It was Guru Purnima day, on the sacred Podhigai Hill. Under the moonlight, along with our revered Satguru, seven disciples and about ninety others from the public were gathered, seated beneath the great Marudha tree near the rock where Sage Agasthya once performed his penance.

On this Guru Purnima day, as always, we adorned our Guru with flowers and fragrant perfumes. The blessed privilege of anointing the Guru with sacred fragrances was given only to me, and to no one else. That fortune was indeed a great blessing in my life. The other disciples decorated the Guru with flowers. After the adorning was complete, everyone prostrated fully before the Guru and rose.

Then, the Guru instructed us to perform the Maha Rudra Homa. All the disciples had already made arrangements with the necessary offerings and ritual materials. By the Guru’s grace, the Maha Rudra Homa was conducted splendidly and concluded after about two hours. At the very start of the Homa, our Satguru entered into Maha Samadhi.

Jnanambal and I could both perceive this through direct inner awareness, and while continuing with the rituals of the Homa, when the moment came to offer oblations to Lord Maha Rudra, suddenly our Satguru rose six feet above the ground, radiating a brilliance brighter than the moonlight. This wondrous state lasted for about ten minutes. At that very moment, from within the sacred fire of the Homa, Lord Maha Rudra Himself began to rise as a blazing pillar of fire.

He received our offerings fully, and as His divine gaze fell upon our Satguru’s lotus feet, the fiery flames of Rudra circled around the Guru’s body. Witnessing this, all of us began to chant in unison the great Maha Rudra mantra:

“Namaste Astu Bhagavan Vishweshwaraya

Mahadevaya Trayambakaya Tripurantakaya

Trigagni Kalaya Kalagni Rudraya

Neelakantaya Mrityunjaya Sarveshwaraya

Sadashivaya Shriman Mahadevaya Namo Namah”

We recited it with overwhelming devotion, tears of bliss flowing from our eyes, voices surging with ecstasy. The Lord, deeply pleased, blessed all of us with His fiery form, bowing His radiant feet of flame before us, and lifting our spirits with divine grace. The joy and bliss that filled us in those moments were beyond measure.

This vision lasted for about five minutes. Thereafter, Lord Rudra ascended heavenward as pure light and disappeared. Meanwhile, our Satguru remained absorbed in deeper and deeper Samadhi for several hours. Finally, around 12:30 a.m., he opened his eyes again. With a smile, he praised our Maha Rudra Homa as a great miracle. We, in turn, humbly declared, “Guru, it is all only your compassion and blessings,” and surrendered at his holy feet.

Gently, I caressed the Guru’s feet and prayed:
“Sadguru, today is Guru Purnima. Please bless us all with an extraordinary, unforgettable experience of supreme wisdom in our lives. We beg your grace, O Guru.”

All others echoed this prayer and bowed low at his feet. Our Guru, smiling softly, asked us to rise and sit. Then, calling forth food from the very cosmos, he distributed it individually to each of us. To behold such a sight would require millions of eyes! The sacred act of divine feeding continued in silence and awe.

Afterwards, our Sadguru’s lips blossomed into sacred speech:

“May my beloved disciples and devotees be ever filled with Guru’s grace and Divine grace. We bless you. All our lives, we have been living under countless false beliefs and misguided thoughts. These alone have kept us enslaved. They are the root cause of the shortages and sufferings in this world today—whether in wealth, time, resources, love, health, or prosperity.”

Do you know how we have all been trained and conditioned to grow up?
“Life is short.”
“You’re just an ordinary person.”
“To progress in life, you must work hard and struggle.”
“Wealth and resources are depleting fast, so earn as quickly as you can.”
“This world survives only because of chaos, violence, and extremism.”
“We are the ones who must save this world.”
These are all examples of the ideas we’ve been fed.

The moment you all realize a great truth, you will see these false beliefs shatter and collapse. From the rubble of that collapse, your happiness will naturally sprout, grow, and flourish into a tree.

Have you ever felt disheartened? Have you suffered from stress? Have you been deeply worried? Hurt by others? Been in a bad mood? If you have ever experienced such feelings in your life, acknowledge that your life has been caught in a serious problem.

Your measure of how your life is going determines your measure of happiness.
How happy are you?
Are you truly happy at all times?
Has happiness permanently permeated you?
You must be happy at all times. Happiness is what you are. That is your true nature. That is the real you.

Do you know the only thing everyone in this world truly seeks? This happiness.
Not just you — all living beings desire only this happiness. This is the fundamental principle of existence.

One thing you must all understand: it is impossible to find lasting happiness through physical objects. Every physical thing eventually disappears. If you attach your happiness to physical things, your happiness too will eventually disappear.

There is nothing wrong in desiring material things — but know that lasting happiness cannot come from them.

But we must all understand one thing: physical objects can never give you lasting happiness.
So there is only one way for you to attain permanent happiness — discovering who you truly are.

Do you know why? Because happiness itself is your real Self — your true Being — your natural state.

It is only because people have not realized their true Self — their Being — that this world is so lacking in happiness. Happiness is the very essence of human nature. It is as inseparably born with us as a child is born with its mother. Humanity’s search for happiness is, in reality, nothing but the search for its own true Self. When a person discovers that Self — that Being — he finds happiness that never ends.