Rendezvous With The Divine

By Mangala Shankar

Mangala Shankar has completed her Masters in Chemistry from the Madras University in 1997 and moved to United States since 1998. She has worked in an International Organization in Quality Control for several years. Mangala Shankar has keen interest in Music and Vedam and she plays veena.  She is also a lead Bhajan singer and teaches kids with bhajans and is also an SSE Teacher.

My first darshan of Swami

This incident proves how Swami‘s omniscience and how He selects His future devotees. In May 1989, when I was in 14 years old, to spend our summer holiday we had been to Kodaikanal for a very short vacation along with my parents and my younger brother. During the course of our visit we stayed at Kodai International Hotel. We went for sight seeing the following morning. When we passed through the lake, the boatman suggested that we can have Dharshan of Swami who is visiting Kodaikanal. We thought it was good idea and then entered Sai Sruthi which is Swami’s abode at Kodai. Huge gathering of about 7000 people were then seated at Sai Sruthi to have dharshan of Swami. I was one among the audience in the crowd. I waited with much anticipation for first time, to have first glimpse of Swami. Then Swami while giving dharshan walked through the audience in the line and then Swami came near me and my mom. He was throwing chocolates all around us. In my mind, I was thinking that I should be getting the chocolate. But the chocolate fell down on the lady next to me. I felt disappointed as I did not get one. However to my surprise, the lady prompted by Swami’s will, offered her chocolate. She did not even have a bite and gave the whole chocolate to me and asked me to share with my family. This was very special incident in my life. I was blessed to receive prasadam from Divine Hands from the first visit and first darshan of Swami and Swami reading my mind. At that time I was not a Swami’s Devotee and Swami was preparing me for coming into His Fold. After 8 years of this incident, I was chosen to marry Swami’s student by Swami Himself. Swami created Vibuthi and showered His Grace and blessed my marriage. It completely transformed me to be His ardent Devotee.

 Always Being Aware of Swami’s Omniscience

Swami’s presence is not to be felt only at Parthi. I found how Swami acts remotely to show his presence. Once on our way to vacation in Durango, Colorado, we stopped at a restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, US. To our surprise, we saw Swami's picture on the wall and we felt Swami welcoming us in an unknown place it was as if He was saying, “I am here.”  We later found out that the owners were great devotees. Then we proceeded to Durango without giving much thought to Swami’s picture.

After local sight-seeing at Durango, we took a rental car and drove to Mesa Verdi, a famous archeological site. It was very scenic, high in the mountains, and a difficult terrain. We got our admission tickets and off we drove to the first site. We parked the car and my husband tried to remove the keys from the car. The ignition would not turn off. We were so tense because there were no mechanic or car shops for the next thirty miles, and we had to drive down the mountain. The panic showed on our faces.  When we sought help from the tourists, they tried in vain to help, and told us to call the rental car company.  However, there was no phone service in the mountains. We then sought help from a nearby State trooper.  He was also not able to help, but seeing that our car could move, he recommended us to drive slowly down the mountain and then seek help. With Swami’s name on our lips, we drove all the way down the mountain and then went to the rental company, but they refused to take the car because it was rented in the main airport. Finally, one tech-support person told us to drive to the hotel where he instructed us on how to remove a computer chip to turn off the car.  The car-rental company sent a replacement car from Denver the next morning.

Lesson Learnt

Well the lesson here was Swami’s word that He will take care of his devotees and will show us the path once we trust and have faith in Him. Now we remembered the picture of Swami welcoming us in that restaurant and realized that it was He who guided and protected us all the way through this ordeal and just saved our lives from the impending disaster. Swami protects us and guides us all through our life in each and every incident.