Swamiji manifested the golden Lingam

Swami Vishwananda materialized right now the Hirayagarbha Lingam. He will be present till midnight. Everybody can come and take Darshan!

Marriage with the Divine

In another interview, Swami Vishwananda took vibhuti from his hand and put it into my mouth, on my head and third eye, saying, “This is your ‘Marriage with the Divine’”. I was speechless as I wondered how he could know, without my telling him, about my desire to become a nun and dedicate my life completely to God. Since then, it has become obvious to me that Swami continually addresses my unspoken desires. He knows my shortcomings and prejudices and simply accepts me with all my immature, imperfect aspects without judgement. He guides me in developing serenity while dealing with my fears and weaknesses.

s.a.
The foto was taken 2005 in the garden of Lake Shrine, SRF, LA

Leaving the world I've known

I met Swami Vishwananda for the first time during Easter 2003. At that point, my life was organised, happy, interesting and I had good friends. Meditation had become more and more important and valuable to me. Therefore, I was not searching for a guru or spiritual teacher; I was only interested in meeting a living saint.

After meeting Swami Vishwananda, I continuously experienced deep joy and bliss with him, something I had previously experienced only in my meditations. During one interview, Swamiji cautioned me, saying, “You have to wait and be patient. One day you will understand why you have incarnated”. I was deeply touched that Swami knew about my deep longing for an answer to the question of why I had incarnated. He knew also about my tendency to blame God and to be angry with Him for my incarnation in the chaos presently on Earth. I was consoled very much that Swami knew, without my telling him, of my yearning and took it seriously by counselling me about it. Through my encounters with Swamiji I have learned that he knows me better than I know myself; he knows my desires and challenges with love, and he accepts me as I am.

s.a.
Foto: 2003, Eastern in Grube Louise, Germany

George Bush on the Altar?

At the Home of Ram Dass:
On the altar were a lot of photos of Saints and deities. Swami Vishwananda asked Ram Dass:

“You have a lovely altar, but tell me why do you have the photo of George Bush on your altar? Are you worshiping him?” “No, but you know, to all these saints and deities I can say I love you. The day I can say to George Bush, I love you, I know that I will be a good person.”

The next day Swami Vishwananda gave a Darshan, where Ram Dass and his family came. The day after we visited his place again with some devotees.

When Ram Dass came in the room, the little group of devotees greeted him. Then they saw the altar with pictures of gurus, saints, and deities. Ram Dass followed and we sang the Hanuman Chalisa and some Bhajans.

It was a Divine moment. The presence of Hanuman was very strong when Swami Vishwananda and Ram Dass were together.

Pritalananda

Hanuman Chalisa

Sung by Krishna Das, who is great Devotee of Hanuman with translation

Visiting Ram Dass in Hawaii

After following a winding road in the hills, we reached Ram Dass’ villa, in Hawaii’s countryside. “Tell me, was Nam Kaoli Baba an Avatar?” I asked Swami Vishwananda.

“Yes, he was an incarnation of Hanuman. In fact he was an incarnation of Shiva. Shiva very rarely incarnates directly on earth. When he incarnates, he does so under the face of Hanuman. When Rama came on earth, Shiva incarnated as Hanuman to be the greatest of all his devotees, “ Swamiji said.

After a warm welcome, Ram Dass asked Swami to speak about His youth and about Babaji. We then sang Bhajans in front of his altar. In front there was a picture of Nam Kaoli Baba, Ram Dass then told us the following story:

 On a trip with Nam Kaoli baba and other devotees through India, they had a car accident. Passengers of the car then saw a huge hairy hand (from Hanuman) protecting them. The car was no longer of use after the accident, but none of the passengers got hurt.

Ram Dass about Soulness

The whales at Maui

In Maui, we went to visit Ram Dass, a disciple of Nam Kaoli Baba. As we followed the sea, Swami Vishwananda looked at it and said: “Maybe we’ll see whales!” - “Really?” I asked and then remembered that an afternoon in 2005, when we were in the garden that Yogananda planted on top of a cliff, above the sea in Encinitas. Swami Vishwananda also had told me that dolphins were nearby and a few minutes later we had seen dolphins jump and disappear again.

- “Look at the whales, there!” He exclaimed.

- “I have never seen whales jumping like that!” I said.

- “They gather to breed,” He told me.

