31 Dec 2023
[By Shri Kunal Chatterjee]
On December 31, 2023, Swami graced us with a divine opportunity and visited our house. Me, my wife Smt. Suchandra and our daughter Ms. Noishadha were eagerly waiting to do Swami’s Paadapuja. Swami with His ultimate kindness granted us the permission for the same. We washed His sacred lotus feet, sang the Aarti song and adorned His feet with flowers. I collected the sacred water (teertham) into a jar before the satsang started.
Swami started the satsang and many devotees gathered in our house. That day being a Sunday and since weekly online Satsang gets conducted, Swami rested for sometime after lunch and later we joined the online satsang.Swami spoke about the unimaginable beauty of the latest Lord Vishnu image. Seeing the image of Lord Vishnu, Swami was very pleased and He also mentioned that every part of the image was “Perfect”. He also narrated to us the story of the devoted farmer who was helped by a boy (incarnation of Lord Venkateswara) but the farmer hit the boy on His chin in anger and then, the boy ran inside the temple. Later, the statue of the Lord was found bleeding and chandan paste was applied to stop the bleeding. Farmer realised that the boy was none other than Lord Venkateshwara. Swami left our house after the online satsang.
Later in the evening, when I opened the jar, it filled the room with a sandalwood(chandan) smell. Even my wife and daughter experienced it. Overjoyed, we savored the teertham with a sweet chandan smell. My daughter Ms. Noishadha phoned to Ms. Thrylokya and shared the same divine experience. Ms. Thrylokya then handed over the phone to Swami. Swami explained that the chandan smell indicates Lord Vishnu, Lotus flower smell indicates Lord Brahma and Vibhuti smell indicates Lord Shiva.
As Swami discussed about Lord Vishnu's image that has unimaginable beauty that day, it echoed in the teertham's chandan fragrance. After all, Swami is Lord Datta who is the root source of all energetic and human incarnations of God. Lord Vishnu is also a form of Lord Datta only. Swami, despite our unworthiness, showered us with His kind and causeless grace. Thank you, Swami for placing your divine sacred lotus feet in our home and allowing us to do Paadapuja to you. Thank you, Swami.
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