Hari Om.One day Khanniah Yogi (Swami Murugesu's guru) told Swami and another student to go to the shop with a list. The shop is maybe 300 kilometres away, and there are no cars. He says he wants them back in two hours, gives them a piece of copper and says, 'hold this in your palms, when you think you should open your eyes, open them. When you open your eyes you'll be there'. They did that and opened their eyes in front of the shop. The coin had changed to gold. They bought what they had to buy, put the change into their palms, closed their eyes, and when they opened their eyes they were back with Khanniah Yogi.
There was a man in Stanger. His name was Uncle Jack. At his house water was coming out of a coconut. So I went to see this, to check it out. Water was really coming out of the coconut. I went home, still not satisfied. Then one Sunday I went there again and no water was coming from the coconut. I'm thinking, 'What happened? God must've closed the tap'. Meantime we were there too early. The water tank hadn't been filled yet. Today Uncle Jack has an amputated leg.
Something that has always bugged me about a man who stayed up the road. He was one of the selected few who always received things from Sai Baba. One day he got a Rolex watch. On the back was engraved, 'made in Switzerland'. How come that is so perfect? It's a factory-processed watch. We have to be logical. If you have a watch, with nothing written on the back – in a natural form, that we can accept as a miracle. But when the miraculous item is processed like that you've got a problem.
There are so many mystical things that have happened that I can tell you about. My uncle's daughter was sick. He's a Sai Baba follower, I'm not. Many years ago I didn't do astrology but I used to look into a bowl of lit camphor and tell you things. When my uncle was there, while that camphor was burning Sai Baba appeared. They saw it. I saw it. It was darshan for them. So, in this room here where I sit, I've had a full vision of Jesus Christ. I'm not going to come out and make a big din about it. If anybody knows, it's Ma and the children. I don't tell everybody because it's my personal experience. Tomorrow if sugar candy falls from the ceiling in my house I won't tell anybody. I don't want everybody to come there. I don't want my house to be a shrine.
On another trip to see Swami Murugesu, on the way up the mountain from Columbo to Nuwara Eliya, at a remote place the driver said, 'Swami told me to stop here and have something to eat'. It was at restaurant that is always closed, and he had no cellphone or any other visible means of communication. We went in and the table was set for exactly the right number of people. We were puzzled as to how Swami had contacted the driver and our host at the restaurant. When we reached Swami it was midnight. He was sitting up waiting for us and asked if we enjoyed our meal. That's how Swami operates. He will send someone, and instruct them mentally what to do.
One night we had a ghost experience - and this is something that I won't forget. We stayed in a separate place about eight hundred metres from the temple. Dean and I were sleeping in the same room - and I always laugh when I tell this story. I had a lot of biscuits in a pile on a chest of drawers. I was lying on my bed counting the biscuits when I saw a whole packet of biscuits moving by itself. I looked over to Dean who had his eyes closed and his headphones on. Meantime he must have seen the biscuits and not wanted to look. In the morning we talked about it but didn't want to tell the other group. Meanwhile they also had an experience they weren't telling us about. We got to the ashram at about eight in the morning, and Swami said, 'Today I'm going to tell you some ghost stories'. We're thinking, 'How does he know about ghosts and all?' He said, 'Where you're staying there are lots of ghosts there'. He told us that Meganathan, Ravana's son, stayed there where we were staying, and his army was there. That night I was looking out of the window and there was an army outside, all on horses. It's no joke. We stayed all day in the ashram and at nine at night we had to walk back. Nobody wanted to get up and go. Swami put a black dot on all of us. It's the first time I've seen everyone so afraid, holding onto each other. One girl, Jennifer, she was picked up from her bed in the night, and thrown onto the floor. She told us the story. So Dean and I thought we'd pull a fast one and play a trick. I said to him, 'I'm going to go and meditate'. So, I'm sitting next to the boys' room, on the settee against the wall, and I can hear the others in their room saying, 'Bring Guru's shoes and put them by the door'. Eventually Reg decided he would be brave and get the shoes. I was wearing a white kurta top and white pants. Reg walked maybe four steps into the room, saw a white thing sitting there, screamed, and ran back to the room, jumping on everybody. We had fun. They didn't trouble us after that. At certain times during the night we could hear complete drums, the sankh and the noise of the army. Dean and I would sit up and listen.
There are two things you have to worry about when traveling in India: diarrhoea and spewing. There's no warning for either of them. On another trip there were eighteen of us and I told all of everyone, 'Don't even brush your teeth with the water'. I told Indran who was traveling with us to only use bottled water. But he worked for a medical aid company so he thought he was a doctor. Anyway, we left the hotel in Chennai to go to the airport. We were standing in the queue with me in front and the other eighteen travelers behind me. Indran had brushed his teeth and used tap water. He messed everything in the airport, his clothes, shoes, everything. There was a pool everywhere, so Krishnee took him to the men's room and washed him. She had to take off all his clothes and wipe him down. His wife even ran away. And, believe me, in India the cleaners don't come at the time of your accident to clean up.
We had this guy, Reg, travelling with us to visit Swami. Reg worked at
the university and he wanted to come with us to India. So we went to Sri
Lanka and he travelled with us. When we were there we would all eat
together at the same table with Swami. Swami would dish out the food for
every body and then for himself. When Swami dishes up you can't tell
him to stop when you think there's enough food on your plate. He'll stop
when he thinks there's enough on your plate. After we had finished
eating, Swami gave Reg, Dean, Ramona, Saila and his wife, blocks of
sweetmeat that shook like jelly. We saw Swami buying them in Katrigama
at a store. He gave one to everybody but not to me because I'm diabetic.
There was also a German devotee staying at the ashram, and eating with
us. While everyone was eating their sweetmeats, we watched the German
take a fly out of his month, put it down on his plate, and continue to
eating the same sweetmeat. At that moment Reg spewed out all his food,
everywhere. Poor Ramona had to clean it up. Reg didn't even have time to
go to the basin, it all came out one time.
One time, on the same trip, we had a small difference of opinion so everybody ganged up against me, only Dean was with me. Everybody else was against me. We had a small issue in Haridwar. Anyway, everyone else decided they were going to eat without us. They didn't ask Dean to join them because he was with me. They didn't take Nereen either because she was sick and stayed in her room. It was quite late when we went to go and find them and have something to eat ourselves. Meanwhile they went and ate fish, chicken, and I don't know what else. The Next morning we had to leave at six. Then it was eight o'clock, nine o'clock, eleven o'clock, and we were still waiting for them. All those who had eaten at the restaurant the night before were rushing in and out of the toilet like pistons of a machine. That was one of our worst trips. After that I no longer take big crowds to India with me.
One night we were travelling from Kerela to Chennai. Dean was on the same trip. The tour guide told us there was no way we could make it to Chennai in one night. We would have to stop in Salem and leave for Chennai the next morning. But I said, 'I want to go tonight'. He said it was impossible and he wasn't going to drive. I insisted that I wanted to be in Chennai that night. It's usually a twelve to fourteen-hour drive, and we left early in the evening. It was dark already. The tour guide was driving but he was fast asleep. When he opened his eyes at midnight we were in Chennai. He said, 'How did we get here? Impossible. Can't be Chennai'. That is something that I don't think we'll forget in a long time. We did a fourteen hour journey in five hours. Lots of magic.
