The Gift of Nothing

This sweet cartoon book was given to Swamiji for Gurupoornima. He was joyfully reading the story of the desperate dog Mooch who found finally peace again:

It was a special day and Mooch wanted to give his best friend, Earl, a gift.

But what to get him?

He had a bowl.

He had a bed.

He had a chewy toy.

He had it ALL.

Mooch thought and thought.

What do you get someone who has everything?

NOTHING!

He would give Earl the gift of nothing.

But in this world filled with so many somethings, where could he find nothing?

Mooch often heard Frank say there was „nothing on TV.“

But as far as Mooch could tell, there was always something on TV.

Mooch often heard Doozy and her friends say there was „nothing to do“

But as far as Mooch could tell, everybdoy was always doing something.

Milli came home from the store and said, „There was nothing to buy!“

So Mooch went shopping.

Mooch looked up and down every aisle.

He found many, many, many somethings.

The latest this, the newest that...

but as far as he could tell, nothing was not for sale.

So Mooch went home and sat on his pillow

and just stayed still (as cats often do).

And not looking for it, he found

nothing.

So he went and got a box

and put nothing in it.

Then Mooch thought, Hmmm … maybe Earl deserves more than this.

So he got a bigger box.

„Now that´s plenty of nothing!“

„For me?“ said Earl. „Mooch, you didn´t have to give me anything.“

Who told him? Thought Mooch.

Early opened Mooch´s gift.

„There´s nothing here,“ said Earl

„Yesh!“ said Mooch. „Nothing ….

„but me and you.“

So Mooch and Earl just stayed still

and enjoyed NOTHING

and EVERYTHING.

(Patrick McDonnell)

Swami Vishwananda on Twitter

Since a couple of days Swamiji is on Twitter (click!) and is happily "twittering" !!! So nice! He is reporting from Lanzarote and the cave in which they meditated yesterday Open an account with Twitter and register as a "follower" with "vishwananda" to receive regular short updates!

It's fun!

Bhairav, the guardian of the Devis

Some time ago Swami Vishwananda "installed" a big stone in front of the Kali Temple. I asked him about the meaning and he told me:

"It is Bhairav, a guardian who takes care for the Devis. He came into my dream one night and told me where I would find this special stone in the forest. I send somebody to the place and he found the stone."

Now here is the story of Bhairav:

The young Vaishnava Devi goddess went ahead and Bhairav (a selfish Demon) followed her. She kept a guard outside the cave and asked him not to allow Bhairav to enter the cave. When Bhairav tried to enter the guard forbade him and a terrific battle started. There after Devi took the form of goddess Kali and killed Bhairav. In the dying moment Bhairav said: "Mother, I am not mourning my death as I have died at the hands of mother creator. But I pray you gracious mother to pardon me. I did not know you in the girl form. Mother, if you do not forgive my sins then the whole world may hate me." On hearing the cry of a child addressed to the mother again and again, mother took pity on Bhairav and gave him a boon of liberation. She not only granted Bhairav liberation from the cycle of reincarnation, she said also: “My devotees will always visit your place after having my 'Darshan'!”

So it came that it is believed that the Prayer to the Devis is only complete after worshipping also Bhairav.

God's Universe

During the time when the Hiranyagarbha Lingam was first here for three days in 2005, there was a Darshan taking place in Frankfurt. Which meant that Swamiji had the Lingam with him in his hand during the whole drive and in which he said: „This Lingam is the whole universe, if it falls, the whole universe will be shaken!"

How did he find the Lingam in this never ending Universe?

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

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

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

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

God never forgets

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.

Three Spoons Sugar

Once, in a privat house, Swamiji asked me to prepare a tea for him. He was sitting in the diningroom, his back towards me in the kitchen. While I was pouring the sugar into the tea, he was calling from the the other room: "Please take more sugar... not two spoons, please, take three spoons!"

A scent of flowers in my bedroom

Already quite a while before meeting Swami Vishwananda in person I had a strong feeling of a higher presence being with me. One evening, about three months before finally meeting him I was visiting with my aunt. It was a rainy, windy day and so I had the windows of my room closed. At about 10 pm I retired to have some time for silence and meditation before going to bed. Upon entering my room I immediately sensed a different energy, very soft, very gentle, very beautiful, like a golden light though invisible to my eyes. And the whole room was filled with a scent of flowers. There was a presence in my room so palpable that it made me slow down and smile and I greeted whoever was there by saying, “Hi”. I knew that I was being visited by a divine presence and this beautiful scent of flowers was like a greeting to confirm that this was real and that he was there with me and that I was being loved. Prajna, Springen

Awareness

One evening as we were gathered around Swami, he was humorously responding to spiritual questions that people were asking him. After a while, a young man asked Swami some questions conveying the idea that illumination is a very difficult thing to accomplish by the average human being. At one point, the young man said to Swami with a touch of irony, “It is easy for you to speak about illumination, because you are enlightened”. Swami’s voice did not change, but the sheer power behind his words was indescribable. “There is not a single moment where I am not aware of my mission and my role here on Earth”! he answered. Those words struck a chord deep within my heart and the thought crossed my mind, “Who is Swami?” by M.N. - Germany

Singing songs of all religions

Music plays a very prominent role in the work of Swami Vishwananda. When he is with other people, he again and again sings songs of all religions. Through Swami, many people started to learn how to sing bhajans. Bhajans are an enormous spiritual treasure and when we sing them we move very quickly into devotion for God. In the beginning it can be strange for westeners to sing the unfamiliar Sanskrit Indian devotional songs. A german disciple of Swami Vishwananda told us about this: "I accompanied Swami Vishwananda on his first tour to the U.S. in July 2005. I had two great weeks in his close proximity. Everywhere Swami went there was music, be it at the Krishna temple, during his darshans or wherever he was staying. It feels like he transports light with his voice when he sings. When singing with him you can receive some of the light he transmits through his voice. It is overwhelming and heart-opening.  The last darshan in the U.S. was in a hotel in Los Angeles, California on the day reserved for Gurupurnima celebrations, a day throughout which the guru and all spiritual masters are venerated in accordance with the Hindu calendar. Swami gave a moving speech about his own guru, Mahavatar Kriya Babaji. He sang bhajans and began the darshan with blessings for everyone present. The room was filled with Swami’s divine grace. The musicians sang and played and it was pure joy. Toward the end of the darshan when I went up front to receive his blessing, Swami whispered in my ear that I should sing Oh my cloud coloured Christ. My first thought was, Oh why should I sing now at the end of the evening, I just can’t. Then I thought, Swami asked me to sing, so he has his reasons and I will do it because he asked me to. After I had received my blessing, I walked over to the musicians and the harmonium player turned over his instrument to me. I sang the song Swami had told me to sing. After the darshan was over and most of the people had left the room, a woman said to me, “My guru is Jesus Christ. I waited the whole evening, longing to hear a song of my beloved master. Thank you for singing the song for Christ; it was important to me as it made a connection between Christ and Krishna”! I told the woman that Swami Vishwananda had asked me to sing that particular song, Oh my cloud coloured Christ, and she was deeply touched."