Lt Col (retd) D S Chatterjee has been lucky to be associated with Guruji since November 1984. Since then a spate of miracles have blessed his life (not all of them can be mentioned here). The army man first met Guruji when his wife was injured in a scooter accident and her left shoulder ligament was torn. It was during that time that the Chatterjees came to know that a great saint was residing in Chandigarh and even the doctors of the prestigious PGI were referring terminal cancer cases to Him. They went to Him and since then their experiences span nearly 22 years (and counting) of their being at the Mahapurush's lotus feet. These earlier glimpses of Guruji are fascinating, enabling us to see Him down the years.
We went to Guruji at 4 am and He held my hand for a long time. It felt as if nectar was flowing through my body. Guruji then told me that I was wearing an
ek mukhi rudraksh (one-mouthed
rudraksh). He also said that there was a
shivalinga on it, which I stoutly denied. He asked me to show the
rudraksh, which I did. He held the
rudraksh and made a gesture to suggest that He was looking at it intently. Then He said, "
Here it is." And sure enough there was a
shivalinga embedded on it. It has been there ever since.
*************************
I had been suffering from amoebiasis, which is characterized by acute diarrhea, for two years. Guruji gave me
amrit (divine nectar) and asked me to go back to my residence. I could not go the office that day as I went to the toilet at least 24 times. In the evening, Guruji rang me up and inquired about my health. I told Him that it was very bad.
Guruji took a contrarian view: it was good, He said, that all the diseases are going out. The next morning, I felt that I had been fully cured and informed Guruji. He told me that the disease has not been cured and will be cured the next day. He also asked me to come to Him. When I reached His place, He touched His
rudraksh and a spoon on my belly. I felt an electric shock go through the spot and fell. He only smiled and said: "
Now it has gone." The disease, electrocuted, has not returned since then.
*************************
To cure my wife, Bably, He came to our house on a Saturday evening. Three chapattis made of black lentil (
Urad daal) were prepared under His instructions. One half of a
roti was torn and I was asked to flush it down the commode. He murmured something while placing the rest of the
rotis on Bably's shoulder and then handed them over to me. He said these should be fed to a black dog. I was aghast. It was nine o' clock in the night and in the spick and span cantonment stray dogs, that too black, would be tough to find. I voiced my doubts. Guruji quietly told me to go to the ground floor. There I was astonished to find a black stray dog near at the foot of the stairs. Bably was cured from that very moment.
*************************
One day Guruji had come to my house while there were many other guests present. My wife had kept a bowl of almonds. Suddenly He took a handful of almonds and started distributing them around, saying take walnut, pistachio, cardamom... The almonds were miraculously transformed into the dry fruits that He called out.
*************************
One of the jawans with me, Naik Anandan, was badly injured during an obstacle course and his vertebra was severely damaged. The soldier was treated, but was to be boarded out of the Army, as he was permanently handicapped. I took him to Guruji at 4 in the morning. As I requested Guruji to cure him, Guruji replied: "Shall I cure him? Who is going to eat up his sins? He will be born handicapped in the next life." I was puzzled but nevertheless requested him to burn the soldier's sins by the fire of His tapas (His spiritual fire). Guruji smiled and directed Anandan to lie down. He then touched him and assumed a ferocious stance - as if He was rebuking someone. On the ground, the soldier was whimpering and I was getting baffled. After a while, He directed Anandan to get up and asked him to remove all the braces he was wearing. He told me: "It will not go in one day; bring him again on the third day."
The next day as I was going for PT in the morning, Anandan was doing bend-stretches on the barrack's verandah, as if showing me his strength. I immediately ordered him to stop, but he told me that there is no pain and he can bend towards any side. He felt that his body was fully cured. I told him not to divulge these serious things till Guruji saw him again the next day.
