The Awakening and thereafter

It was 27th day of February 1949.  Casually and nonchalantly, I sauntered into the platform at the Victoria Terminus, Bombay, from which a train was due to leave for Madras in a few minutes.  I saw at some distance a couple surrounded by a large gathering of admirers who had come to see them off by this train to Madras.  They attracted my attention, One smiling look from that august lady and her husband, who were looking now at me mystified me.  My whole frame shook trembling like that of one who had an early morning dip in the Ganges on a wintry day.  I stood rooted to the ground where I was. I was swimming in an ocean of Bliss, and a profound deep peace enveloped my whole being.  Who are these strange Beings that wrought this sudden change in me by a plain smile and a look?  Are they divine beings?  Such was the query I put to myself.

Soon I heard as if that august lady was speaking to me in a whisper, loud enough for me to hear, “Are you Susheela’s Husband?”  The distance between me and them was more than 50 yards.  The noise around made by the crowds of passengers and the porters dragging the iron-wheeled barrows on the stony pavement, made it impossible to whisper from such a long of distance.  Yet the voice was as clear as though it was very near.  I could not explain how the mild and mellow sweet tones of the August lady seemed to me as if whispering from close quarters.  The couple boarded the train and it left.  Yet I stood where I was in a deep reverie guessing who these mysterious couple could be? Then someone tapped me on my shoulder and said it is “Sri Bhagawan and our Divine Mother Sree Rama Devi.”  I did not move from where I was for a long time; tears were trickling down from my eyes out of sheer joy, and that strange voice, “Are you Susheela’s husband?” was again and again reverberating, in my mind.  At last when I woke up from this mood, I felt a sort of a vacuum as though I had lost a huge fortune, and I slowly wended my way homewards.  At regular intervals, I heard the vibrant words repeated in my mind, “Are you Susheela’s husband?”  What is the meaning of this I pondered?

Reflecting on that voice which rang in my mind now and again, I soon realized how deftly and in a split-second Divine Mother had subjugated my pride and transformed me without hurting my ego in the least, for, implied in Her query were embedded: “Do you know who Susheela is?  Do you know what Susheela means?  Don’t you think you should deserve to be the lord of such Susheela?  If you have realized by becoming so, you would not only get Himalayan peace and happiness in your own home, but you will by your example help spread My mission all over the world?”  Again and again flashes of thought flitted across my mind’s eye, often making me anxious to identify this divine couple to know more about them and gain first hand experience.

This strong desire of mine was fulfilled in the following year 1950.  Shri Bhagawan with Divine Mother came by boat from Mangalore to Bombay.  It was my good fortune to greet them and receive them on landing at Bombay.  Very soon I had many more opportunities of intimately getting to know Sri Bhagawan at close quarters.  He was a graduate of the University of Madras of good old days and belonged to that older generation whose word and least wishes were commands to those around them.  It was even more so with his own wife.  I soon noticed how very meticulously Divine Mother attended to his requirements.  She administered all his needs scrupulously paying attention to the minutest details.  To Her, pati-dev is God.  She observed the sanatana Nari-dharma very orthodoxly.

Sri Bhagawan and Divine Mother during this visit to Bombay attended a wedding of one of the relations.  They blessed the couple with an advice to become ideal Grihastha-Ashrami couple.  This act of theirs was a departure from the normal, for this was unusual for them to attend any such functions particularly among relatives.  Thus, I had more opportunities of moving closer to Sri Bhagawan and understanding him from personal knowledge.

–          Sri K. G. Prabhu

One Response to “The Awakening and thereafter”

  1. Jai Mata !

    Old is gold !. This K. G. Prabhu and other venerable persons are founders of the Bombay Mandali. The spacious Prayer Hall of Mumbai Mandali at a prime location in Dadar is available to the benefit of the present devotees only because of the efforts of these persons. How nicely K.G. Prabhu had written this article ! The present generations of devotees should take a cue from this and come forward to express their thoughts and experiences about Mother without any feeling of deficeiency .

Leave a Reply