Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

Eternal Companion - September 2024

“What do you want?” Baba asked as I sat quietly, unsure of what to say.

“What do you want?” Baba asked me again, but I remained quiet.

“Why is hair so big?” Swami further enquired, and I still kept quiet.

“Youth, what do you want?” asked Baba for the third time.

“You, Baba, I want you, Baba,” I finally ventured to reply. In between these questions that Baba asked me, He was also talking to others in the interview room and had already materialized a beautiful ring for Pundit Jadunanan Mishra, a Shiva lingam for someone, a japamala for another lady, and a pendant for a Western devotee. I had seen so many miracles in such a short period that I was able to quickly elevate my opinion of Baba from Saint, Prophet, and Avatar to that of Supreme Being on earth. It was then possible for me to repeat my reply to Baba, and I said, “Baba, I want you,” being fully convinced of His divinity and Avatarhood.

“Take me,” said Swami, extending out both hands. I did padanamaskar, and Swami gently lifted me, rested my upper body on His lap, patted my head, and said, “I will always be with you.”

I was moved to tears and remained happy but wonderstruck at my good fortune to be in the Divine presence, and conversing with the God of all the worlds, the Supreme Master, Lord Sai. During the entire interview, Swami watched Pundit Mishra continue to cry emotionally. Baba went into the inner interview room and returned. Pundit Mishra told Baba that he had been conducting a spiritual class for youth who were training to become pundits. Baba said, “My blessings will be there.” At that point, Baba called me to the inner room. Not knowing what to expect, I was a bit anxious. As He sat in His chair He spoke to me very lovingly and softly. “You have a lot to contribute to society. I will be there to guide you.” Swami then ushered the rest of the devotees from Trinidad into the inner room.

This interview was granted to us on the third day of our visit to Baba’s Ashram in December 1981. Before the actual journey, we had a discussion. In October 1981, the wife of Pundit Seereram Jadunanan Mishra, Dharmarani (Rani), whom I endearingly called ‘Mamee,’ told me that she and the pundit were going on a pilgrimage to Bhagawan Baba. They invited me to join them. I told her that I could not afford to pay for such a wonderful pilgrimage, although I dearly wanted to see Baba. Mamee responded confidently, “With Baba’s grace, it will happen. Don’t worry, you will join us.”

Pundit Mishra was my guru, teacher, mentor, and spiritual guide, and his wife was like a mother to me, so I would implicitly follow any words of blessing from her lips. I was a practicing purohit or Hindu priest, and the income derived from that vocation was barely enough, so I felt it was impossible to go to India. Soon it seemed that there was a dramatic shift in my economic fortunes as religious work just kept coming in my direction. In a short period, I had enough money for my travel tickets and expenses. Mamee’s words came true as always, and I was on my way to see Baba in December 1981. That was the first time in my life that I was traveling outside of Trinidad and my yearning to visit India, my ancestral home, had become a reality. We journeyed via our national airline to London, then took other international and internal flights to Dubai, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. From Bangalore, we took a taxi to travel to Puttaparthi and the Ashram of Baba, Prasanthi Nilayam. 

We arrived in time for the afternoon darshan. Swami came out and began to move ever so slowly and gracefully in front of the seated crowd near the ladies’ section. I realized that at age twenty-one, I was the youngest member of the Trinidad group. So I just followed the instructions dutifully.

On the third day of our visit, we were seated in the darshan lines when Swami spoke to someone in our group, and we all were ushered into the interview room. Baba came in last and bolted the door, then proceeded to have all of us seated in two sections, men and women separately. Pundit Mishra and I sat close to Swami’s feet. There were a few Westerners in the room. I was amazed at the ease and fluency with which Baba spoke Dutch, Hindi, Bengali, and English so that everyone could understand Him. Suddenly He said, “Trouble, trouble, trouble everywhere, everyone bringing trouble, but no one is leaving it here; they are carrying it back.”

Swami’s message was very clear: He told us to renounce all evils and follow His path of truth and human values. Baba turned to Pundit Mishra and said, “You have a good heart but too much temper.” As Baba spoke those words, He waved His delicate hand in a circle and materialized a beautiful golden ring embossed with an enamel image of Swami. Baba placed the ring on Pundit’s finger, and it was a perfect fit.

“This will help you to keep calm Dharmarani. I know the big photograph of Shirdi Baba in your hall.” With those sweet words, Swami gave her a beautiful japamala (a necklace of prayer beads) and gracefully demonstrated for all to see, the proper way of using it for japa (repetition of the holy name). He also discussed the significance of and benefits to be derived from the practice. 

