The mother of Swami Vishwananda told me: "At the age of one-and-a-half, Visham (Cosiname of Swami Vishwananda as a child) was just beginning to walk. Yet unlike other children his age, he prayed and prayed all the time. Visham’s grandmother went to the temple every morning and evening. From the time that Visham was small, he could be found by the side of his grandmother going to the temple for morning and evening prayers. My sister used to say, “How can you have a son like that? You never pray”. I would answer her, “I really don’t know; he has always been interested in God”.
I believed in God, but I did not feel the urge inside to pray or go to the temple and put water on the shiva lingam. At that time I saw people going to the temple in front of our home, but I never felt the urge to go myself.
Shortly after, Visham started doing havan, the fire ceremony called yajna. He made a big fire in the middle of the kitchen that threatened to set the kitchen on fire. All the people who were there were scared, but I was not scared and nothing troublesome actually happened. Then, when he was two and three years old, he began playing he was Krishna. For Christmas Visham sometimes asked for something, but most of the time he played puja, saying, I am doing a puja with Krishna."
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Early beginnings
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In Mauritius, shortly after a child is born it is customary for the parents to consult a priest to advise them on the child’s stars and planet position at the time of birth, a name and so on. It was revealed by the family priest that Swami’s name should be Mahadev, which is the name of Lord Shiva. The priest told them that at the time of birth, Parvati and Shiva were taking their daily stroll around the universe and that they were passing by at that exact hour. The time of his birth was very auspicious! The parents lovingly called him Visham.
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