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I first met Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji in 1980 through our friend, Ramadas, who was at that time studying in Bangalore. He fell in love with a French girl, Meenakshi, who was also studying in Bangalore. With Sri Swamiji’s blessings they got married. He had told them at the time of their marriage that they must go back to Kuala Lumpur and Sri Swamiji will come and visit them there. They indeed moved to the northern part of Malaysia. As promised, Swamiji made His first visit to Malaysia to bless the couple in 1980.

Ramadas invited us to their house when Sri Swamiji was there. My husband Mr. I K Moorthy had invited Swamiji to come to Kuala Lumpur as well, but He said that He had only come to bless the newly married couple, and if my husband really wished to invite Sri Swamiji, he should come to Mysore Ashrama and invite Swamiji there. He blessed our family and asked us to visit Mysore Ashrama for the Datta Jayanti celebrations of that year.

After arriving and settling down in Mysore Ashram, Sri Swamiji told us to stay in the ashram until January. Our son Samy Das was going through some tough times with his health due to a heart operation in the previous year. Sri Swamiji told him that all he needed was one injection shot. We took him to Vellore, got him the shot and he started feeling better, only because of Sri Swamiji’s grace. Then He informed Samy Das that he had to stay in the ashrama for two more months. Samy Das and I stayed back and my husband left. He later came back for the Shivaratri celebrations. Since then, we had been regularly visiting the Mysore Ashrama.

Then in 1982 Sri Swamiji came to Malaysia and spent three weeks. As time went by, He made several trips to Malaysia. Our family was one of the first families that were in Malaysia when Swamiji started visiting initially. His visits became frequent, almost every year. We formed a small group and started having monthly satsanghas, pujas and different celebrations at the local Raja Rajeshwari temple in Kuala Lumpur. When Sri Swamiji came in 1982 He mentioned that one of His devotees will have an accident but Swamiji will come and save him, but He did not mention the name of the devotee. We had no idea that it would be us. After releasing this prediction Sri Swamiji again visited Malaysia in the following year.

He has blessed us several times in many instances and had done so many things for our family that I am ever grateful to Him. He was also going to save the family from a dangerous accident. Once, during one of Sri Swamiji’s visits, we all went to a nearby hill station. While returning, Mr. Moorthy was driving the car in which Swamiji was seated. We were passing through a tunnel and suddenly Mr. Moorthy had a black out and was facing a head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle. However the car shifted to the left, came out of the tunnel and stopped.

The people following Sri Swamiji’s car saw that the car was going head-on and then proceeded for awhile and then stopped. When all rushed to the stopped car, Mr. Moorthy was unconscious in the car and Sri Swamiji sprinkled some water on his face. When he became conscious he asked what had happened and Sri Swamiji said, “Nothing.” Then everyone proceeded to the place where we were camping. I was not in the car, but when the people saw the near accident, narrated the incident. I started crying and thanked Sri Swamiji for saving my husband’s life. He said, “Do not worry, he was saved and will be alive and under His care for another ten years.” Ten years later, with the love and compassion of Sri Swamiji, Mr. Moorthy expired.

On another occasion, Sri Swamiji told Mr. Moorthy and me to come and stay in ashram for some period of time. We were not sure why we were asked to stay in the ashram, but without questioning or reasoning, we obeyed Sri Swamiji’s instructions and stayed in the ashram. He told us not to leave ashram until He tells us to do so. After a period of time, He said it was safe to leave then. We only came to know the reason behind this a couple of years later.

We learnt that some of the relatives in our village in India had done some black magic on our family to get material wealth. By the grace of Sri Swamiji, whatever black magic was set upon us did not harm us. We were well and safe only due to His wisdom. Sri Swamiji Himself had revealed this to us after two years and said that the period we were asked to stay in the ashram was a very critical period and if we would have gone to that village or if we were not in the ashram, we would not have been alive.

Our daughter Meera and her husband did not have children for a long time after marriage. Sri Swamiji blessed them and gave her an apple. She then had a boy that He named as Datta. Whenever Sri Swamiji sees the boy, He would mention to him that he came from an apple and in fact Swamiji calls this boy as apple Datta.

We are all so grateful to Swamiji for all the blessings and grace He has showered upon our entire family. We have complete faith in Him as our Guru and God. Our family’s existence on this earth is due to His grace only! Jaya Guru Datta