"Nannagaru is everything to me" - (By Kranti Garu)

I met Nannagaru for the first time when I was in 10th class. When Nannagaru used to go to Vizag by train, I went a few times to the railway station with other devotees and offered fruits. My mother used to be devoted to Nannagaru and used to go to Satsang daily. That’s very much the interaction we had with Nannagaru. We never spoke to Nannagaru and neither did he speak to us.

After a few years when I was doing my B-Tech in Hyderabad, I was going from Hyderabad to our home town by train. When we got into our reserved seat in the compartment, to our surprise Nannagaru was sitting opposite to our seat. He was traveling to Jinnuru that day. We were very happy to see Nannagaru. He finished talking to devotees and the train started. He started talking to us and asked us all the details about family and my studies and everything. This was our first introduction to Nannagaru (a stage set by Nannagaru to step into our lives) and it is an everlasting impression on our minds and from that day onwards I started having a personal liking towards him and he drew us close to him day by day.

I used to talk to Nannagaru once in every 15 days or every month. Talking to him regularly gradually built a confidence in me that he is there and will take care of everything and anything that we may face in life. At that time I did not have much spiritual aspect or direction in my life but I used to treat God and Nannagaru as one and the same.

My father passed away when I was 20 years old and I always felt Nannagaru filled that role in my life. In every aspect of my life, he is always one step ahead of me taking care of things that may come in as problems. With Nannagaru grace I went to the USA for work after completing engineering and I used to have close mental contact with him and he always used to be in my thoughts and slowly he inculcated in me love and affection towards him. Where ever I used to meet or call Nannagaru, one thing I always used to ask him “Bless me with wise intellect” (Manchi buddini prasadinchandi). He used to say intellect is like a driver for a car and it takes you to the destination safely.

In 2007 my marriage got settled, it was so important for me that Nannagaru attends it (as I used to treat him as my father and god) and he agreed. He came for the bridal ceremony and marriage (early in the morning ‪at 1 AM‬) with so much love even though there was a huge outpouring of rain and devotees said it may be tough to go. He blessed me by putting auspicious rice grains on my head.(As it is a tradition in Hindu culture to bless with rice grains, mixed with turmeric) When I bent down to touch Nanna’s feet he bent a bit too, to catch the yellow rice falling from my head with his both hands with so much love. when I got up he put all the rice again on my head saying yellow rice is sacred and should not fall down. He implanted in me so much love towards him through so many incidents like this in my life (by taking care of health issues my kid used to have and resolving it completely and sorting out the small differences I had in my family life).

By taking care of all the things in my life he pulled me towards spirituality. My intense spiritual journey started in 2017 from a visit to Jinnuru for a Guru Purnima occasion and this is my last but one meeting with Nannagaru. He said Guru is not body when he is in the body too and he can send help when you are in domestic difficulties even if you are in America or anywhere in the world “Just have mental contact with the Guru and he can send help anytime and anywhere”. I asked him to bless me with akaarana bhakthi (devotion and love towards him for no reason). I could feel his grace and the work he is doing very clearly (the way you can feel the touch of the right hand by left hand when one touches the other). Below is one example of the several tendencies that he took away. A very trivial habit but hard to get rid of. For Guru’s grace, there is nothing impossible.

I have a habit of not placing lids on food bowls in general (after serving food to myself or someone else or after cooking) and my husband cannot stand the sight of bowls with no lids. We used to have several discussions and arguments on that and I once said “This habit of mine can never be changed as I got it from birth and can only go away with my death”. When I visited Nannagaru in 2017 he was sitting in the hall in his house and my mother, I, and a few other devotees were sitting in front of him. He brought up the topic of closing lids on food bowls without a context and talked about it for 5 mins. I felt Nannagaru was telling this for me only. After that incident Nanna brought a complete change in me, so much that I almost always put the lids on bowls and if I forget sometimes, my husband and I never had arguments about it.

In 2017, I went to India 2 times in 4 months duration (in July and November) and everyone was surprised by my visit in such a short duration. This was an unplanned visit and I thought in my mind, this is happening according to Nannagaru's wish and I can have one more glance of my guru and be in his presence. At that time I did not know that this was going to be my last visit to Nannagaru before he left his physical body. His health gradually deteriorated at that time. When I visited Nanna even in such a physical pain he greeted me with so much love holding my chin and saying “Did you come to see me amma”. Nanna is the pure personification of love and compassion.

After Nannagaru left his physical body, I could feel his presence even more and he is guiding in every aspect of life and bringing closer to the self within me.

In one sentence Nannagaru is everything to me.

Tvameva Maata cha Pitha Tvameva
Tvameva bhandu cha Sakha Tvameva
Tvameva Vidya Dravinam Tvameva
Tvameva Sarvam Mama Deva Deva