Next day we again went to Guruji, who called me near Him and pointed to Anandan as an example of a person who had just been delivered from the clutches of the planet Saturn. Anandan had become fair and youthful and must have lost about 13/14 kg. I looked at Anandan and saw these changes had indeed come about. Guruji then asked Anandan what had happened after He had touched him. Anandan replied that he had not slept since then. Guruji immediately took a tea spoon and touched it to his thymus gland. He then directed me to take him to the barracks and let him sleep without any interruption. I had hardly got out of Guruji's place, when Anandan's head came to rest on my shoulder. With the help of the driver we took him inside the vehicle. Anandan slept for three days at a stretch and was fully cured. During the routine medical check-up, the doctor was surprised and a board of medical officers declared him fit for all Army duties.
*************************
Col D R P Chowdhury, a widower, used to stay opposite our quarters in Chandimandir. One day, Guruji went to his house and pointing to a photo of a lady, asked him who she was. Col Chowdhury replied that she was his wife, long snatched away by fate, never to return. Guruji said: "
She is here. Do you want to see?" We were puzzled. He then lifted His hand and shifted a little. Suddenly the photograph started shaking, the table on which the photograph was kept also started shaking. The almirah, cot, everything except the floor started shaking. Then gradually it subsided. Guruji said: "
Her son is here, you are here, where can she go? She is here."
*************************
Guruji had come to my house for the evening and a lot of people had come for the
sangat. I noticed that Col Chowdhury was stealthily trying to get my attention. We went to a room and he told me that he had told his teenaged son Tiltu to come to my quarters and do
pranam to the Great Saint. Tiltu, however, had replied that his age was for listening to music; going to saints was for his father. Col Chowdhury could not control his anger and had slapped him. He then asked me to pacify his son. I told him that I will go in when the iron was cold. Both of us came back to the drawing room and sat close to Guruji, as if nothing had happened.
Guruji immediately looked at Col Chowdhury and said: "
The son has grown up; what was the need to slap him?" At that very moment, Tiltu entered the room and bowed to Guruji!
*************************
Earlier, Guruji used to give a glass of
amrit to every body. Only one glass was authorized per person and I had had my quota. Once I was sitting very close to Guruji and suddenly I thought: if Guruji gives me another glass, I shall know for certain that He is reading my mind.
Guruji was giving the glass of
amrit to someone else, but He instantly stopped and gave it to me.
After about 15 minutes, I dismissed it as a coincidence. If He now gives me the third glass, I shall be sure he is reading my mind, I thought to myself. He stopped suddenly, gestured towards me and gave me the
amrit saying, "
Have this amrit yourself."
*************************
Earlier no one could touch Guruji, hence the people used to do
pranam to Him from a distance. Once I sat near Him and was thinking that I was indeed lucky to have met Him in my life, but I would be very lucky if I was allowed to touch His lotus feet. As soon as the thought came to my mind, He glanced at me for a second.
The next afternoon He came to my house and desired to rest on my bed. I was delighted and took Him to my bedroom. He then asked me if I had clarified butter (
ghee) in my house. I said yes and He told me to massage His lotus feet with that. By then I had totally forgotten what I had prayed for the day before. After about half an hour He asked me if He could leave now. It suddenly dawned on me that He had come only to fulfil my desire.
*************************
When I was around 42 years of age, I found that my near vision was getting hazy. I went to Guruji and requested Him to cure my falling eyesight. He told me that my eye was following nature's rule. I insisted that He improve my eyesight. He smiled and told me to lie down. He flashed a match near my eyes and then poured some water with a spoon after murmuring something. Instantly, I started seeing everything crystal clear. He then told me that His remedy would work for two years, thereafter nature's law would take its course.
Later, I was posted to Guwahati and one day my near vision blurred suddenly. I referred to the diary where I had written down the date when Guruji had cured my eyes. It was exactly two years ago.
*************************
When I was in Chandimandir, my brother-in-law, who was terrified of speaking in public, rang us up from Ranchi and requested that we approach Guruji to cancel his forthcoming lecture to Army Officers on Electronic Warfare. We took his photograph and went to Guruji at 4 in the morning. As soon as we entered Guruji's room, He smiled and said, "
Did you get a letter or trunk call from your brother-in-law; the coward, what does he want?" We narrated the problem. Guruji told us to sit down and continued to attend to other problems.
