An unexpected lunch invitation

It was the second time I met Jamanagiri Sawmiji at Operation Shanthi, where he makes frequent visit to the center. Later to leant that he’s the Director of the center. We greeted him at the gate, and got an invitation to his place for a lunch. Upon knowing that we’re from Singapore, he exclaimed, “Oh… Changi airport! Very nice place, I was there.”

“Come at 12pm tomorrow, I have good idlis for lunch...” he repeated a few times warmly.  

Swamiji stays up at Chamundi Hill in Mysore, in Shiva Temple (which is one of a tourist spot). One could climb up a thousand steps to reach the temple, that didn’t happen to us… we hopped onto our usual auto rickshaw, Shreka ( with his 10 year old vehicle, transporting us to and fro to the center).

We entered the temple from the side gate, up the steps leading to the top-left side of the temple.  Ushered to a small opening, we bent down low curling our body as we nibbled our way into the cave. There was Sawmiji sitting down giving his blessings to the devotees entering from the main opening. We exchanged smiles and sat down to join two other guests by the side.

Shortly, Sawmiji got up and brought us out of the “cave for worshiping” and showed us his room--- another cave just at the side. Practically, it was a hole created from a huge rock.  Small, very humble and very interesting space. The coolness in the room comes from the stone wall, and unexplainable good energy I could feel.

When the clock strikes 2pm, we sat down on the ground mat in the open space. Swaiji poured some water in his palm and rained them around his plate; he nodded as a gesture to start the meal. Three fresh idlies with gravy and coconut chutney by the side, we served the food into our mouth with fingers.

We spent some times sitting and chatting, as Swamiji was telling us about the art of meditation. The most wonderful thing a human being can do in life is to be able to meditate, because we have a mind… to choose how we want to live. But first, you have to make up your mind what you want to do. And very important, you have to stand firmly… always. Be patient, it’ll come.

Immediately, i thought of what Paulo Coelho had wrote in " Manual of the Warrior of Light":
The warrior of light meditates.

He sits in a quiet place in his tent and surrenders himself to the divine light. When he does this, he tries not to think about anything; he shuts himself off from the search of pleasure,from challenges and revelations, and allow his gifts and powers to reveal themselves.

Even of he does not recognise them then, these gifts and powers are taking care of his life and will influence his day-today existence.
While he meditates, the warrior is not himself, but a spark from the Soul of the World. These are the moments that give him an understanding of his responsibilities and of how he should behave accordingly.
A warrior of light knows that in silence of his heart he will hear an order that will guide him.

I could see the enthusiasm in his eyes; as he continued about having good thoughts in the mind can lead to good action and outcomes. Thoughts are just thoughts, it’s not real. Acting on your thoughts make things happen… but on good thoughts only.

Despite the bustling of visitors at the main gate of the temple, the serenity at the top was just so settled. Our “philosophy lesson” reminded me of the conversations in the class back in the studio. Today, it was under a big trees, fresh air and beautiful drop-back of the Mysore city.   

We knelt down to touch his feet in gratitude, as he patted on our head as blessings. It was my first time doing this, and it's something delicately special.

A huge Nandi ( bull, where Lord Shiva rides on) at the main gate, was curved out from a huge granite rock; which was already here before the temple was built.

Leading a life of a sadhu (monk), Swamiji speaks a mouthful of good English (he studied Literature in college), dresses humbly in orange clothes, with his shoulder length grey hair and white beard… always a smile on his face.