Sri Sri Stories
Jai Gurudev !!!
My name is Sachin, and I have been a part of the AOL family since a while now. I have done a Yes plus course, an Advance course; and I am very regular in doing my Sudarshan Kriya & Padma Sadhna.
This was a long while back, that I was not keeping well for quite some time, and had started feeling very weak. So, my concerned parents advised me to see a Doctor and get a few check-ups done.
I went to a very good Doctor, following which I completed my routine tests. But the results of the tests left me in a state of utter shock. My sugar was 300, which is way above the normal level. I was scandalised at learning this. I almost went blank for a few moments, as I was just in my 20’s then, and having this type of a problem at a very young age is extremely threatening. I was hoping that the test results may be wrong, but then the Doctor told me that the sugar problem is almost confirmed. He still wanted to double check the matter to be 101% sure, hence asked me to come for the proper test next morning.
With a heavy heart, I exited the clinic. As soon as I reached out, I called my AOL teacher and told her about this health issue. She blessed me over the phone. She told me to have Faith and go for the medical test the next day. She re-assured me that I am being taken care of, and that everything would become fine. I just needed to have complete Faith and sincere Prayer. I really felt much better after speaking to her. She reinforced my trust and belief in the Master and gave me a ray of hope to hang onto. I also messaged the AOL Ashirvad (Blessings) Group and requested them to bless me so that my health problem gets resolved.
Next day as I went to the Doctors’ clinic, there was only a humble Prayer in my heart. A cry to the Guru, that I may be fine. Then I underwent the test, as scheduled. And, you won’t believe what followed. It was a Miracle. My reports were normal. My sugar was below 100, which is very normal. I did not seem to understand how this had happened. Even the Doctor seemed puzzled. This, for me, was a Gift of my Masters unending Grace. My prayers were answered, my faith had deepened, my feeling of hope had risen multi-fold. The feeling of gratitude had taken over my being, and tears of gratefulness towards the Guru, rolled down my cheeks. The Doctor confirmed that I was perfectly ok, and on hearing this, there was no limit to my joy, my happiness. I could breathe a sigh of relief now!
I know that this whole episode was a MIRACLE of GURUJI. It was HIS blessing which came to my rescue.
‘Thank you’ is really a very small word in front of what the Guru has given me. I hope and pray that I can be an instrument of His Love and Grace, to the fullest of my capacity. I really thank GURUDEV for taking care of me. And I know for sure that when my Guru is with me, nothing wrong can happen to me.
Thank you Gurudev, for always being there!!!
Sachin Sachdeva.
Jai Gurudev!!! 🙂
The best thing that has ever happened to me is my first Art of Living course. I did the course in 2005 and fell in absolute love with Gurudeva and Kriya on the second day itself. Since then, I have been doing Kriya regularly and have not missed it even for a day. Quite recently, an unexpected miracle happened and amazed me, my mother and even the hospital ward boy.
Couple of months back, I was facing health issues and had to undergo Sonography. The reports completely astonished me. I was shocked to hear that both my kidneys had swollen and urine had filled the bladder. The reports came as a shock to the doctor as well.
The doctor advised me Catheterization for at least a month. Catheter is something which helps to drain out the urine. It is like a plastic bag with a fine tube through which the urine goes into the bag. So that the tube does not come out, there is a small balloon with some gel in it. Due to this sticky gel, the tube does not come out. But, if the balloon bursts, the tube comes out and it can be harmful.
It had been 25 days; and finally came the day when ward boy came at my home to remove Catheter. It took him some twenty minutes to remove the catheter; which was way too more than usual time taken to remove it. It generally takes two minutes; he was astonished to see what he just couldn’t believe. He was shocked to see that the balloon had burst, there was no gel & in spite of that, tube did not come out. He was wondering how this was possible. He did his best to understand the fact that how did tube remain intact; but he could not answer the question. He told us that never before in his life, he has come across anything like this. He said it’s just a miracle.
I was completely surprised that how Guruji took care of everything and had tears of gratitude. It is just because of his blessing that I am doing well now. Had he not been there; life wouldn’t have been the same. I still wonder how Gurudeva knows it all and how he takes care of everything!!
Jai Gurudev
Divesh
There’s a magician that knows how to make me glow; even when I have been grilled in the day, as much as Mumbai would grill me in 1 month, with just 2 hours of sleep the previous night. There’s a magician who I am smitten by, crazier than you can imagine, in love with!
