Mystical blessings of my grandfather

Background

I grew up under the loving care and guidance of my maternal grandfather. In addition to being a father figure to me, he was also my first spiritual mentor or guru. I can trace back most of my spiritual practices and learning to seeds he had sown at an early age. I had written a post sometime back remembering the immense contributions he made to my life and feeling grateful for it. 

Today I want to share something which I have not shared openly before and something which happened more recently (after his physical form dissolved). The intent is to share some glimpses of the magical and mystical realm of consciousness and also how the grace of Guru operates.

Incident 1

It was April 2014 and I was traveling to the US to attend a company conference in Vegas. I was a bit nervous because it was a long distance trip and I had to present to a big audience during the conference. I knew all would be well but still the anxiety was there. 

 

I was flying from Dubai to Seattle and since it was a long distance flight, I thought of catching up on a movie in the in-flight entertainment system. After browsing through the catalog I decided on a non-commercial Hindi movie which seemed to have an interesting story line. It was a slow movie but an appealing one so I kept watching. 22 minutes into the movie a scene came which stunned me to the core. I saw my grandfather performing a homam/fire-ritual in it. (In the video clip, the old person on the left with an uncovered torso is my grandfather.) The scene lasted 30 full seconds where I could see my grandfather in action to my heart's content. Tears were flowing down my cheeks feeling the presence of my grandfather.

 

                                           Scene from the movie: Dance of the wind

 

And right at that moment a vivid memory flashed in my mind of the day when he had actually gone for the shoot. He had told us that he is going to perform a ritual which will be a part of some movie. He didn't know what the movie was and when it would be released and we also didn't try to find out more. And then it came back to me as a blessing from him 36000ft up in the air 13 years after his (physical form) passing away.

 

Needless to say I was deeply moved by the incident and all my anxiety vanished in the air (pun intended). The presentation and visit was a success.

 

(The name of the movie is Dance Of The Wind)

Incident 2

Some days back I had to perform a puja at home for Ganesh Chaturthi. I have been doing pujas for many decades now and I'm comfortable doing it by myself. 

 

Few days before the puja I suddenly recalled that my grandfather used to refer a book when performing certain pujas. He had taught me how to perform some pujas from that book and I distinctly remembered that I used to refer to it in my early days. Then this urge came to take a look at the book again. The only thing I remembered about the book was its name and how it looked (30 years ago). I was not sure if it's in print and where to get a copy. So I started searching the internet. 

 

I stumbled upon an archived copy(pdf) of a scanned copy of the book. I downloaded it and started skimming through the pages. And then on a page towards the end I found something that deeply surprised and moved me. 

 

                                 Madrasi bramhins vaidic pundits, New Delhi (1950s)

 

It was a picture of my grandfather from the 1950s when he posed for a group photo of vaidic pundits in New Delhi. It was a picture of his younger days (long before I was born) and his feet are also clearly visible. I don't have any picture of him like this. I felt his presence and blessings again and went around the house like an overjoyed madman showing his picture to everyone. My daughter later said: Appa I love the way you reacted when you saw your grandpa's picture.

 

(The name of the book is Kalpa Manjari)

 

The incident again reminded me that his love and care constantly envelopes me and guides me. He is my guardian angel and guide. Most of the time he does it subtly and invisibly. But from time to time he gives concrete physical signs that he is around.

 

I love you "thatha" . Shri Gurubhyo Namaha!

 

~S~