INITIATION INTO A MONK'S LIFE

I used to wear a simple white dress (a dhoti and shawl). One of the devotees' daughters, Shantha, was talking to me one day and she said, "You have some extraordinary powers and so you should wear the orange robes of a sannyasi, a monk. But it would be better if your white dress turns orange in front of the devotees. You should not just start wearing that colour." I felt a little confused as to what to do and I meditated about it. I received inner inspiration and I called my devotees and told them that on the last day of the festival for the Divine Mother (the Hindu festival of Navarathri), my white robes will turn into the orange robes of sannyas (renunciation). I told them, "From then on I will no longer be called Ravi Swami, but Swami Premananda. All of you should come for this ceremony." On the evening of Vijayadasami, the culmination of the Navarathri festivities, the room where I was sitting in prayer and contemplation was filled with devotees eagerly awaiting to view this miracle. A great spiritual vibration entered the prayer room and my new white robes slowly turned to orange. I felt a great and wonderful energy circulating throughout my body through my veins, heart and mind. From then onwards I was known as Swami Premananda. Many of those who witnessed my "sannyas initiation" are still living and still talk about their experience.