The magician acts like a genie, and shows up every time I ask Him to appear in front of my eyes, and it’s so frequent that it’s sometimes hard to tell if it’s a dream or truly a reality. The magician manifests the smallest of my desires. Be it a Vada Pav (a snack served in Mumbai,India) craving attack at someone’s house out of the blue, a dream haircut, free or dirt cheap air tickets to anywhere I want to travel, or an invitation to any event I wish to visit, a sudden appearance of a long lost friend I wish to see, or Mexican food in the middle of the night; be it countless rose bouquets, or diamonds; be it lots and lots of chocolates or a loved one I crave to see; be it by helping me save a suicidal person from taking his/her life, to filling their life with happiness in no amount of time; be it raising funds for a good cause, or helping me reach out to people in need of hope or belongingness, there’s too much to be mentioned here, but there’s one thing I am most grateful for. And that is LOVE, INFINITE LOVE.
There’s no end to what my magician can grant, but none of these things overwhelm me as much as HE does!
His love makes my heart melt and when he appears in front of me, my brain goes numb, drowns into a sea of bliss for hours, I see the world blurred, I forget who I am and my smile starts to scare people, and they wonder if I took some drugs!
Well, what do they know? I’m in much deeper trouble than that! I am in Love with this Divinity.
The kind of love that gives you goose-bumps, pumps you with more endorphins than a 100 boxes of Belgian chocolate would, the kind that makes you well up, out of happiness, and you believe yourself to be the luckiest person in the whole world. It’s amazing to be able to feel this way, to be able to love so much that you dissolve into your beloved, and that radiates from every pore of your being.
You don’t feel your body anymore, just the beautiful love/glow/spirit within you. And no, you aren’t hallucinating!
It’s so wonderful, this feeling, that life seems only worth this. It’s the Love, that you must’ve read about in Sufi poetry! The Magician (I am sure you might’ve guessed by now) is the ‘Divine’ being or ‘Divinity’, which teaches us to see Divinity in every atom of this creation.
And I do, trust me. I do see Divinity in every atom of this universe, for hours, sometimes for days, especially after I’ve seen Him in person.
I find the otherwise rude auto-driver amusing; the bumps on the road feel like a joy ride in an amusement park and make me giggle. I look into the sky and blush, when someone’s mean, I bless them and mean it, I can do with just 2-3 hours of sleep in a day, I laugh at ridiculous jokes; and happiness oozes out from every pore of my being – these are some of the side effects of an encounter with my Magician, my Master, my Guru, my Sri Sri !!
Thanks for meeting me twice today, thanks for taking my flowers and blessing me, thanks for your priceless smile and the look in your eyes at seeing me, thanks for every little thing in my magical life; thanks for turning me into ‘Tabetha’ from my once favourite show “I dream of genie” !!
Thanks to the times of infinity, Guruji ! I love you! I love you! I love you!!!
Your crazy devotee
Shruti Gera
Jai Gurudev!
This incident is of the time when we participated in the Mission Earth Green Project of AOL. By the time my husband and I had started planting trees in our city, it was already March, and the monsoon season had almost come to an end.
That particular day, we planted around 100 trees in our locality, taking the help of our Mali (Gardner). It was a bright sunny day with scorching heat, because of which our Mali was worried that the trees might die. But my husband told him with immense faith that Guruji won’t let that happen, and He will ensure that these plants/trees are taken care of. Our Master is so caring and just takes care of everything, and if we sincerely pray for something it will surely be granted. Faith and Hope for a miracle was all that we were relying on, as we had made certain commitments for the project, and could not step back fearing the inappropriateness of the season. So we surrendered all to Gurudev.
After about 15 minutes of having planted the tees, our Mali came running towards us and he was literally shouting, “It’s a miracle, your Guruji has listened!”. We were wondering as to why he was saying that. When we came out, we were surprised to see that the sky was overcast with clouds. The sun had been overshadowed by the dark clouds, and it seemed as though it would rain any minute.
This was a true miracle, because just 15 minutes back, there was no sign of a single cloud in the sky. And soon enough, it started raining heavily, and all our plants/trees not only survived, but have now grown into huge, healthy trees.
Rains in the month of March, WOW! Such is the Grace of our Guru. We are really blessed to have a living God with us, in the form of Gurudev.
Love you Guruji! Jai Gurudev!
