What you saw earlier this afternoon is very unique on the spiritual journey. To have a footprint of somebody you revere as your guru, leader or teacher, is very unique in the sense that should I leave this body, you will have what came directly from my feet. Those who do reflexology will tell you that all energies are seated under your feet. That's why sometimes in temples you'll see two footprints with a red line in the centre. This means these are the most vital parts of the human body: under the feet, and the spine. And then we are taught by our masters that you should touch your guru's feet. The only reason they do that is so you can absorb the guru's energy.I'm going to tell you a story. When I first went to meet my guru, my master, Swami Murugesu, this was new to me. I didn't know what to expect. I learned from the North Indian devotees that you prostrate when you see your master. I was going to see a huge man. I had only spoken to him on the phone, and he sounded big. When I landed in Sri Lanka I was collected from the airport and taken straight to Swami and, all the way there, I hoped he would be up to my expectations.
When I arrived at the ashram, I saw a person virtually close to the size of a midget. He realised I was thinking that he's a small bugger – that's exactly what I was thinking – and I prostrated at my guru's feet. When I touched his toes he discharged a voltage. If I had to explain it in electrical terms, I would say it was twenty-seven-thousand volts, or 27KBA. I stood there frozen, no part of my body would move. It was a jolt that cannot be explained. And, ever since, I realized that's where spiritual masters dissipate their energy from, the feet or the palms.
Some masters will raise their hands, like Satya Sai Baba. In the latter stages of Swami Murugesu's life he would raise his hand and he wouldn't allow you to touch his feet. And when the time comes that you're not allowed to touch your gurus feet, is when having a footprint makes sense. One thing you need to understand is that when you are stopped from touching your guru's feet, it means he's ready to leave his physical body at any time, in an hour, or two hours, ten years or thirty years – that's what it means.
So, when we weren't allowed to touch Swami's feet, he would raise his hands and wave. When he was critically sick in hospital in India, we were travelling to Johannesburg and, on the way I got a call that Swami was critically sick and I needed to go to India. So I organised at ticket while we were travelling, and I left on the Monday. I went to India and my guru was lying in a coma, with all the life support machines around him, and I realised that is the reason we weren't allowed to touch his feet - because he didn't want us to absorb any negative energy from him.
Swami had an aide by the name of Rani. Nobody here matches her in any way in serving the guru. She did everything from bathing him, dressing him, taking him for a walk, everything. She didn't get married because she wanted to spend all her life with Swami. At the hospital she said to me, 'Tell Swamiji you're here'. So I said, 'Swami Shankarananda is here from South Africa'. His eyes opened a little, he raised his hand, touched me on my brahmanadi (crown chakra), dropped his hand and passed on.
So I find that I am very blessed in many aspects of the guru-disciple relationship. And I used to travel to Sri Lanka once in six months. Those times were the most delightful times in my life. I'd literally run to my guru. As others were still getting out of the bus, I was already sitting by my guru. You must have that eagerness. It's not about being a new devotee, or an old devotee, or coming here before someone else, or coming here and touching my feet. You can touch my feet wherever you are. And now Dean and Jo made it easy, with prints of my feet so you can touch my feet in your house.
The second part of today's event is much more unique than the first. In the sense that it was the first time hawan, abishekam and crystal healing were all done together. It's never been done here before. We used special healing crystals from Tibet and Nepal with unique healing power. Secondly, out of agni, always comes cleansing. If you do agni in your house, you're cleansing your house. Therefore you found that we put a lid on top of the hawan and let Satchu stand in the centre of the hawan with the fire still smouldering underneath. He was absorbing the energy and the healing potential that comes out of the agni. The agni isn't only impregnated with ingredients, but with mantras. Some of those mantras that Seelan recited, he shouldn't have recited but he did. He was instructed by me not to use them again. We need permission from the masters to use them. It was for a good cause and reason, for something that will benefit somebody and some family.
We did not touch Satchu with the crystals. If Satchu had touched any one of those stones, his condition would have worsened. So all of you who go and buy theses crystal beads like you're big swamis, if you have an incurable disease, like leukemia or any kind of cancer, it will spread faster. It's been proven that clear quartz crystal is a good crystal to use only if your health is perfect. If you have any doubt about your health, don't even touch it. So, therefore, we didn't allow the touching of the crystal.
Now I'm going to tell you about my experience today when the abishegam was being done. This is for all of you to digest and enjoy. I already spoke to Dean because he walked me into the house. I had a playful event with Anandamayi Ma. It is strange as she someone I never think about, and for the whole abishegam, she was showing me hand signs and teasing me. For me, that is good. I know my healing will be successful. If you want to know what Anandamayi Ma looks like – she looks like Mellisa. But I didn't see Mellisa.
Anandamayi Ma is called a human goddess. She is the most beautiful spritual being that the earth has ever seen. Nobody comes anywhere close to her. Nobody. Suren, Warren, and Deepak had the honour of going to her ashram, into her room, in Varanasi. And they will tell you that when you walked in there you could feel something, the energy was so beautiful. So Anandamayi ma was with us today, healing all of you as well. So that is good.
