MONDAY BLUES (13)

EXPERIENCES WITH GOD AND THE GHOST: AS TOLD BY MY MATERNAL GRANDMA

Good morning friends,

Today, I would like to share some experiences of my late maternal grandma, Mrs. Swarna Ramamurti. Some of you might be sceptical about the stories but be assured that they did happen. They are not fabricated or a figment of my imagination. There are things which are way beyond the explanation of science. So, I was fascinated when she sat besides me and lovingly told me these stories. I miss her sweet voice. For me, she was the sweetest woman with the purest, loving heart. She couldn’t see anyone suffering and would often pray for the well being of even those who hurt her.

She was a devout woman. Her faith in God was always firm and unwavering, even though she suffered a lot in her family life. She was the devotee of Maa Santoshi, a daughter of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu God who’s regarded as the Remover of all obstacles in our lives. Let’s begin with her Godly experiences.

This happened in the 1960s-70s when my maternal aunts were just kids. My grandma and my great grandma went on a trip to Swamimalai, one of the six abodes of Lord Muruga, The Son of Lord Shiva and Parvati and Lord Ganesha’s younger brother. Lord Muruga had two wives, Valli and Devayani. I will post about Indian Mythology later.

It was our religious practice to get the heads of the children tonsured and their hair given as an offering to our respective family deity. So, when they were traveling in a train ( Don’t remember the station names), my aunts were screaming their hearts out. Just then, a man entered the train compartment with his two wives. They sat opposite my grandma and great grandma. They offered sweets to my aunts to pacify them.

When they reached their final destination, Swamimalai, the man who wore Dhoti, helped my grandma by carrying her luggages, while his wives carried the children on their hips. They walked for a while before stopping in front of a house. The man said, ” Now you can ask someone for the address of your hosts. Our journey together ends here.” His wives let the children down. My grandma wanted to buy them coffee for helping her out. But before she could call them, they had vanished from the sight. My grandma had goosebumps, because the man and his wives were none other than Lord Muruga and His Consorts. The place where He dropped them was exactly the residence of the hosts with whom they were supposed to stay. They opened the door and welcomed my grandma, great grandma, and my aunts. What a miracle! True devotion always rewards us with the Grace of God.

There was another incident which proved that not only humans but also God loved a noble soul like her. My mother was in eighth grade when my grandma became pregnant for the sixth time. There were complications in this pregnancy. It was decided that my grandma would give this child to her elder sister for adoption because she had no child of her own. But fate had something else in store for her.

A night before her delivery, my grandma had a dream. She saw Goddess Mahamayi, one of the many forms of Goddess Parvati, wearing a Green Silk Sari and big red bindi on Her forehead. The Goddess said, ” A certain death is unavoidable this time. Whose life would you choose? Yours or your unborn child’s?” My grandma had tears in her eyes and replied with a heavy heart, ” Maa, I have five children to support. This child was never going to be mine. Please save me. A mother will never choose her child’s death but since You mentioned that a death couldn’t be avoided, I had to save mine for the sake of my family.” The Goddess assured her that She would come to her assistance. All that she had to do was remember chanting her name.” The dream ended. Shortly, the child stopped moving in her womb. My grandpa took her to the hospital where the doctor declared that the child had died in her womb. He requested my grandfather to make arrangements for blood transfusion because a C-section was inevitable. My poor grandpa was the lone earning member with a huge family to support. He immediately went to seek financial assistance for the operation. My grandma could not see him in this condition. She called out, ” Please help me, Maa Mahamayi.”

Goddess Mahamayi answered her prayers. Grandma had a sudden labor pain and without the C-section, out came the stillborn child. The Mother of The Universe had saved her.

My grandma could also feel the presence of a departed souls and see them. This happened when she had given birth to my mother in a hospital. She could hear the sounds of a child’s anklet regularly while she breastfed mom. She was scared and used to chant The Lord’s name. One fine day, she saw a ghostly figure of a young child wearing a silk blouse and skirt playing with her doll and disappeared into the wall. Granny was so scared that she couldn’t sleep well. Her curiosity got the better of her. She shared her experience with one of the nurses who told her that this hospital was once a big mansion. A young girl of two or three had fell into a tub of boiling water and died. The owners sold the mansion after the tragedy. The mansion was converted into a hospital. Sounds like Stephen King’s novel, am I right?

It’s difficult to prove or disprove the existence of supernatural powers. Anyway, I believe my granny. May her soul rest in peace. I still feel as if a part of me died with her. I am only half alive. I thank Goddess Mahamayi for saving my precious gold for me whose company I enjoyed even after my marriage and having a kid.

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