24 Sep “Novel Dream-II” from Sermons in the Stroms
A mile and a half away from Sihor—a town in Saurashtra—is a fine Shiva’s temple known as Gouthameshwar Mahadev situated on a hillock.
During the non-monsoon seasons, particularly on Sundays and holidays, the educated and the rich class of people visit that place for picnics.
In 1954, one such party from Bhavnagar
They had ‘carried with them cooked food, and so, as soon as they reached the place, the adults immediately settled to play bridge leaving the ‘children to their funful pranks.
At mid-day, they took their meals and plunged into siesta. They resumed their game after rising. .Just as their play was gaining momentum, Patikaj— aged three years—began to be troublesome. His mother silenced him by transferring a five-tola gold chain with a bejeweled pendant in it—from her neck to that of his.
By about 4 p.m., the party packed their things and left for the station and reached Bhavnagar
After their dinner, they were preparing to go to bed. Only then, did Pankaj’s mother find her chain missing. She looked for it in Pankaj’s neck—it wasn’t there. When she asked him, the little tot only-waved his hands and prattled to say that he didn’t know. She then asked other children and her husband. None knew anything about it.
They could only conjecture the possibility of where it could have fallen from or placed by Pankaj’s hands. The field of possibilities were enormous, searches appeared difficult, and its find almost impossible.
Yet, Pankaj’s father left for Sihor by the 2 a.m. train for searching for that costly chain at Goutameshwar Mahadev—taking it to be the most probable place where Pankaj could have lost it.
He reached Sihor in an hour. As many parts around the Goutameshwar Mahadev are wrongly believed to be infested with ghosts, it was considered dangerous for night visits. Hence, Pankaj’s father spent the night in the station deciding to go there after dawn.
In the outer part of Sihor town is a temple of Pragateshwar Mahadev
At the time of the incident under narration, I happened to be in one of those Shiva’s shrines with one Swami Shri Poornanandji. Like me, he was also a temporary visitor to Sihor. He daily went to Goutameshwar Mahadev at about 9 p.m. for his mid-night meditations and used to return back early in the morning and sleep till about 10-30 a.m. Those managing that temple had allowed the Swamiji to use a small room in the temple premises and this he kept locked.
On that particular night also, the Swamjii went to Goutameshwar Mahadev’s temple and engaged himself in his practices. As usual, when before leaving he was sweeping the room, he found a gold chain with a bejeweled pendant in it.
When he returned, the Swamiji informed me about his find. I examined the chain and found its jewel-bedded pendant bearing die name ‘SAROJ’ in English letters. I told Swamiji that either it belonged to someone named Saroj or it was a present to someone from some Saroj. I agreed with him that it should be forthwith handed over to the Police.
The Swamiji went to the Police Station, handed over the chain and brought a receipt with him.
Now, in that early hour when Swamiji was sweeping his room in Goutameshwar, Pankaj’s pio’us grand-mother saw the Swamiji in DREAM picking up the gold chain, giving it a look over and over again and placing it in his pocket. Later, she saw swamiji walking towards the town and entering the Shiva’s temple where I was camping. The dream ended there. As she had been in Sihor for good many years previously, in that vivid dream it was clear to her that the temple in which the Swamiji had entered lay immediately behind that of the Pragateshwar Mahadev.
She woke up with all the details of that clairvoyant dream still fresh in her memory, got ready to reach Sihor and came straight to us in a car. First, she told us everything about the loss of the chain and then her wonderful dream. Proving the truthfulness of her visions in dream, to our utter surprise she demonstrated before us the immediate reactions of the Swamiji when he found that chain and even pointed out the right pocket wherein he had placed it thereafter.
From what she said, we easily guessed how the little Pankaj could have dropped the chain into the locked room’ through its low and open ventilator by climbing on the bench which was lying outside there.
At dawn Pankaj’s father went to Goutameshwar Mahadev and searched everywhere there for the valuable adornment—but in vain. Before leaving, he prayed to Lord Goutameshwar for the restoration of his wife’s lost ornament and pledged that, in the event of its fulfillment, that he would perform special poojas there.
Swamiji took the old lady to the Police Station. Her son, Pankaj’s father who had gone to report the loss to the Police, was there. The chain was made over to them. They left for Bhavnagar
As Pankaj’s father was preparing for the special poojas to be offered to Goutameshwar Mahadev as per his pledge, it is reported that one of the Shiva’s divine messengers told him in dream that the Lord would consider it thousand-folds more than the special pooja if only he and his like refrained from polluting the pure atmosphere of the places of worship and pilgrimage by not going there for cheap pleasures.
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