MY MISSION

MY MISSION BEGINS

Soon after my important decisions to serve humanity and help those in need, various problems arose. Firstly, in Matale there were no Hindu monks. Even Swami Paramaguru's Ashram was not functioning due to lack of maintenance. There was no-one who could give me spiritual guidance. My parents and relatives were against my leading a spiritual life. My new 'devotees' (my friend's parents) asked me to stay with them. And so I stayed with the Sountharanayagar Gunaratnam family for some time. New devotees came to meet me at their house. They began to bring their families and friends. I also started to mature spiritually. More and more devotees came. Their numbers increased rapidly and they felt that I should be in a place where all could come freely. Like this, my first Ashram started to form. I was inspired to meditate even more. I meditated nearly 20 hours a day for a period of forty days. I underwent many spiritual experiences.

I recalled that as a child I had tasted the Divine on many occasions but I had not understood too much what was happening to me. Even as a toddler I could will things to happen or wish any articles or food to appear in my hands. At school when I thought too much about different deities or the lives of saints I used to fall down in a semiconscious state. I would feel overwhelmed with an unbearable joy and would faint and leave my body. Sometimes they had to send me home in a taxi! When I was about ten years old I often felt the urge to visit my Auntie in Colombo. I just used to think of her and I found that I would be with her. She asked my mother how come such a small boy was allowed to travel four hours alone to Colombo. Then they discovered that I was actually in two places at once – with Auntie in Colombo and with my mum in Matale. During such times I felt my body as if in a dream. When I was twelve I once locked myself in a room for three days. I told my family I was sick – but actually I was in high state of god-intoxication. On the third day my sister, Babakka, got scared about me and she peeped at me through the skylight on the roof. She was terribly afraid because she saw me covered in rays of golden light, seated upright in the lotus position.

Now I was consciously reaching out for the Divine and for the source of the yogic powers vested in me. On the fortieth day I heard a voice saying "You are blessed with divine power. It is not that your words come true but God speaks through you. Hereafter you should speak about God to your devotees. It is your mission in this world to make as many people as possible understand that the Divine exists." From that day on I mostly began to speak about the Divine to everyone. I told them that I had now devoted my life to direct the devotees towards God. I said that now God is always in my consciousness and is part of my every thought, deed and action, every single day. I promised them that I was trying to share with them this power and knowledge that God was directing through me. I tried to elevate their thoughts and help them to reach out to that great and infinite power we call God which lies beyond the experience of our senses and which is the essential force behind all in the universe.