The coconut tree

In November 1992, I was on holiday in Mauritius. I was staying with my mum and Swami Vishwananda visited us almost every day. He was fourteen years old. One very hot day he came by the house to visit us. We sat down and shared some refreshing coconut water that our neighbour had sent over. Later, Swami Vishwananda went into the back garden. He looked up at our coconut tree, which was drooping with several heavy bunches of more than fifty coconuts, and said to my mum, “Why doesn’t uncle get these lovely coconuts down for aunty to drink?” Mum replied, “We need to wait until they are ripe”. “But they seem to be very good now”. Mum insisted, “No, no, they are not ready yet. They don’t have the proper colour”. “Mhmhmhm! Mhmhmhmh”, was all he said. We were eating jackfruit and mangoes. After some time, Swami decided to leave and said goodbye. As he was heading towards the gate, we heard a big BANG from behind the house. We all ran to the back garden. I was the first one to arrive and to my great surprise, the branch holding all the coconuts had broken and the bunch of fifty coconuts were lying on the ground! Swami Vishwananda said, “Come on, come on, get an axe now”. He started cutting the coconuts. They were nice and creamy, with lots of water inside. We all sat down and enjoyed the tasty coconut fruit and water. I couldn’t believe my eyes. That was one of the first miracles I witnessed. He was only fourteen years old at the time, and the coconut tree is still there to remind me of the experience, which is still so vivid in my memory.

(by an aunty of Swami Vishwananda)

The Maha Shivaratri day

Swami Vishwananda was sixteen years old when we celebrated Maha Shivaratri in the temple in Rose-Hill, Mauritius. Almost 200 devotees had gathered there to perform the Shiva Abishekam throughout the night. On the morning of Shivaratri, a memorable incident took place. Swami’s mother noticed that the water they had put in a copper pot in Swami Vishwananda 's room had filled itself and stopped at the brim. After a while, his father replaced the small copper pot with a larger one, and again the same thing happened – the pot filled itself and stopped at the top so the water did not overflow onto the floor. Soon the news spread, and people brought larger and larger containers, which were miraculously filled with water one after the other. The devotees present there were more focussed on filling their empty bottles to take home than on the puja itself. Swami Vishwananda then used the water to perform the Shiva Abishekam. (by the aunty of Swami Vishwananda)

The vibhuti

When Swami Vishwananda was about thirteen or fourteen we went to visit him in his home. The elders were chatting away in the lounge and all the children were gathered in Swami’s room. Ten or eleven children were jumping up and down on the bed. They had switched off the light, but were all excited by the vibhuti that Swami was materialising in abundance and sprinkling on them. They had vibhuti all over their heads, faces and bodies. When we turned the light on, the room looked like a fog of vibhuti. It was three in the morning, and the children were still up having fun. Soon after, Swami convinced his father to start building a temple next to the house. In a very short time, with the help of volunteers from all over the island, the temple was completed and was properly inaugurated. Swami organised various activities and programs, including bhajans twice weekly and bhajan classes for children, who were given the opportunity to learn bhajans, prayers and other religious ceremonies and rituals.

Devotion to God

Whenever I went to Mauritius as a child, I would sleep in Swami’s room with him. At first I found it really scary with the pictures of different deities on the wall at night; however, Swami Vishwananda would tell me stories of the different deities to put my mind at ease. I was amazed that at fourteen years of age, he was able to tell me all these stories in so much detail. His devotion to God was so apparent and inspiring even at that age. Within a couple of days I was aspiring to be like my older brother, asking my mum for money so I could buy pictures of deities for myself!( by Ravi)

The Shiva Lingham

On one occasion Swami Vishwananda was almost twelve years old as he saw a huge black 20-25 kg marble Shiva lingam in a shop window that he really wanted. However, it was too expensive and he had to save his pocket money in order to buy it. He was unable to ask his parents for the money, as it was such a large sum just to pay for a lingam. Therefore Swami Vishwananda starved himself and saved his lunch money towards the lingam, until he had enough to pay for it. Swami then secretly brought the lingam home in a trolley and hid it at the back of the garden and would do puja to it every morning before leaving the house.

(by Ravi)The Shiva lingham is still in the ashram in Mauritius.

