An Encounter with Ajja- the divine Master

Call it Providence or coincidence, my life has been a procession of events, each event led me a step closer to coming to Ajja; be it reading ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by Paramhamsa Yogananda which fired in me an intense longing for a real Guru, meeting Swami Rama and eventually coming to Sri Pattabhiram, who was to take me to Ajja. It is hard to explain my feelings at the moment of my meeting Ajja. It was late in the evening, on a rainy day, at Shri Lakshmisha Tholpady’s residence, that we met Ajja. Ajja was saying the he can’t hold on to the body any more and that he would dump it and so on. I was moved to tears for here I was face to face with a great Jnani who could evoke in me strange feelings of awe, curiosity, love and a deep longing to belong to him, to know him and to seek him to steer me through the troubled waters of life and he was talking about giving up the body.

I asked SriTholpady: who is this Ajja? For which he answered: To know him, you have to know yourself. It did not make sense tome then but it was to be the beginning of a bitter-sweet association with the ‘great one’. My plight was reduced to that of the farmer in the Irish joke, which goes likes this:

What happened to the farmer’s fingers?
The farmer put his hand in the horse’s mouth to count its teeth,
and the horse closed its mouth to count his fingers!

Ajja- the compassionate master that he is held me through ups and downs of life; gave me unconditional love, love unparalleled by any body so far! Never once did he make me feel guilty or small for my ignorance, my follies and my stupidities nor did get intimidated by my arrogance. He has given me a new life and a new meaning and purpose to living. I pray to Ajja and hope that by his grace, I discover myself to know HIM, to give me strength and understanding to tread his path that he has shown me. Ajja, when I say this, tears of gratitude , of love and of longing stream down my cheeks; I know I don’t deserve it at all yet you have given me so much that I am unable to truly comprehend the magnanimity and depth of your love and compassion.

Balu