The Guru is the one who takes you from darkness to light, from ignorance to truth, from suffering to salvation.

We bow to our Guru who is the infinite Ocean of Consciousness, beyond perception, beyond duality, beyond the three gunas and all formation. He is the embodiment of the bliss of Brahman and the bestower of ultimate happiness. He is ekam – one; he is nityam – eternal; he is vimalam – free from impurities; he is achalam – steadfast. He is the abode of knowledge and bliss, and is forever omniscient, omnipresent, and vast like the sky.

Mere expressing gratitude is nowhere close to the unconditional love that he has poured on us. In fact, we are short of words to express our feeling for our Guru Om Swami.

Our journey of togetherness started from 1999. The atmosphere in the house was that of partially atheist. After our marriage in 1999 we have gone with many ups and down in our life. First it was our mother who was diagnosed with cancer in 2001 and we lost the fight in 2006. In 2007 we had a job offer and we decided to move to Norway. Then in summer of 2011 it was our father who suffered brain stroke and he was bed ridden for next 5.5 yrs. The same year after couple of months we lost our only brother who was 28yrs old and the life was not the same again for us and our-in-laws.

Every day was a roller coaster ride from 2011. It was during one of our visits to a family friend’s (he comes from Australia) house in 2016 here in Norway that he showed us Swamiji’s blog. He was the one who showed us the light and we believe everything has its time and we have been patiently waiting for our trip to India to visit ashram. However, we had almost forgot in course of busy schedule. On the evening of 31st Dec 2016 we started our journey at 18:00 hrs & reached ashram at 03:00 hrs. It was early morning and we tried to catch up on some sleep. It was very cold outside and difficult to lay in the car. Soon we saw people waking up and getting ready to attend the morning Aarti with Swami ji at 7:00. Later around 10:00am it was time to meet Swami ji in the ashram for the first time. Since, we were the last to reach ashram and were not on the list to have a personal meeting with him. However, by his grace we got to meet him later. Whatever, we are today is all because of our Guru. We are touched by His unconditional love and kindness. Whenever, we think that this might be the limit of his love and kindness but Swami ji surprises us every time and now we have realized that there is no limit for His love and probably this is the reason why we call Bhagwan as Ocean of love. Replying to one question so many times without any anger or irritation can only be done by our Bhagwan/ Guru. Every time His response is filled with empathy and kindness. Almost exactly, as compared to parents when they repeatedly answer to the queries of their toddler kids without getting irritated.

Om Swami ji’s presence in our life has changed us completely. We always wake up with heartfelt gratitude and sleep with a forgiveness prayer. We offer bhog of the food we eat every day. We have stopped judging others for their actions. We have learned from His teachings to be kind and do RAK every day. Swami ji’s mantra of “Live, Love, Laugh & Give” summarize the essence of our journey called life. His words “I love you all wherever you are and whenever you feel lonely with nobody around then remember one person is always for you and that is OM SWAMI. I will never leave you” still echo in our head.

These words are full of love and compassion and we would like to hear them again and again. We know that we are still evolving, by watching His videos, reading His books and blogs, but we try every day to take baby steps and this is not possible without His divine grace.

With help of the Black lotus app we learned how to stay in discipline and follow our daily routine come what may. Impact of His words are embedded into our soul.

We are nothing without you and you make us complete. Your presence melts our heart. We want to see the world through your eyes and feel others through your heart and become “Tat Tvam Asi”.

There is no knowledge more valuable than the ultimate truth, no pursuit more purifying than seeking the truth, we express our gratitude to our Guru through our salutations, who guides us to attain the truth (myself).

Rajesh & Vandana Om