Time was passing by - 5 o' clock, 6 o' clock - so we requested Him to do something. He just motioned to us to wait. Suddenly at 8:05 am, He asked for the photo. He brushed His fingers over it and said: "
I have transferred the problem; the lecture will now be given to a non-Hindu." We came back. In the evening a trunk call from my brother-in-law confirmed that the lecture would now be given by a Muslim officer of the army. We asked him when the decision had been changed. It was 8:05 am exactly, he said.
*************************
An orderly had been assigned to me to replace the one who had gone on leave. The new orderly was having a sex change problem. Our Subedar Major was worried and I was worried. How would he now stay in the jawan's barracks? Guruji had come to our house around this time and I requested Him to cure this boy. Guruji asked: "
Where do you get these patients from?" I replied: "Guruji, he is destined by fate to be cured and hence he has come to me." Guruji placed a spoon at his back and the jawan was cured.
*************************
Once I was running a fever and was sun basking on the roof. Guruji came to our house at about 3 o' clock in the afternoon and enquired about my condition. I had a running nose, a headache, fever and a foul taste in my mouth. He directed my wife to call a doctor. Col Chowdhury came with a thermometer immediately. He told Guruji that my temperature was 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Guruji anxiously asked the doctor how I could be cured. Col Chowdhury replied that with medicines it would take 48 hours; otherwise it may take three days. Guruji then asked my wife to get a spoon, some common salt and a little water. These were brought. Guruji then took a little salt and water in the spoon, murmured something and asked me to raise my head. He poured the concoction in my nose... I felt as if everything from inside was about to come out. I rushed to the toilet and a lot of fluid came out through my nose. I washed my face and came out within 30 seconds. Guruji asked the doctor to take my temperature again. It was 97.5 degrees. He asked me if I still had a running nose, headache or a foul taste in my mouth. Quickly healed, I replied to all in the negative.
*************************
Once during the middle of January 1985, Guruji announced that on 25 January, on my wife Bably's birthday, He would come to my house in the evening. Lots of people came to our house that day. Some ladies were giving their shawls to Guruji for making them fragrant! Guruji was wearing the shawls just once and saying "
The fragrance will remain for a week or for 15 days or for a day" as the case may be to different ladies. I had given Him a military blanket and asked Him how long the fragrance would remain. He smiled and said it will last for a year, and it was so.
*************************
I was in Dehradun and had had no contact with Guruji for the past three years. Suddenly one night I had excruciating pain in my ears. Both my eardrums burst. The next morning I went to an ENT specialist. He informed me that both my ear drums had been totally damaged. In fact, he gave the message in writing since I could not hear a thing. The doctor said the Army will do an ear drum transplant, but that 95% of such transplants were failures. Therefore, he added, I should be mentally prepared for being boarded out of the Army.
The same night one Sikh gentleman came to my house. He said that Guruji had sent him from Jalandhar with a bottle of
amrit (blessed nectar), as Guruji knew that I had become deaf. After I had taken the
amrit for four or five days, my ear drums reformed and I could hear fully. The doctors were completely baffled.
*************************
While I was in Dehradun in 1988, the Government sanctioned a loan for the purchase of a car. I was in a dilemma about where should I buy the car from - Dehradun, Delhi or Kolkata. A trunk call came from Col Chowdhury (now Brig Chowdhury) posted at Delhi. He said that Guruji had entered his office like a storm and said: "
Chatterjee is now at Dehradun and is worried about the purchase of his car. Tell him that the car is waiting at Chandigarh." He went out immediately. Brig Chowdhury ran behind Him. There was a long corridor, but Guruji could not be seen. Thinking that Guruji must have come to Delhi, Brig Chowdhury rang up the Jalandhar residence where Guruji used to stay. Brig Chowdhury asked where Guruji was in Delhi so that he could go and have His
darshan. The reply came that Guruji had never gone anywhere and was sitting and smiling right in front of the man who was answering the call. I bought the car from Chandigarh. It ran perfectly till I sold it in 2006.
