In communion with the Goddess

A famous Indian saint, Neem Karoli baba once remarked, 'Thousands of people have come to meet me. All their requests can be categorised under 20 headings, it is not a long list. Like 'When will I get married?'
'Please bless my daughter to get a job'
'Baba, bless me to have a son.'
Nobody came to ask for God. They asked for garbage (materialistic pursuits) and I granted them that.'

Purpose of temple visit

The purpose of visiting temple is also similar for majority of people. I could always feel the cloud of such aspirations, and it used to be sort of a mild distraction. During the lockdown period I was mentally at the temple of the Goddess whose mantra I was chanting daily. And what a different state my inner self experienced! It was just ecstatic. As the temple was locked, there was no crowd and no mental cravings floating in the atmosphere.

Totally by Grace of the Goddess

For 80 days at a stretch I was lucky to have this experience and it gave me an opportunity to expand my spiritual horizon. At 4 am every day I was there at the temple, cleaning the premises, chopping my head (ego), then chanting and praying so that Devi could fill me up! Then at dusk time repeating the same process, this period became like my 'Sanyasashram'. Though my stepping into 'Vanaprasthashram' in 2005 was a voluntary one, slipping into this was totally a gift from the Heavens.

Sign from flower

On June 8th, the 79th day of my special sojourn, while I was collecting flowers for puja, I was awestruck to find a flower like this:


This was the specific flower I offer to Goddess and usually it's pistil is always hidden inside the petals. But in one flower on this day, it had come out and was standing up towards the Heaven, to convey a message to me!