Proper Lighting

Proper Lighting

16-8-86, Sunday, 7.45 a.m. 

The Shangar arti was completed. Swamiji had as usual circumambulated the mandir and a few minutes later was seated in his personal puja on the stage. On the mandir lawns and ground, covered by a canopy to keep out the monsoon rains, sat more than a thousand people, having darshan of Swamiji. Swamiji, facing the sadhus seated on the right of the floodlit stage made the mark of tilak and chandlo on his forehead and then sat in quiet meditation. The sadhus sang kirtans. After a short while, Swamiji took his rosary and began to chant softly to himself the Swaminarayan mahamantra. But then he stopped and signaled to a nearby sadhu to come to him. "Switch off the light above me." The sadhu scurried over to the switchboard.

Again Swami said, "Turn off the overhead light behind me and switch on the one in front of me." The sadhu complied. "Switch off the halogen light," Swamiji again ordered emphatically. The serving sadhus were puzzled, "What was wrong? Was it heat from the lights, or were the light hurting Swamiji's eyes?" Once more Swami ordered a light to be switched off and another re-switched on. The hundreds of devotees wondered what the sadhus were doing and the sadhus wondered what Swamiji was doing. Finally, Swamiji had all the lights, save two meager tube lights, switched off. Then he once again settled into his puja and all was forgotten, until early next morning. Swamiji arose the next day as usual, and finished his morning routine and was putting his dhoti on in his inner room.

A few sadhus were present with him. Swami addressed them, "Change the lighting on the stage because during puja, due to reflection from the surfaces of the murtis, I cannot have darshan of the Lord." The mystery was solved. Swami was not bothered by heat or the reflection on his cataract-operated eyes. He longed only for the darshan of his Lord. Swamiji sees the Lord eternally within his heart, but frequently shows us the method of devotion