to the ashram stands a statue of Lord Ganesha. Visitors to the ashram noticed long ago this was no ordinary statue. Prayers and worship that were performed in front of the statue received the answer of the Deity. Many people who came to the ashram prayed next to the wonderful statue of Ganesha.
One of the traditional rituals performed at this statue is called "pradakshina" in Sanskrit. This practice is as follows: you need to walk around the altar or statue in a clockwise direction and repeat the mantra. When doing this practice, it is necessary to create a positive intention and keep it while repeating the mantra.
Often, I would notice that every morning and every evening, an elderly man with a surprisingly spiritual face, dressed in orange clothes, with a quick walk, literally, in circles, lapped the statue of Ganesha umpteen times. He held a rosary in his hands, his lips were constantly moving, and it was clear he was repeating a mantra to himself.
I was once told that this is Maheshwarananda. I was also told where he lived. His little house was not far from the main gate, and I plucked up the courage and decided to try to get to know him.
47. Maheshwarananda said that one should not waste time, but one should fully concentrate only on Sathya Sai Baba
When I came to Maheshwarananda for the first time, he was quite friendly and polite with me, but I felt he was not very interested in communication, because he devoted all his time to meditation practices. He politely said he was busy now and could not talk to me, and he asked me to come to him the next day.
Intuitively, I felt that he hoped I would not come. But the next day I did come. Realizing that he could not get rid of me, he asked why I had come and what I needed. I told him that I was from Russia, and that I had read his book. I also mentioned I was seriously interested in the practices of yoga, meditation, mantra and studying Sanskrit.
In the early ‘90s, quite a few people came to the ashram from Russia, and maybe he wanted to pay attention to the Russian person, maybe he was interested in the fact that I practiced mantras and Kriya Yoga. Whatever it was, he allowed me to come to him at any time. Gradually, very good friendly relations were established between us, although he was much older than me.
Maheshwarananda was an amazingly modest man. He told all his visitors, “you have a unique opportunity to see Sathya Sai Baba, feel his great energy of love, perhaps even communicate with him personally, there is no need to waste time in unnecessary communication. You should seize the precious opportunity and fully concentrate on Sathya Sai Baba alone.”
48. Even the sacred Himalayas could not compare to the divine power of Sathya Sai Baba
Maheshwarananda was born in northern India. At an early age he was initiated into traditional monasticism. Almost all his life he traveled the Himalayas, visited ashrams, talked with philosophers and yogis. This is how his life would have passed in traveling through the sacred Himalayas, if not for the meeting with Sathya Sai Baba.
Maheshwarananda told me that around the middle of the ‘70s, he learned about Sathya Sai Baba. In 1978, he first came to Puttaparthi. It was an absolutely unforgettable experience where Maheshwarananda realized his whole life had been in preparation for such a time as this. This was the most important meeting of his life, and he felt divine energies emanating from Sathya Sai Baba.
Maheshwarananda literally told me with tears in his eyes that even the sacred Himalayas could never compare with the divine power of Sathya Sai Baba. In 1978, he lived in Puttaparthi for a month and then returned to northern India, to the Himalayas. Four years later, in 1982, Maheshwarananda once again came to Puttaparthi with the thought that he would never leave Sathya Sai Baba again. To his great joy, Sathya Sai Baba blessed him to stay at the ashram forever.
49. Sathya Sai Baba established a secret ashram in a Himalayan cave
Maheshwarananda wrote his famous book Sathya Sai Baba and the Nara Narayana Guha Ashram in the late 1980s. The writing of this famous book was preceded by unusual events. In 1982, two people from northern India came to Puttaparthi. Since Maheshwarananda himself was also a northerner, he took an interest in these two visitors. One of them was called Acharya, and he was an elderly monk of the traditional Shankaracharya order. The second was Govinda, a young man who at that time had just graduated from university.
Sathya Sai Baba paid great attention to these visitors and invited them to audiences almost every day. Maheshwarananda wondered what Sai Baba was talking to them about. Acharya and Govinda shared with great pleasure all that Sathya Sai Baba had spoken to them, making no secret of it.
Sathya Sai Baba's advice to the young man surprised Maheshwarananda. Govinda came from a wealthy and influential family, and he was a recent graduate of one of the major universities and had a degree in mathematics. He was going to get married in the near future and was thinking about a successful career. However, Sathya Sai Baba advised the young man to leave his career and become a monk. Sathya Sai Baba recommended Govinda devote himself entirely to the study of philosophy and the practice of meditation.
In traditional Indian society, it is customary to accept monasticism only if there is a blessing from the parents. Govinda went to his parents' home in northern India and asked for a blessing to leave his position and become a monk. Deep down he was worried that his relatives would refuse to give their blessing. However, to his surprise, his parents and the whole family supported his decision.
The relatives were able to understand the seriousness of the situation and were respectful of Sathya Sai Baba's blessings. After that, the young man returned
