"The path of Love" - (By Dr.Usha Garu)

In his presence mind turns calm, peace pervades our being, heart rejoices & silence engulfs. At times it feels like we don’t require anything except Nanna’s presence. The love, mercy, compassion flowing from those beautiful eyes, the most charming smile, the profoundness of his words, his utmost simplicity, tenderness of heart, magnanimity in his stature, after seeing it all manifested in one, can we be drawn to any other in this world ever!

As far as my visions of Nanna were concerned they felt more real than reality itself (and not like dreams). One such vision I had during my hostel days took place in the strict atmosphere of ladies hostel where no one was allowed into the premises except for the tenants, the main gate was kept open and a car had come inside. Nannagaru along with Rama Chandra Raju Garu got down from it. There was a huge ground beside our hostel which was filled with more than 1500 devotees. Wondering how all of them had come inside, rushed into a nearby room and got a chair for Nanna for him to be seated. Nanna quietly sat on the chair, surrounded by devotees.

At that time a devotee of Nanna brought a huge basket of bananas and gifted to Nanna. Nanna called me and told me to distribute one banana to each devotee. Since they would not be enough for all, I asked him if I should cut them into small pieces and distribute. He said that is not required and that all shall receive the fruit. He told me to distribute without hesitation and I did so. To my surprise, all got the bananas as told by him.

Finally, the last lady I came across, was old, sick, helpless, coughing severely and was in immense suffering. She couldn’t take the fruit. When I told Nanna that she was shivering and unable to accept the fruit, he told me to peel it and give it to her. Her cough increased and she couldn’t accept the peeled banana too. When I looked at Nanna helplessly, he got up from his chair & came to us. He took the fruit from my hand, pressed both her cheeks with one hand (in order to keep her mouth open), with the other hand, stuffed the banana into her mouth & closed her mouth with his hand so that she gulps it instantly. The moment she swallowed it she lost all sickness and suffering, she wasn’t old anymore. She was radiating with good health. All of us were spellbound by this incident and I was looking at him with awe when my vision broke and I woke up.

In a few days after that, I made one of my regular visits to Thiruvannamalai, when I was going around Bhagavan’s samadhi, one of Nanna devotees happened to see me and with excitement held my hand, pulled me out with her to the outside of the Ashram, as she wanted to share something really important. When I walked out with her, she narrated what Nanna spoke in one of his recent speeches in Andhra Pradesh (saying she had to share it with me as I was a university student and couldn’t attend to all his speeches).

He said, ‘Many enlightened saints came to this planet earth and imparted the spiritual truth by various methods. For example, Ramakrishna’s was the path of devotion, Bhagavan Ramana’s was the path of Jnana, Buddha’s was of Dhyana (meditation), Yogananda’s was that of yoga, then he asked devotees which path is ours? When devotees were eagerly waiting to listen to his answer, he replied, “Ours is the path of love. Bestowing all with self-realization”. Again he asked, what is bestowing it with love? For which devotees were amused and waited again to listen to his reply. Then Nanna replied saying, “As a newborn calf that can’t drink milk from its mother’s udder, it is forcefully given milk by inserting a pipe wherein the calf is forced to drink though unable to do so by itself. Similarly though not ripe or fit to realize the Truth, it will be imparted to all with immense unconditional love! Saying that she asked me if there can be any Guru like this with such tremendous divine love?!

After hearing what she said, I realized my vision & his words had so much co-incidence. The impurities in the mind & the body bound ‘I’ are the root cause of all suffering, because of which we are unable to comprehend the Truth. Our suffering can’t be removed by mere human effort, it can be eradicated in his immense unconditional love, like the calf being made to drink the milk though not able to drink by itself. He imparts the knowledge, gives an understanding of the same & makes us experience the true state in his presence. This he does with tremendous compassion so that there is no pain, struggle & disappointment to the seeker. I understood that the devotees that take refuge in him & seek earnestly, are blessed with the experience of Truth by his Grace alone! (Like he eradicated the sickness of the woman in the vision by forcing a fruit though unable to swallow it herself)

By being in his divine presence (the indweller) we are completely taken care of, our lives get blessed. For the one who surrenders completely to him, Without much effort on our part, without hurdles or difficulties, we can fearlessly cross all barriers & realize the Truth in his All-encompassing grace & love!