Spending his pocket money on pictures of Gods

On the different occasions that I visited Swami Vishwananda in Mauritius, I would leave with new fond memories. When I was eleven years old and I returned to Mauritius after a longer period, I found that Swami Vishwananda had changed quite a bit. He was no longer known as Papou and was called Visham. He had also grown a lot taller. Along with the exterior changes, Swami had also changed his interests. Generally teenagers of his age had posters of football players or movie stars on their walls. However, Swami’s bedroom walls were completely covered in pictures of different Hindu deities. I found that when we went to the shops together, he would spend all his pocket money on pictures of Gods.(by Ravi)

Swami’s early devotion

I have known Swami Vishwananda since he was a child, as he is my cousin. The earliest memory I have of Swami is when I was seven years old and I went on holiday to Mauritius. I remember Swami as being a very hard working boy. Everyday he would wake up very early in the morning and pray with our grandmother. He would then do all his household chores before going to school in the morning and continued them upon his return from school. When I visited Mauritius, we would always have a lot of fun and get into a lot of mischief and play games. One of my earliest recollections was enacting the Ramayana. Swami would play the role Rama, his sister Tina was Sita and I was Lakshmana. We would make bows and arrows from branches and try to recreate the special effects from the Ramayana television series! Together we would fire the arrows with a fire cracker attached to the end and would pretend to attack demons in my grandparents’ garden. (by Ravi)

The puja

An aunty of Swami Vishwananda tells us about the devotion to God that she could observe from an early age by Swami:

"Swami Vishwananda loved performing prayers from a very early age and joined his grandmother (my mom) in her daily rituals. My dad always helped my mom to prepare her puja but one day my mom was surprised when she noticed that her puja was ready even before she had completed sorting out all of her offerings. She looked around trying to figure out who had been there to so lovingly set up the altar and then she knew it had to be Swami Vishwananda. As a small child, Swami Vishwananda took delight in making murtis with earthen clay and then painting them with great love and care. As a young teenager, he often loved visiting the Shirdi Baba temple in Cure-pipe, always offering a coconut, incense sticks and flowers as prasad. Unlike other youth of his age, he always preferred to keep himself busy by singing bhajans. From early childhood, his love for God was always expressing itself. On holiday in Mauritius, Swami Vishwananda invited me to a puja they were holding at his home and I happily agreed to come. When I reached my sister-in-law’s apartment, I was very surprised to see that it was not a priest reciting all the prayers, but Swami with Ravi and his friend at his side blowing the conch. The three of them were confidently performing all the prayers outside in the yard. When the puja was over, prasad was passed around. It was a lovely puja. I couldn’t believe it, as he was only thirteen years old at the time.

A visit of Shirdi Sai Baba

The cousin of Swami Vishwananda remembers the first time when as a child, they went together to a temple Bhajan session in Mauritius:

"My mum sat with my aunt on the women’s side and Swami and I sat on the men’s side. Characteristically, at such events the women’s side of the hall was packed all the way to the back, and the men’s side only had a couple of singers and musicians at the top of the hall. As we were unsure where to sit, Swami and I decided to sit in the middle of the hall on the men’s side. Unusually enough, when we sat down together, we left a gap between us. We had actually started to enjoy the bhajans and were clapping and singing when suddenly we both had an urge to look back. We noticed a curious and striking looking man walking into the hall. He was tall in appearance, of western origin and dressed in bright ochre orange dhoti and scarf. As if this wasn’t unusual enough, his hair was incredibly long and grey and tied up in a bun at the top of his head with rudrakshas surrounding it. He had dazzling chandan painted on his forehead and arms. He also had additional rudrakshas on his arms and wrists.  The gentleman decided to sit between Swami and myself even though the entire room was empty. I remember looking at Swami at this point and we both just smiled at each other. After a short while, my mum and I decided it was time to leave the bhajans to make our way home. The journey back was quiet. I think we were all taken aback and captured by the bhajans. On arriving at our bus stop, Swami declared that he would attend bhajans every week. My mum recommended that he ask his parents’ permission before travelling so far alone to attend the bhajans.  Some time later my mum received a call from her brother, Swami’s father in Mauritius who informed her that Swami had been attending the weekly bhajans in Vacoas in secret, and had now decided to dedicate his entire life to God at the age of fourteen years. My mum, like the rest of our family, was astonished at his strong dedication to the Lord at such a young age.   A couple of years later, Swami decided to come to London for the first time. When I met him, I noticed that he had transformed. He had grown his hair long and was able to materialise objects from thin air. He materialised hot strongly scented vibhuti for all that were present at the airport. When we arrived home, we sat together and talked about his newfound powers. Swami asked me if I wanted a ring to which I replied, “Yes please!” He then materialised a gold ring for me and explained that it was identical to Mata Parvati’s chakra and said that it was very powerful.  Swami then asked me, “Can you remember the day we went to the bhajans in Vacoas?” I replied, “Yes bro”. He went on to ask, “Can you remember the man dressed as a sage who sat between us?” I replied smiling, “How could I forget?”  Swami went on to explain that that had been the first time Sri Shirdi Sai Baba had appeared to him. He had asked Swami if he remembered meeting him. However, Swami replied No. Shirdi Sai Baba explained to Swami that he had first come to visit him and his cousin at the bhajans in Vacoas. I felt completely honoured in knowing that Shirdi Sai was indeed the sage that had visited us."

