The school gave permission to Gopal to be absent from school and go to India for his upanayanam. I wrote a letter to the pricipal with my request explaining to him what the ceremony was about. Since his grades and other records about him were excellent, they allowed Gopal to finish his homework etc. before and let him be absent for three weeks. The upanayanam date was set to June 17th. Gayatri, my daughter and I went in April to attend other functions on my side of the family and Gopal and Rao arrived in Chennai on June 4th, I think. We were hearing a variety of news about Swami's where abouts. Some said that He was in Ooty or Kodaikanal all summer. Some said that He returned to Bangalore area. I hired a Taxi from Nellore, my native town and with the help of my nephew Subrahmanyam, we went to the Madras airport and started off towards Bangalore to go to Whitefield. The journey was good till we reached our destination. Then, it started pouring and the Taxi's windshield wipers were not working. When asked, the driver said that since there was no rain in Nelloore area, he disconnected them. Anyway, at one point, we could not go any further and the Taxi stopped. When Rao got out he as excited to see that we were just in front of the gate of Brindavan, Swami's abode in Whitefield. The driver pulled over to a side. The rain turned to a drizzle. Rao went inside the gate and returned quicked to say that there was no accommodation available inside the ashram. A man then walked over to us and said that he could provide a room to sleep with one bed and others sleep on the floor. We agreed that the boys could sleep on the floor and Gayatri and I on the bed and the driver slept in the Taxi. The room was full of dead bed bugs. That was our only choice in a strange town. We took shower and all and went to the nearby canteen for something to eat. There, to our surprise, we met with a couple from our Colorado center. Her name was Gretchen. I forgot his name now. They told us that Swami was giving darsans only two days a week Tuesdays and Thursdays and that too only in the mornings. It was Thursday evening when we got this news. There was no way we could stay until the following Tuesday.
So, that night, I cried hard and begged Swami to give us darsan, because Rao has to return to the USA and he has to go without a darsan. We were planning to go to Parthi for Gurupoornima in July after Rao left.
Now the dream that night. Baba appears. That is it !!!
Everyone was sitting under the huge darsan tree. We also joined them. Suddenly, we saw Swami's robe far away behind another set of gates. I started thanking Swami for answering my prayers and giving this blissful moment to Rao and us. Suddenly, those gates are wide open and we were motined to go near. Everyone starts running. The male and female lines were formed and we all sat on the ground. Swami walks towards us and comes sooo close that I was in ecstasy. Rao was able to take many close up photos of Swami. Swami was all smiles, smiling at His own leelas.
Thanks Swami.
So, that night, I cried hard and begged Swami to give us darsan, because Rao has to return to the USA and he has to go without a darsan. We were planning to go to Parthi for Gurupoornima in July after Rao left.
Now the dream that night. Baba appears. That is it !!!
Everyone was sitting under the huge darsan tree. We also joined them. Suddenly, we saw Swami's robe far away behind another set of gates. I started thanking Swami for answering my prayers and giving this blissful moment to Rao and us. Suddenly, those gates are wide open and we were motined to go near. Everyone starts running. The male and female lines were formed and we all sat on the ground. Swami walks towards us and comes sooo close that I was in ecstasy. Rao was able to take many close up photos of Swami. Swami was all smiles, smiling at His own leelas.
Thanks Swami.
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