Amritananda

Sri Gurubhyo Namah

Guru Garu’s Darshan

By Kathy Turiyamba

I had the great blessing of receiving Guru Garu’s darshan twice. Both times were in Vizag in his third floor room of his daughter’s house. I remember clearly the room; the pictures of Dattatreya hung high near the ceiling in every direction, the orange wooden platform bed where he seemed to never move from, the little buzzer on the wall bedside him which he would ring for his cup of coffee. Guru Garu sat on his orange bed, serene yet energetic, out-of-body, glowing a radiant amber glow with a smile on his face, intensely staring at me. I had the feeling that by looking at me he knew my past, present and future.      

I was staying with Guruji and Amma in Devipuram. This was my first trip to Devipuram in October 1999. I remember asking Guruji and Amma what to bring Guru Garu as an offering. I thought someone told me that he likes nuts. Guruji Amma laughed and said that Guru Garu has no teeth so he would not eat nuts. Guruji told me that he really likes electronic gadgets, so I decided to give him my walkman. The only tapes I had with me were chanting tapes. Guruji asked if I had any Hindi film song tapes to give him which unfortunately I did not. So I decided to give him Aiya’s chanting on the Mantra IV tape which I was listening to every day. When I gave Guru Garu the walkman and told him that the tape was Haran Aiya chanting, Guru Garu seemed very happy and spoke very affectionately about Haran Aiya.  

I also remember both Guruji and Guruji-Amma each telling me separately before I visited Guru Garu not to ask him for anything. I did not know the reason for their saying this, but I followed the Guru’s words.   

When we entered Guru Garu’s room, we sat before him and meditated. He asked where I was from and I told him that I had come from the Rochester peetham in America. We sat silently and he intensely starred at us. I looked back into his eyes and tried to empty my mind and remain open to receiving the energy of the moment. I had no clue what he was doing/thinking. He did some quick movements with his hands, perhaps mudras that I did not recognize. He knew we did not want to leave, so he said something like, you can stay a little longer and meditate, but this body you are looking at is nothing.   

He told a story of the picture hanging on his wall that a man took of the mountains, not knowing that Dattatreya was standing before him until the photograph was developed and Dattatreya’s image was visible. Eventually he motioned for us to leave and we head back down the narrow steps, through the small alley to the rickshaw and back to Devipuram. While I do not fully understand what happened that day, I have faith that this seemingly simple darhsan of Guru Garu, my Parameshta Guru, is a tremendous blessing.   

          
Note: Minor editorial changes were made to the original write-up to maintain consistency of style among different published materials.