Pritalananda

Maui Whales

Ave Maria

This picture of Mother Mary is sitting in Swami Vishwananda's home in Rosehill in the room near the temple. On the picture you see vibhuti materialized and later there was oil running down like tears which had the fragrance of roses.

Loyality

It was at Christmas in Steffenshof. We celebrated in the Temple with Christmas carols and baby Jesus, and everyone was taken by the sacred atmosphere. Late night there was a Christmas dinner up in the lounge. When Swami Vishwananda was sitting in his place, he began to unwrap the presents he got from the guests. There was much joy and just a festive atmosphere in the room. We all watched Swamiji. And in the midst of this mood, Swamiji stopped and said, "You bring me so many gifts, of course I am happy,but I do not need all this! Whad I need from you is your loyalty! I beg you for your loyalty and fornothing else! We were all very quiet, everyone thought of Swami's words. Many have given him their loyalty!

H.H. Germany

Krishna Bhajan with Karnamrita Dasi

On Swami Vishwananda's Tour 2008 through India we met Karnamrita Dasi in Vrindvan. There was a wonderful Bhajan night with Swamiji and Karnamrita Dasi. On the picture below you see her together with Swamiji. All the hotel-people came to join us and in the end we all were dancing!

Here one title from her Album:  Prayers by Women



"mumucur munayo devah
sumanamsi mudanvitah
mandam mandam jaladhara
jagarjur anusagaram
nisithe tama-udbhute
jayamane janardane
devakyam deva-rupinyam
vishnuh sarva-guha-sayah
avirasid yatha pracyam
disindur iva pushkalah"

"The demigods and great saintly persons showered flowers in a joyous mood, and clouds gathered in the sky and very mildly thundered, making sounds like those of the ocean's waves. Then the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vishnu, who is situated in the core of everyone's heart, appeared from the heart of Devaki in the dense darkness of night, like the full moon rising on the eastern horizon, because Devaki was of the same category as Sri Krishna."
Srimad Bhagavatam

Blessing

It was on the Steffenshof bottom of the stairs in front of the temple entrance. There I stood with some people when Swami Vishwananda came from outside. He greeted us with his smile, sweeten, and then went up the stairs. I thought to myself, "those were the days when he embraced us as a welcome"! Shortly thereafter, Swami came down again, walked straight toward me and with outstretched hands, he pinched me simultaneously in both cheeks as you would in India is making in children. Then he hugged me.

On the trip to Israel, it was in Jerusalem, he brought back the group because he wanted to show us a band. Every individual, he waved and most into it while he touched her. I thought to myself that this was such a blessing and that I would like to blessed by him. So what then? He touched my arm and patted me on the head twice again ..

Reka
The foto was taken 2005 in the garden of Lake Shrine, SRF, LA

Prayer to Shiva

Shiva Sadakshara Stotram by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar



Omkaram, Bindu Samyuktham,
Nithyam, dyayanthi yogina,
Kamadam, mokshadam chaiva,
Omkaraya Namo nama. (3)

Translation:
Salutations and salutations to letter “om”,
Which is meditated as a letter Om with a dot,
Daily by great sages,
And leads them to fulfillment of desires,
And attainment of salvation.

"What's love got to do with it?"

Somebody gave this CD to Swami Vishwananda as a present:
Tina Turner recorded a CD with Buddhist and Christian Prayers and Mantras

Praying the rosary

Pritalananda tells from his holiday at the home of Swami Vishwananda 1999 in Mauritius:

One Friday night, many people came to the chapel for prayer and to chant the rosary. After a while, Swami left the room and went to his bedroom. Later I went to him and he was kneeling in front of a big picture with the face of Mary. He was topless and his whole body, his hair and even his eyes were covered with thousands of oil drops. He said to me:

“It is burning my eyes! I have it in my nose and down my throat! What are the people doing?”

“They keep on praying on the rosary,” I replied.

“That’s good,” he murmured.

This was a marvellous week; I was full of happiness like I had never been before. On the day of my departure, early in the morning the taxi took me to the airport. I was crying all the way. The driver, full of compassion, even forgot to charge me. He received his pay later though.

The Questions

To benefit from the universal knowledge of Swami Vishwananda, I made a list of the most important questions I had in my life. I was thinking of asking him these questions the next morning. Surprisingly enough, I was not able to ask him these questions then. When eventually he was on his own for a few minutes, I took out my paper and fired him with questions. He answered all of them in the nicest possible way. Upon reaching the last question, I realised that all these questions were meaningless. One had to live in the present time rather than making plans for the future.