Ritula Thakur
I was 21 when I fell in love and at the age of 22, I decided to take the relation to the next level and get married. But my parents retaliated and did not want me to get married with this guy. They just couldn’t accept him, even though he was from a well to do family, and was working in Jet Airways as an Engineer.
I never wanted to hurt my parents, but I just couldn’t get married to someone else, ruining three lives in the process. I tried all the possible ways to convince my parents, but in vain. Then one day, when I was going to the Bangalore Ashram with my parents and siblings in the train, I made a prayer to Gurudev. I just said in my heart that if Guruji would meet me as soon as I entered the Ashram, I would consider that I have made the right choice for marriage. But then this mind thought that this condition was very easy; so I added a condition that Dinesh Dada should also be there with Gurudev at that time.
When we entered the Ashram, I saw a sea of people running towards the VM, as Guruji was coming there, walking from His Kutir. Hence, my first condition was met. But I couldn’t see Dinesh Dada anywhere with Him. I was so disheartened thinking that even my Master didn’t want me to marry the boy of my choice, along with my parents. My heart sank. I felt really low and terrible. This was not what I had prayed for.
There were so many people hustling bustling to get a closer glimpse of Love i.e. Gurudev. And just when I was about to fall into the stampede, Dinesh Dada came and held me and protected me from falling. At that very moment, Guruji just came in front of me and smiled. Dada was behind me, and Gurudev was passing by me, making me realize that however difficult conditions I put in front of my Master, He will make it happen, and show me the right direction.
I was so overjoyed and grateful at the same time, as Guruji had given me a clear indication of His approval of my choice for marriage. Words cannot describe that feeling of bliss. This is a small happening but gave me the confidence to move ahead in the correct manner. Guruji provided me the much needed Guidance.
I then met HIM in the Darshan line, after a year, with my to-be husband, and took the permission to get married from HIM, in person.
Now it’s been one and a half year that we are married 🙂 Life is BEAUTIFUL. It’s filled with Sadhana, Seva and Satsang, in Guru’s Bliss.
Thank you Gurudev, for granting me such a lovely life
JGD.
Anonymous
(Name Witheld on request)
Though there are many miracles happening with Guruji’s presence in our lives, I would like to share something which I recently experienced.
It was April 2011 before TTC, when I did a DSN with Vinod Menon. I had a blissful experience while on the course, and felt a lot of peace and serenity. I was doing my Seva (Service) and Sadhna (Practice) regularly and also was attending Satsangs regularly.
I have embedded the words of Guruji, Sri Sri Ravishankar – “Everything is being taken care of” in my heart and soul, and this gives me the confidence and faith to leave aside all my worries and just relax.
This incident happened with me in the Regional Transport Office, opposite Mico Factory, Electronic City, Banglaore. My two-wheeler License needed to be renewed, and I had to get a new plastic card driver License for my four-wheeler as well; so I thought of getting both the jobs done at the same time.
It was a Saturday. I saw Guruji in my dreams the previous night and the same morning as well, while I was meditating after sadhana. With a very positive frame of mind, I reached the RTO office, and went straight to the Enquiry desk. An old gentleman was on the counter, I asked him how I could get the license renewed, he frowned and said, “It’s not possible here, go to Mysore (a 4 hour drive away) and get it done.” I then recalled that I had got the license from RTO Mysore in the year 1993. I requested him to help me find any other way this could be done here. He was kind enough to respond to my words, “Go and talk to RTO.” I requested him, “Can I talk to the Head, RTO now.” He gave me a scary look and said that he would also say the same thing. I gave him a smile and asked him where the Head sits. As directed, I followed him. Inspite of a huge rush, he took me to the regional transport officer, Uma Shankar. He was on the phone at the time. Meanwhile, I looked at Guruji’s photo which was on the wall paper of my HTC windows Smartphone during those days, & said mentally, “GURUJI KUCH KARO” (Guruji please do something) and smiled. The Officer looked at me, and asked, “What’s the problem?” in Kannada, I smiled back at him the AOL way, and explained my problem. To this, he said, “It’s easy, cancel this card and get a new one.” He asked me to write a letter for the same and inquired about my work. I told him about my job and also told him that I was an Art of living volunteer and do a lot of seva activities. Interestingly, I saw that he was listening to me attentively. Adding to it, I was offered badam milk as well! I handed over the letter to him, he glanced through it and called up the Deputy Regional transport officer and told him about my case.
