Love to the Master: A devotees experience

Love to the Master is indeed love towards the divine because master is the divine in a human form - A Devotees experience!


This reminds me of one incident that stands evidence to this great truth. It was the evening of October 17, 2009. The night was unusually bright because every home was brightly lit with diyas and colourful lamps...It was the evening of Diwali - the festival of lights! There was a lot of excitement in the air as the half a dozen kids we had at home were hurrying in and out of the house each with their share of crackers (fireworks). I stepped out into the living room wearing a new cotton saree bright green in colour.

My son shot a glance at me, smiled and said 'you are looking so nice mom.' I smiled back and stepped out of the house looking forward to a evening full of noise and fun. This was literally my daughter's first diwali. She never stepped out of the bedroom during the past Diwali evenings because she was too scared of fireworks. This year, however, she was the first to go out with her share of crackers - pencils, flower pots, match boxes and a couple of other soft or not so loud fireworks.

I was excited to see that she finally got over her fear for fireworks and was confidently playing with them all alone. I slowly moved towards her as she lighted a pencil. I fondly stroked her head. She turned towards me with a wide grin. For a few seconds both of us were lost in joy. I was suddenly jolted by a warm feeling on my knees. I looked down and was shocked to see that the fire from the pencil cracker my daughter was holding caught on to my saree below my knees. The fire was spreading fast and I was shocked for a few seconds unable to move or think.

My daughter and the other kids around were screaming now. The first thought that I had was that I should run away from my daughter else she may try to come towards me and hug me in her panic. I started running away from her towards the back of the house. The fire was spreading faster every moment and almost touched my face now. I quickly pulled the remaining portion of the saree off me...I was holding swamiji's mala in one hand and with the other hand I tore the saree off.

Almost 75% of the saree was gone now totally burnt to pieces in the fire. The rest of it just came off me as easily as the peel of a ripe banana coming off the banana (This was amazing given that I had used atleast 6 safety pins to tie the saree firmly) . I was surprised that instead of being scared, I was immersed in a wave of peace and bliss! I just closed my eyes to see the smiling face of my master gesturing kindly that he is there with me! I felt the warmth and protection of a mother's lap. Smiling with joy I slowly opened my eyes to find myself staring into the anxious faces of my family! There was chaos around me. Everyone was shouting, crying and running around me trying to find out if I was okay. I kept assuring them that I was fine and they did not understand how I could be so cool especially after such a huge fire accident which left me with burns on my lower back and forehead.

As the house returned to normalcy a few minutes later....a pleasant feeling spread all over me despite the burning sensation on my lower back and forehead as I could still feel the strong, warm hands of my master holding me gently and firmly...and it was then that I cried aloud saluting to my master and silently telling him how much I love him and thanking him for saving my life. This incident remains in my memory without a trace of fear or pain and just as a beautiful evidence of the everlasting presence of the divine in my life!


Loving the master is indeed loving the divine because master is the divine in a human form! I know now more than ever before that my love for my master is eternal :-)