Darshan:
When He was in Vaikuntha, He was very easily available for Darshan. His room had no doors. It was a large room with windows and an entrance opening in the hall. So it was dark inside and nothing could be seen. He had a wooden bench close to the window and sometimes He used to sit there and look out. Mostly He sat on the steps leading to His room. We used to serve Him food there when there were hardly any visitors. Although this Ashram was more open than Kailash, there was no guarantee of getting Darshan. Some days He did not come out of the room for days. Nobody dared to enter His room without His inviting them. So one had to wait for hours or days for Darshan. Even were we to get to see Him, often He would ask us to leave immediately. All our preparation to stay for days would be wasted. He was not predictable as sometimes when we went for a short visit, He asked us to stay for weeks!
Today, many are gathering at His place. I wonder, how many of us would have ‘remained and withstood’ His often unpredictable ways? How many of us would have taken His stern admonishes? How many of us would have faced the beatings and stones? How many of us would have returned when He did not entertain us even for a few seconds after making a journey of several days to reach Ganeshpuri? How many of us would have given a second look to Him were He to meet Him on the street? How many of us would have felt happy for His uninvited visits to our homes? How many of us would have tolerated were He not to eat even a morsel after taking all the pains to cook for Him? He did not have any etiquette or manners that would acknowledge our Ego! He was He, quiet Unique.
Our elders and devotees went through all these tests and went beyond their ego. We Got Him because of Them!!! Why should we respect Them? Because of these reasons. We got Him because They accepted Him in Their Hearts and gave us Him. We got Him easily and today we experience the grace.
On the culmination of the Gurupurnima festival, I acknowledge all my elders, my parents, and devotees of the yore who made Him available to us Freely, Openly, and Unconditionally. I bow to all of them on this day post Gurupurnima and acknowledge them, be they monks, householders, or simply a devotee! Thank you for making Him Available to us!