During the entire interview, my Guru Pundit Mishra was crying, and Swami invited some of us into the inner room. There Baba patted Pundit’s head and me on my shoulders. He turned to me and said, “You will come back with a wife. When you get married, come back with your wife.” He then distributed handfuls of vibhuti packets to us. We all left the interview room, feeling uplifted in spirit, and a Divine euphoria lasted for several days. The next day during morning darshan, Baba looked at my Guru, Pundit Mishra, and asked, “Who is this?” Pundit Mishra said, “This is my shishya” (disciple) and Baba continued walking slowly. He suddenly stopped and spoke to a Sri Lankan boy who was seated next to me. The boy told us earlier that Swami had instructed him to stop smoking and that he had stopped. Baba came close, gave the boy vibhuti, and asked him in a stern voice that all of us could hear clearly, “Do you still smoke?”

“No,” said the boy.

At that point, Swami stepped back and produced a photograph that showed the boy smoking. The boy took the photograph, held it to his heart, and began to cry. All of us were struck with spiritual wonder, and now I was convinced that Swami was always everywhere seeing everything that we did. The rest of our stay was quite eventful as we busied ourselves in the daily disciplines of early rising, meditation, bhajans, and listening to lectures by Shri. N. Kasturi and other prominent spiritual followers of Swami. We spent a total of three weeks in India, and six of those days were spent in Baba’s physical presence in the Ashram, where we had many blessings and two precious interviews.

I was born in a very poor family to parents Dharamraj and Etwaria Maharaj in Ghandi Village, La Fortune, Woodland, in South Trinidad. My mother led a very pious life. She attended every class in Srimad Bhagavad Gita at the Motidass Temple in Debe, and classes in Valmiki Ramayana, Vishnu Puran, and the Mahabharata at the Krishna Mandir in San Fernando. With such deep spiritual yearning, my mother wished very deeply to have a son who would become a pundit, and she prayed to God, day and night, for that heavenly gift. Six days following my birth she had a dream in which someone wearing a white robe told her, “Call this child Aum Aum Aum.”

My mother named me Aum, and everyone called me by that name. Strangely, whenever my mother read the Srimad Bhagavad Gita out loud, whatever she read stuck in my childhood memory. It was later that I discovered that I was reciting the slokas from that holy book. My friend and a few relatives tried to persuade me to consume tamasic, nonvegetarian food and beverages, but Swami had blessed me and made sure that I never once tasted meat, alcohol, or tobacco in, any form. Baba, it seemed, was always guiding and protecting me along the road leading to Him.

After that beautiful visit to Baba with my Guru Pundit Mishra in 1981, I returned home with an overwhelming zeal to accomplish a lot in too short a time. My mother invested some funds in a business making us prosperous, but I was soon overcome with the poisonous serpent called ego. Later, some misfortunes crept into my life. By 1984, I had suffered a nervous breakdown. When my Guru returned from a visit to Swami in 1984, he visited me, and I felt better. I was at that time continuously singing certain words in a particular tune, and I did not know their source. It went like this:

I had no ability to compose, and I had no idea how these lines and the tune came to my mind.

My Guru, Pundit Mishra, together with the guiding hand of Bhagawan Baba, restored my mental, physical, and spiritual life once again. I gradually returned to productive pursuits as a pundit, farmer, and driving instructor.

In February 1988, I was married in a beautiful Hindu ceremony. In December, my Guru, Pundit Mishra, Mrs. Gopaul, her daughter Princess, my wife Roshni, and I went on a memorable pilgrimage to Baba in what we called our “honeymoon visit.” We arrived at the ashram on December 6 and were blessed with an interview on December 9, my wife’s birthday.

I said to Baba in Hindi, “Baba, Ye hamara dharma patni hai,” or “Baba, this is my wife, my life’s companion,” to which He gave the most surprising reply, “I knew her before you.”

“What work are you doing?” asked Baba.

“I am a driving instructor,” I said.

“You must be a teacher of character,” Baba said, and everyone smiled at Swami’s searching questions and comments.

Our journey to Sai began long before our births, and we are happy to have been granted human births in this age so that we are blessed to see, touch, and speak with the Avatar of the Kaliyuga, Bhagawan Baba.

We feel blessed and transformed because we have, as a family under Swami’s umbrella, dedicated all our actions to Service and Love–seva, seva, seva, and prema, prema, prema.

May all of us be blessed by the Supreme Master to have His darshan (holy sight), sparshan (holy touch), and sambhashan (holy conversation), and may we dwell together in unity as one family with Unity, Purity, and Divinity.

JAI SAI RAM.

Pundit Aum Karamchand Maharaj
Trinidad

Pundit Aum Karamchand Maharaj of Trinidad also known as Pundit Aum was born on December 1, 1959. He was trained from the age of 10 to become a Hindu priest. He was later introduced to Shri Sathya Sai Baba by his Guru, and they both became devotees of Swami. He visited Prasanthi Nilayam several times, starting in 1981 and with his wife Roshini Maharaj in 1988. He and his wife hosted Satsang at their home 23rd of every month for many years to thank Swami until he passed away.

References:
First published in Eternal Companion Vol. 3, Iss. 9