He just rang a bell, and a babu (office boy) came in. He told him to take me and get the rest of the things done. Suddenly the whole scenario had changed! I was surrounded by people (agents) coming to me with applications, and they started to fill it up on my behalf. Within a few minutes, I was made to sit in front of the camera and photos for the license were being taken.
Until this time, I had not paid any money for the renewal fees and the plastic License card. The application forms were filled, photos were pasted, everything had been done, and it was 1 pm. Usually, the accounts counter shuts by 12 noon sharp, but on special permission, the money was accepted and the receipt was issued as well, without a single extra penny been demanded.
I then went to the Deputy RTO and found him having his lunch on a plantain leaf. He offered me to have lunch, to which I smiled and politely declined, “No, will have it at home.” He requested me to wait for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, he called me in and signed all the papers, and can you believe this – I got the Driving License on the same day i.e. by 3:30 pm. I couldn’t believe that just by looking at Gurudev’s picture and surrendering totally to Him, not only was my work done, but I also received such VIP treatment!
I went upstairs to thank Mr. Umashankar. He made me sit comfortably. I told him from the heart, “Thanks sir, I never expected it this way. You have changed my whole impression of Government offices and their work culture.” He gave me a big smile. I was extremely content with the days’ job, done smoothly and successfully.
Gurudev keeps saying – “You do my work and I’ll do yours :)!”
The question is just about taking that step, and then receiving an everlasting smile.
This is what I’ve seen – Gurudev is taking care of us in each and every action of His! Just surrender to Him. Have that Faith. It will take you places!
On reaching home, tears of gratitude towards my Guru, dropped down from my eyes. I kneeled in front of His photo and thanked Him for His love and care, which is always there with me, 24/7.
Yes, He is Always Looking after You!
Jai Gurudev
Narayan Veeraraghavachar
It was my birthday the next day when my Art of Living friend Uma called and asked me to come to Ankit bhaiya’s place (Aol volunteer). There where around 10 people at his place. At midnight they called me and wished me singing the famous AOL Birthday song “sagar mai ek leher uthi tere name ki….” and they invited me to do Long Kriya together in the morning. However when I went in the morning everyone was sleeping and I had to wait for everyone to wake up and then have bath. When all were done, the art of living teacher Saleel bhaiya came in, wished me and sat beside me. It was an honor to do Kriya beside him. All the volunteers were around and we did our Kriya. When I opened my eyes I saw Guru ji’s picture in front of me where I could notice Guruji’s eyes looking towards me. After some time I saw a volunteer reading “Celebrating silence.”
I asked him whether I could also read it. Without asking too much he gave me the book and continued his other work. I had always heard that this book is never supposed to be read from the first page so I randomly opened a page. I could only focus on the right hand side bottom part of the page. And then it all happened. It said Guruji has made songs for birthdays. There was some information about the importance of birth and the complete song which was made specifically for birthdays by Guruji. My heart fell out but this was not all. The next page I turned it had in bolds HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. This was the day when I realized Guru’s grace is falling over me. He made My Birthday most special for me.
These are small incidents but they give me the faith, give me the trust that My Master, Sri Sri Ravishankar is always looking at me, fulfilling all my wishes, making my birthday soo very special for me. Making His presence felt in my life every moment. He has taken care of me in whenever I have needed Him. Love you Guruji.
Jai Gurudev
Sarvil
This was in March, 2010, when myself along with our Part 1 teacher – Miss Smriti Thakur, her sister Kiran Pardeshi (also Part 1 Teacher) and Mr. Alok boarded the Mangala Express from Nasik to Delhi, for attending the Advance course with Guruji at Risikesh.
As the train started moving, we started having dinner, and I shared with Smriti a peculiar experience of mine. Since eight months of attending the Part 1 course, I was relieved of a particular dream, which had been troubling me for a while. I used to see a train bogie (with ‘X’ mark on it in yellow colour), leaving the platform, and I would be running for the train but finally missing it. This visual was extremely disturbing for me.
Then we reached Rishikesh, and had a wonderful Advance course in the presence of Sri Sri. We were extremely fortunate as the Holi festival (A celebration with different colours every year) was the next day of the completion of our Advance course. So we grabbed this opportunity and were with Guruji at Haridwar. We all played Holi with the Master and also had a bath in the beautiful and serene river Ganga.
