Wisdom of Saints

Story of a Saint in India –Sri Swami Vishwananda:

The Wisdom of this Hermit Saint. . . There was once a saint in India who lived as a hermit in a small hut made with grass. Once a couple came to him and said: “Guruji, we love you so much that we would like to make you a nicer and stronger hut. Please come with us.” The saint answered, “No, no, I’m happy where I am. I don’t want to come.” But after some time, he called the couple again and said, “Yes, I will come with you, but can you do me one favor?” The couple was very happy and said: “If you are asking, we will do anything for you.” The saint said to the couple, “Let me come and live in your toilet.”

The couple was wondering, “We want to build a nice hut for you, so why do you want to come and live in our toilet?” The saint said, “I would rather stay in your toilet than among devotees or people who are only looking for fame and glory. These people come to me and they are only looking for how to end their misery, but they are not really looking for God. If I stay in the toilet, I would rather bear the smell of the toilet than the insincerity of those people and, also, the smell of the toilet will keep them away!”

This made the couple realize how people are. People are searching, yes, but they are not sincere towards themselves. Only when you are sincere towards yourself, you will find your path. When you accept yourself, when you accept the Will of God and whatever He gives you as right, you surrender to His Will, you surrender to His Love and then you say, “Yes, God, I believe in You and I trust in whatever You are doing for me. I trust in Your Love and I don’t doubt You.”

The wisdom of the Saints is unquestionable when one studies their lives as Gurudeva teaches us. . .

The wisdom of Swami, even at a young age when he was then named Visham by his birth family: (From "Blossoming of the Heart" taken from the story written by Swami's mother)

Note from Swamini Vishwalakshmianandama: I held the book up to my third eye and prayed to the Divine Mother to show me the story that she would like me to include in this entry about the wisdom of our Swami Vishwananda. I prayed to my Ishtadev aspect of Divine Mother, Maha Lakshmi. I then opened the book randomly, as my Spiritual Teachers through the years have taught me to trust. The following is what appeared on the page to which my eyes were drawn on the right hand page when I randomly opened the book.

Swami's mother is telling this story about Swami, then called Visham: "When I left home,Visham would play recorded pujas and prayers and play them very loudly. When he saw me returning, he would quickly turn everything off. He also offered pujas everywhere with his friends. Often he took a bottle of milk and other ingredients to a friend's house and offered a puja. On one occasion, his dad, grandmother and I were looking for him throughout the whole town and could not find him. I was very scared. At last someone phoned us and told us where he was doing prayers.

"During those early years, I often was scared. I wanted to have a son like other mothers: one who went to school, got his degrees, got a good position, perhaps worked in an office. Visham wanted only to do his pujas and be a pandit. I told him the day he stopped going to school, he would have to learn how to be a mechanic. At a certain age, he stopped going to school. For the next six months he learned how to be a mechanic. When I saw him coming home every day with dirty clothes and hands, I was sad and and began to think that I did not want my son doing these dirty things. After six months he stopped doing the mechanic work and started being a pandit.

"Today he [Visham / Sri Swami Vishwananda] is much more than a pandit!"

--Written by Sri Swami Vishwananda's mother. . .

The wisdom of Paramahansa Yogananda according to a disciple after his Maha Samadhi: ‘Master said to me in various conversations: “I am living on borrowed time. Divine Mother has asked me more than once to withdraw from this Earth, as my time is up. And if I do not do it willingly, She will drag me away.’ Master added that he was very grateful to Her, as several times She had granted Her consent to a continuation of his stay on Earth in order to finish some important work.