that the Divine created. That’s why I said “I don’t believe in death.” I know that I am eternal and immortal. Of course I don’t refer to the body. The body has it’s limit.
It reminds me of Sri Paramahamsa Ramakrishna. If you don’t know him: There is a beautiful book called “The gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.” Read it. It’s very inspiring. It will help you a lot on the spiritual path. Sri Ramakrishna lived in the 19th century. He died on 16h of august 1886. So when he died, in the Hindu tradition it is like that : when the husband dies, the wife has to break or remove all the jewellery. I guess it’s the same thing here also, no? Or they put more jewellery on? So in the Hindu tradition it is like that: You have to remove all the jewellery. So Sarada Devi, the wife of Ramakrishna was always wearing the bangles, which she received from Ramakrishna when they got married. When he married Sarada Devi Ramakrishna was 23 years old and she was five years old. Shocking, isn’t it? But that was normal that time. So till Ramakrishna died, he was 50 years old. For 27 years she had these bangles in her arm and never removed them. She grew up and of course the bangles became were very tight in her 
hand. So she was wondering how to break these bangles and decided to cut them. As she was going to cut the bangles out, she heard the voice of Ramakrishna saying “Sarada Devi, what are you doing? Why are you breaking these bangles that I gave you? Do you think I am dead? I am not dead. I am still alive. I just moved from one room to the other.” It’s like the sun. When the sun is setting, we all say that it is dark no? But when the sun sets, it’s day somewhere else. Same: When death happens there is birth somewhere else, in other spheres or another level of spirituality. So in reality you are not dead. Coming to your question: We refer death so much to the body, but the consciousness has the power of God to create a new body at will. You can see it in the lives of Saints, that even being dead, when they appeared to somebody who was praying to them, they appeared in body and flesh. Death is something that nobody can escape. We all know about death, but we don’t want to see it, we don’t want to believe in it. When we believe in it, we see the most terrible and terrifying part of it, but we don’t see the beautiful part of it. We don’t see this bridge, when the Beloved calls you and says “Come, Cross over that bridge and attain me.” So it’s not terrifying at all. Like St. Francis said; at the time of his death “Welcome sister death”. That put death to a shock, because you take away all the power of fear and create this great joy. This great joy that you are moving towards the higher plane, you are moving towards your Beloved (God).
Jai Gurudev!
A little while ago during a Gayatri Yagna that was performed in Springen, Swami Vishwananda recorded a new CD. On this CD he sings the Gayatri Mantra very sweetly and softly. 