On the return, we started our journey back to Nasik in the same Mangala Express. When the train reached the Agra station, myself and Smriti got down from the train, onto the platform, and moved towards the refreshments stall. As it was the next day of Holi, there were no trolley vendors, and the platform was nearly empty. We had to walk a large distance before we could find something to eat. So we packed some food for all four of us, and just as I looked back, I saw that the tracks were empty and the train had left. I was shocked. Then I turned towards my left and saw the last bogie of a train, with ‘X’ yellow mark on it. It was just about to leave the platform signal post. I screamed “Jai Gurudev, we have missed the train”. I felt that the train had slowed down then. I shouted again “Run!”, and both of us left the packets there itself and started running towards the last bogie which was about to leave the end of the platform. Just before the last bogie could leave the platform, I managed to get inside the bogie and pulled in Smriti as well.
So, the dream that I used to see came true, but with a difference. I did not miss the train. This was truly a miracle in my eyes. As I sat reflecting on this incident, I was drowned in deep meditation, and I saw Gurudev before me, saying to me:
“MY DEAR, YOU WILL NOT MISS ANYMORE TRAINS/GOALS IN YOUR LIFE.”
This is an experience, an example of an event in my life which gives me the faith that we have a Guru our beloved Sri Sri protecting us and taking care of us always and is by our side in every situation.
JAI GURUDEV.
ESHWAR CHAND GUPTA
My name is Lakshmi and I am an AOL teacher from Bangalore. I would be pleased to share one of the miracles that occurred in my life, and truly made me realize the power of the Divine.
Three years back, my son was driving his car from Hyderabad to Bangalore, with his wife and child also present. They were coming down to Bangalore to celebrate my grand-daughter’s first birthday. He started at 1 am from Hyderabad. At about 8 am in the morning, the car hit against a divider. The car toppled thrice and then caught fire. It turned into ashes and all that was left over was the name board. Listening to this, one would think that there could be no way that the passengers of this car would have survived such a deadly accident, right? But here’s what followed.
By the grace of the Master, my son and his family were saved, with just a few fractures and bruises. They all came out alive, this was the biggest miracle of Grace. All of them are keeping fine now.
We always are very regular with our Sadhana (Meditation) and Seva (Service). This always keeps us going and saves us from unfortunate incidents like this. We have a Master who is guiding us,we just have to follow Him and be in the knowledge.
I am very grateful to Guruji for saving my kids. Even now I wonder how He works His ways, and showers His endless love and blessings on each one of us, especially during our crucial moments.
Thank you, Guruji.
With lots of love – Lakshmi Bala.
This was on the day after finishing the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the ART OF LIVING at Jakkur aerodrome in Bangaluru. My mom and dad were travelling back to Gulbarga in the Udyan express. It was a night journey, so the train stopped at a particular station after a few hours from the departure time. So my father stepped out of the train in order to stretch a bit, as one tends to become very stiff just sitting through a train journey. In just a few minutes, the train blew a departure horn, and dad stepped inside the train, but as he did so, a bunch of keys fell down from his pocket, onto the tracks. That bunch included our home keys, locker keys, office keys, and bike keys. But dad did not realize it. He did not notice the fact that the keys had slipped out of his pocket. He just went and sat on his seat normally. On reaching home next morning, dad started searching for the keys, as he could not locate them in his pockets. He frantically asked mom to look for them as well. The thought of having lost the keys was extremely terrifying as then we would not have access to any of our belongings, and the fear of someone else getting hold of our keys was even more scary as the station where it fell was not very far away.
Sitting at the doorstep of our house, not knowing what to do next, my mother started praying to Gurudev, seeking for His blessings and help. A miracle could be the only saving grace now.
Suddenly, just when dad was about to leave home, trying to find a solution to this problem, a drunken man came and stood right in front of him. No one had ever seen this man before. No one knew who he was. We did not know what was his intention behind coming here, has he come to rob the house, has he followed us, but all we had was the shield of grace and love of our Master.
He looked towards my dad and, stretching his hand forward, said, “Your keys!”
Everyone was stunned. No one could believe what had just happened. Who was this man? How was he here? How did he find the keys? How did he know the keys belonged to us? The only answer to all these questions was – A miracle of the Master’s Grace.
The man handed over the keys to my father, and went off. Everyone was so shocked at this occurrence, that the only word that came out in appreciation of this good deed was “Thank you!”
Wow! What an experience it was. Pure Grace.
JGD
Kedar