God as a friend

Some people knows Swami Vishwananda since years, one of his old friend told us one of the many experiences he had with him:

"In 1999 I traveled extensively in Switzerland with the young Swami Vishwananda. He was virtually unknown at that time and not recognized as the guru that he is. Also I had spent time with him as a guest in his house in Mauritius. The young man radiated happiness, love and joy. I must have tested his patience many times by wanting to go to places he was not interested in visiting or asking him to wait while I did something he did not want to do. All the time we were together he never complained or showed that he disliked anything. One time I stopped the car in Bern, Switzerland on the main road close to the train station and said to the young Swami Vishwananda and the young Swiss man sitting in the car, “If you don’t give me clear directions to get to our destination, I will stop the car right here and now!” We soon found our way.

Swami Vishwananda’s friendship and love have had a profound effect on me. I keep those experiences close to my heart and will treasure them forever. His deep devotion, patience and complete understanding of a simple friend like me demonstrate his precious way of showing love to everyone. Wherever he goes, Swami offers people the same love and devotion he gives me as his friend. I am among the many people around the world who feel that whether Swami is near or far, he is always in our hearts and dreams."

Cheerfulness

The mother of a disciple of Swami Vishwananda told us this amazing experience.:

"The stories of Krishna stealing butter have strong parallels with Swami Vishwananda. He steals the hearts of humans with his abundance of love and devotion, a perfect example of his teachings. His cheerfulness, jokes and humour were so very attractive when we first meet him in 1998. His joy when experiencing snow for the first time, in the Swiss Alps, nearly made him a snowman with all his playful rolling around. As we went up Schilthorn mountain - which is over 2’000 m (over 6’300 ft) high, it began to snow. We were disappointed as we wanted Swami to enjoy the marvellous view of the other mountains, but Swami said, "Don't worry." As he said it, the sun came through and in no time the clouds sank deeper and deeper. We also experienced Swami Vishwananda’s direct relationship with animals. A mountain bird stood close to him and hopped nearer and nearer up onto his outstretched hands. While we were travelling, by car or by train, Swami always had a bhajan on his lips; exactly like Krishna and his flute. This always put us in a good mood. In the kitchen the exuberance was never missing. We exchanged Indian and Swiss recipes, cooked together and also laughed a lot. I was always very touched, as Swami was always helping: with cooking, cleaning, washing the dishes and drying. He helped with everything. For him this was the most natural thing in the world! At the same time, we sang and laughed a lot. " V. L. – Switzerland

The early years

On a trip to the Seychelles, I took Yogananda’s book “Autobiography of a Yogi “. Either my wife or I would read out loud from the book while the other would be playing on the beach with our son Romeo.  While discovering this marvellous world of spirituality and Divine love, I was yearning to meet such a Master on this planet. Back in Europe, I went to visit a spiritual centre established by one of Yogananda’s disciples in Assisi. This, however, was not enough to satiate my thirst. I searched on the Internet for spiritual Masters that were alive on the planet. It took me another few years to eventually find my true spiritual Master, Swami Vishwananda. At the time, He was still living in Mauritius with His parents.  In the room where He had grown up, in Quatre-Bornes, images of saints cover the walls. On the shelves are statues of various deities. Each object is covered with Vibhuthi (sacred ash), which the visitors, as well as His parents, at the beginning mistook for dust. The layer is sometimes so thick that the head of the Murti (statue) hardly sticks out of the mountain of ash.  In Mauritius, Swami Vishwananda first had a little temple built on His parents land, with their permission, where every week Bhajans were sung. Later on in time, in the garden of His friend’s house, He built the first Ashram, thanks to the generosity of this family. There is a little chapel filled with statues of the holy Virgin Mary. These statues have been purchased at the many pilgrimage sites in Europe: Lourdes, Merdjegurje, Pontmain, Loretto, Rome, Pelvoisin, and Fatima.