Sri Sadguru Mahime

Author: Charana Dasa

Translator:Shri.Ganesh Prasad

Chapter 38: Who could stop and start rains at will

It was a usual sight to see many sadhus, seers from different maths, visiting Gurunatha’s house. The seer from a famous math used to come down to Sakharaya Patna every year. He used to stay in Gurunatha’s house and give sermons for few days and this had become a practice. That year when the seer came, Gurunatha had told us that we should expect about three and half thousand people for lunch on that day. It was surprising to see not even one person more than what he had told us turned up.

On the previous evening, when the seer landed, all of a sudden clouds gathered and it started to rain. One of the seer’s confidants came to Gurunatha and expressed his concern about the weather and how it might affect the scheduled program. Gurunatha asked me to bring a coconut which I did. Later after touching the coconut he asked me to roll it down on the road. I did as instructed and within minutes the rain stopped and there was a clear sky.

In another incident, probably around 2004-05, our state was facing severe drought. Deficient rains had made peoples’ lives miserable. l was in Bangalore during that time. Gurunatha called up and asked us to gather in one of the devotee’s house in Mattikere for one week and do ‘Aruna poorvaka surya namaskarams’ daily. We had to do about 130 namaskarams one for each shloka. Only Gurunatha could have filled in the necessary stamina in each one of us to achieve it. After a week of puja, there was a good spell of rain.

Though Sakharaya Patna was close to Malenadu belt, it always had deficient rains. Every year it was usual to see people coming and asking Gurunatha to make the lake filled with water. But, Guru out of compassion whether asked or not used to get it filled by making women folk in the town recite Soundarya Lahari and other sacred chanting and making offerings to Ayyanakere (the lake adjacent to the town). Once this puja was done, either there used to heavy rains in the town itself or there were rains in the catchment area which got the lake filled. After Gurunatha left this world, the lake has often dried up.

Once a villager from north Karnataka came to Gurunatha and explained about the drought like situation in his native. He explained about the loss of crop and cattle and sought help. Gurunatha told him “You take a tortoise and leave it in the lake next to the village, it will rain and the lake will get filled immediately”. That person immediately asked, “So, where can I find the tortoise?” “You will find it on your way back” was Gurunatha’s reply. They found a tortoise crossing the road, just as they were told on their way back. They took the tortoise with them and left it in the lake next to their village. Within days there were heavy rains and the lake got filled.

In another incident, the seer from Sringeri had come to Sakharaya Patna. As per the usual practice, Gurunatha came to the kitchen with betel leaves performed puja to Annapurneshwari (the Hindu Goddess of nourishment) and told us “There will be 6000 people for tomorrow’s lunch”. As he had said, six thousand people turned up for lunch next day. Who invited them? Where did they come from? Where they went afterwards? Nobody knows.

Food, fruits, sweets, clothes everything was there to be distributed, nothing in short supply. In fact everyone who came in received plenty enough to take home with them. Nobody was instructing anyone on what to do or how to do; still things got done in a systematic, peaceful and clean way. Then who encouraged and controlled

people on that day? Was it an unseen force? Gurunatha never controlled anyone; he sat at one corner wearing a small towel.

“Then, the power that controlled everything that day can only be attributed to a phenomenon over and above the human body, isn’t it?”

For Copies of Sadguru Mahime English and Kannada, Guru Bandhus can contact 94810 25416.

Unauthorised copy and distribution in any way without the permission of the Original Author is strictly prohibited.