*************************
I had retired and was in Ahmedabad in 1998. I had had no contact with Guruji for about 13 years. During June of 1998, I found it increasingly difficult to sleep. My wife advised me to locate Guruji and go to Him. After making many inquiries, I found that Guruji had moved from Chandigarh to Jalandhar, from Jalandhar to Panchkula and from Panchkula to Delhi. I got His address.
My neighbour Mr Kiritbhai was also keen to meet Guruji and along with him we reserved berths in the Rajdhani for 10 July to reach Delhi on 11 July. I rang up Guruji's place in Delhi on 9 July to say that I was coming to Delhi. Someone picked up the phone and inquired if I was Col Chatterjee speaking from Ahmedabad. He also said that since today was Guru Poornima, Guruji was in
paath, but had said that Col Chatterjee would ring up at 7 pm from Ahmedabad. Guruji had told the person to inform me that Guruji was aware I was coming to Him and wanted me to come at 6 pm on 11 July.
Kiritbhai was obviously puzzled.
We reached Delhi and I bought a thick book on history knowing that I would not be able to sleep at night. Thinking that Guruji was my own, I decided to go and meet Him at 3 pm. We reached Sultanpur at about 4 pm and a strange thing happened. We were not able to locate Empire Estate. After some time I understood the problem, Guruji had asked us to come at 6 pm while we were there at 4 pm. I then told Kitritbhai that I had understood the problem and I would now use a strong remedy. I got down from the car and prayed to Guruji saying, "Enough is enough, please call us now." Immediately a boy came running and told us: "For a long time, your car is neither going here nor there; where do you want to go?" He then showed us the entrance gate of Empire Estate (which is just aside the main road and can hardly be missed).
As we reached E-Villa, Guruji embraced me and said: "
After many years, you have come to me. You have not slept for 21 days, tonight you will sleep. Have langar here."
We went back to the hotel after having
langar and I started reading the history tome. Soon I felt that someone was burning incense in the next room. A wonderful fragrance wafted into our room and I fell asleep immediately.
Next day I again came to Guruji and while massaging His lotus feet, I told him: "Guruji, earlier there used to be a fragrance all over near you, now it is mild." He immediately replied: "
Why, did you not smell it at the hotel yesterday when I came to make you sleep?" My insomnia had been cured.
*************************
During November 1999, when I came from Ahmedabad to meet Guruji in Delhi, He told me, "
You will come to me." I had an interview at Siemens and I came a day before to Delhi. When I told Him about the interview, He told me that I had already been selected and gave me particulars of the salary I would get. Of course, I got the same amount.
*************************
For a few months since 2006, my right ring finger was not bending and there was immense pain. The doctors told me the sleeve of the ligament had dried up and was incurable. They advised me to take painkillers. I narrated the problem to Guruji and He ordered me to remove all the rings, with precious stones, I wore on my hands. The very next day my finger was cured, but then the left ring finger started paining. After a few days I told Guruji of the problem, and He told me to dip the finger in hot water. Thinking that He may not heal me at that time, I requested Him to cure me. He then told me to have
langar. After having three
langar meals, it was cured.
*************************
Sometime in 2000, I found in the morning that my left hand had no sensation and I could not move it on my will. It was paralyzed. The same evening I went to the
sangat and when Guruji was distributing
prasad, I told Him about the problem. A little forcefully He told me to take the
prasad and have it outside. As soon as I ate the
prasad, I felt a tingling sensation in my paralyzed hand. He again gave me
prasad and I ate it. Now I could move my fingers and the hand. He gave me
prasad for the third time and mobility was restored to my hand within 15 minutes!
Late Lt Col (retd.) D S Chatterjee, executive with Siemens
July 2007