As I was trying to speak about a personal problem, he made a joke. This put me instantly at ease. I felt that he knew everything and that I could talk about everything that worried me. I knew that he was not judging me and that he was only trying to help me.

Pritalananda

Dharmananda made a Rap out of a Satsang speach from Swami Vishwananda

"So many questions"

My first encounter

Swami Vishwananda arrived at my house on a nice and sunny summer afternoon, he remained for ten minutes in the doorway. Everyone was awe-inspired. I couldn’t help repeating in my head: “Babaji is here, Babaji is in my house! This is incredible. My God, how beautiful he is!”

As a matter of fact, all those present could not say a word before this handsome twenty-one-year-old boy radiating the Divine. We went on the terrace to observe this ´rare bird´ fallen from Heaven. I was surprised to feel so at ease with him, like an old friend whom I hadn’t seen for a long time. I showed him the paintings I had made of my spiritual master. He looked at them for a long time. He told me that this master had offered him a great statue of Krishna while he was visiting Mauritius. This comforted me: if my guru had offered him a statue, then he must be a good person.

Once he left, the only wish I had was to see him again soon!

Pritalananda

A special Birthday Blessing

Yesterday Dharmananda received a very special birthday blessing from Swami Vishwananda in form of a singing dialogue in Opera style. We had a very good laugh with lots of fun tears- there was a special divine joy covering us all!

Here is the birthday prayer:

Om Karam Pranam Yaham, Janam Deena bhinan danam
Kamadam mookshaha danam, Janam deena bhinan danam
Pashye maa sharada shratam, Jive maa sharada shratam
Om, Swasti, Swasti, Swastii

His true Nature

One time, Swami Vishwananda was working with one of his disciples and they were both enjoying each other’s company like two friends who had known each other for lifetimes. That very evening a darshan took place. When the time came for the same disciple to approach Swami for a blessing, he knelt in front of Swami and smiled at him. However, in Swami’s eyes, there was not a trace of recognition or personality. Moreover, Swami appeared as if he was not even there at all. He displayed only a constant flow of magnificent, limitless, consciousness. After darshan was over, we were sitting with Swami by the fire, and he confirmed to us that indeed, his true nature could be seen during darshan.

M.N.

Brasil

Swami Vishwananda's trip to Brasil was very nice- here a picture from Rio-

The Darshan Place in Bela Horizonte was in the middel of the city, but with a wonderful Garden around:

Simply being in his presence!

I have found that Swami Vishwananda dislikes idle chatter, gossip and general lazing around. He likes playing and loves life itself. He laughs a lot and has the most contagious laughter. He naturally loves all saints and their stories, and loves telling their stories and painting them. Most of all I appreciate simply being in his presence, with not much being said but at the same time feeling so immensely loved. Even when I am not in his presence physically, I inwardly feel his omnipresence and I always feel like I can communicate with him. Personally, I feel there is no difference for me whether he is physically there or travelling the world, I always feel his presence inside. I often feel him and his guidance much more strongly when I am not with him, something I experienced especially during my stay in India.

Sumitra, CH

He doesn't love me anymore!

There are also phases which I have gone through when I experience Swami Vishwananda as very strict. His firmness makes me think that he doesn’t love me anymore, or that he loves everyone else much more. These, I have found, are always the times of developing, realising and learning. Swami puts us through these trials and tribulations so that we may work through our individual obstacles which hold us back from God.
Eventually I realised that Swami had been working on an old pain I had to work through. There was a side of my ego he had to make me feel intensely, before I could really let go of it. In these situations the quickest way to get through it is to surrender the pain and just let it go without questioning it, without thinking: "Err, what’s wrong with him today? What have I done to make him treat me this way?"

Sumitra, CH

If he looks at you like this, it means: "stop taking pictures" ... and you will ... for several days or even weeks!

During Darshan

During darshan, Swami Vishwananda transmits divine energy to the crowd as well as personally when he gives the individual blessing. The individual blessing is a very intimate moment where whatever one is carrying around, be it sorrow or sickness, can be transformed by the divine energy. This is what I felt during my first darshan in Cape Town, South Africa. At other darshans I have experienced an incredible amount of energy, sometimes very powerful and sometimes very soft and tender.

