Those were idyllic days. I would be on time off from work. After the morning prayers and prasad, I would check with Potti Swami when to expect Swamiji in the library where he would meet the devotees.Half an hour before the expected arrival of Swamiji, I would make my way to the Library or the room right next to it if the Library was occupied.
Swamiji would come down the steps from his room after his morning routines, gently walking down the steps, pausing, looking at all around with a gentle smile, sometimes a chuckle. He would occasionally say "Hmm". He would be holding onto the railing of the steps,
pause on one of the steps, adjust his Jata with the adorned Tulasi leaves and Aralli flowers. Walk down to the library, slowly, deliberately and after looking at the photo of Gurupadar in the library, would go and sit in the chair there.
Usually there would be a bunch of people there waiting to seek his blessings. Swamiji would then give Bhasmam, vibhooti, which was kept in a little box on the table, to all who were present. We would bow down to touch his feet and then he would apply Bhasmam on our foreheads and give us some in our hands to take as prasad.
After all had their vibhooti, we would sit around to listen. Some would be sitting on the chairs, others on the carpet in the Library. The visitors would be talking about their family issues or their health, money related matters, politics or any other matter and Swamiji would patiently respond to all in his natural, kind manner. Sometimes the discussion would take on different airs depending on the matter at hand. He knew all who had come, personally, like a family member. There was no sense of strangeness in Swamiji's presence. All the visitors treated each other like family even if they had never met before. It was the air that Swamiji's presence created. All differences were swept away and time would stand still like an obedient child in the presence of the Great Master.
He could visualize everything, there was no past, present or future for him. There were no sciences that were not known to him, no art forms that were not known to him, no aspect of Astrology or for that matter nothing in the created world was unknown to him.
He would talk for hours about natural treatments for numerous ailments, all herbs and their uses were known to him.
~Seema
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