Delayed Puja : Swami Chinmayananda

14/09/2018

14/09/2018

Swamini Nishtananda had, for some years, reservations about doing a pada puja- worship of the Guru’s feet. She thought that whatever worship she does, she should do in private, resisting the public nature of a pada puja.

Thus, for already ten years she had never performed a pada puja for Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda.

Then, during the last year of Swamiji’s life, she was sitting in satsanga with him near his kutiya [residence] during a Vivekachudamani Camp there.

Swamiji said to someone, “Tell the video people that the lecture will be held at 6 p.m., not 6:30. Inform the kitchen people also.”

Someone asked, “From tomorrow onward, Swamiji?”
“No. Now!” And then he added in Sanskrit, “Any auspicious resolve must be carried out immediately.”

The Sanskrit phrase suddenly convinced the Swamini that she must perform pada puja, to actualise a thought that had been gathering in her mind. She felt as though Swamiji had just given her a specific instruction, for her own personal use.

So she went to the organisers, although she realised that little chance existed that an empty bhiksha slot was still available [a pada puja was traditionally combined with a bhiksha, an offering of food to the Guru].

Fortunately, a vacancy existed for the next day. She realised that what his comment had meant was that if she had not immediately made arrangements for the bhiksha, that vacancy would have already been filled.

She told another devotee about her long ‘abstinence’ from pada puja and her resolve to perform one now. In front of a large gathering, which included Swamiji, this fact was made public by her friend.

“Why did she do a puja ten years ago?” asked Swamiji.

Swamini Nishtananda corrected the impression, “Gurudev, I’ve never done one. I am doing a pada puja for the very first time now!”

“Yes,” said Swamiji, “ten years ago she was a most extroverted girl!”

At pada puja, Swamiji was in very deep meditation. “The whole atmosphere was surcharged with high spiritual vibrations,” recalls the Swamini. “Everyone present felt the holiness of his presence.”

As the Swamini was garlanding Swamiji (while both of them had their eyes closed), he reached out and hugged her, a very unusual gesture during a puja.

In retrospect, the Swamini recalls: “He knew I was blocking myself from a great experience, that of worshipping his holy feet, because of false notions. He made the thought come up in me that I must perform the puja. He made me bow down so that he could bless me. There never would have been another opportunity. He made the ‘most extroverted’ part of me bend. Such was his great compassion. He gave without reservations, without counting the fitness of the person. Like sunlight and rain, he showered his grace on all.”

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