Sumitra, CH

Is he speaking only for me?

Once, Swami Vishwananda gave a lecture at an Easter program that touched me deeply. I felt that he addressed me alone. I was thinking, Could it really be that he is speaking only to me? Later I found out that I was not the only one who had felt that way - many people had experienced exactly the same thing. Swami is capable of reaching out to people on a mass scale, and teaching them with an incredible amount of love and patience.

Sumitra, CH

You are what you think!

You can create or you can destroy. It’s upon to each one of you how to control it. So the first thing in spirituality, the first, the best thing you can do is to control the thought. The more the thought is negative it reflect outside. Very often these negative thought is about one own self – thinking how bad I am, how negative I am. First we have to change the thought of ourself. Then we can change the thought towards other people. Thought is very easy to control. You don’t need to sit down to control it. When the thought is passing through your mind you know about the thought. You know whether it is positive or negative. So if it is positive it will be constructive - feed it, then let it grow! But when it is negative try not to feed it. Then you say to yourself: “This is not me” and let go of it. When you let go of the thought you will see how beautiful it is - your own life. And how great is this life that God have given. And also in your meditataion you will be more easy going. The powerful thought is the positiveness in human being. Through this thought whatever you wish, whatever you think about - for your own self you will receive it.

Swami Vishwananda, Darshan Munic, 2006

A Lesson

Because I am afraid to make a mistake, say something wrong and be laughed at, I once spoke without thinking and supported Swami Vishwananda's viewpoint in a conversation, instead of offering my own opinion. Two sentences later, Swami went in the opposite direction, and I found myself entangled in my remark, facing my own hypocrisy.

Swamiji's Transformations

Swami Vishwananda is definitely one of those rare persons who actually know and are fully conscious of their true self and their Divinity. He can connect with that Greater Reality at will. When the greater connection is made, Swami is no longer that ordinary person we see in everyday life. His facial expression and his eyes change as he becomes a radiant being expressing unconditional love. I have witnessed Swami’s transformation on a daily basis. Most of the time he behaves as a normal person who does not make a fuss about his true Divine self. Those who view him superficially do not recognize the greatness of his soul.

Kartik Purnima Celebration

Swami Vishwananda celebrated Kartik Purnima last night with an Abishekam, and a Yagna which was very strong. He told us the whole Story about Tulsi Devi and Vishnu. There where a lot of Bhajans going on the whole night with dancing and much joy!

Kartik Poornima, the wedding of Goddes Tulsi and Vishnu

Kartik poornima is the birthday of Matsya, Vishnu's fish-incarnation. It is also the birthday of Vrinda, the personification of the Tulsi-plant:

The Legend:

According to Hindu mythology, the Tulsi plant was a woman named Vrinda, a synonym of Tulsi. She was married to the demon-king Jalandhar. Due to her piety and devotion to Vishnu, her husband became invincible. Even god Shiva, the destroyer in the Hindu Trinity could not defeat Jalandhar. So Shiva requested Vishnu - the preserver in the Trinity - to find a solution. Vishnu disguised himself as Jalandhar and violated Vrinda. Her chastity destroyed, Jalandhar was killed by Shiva. Vrinda cursed Vishnu to become black in colour and he would be separated from his wife. Thus, he was transformed into the black Shaligram stone and in his Rama avatar, his wifeSita was kidnapped by a demon-king and thus separated from him. Vrinda then buried burnt herself on her husband's funeral pyre or immolated herself due to the shame. The gods or Vishnu transferred her soul to a plant, henceforth which was called as Tulsi. As per a blessing by Vishnu to marry Vrinda in her next birth, Vishnu in form of Shaligram - married Tulsi.

Darshan

Here just picture from the Darshan tonight. Swami Vishwananda spoke about the pilgrimage trough Israel and how touching it was not only to read about all this in the Bible but to be there and feel...

Yes, we laugh a lot

A guru is someone who removes ignorance and makes you self-realise. Swami Vishwananda does it while having fun. Life is not sad with him. Yes, we laugh a lot!

Once we got lost while driving Swami. Swami burst into laughter in the back of the car as our friend who was driving, drove around the same roundabout for the third time. By the time he found the right way, rain was pouring down and all the restaurants were closed apart from a diabolical pizzeria, decorated with plastic ghosts and witches as if it was Halloween. What a delicious pizza!

Pritalananda