Om Sri Sairam… brothers and sisters, my humble pranams to our beloved Swami and our guru Sri Swami Shivananda…

Today, I would like to share the experience I had when I first stepped towards Kangra Sai Mandir. It was on 17th July 2012, when I first went to Kangra Sai Mandir. I was told by some devotees from Punjab about Kangra Sai Mandir and Swami’s divine leelas there. I too wanted to visit the temple but didn’t know the exact location of temple. One day i.e. 17th of July 2017, I was all prepared to go to Puttaparthi but due to some reason I was unable to go and I was very upset and sad about the cancellation of my trip to Puttaparthi. A few hours later on the same day, I received a call from some devotees from Punjab about their plan to visit  to Kangra Sai Mandir, asking me to come and meet them there in Old Kangra.

I got ready and boarded a bus to Kangra, and reached Kangra bus stand. Now I didn’t know where to go and which way would lead me to Old Kangra. I asked the local people about directions to the Sai Mandir in Old Kangra and they told me the way and I followed the route given by them. On the way, a bikerider came and he asked me where I wanted to go, I told him that I wanted to go to the Sai mandir in Old Kangra. He then requested me to sit on the back of his bike and he would drop me there. I thanked Swami and felt really happy that now I would reach the Mandir without any difficulty.  So, I finally reached the Mandir and as I stepped into the Kangra Sai temple, I was greeted by Vishal brother (Sri Shivananda’s brother). Our guru Sri Shivananda was not home at that time.

Vishal brother took me to Swami’s room and I saw vibhuti on Swami’s photographs and then had sightings of deities kept inside Swami’s room along with lingams manifested by Swami. I was feeling some different kind of divine energy all around me. Vishal brother went into the kitchen to get me a glass of water and now I was alone in Swami’s room. And then as I was gazing at each and every presiding deity inside Swami’s room, I saw something quite unbelievable, what I saw was a spark of fire fall down from the deity representing divine mother, the mother with long hair. I stood up and went to closer to see and then what I saw, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I saw the spark ultimately change into a white flower, a very small one and I have never seen such a small size white flower in my life. It looked like a fully bloomed rose, but about the size of a pea. I was shaking at that time and then picked up that flower with my hand and a different feeling of happiness(ecstasy) started with in me. But I couldn’t tell anyone about the leela I had encountered as I thought people may call me mad or make fun of me and at that time I was unaware of the innumerable leelas that happened regularly at the divine abode in Kangra. Finally I put that flower in a zip pocket of my purse as a token of love and blessings from divine mother and  suddenly, Vishal brother came with a cup of tea and glass of water… then we talked for a while and finally devotees from Punjab also arrived. Then we spent time together and as we were about to leave, I was only thinking about the leela I had encountered.

In the evening I was back at my friend Ankush’s house. I wanted to show the flower to him and his mother but when I unfastened the zip pocket of my purse the flower was not there. I never keep any thing in that pocket of my purse and I was amazed and in a sense of wonder and awe I looked at that purse again but couldn’t find it and then realized may be it went back to from where it came. I was totally spellbound by the experience that I had that day.

Later, I realized how Swami in the form of Divine Mother welcomed me there and feelings I had that day, I was so happy. I couldn’t go to Puttaparthi but Swami called me to Kangra. I was feeling that I am in Puttaparthi… and in Swami’s fold. This was my experience of calling from Kangra Sai Mandir… and that first experience was so beautiful that when ever I try to remember that moment, I always feel some deep connection from within and since that day I started feeling some helping hand going through in my life….

Life is full of unexpected happenings.. once you have bhakti and faith inside of you…

Om Sri Sai Ram..