Avadhoota Nadananda
(from Autobiography of an Avadhoota - part 2"):
Avadhoota Nadananda: I had just returned from balloon angioplasty surgery for my heart problems at Sai Baba's hospital in Puttaparthi. Then for one month, I went to stay in Hyderabad at a disciple's residence, in order to recuperate. Even though I had not fully recovered, I decided again to travel to Samalkha to stay and rest at Sharmaji's place. I stayed there for more than two months before going to the Ramnagar ashram. Sharmaji and his family took care of my needs as much as they could.
One of the swamijis of my acquaintance hailing from Kerala, hearing of my ailments, visited me during those days. He pretended to be a siddha even though he possesses nothing on account of sadhana. I was unable to lay down due to respiratory problems which I suffered from in addition to the cardiac issues and had to rest on an easy chair for months together, with the support of a few pillows. Sharmaji and other disciples had a tough time taking care of me. One day this swamiji said, "I can stop this electric fan that is running in this room in just one moment with a look."
A few of my disciples were sitting around me. This swamiji stared at the fan for a few moments and, of course, it stopped moving. I merely laughed at this, and I too looks at the fan for a few moments, and it resumed its running as before. My disciples were struck at all this. Then I told them a story, in front of this swamiji, with the intention of puncturing his ego.
"Once a siddha arrived at Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and boasted about his siddhis. He was claiming that he could walk on the Ganga and reach the other shore. He demonstrated this as well. Ramakrishna simply took a country boat to do the same act of crossing. Then he asked the so-called siddha swami, "How much time did it take you to master this?" "Twelve years," the siddha swami replied. "I crossed Ganga by paying just one ana to the boatman. To do what you could have achieved easily with one ana, you have wasted the siddhi that took twelve years to accumulate," said Sri Ramakrishna.
My disciples laughed at hearing this story. Siddhis are not for exhibiting or making money, They are to be used for the welfare of deserving suffering people and the Almighty will shower blessings in turn. But in the present time, a few of the so-called sadhus attain certain siddhis, and use them to earn a lot of ignorant devotees and live a posh life, which in turn will turn such siddhas into beggars in subsequent births.
The days passed in intense suffering. I was pessimistic about my chances of survival. But the service rendered by Sharmaji and his family helped me to come out of the deep waters.
On one day the disciples had planned a Kirtan Sandhya (evening recital) and satsang at Sharmaji's residence. It was evening time and they had arranged a vedi or altar for satsang with pictures, deepam, and decorated with flowers. Many devotees had assembled to attend the satsang and kirtan when all of a sudden dark clouds appeared in the sky and there were peals of thunder. Looking at this, everyone's moods too went dark. I was in my room and Sharmaji came to say, "Let us cancel this program. It is going to rain heavily. See the sky."
I just looked out to see all the people sitting there to attend the satsang. The kirtan has already started. "Let it continue. Nothing will happen. No rain will disturb us till the program concludes," I told Sharmaji. I knew that he believed and trusted in me. I sat alone for a while in the room and prayed to my Guruji to keep up my reputation (izzat). It worked. My Guruji has always done favors to me, supporting me in all my altruistic acts.
The satsang continued and concluded with my lecture at around ten that night. Nothing happened. But as soon as the prasadam distribution was over it began to rain heavily. It was difficult for my devotees to return to their homes. The rain showers continued all night long.
The so-called siddha swami was also present there. "How did you manage to stop the rain?" he asked.
"I have done nothing. I have no siddhis like you. But my Guruji can do wonders. I just prayed to her to save my izzat and she did it. It was all Guru Kripa." My reply was casual. "No, no! I will never believe this explanation. You have some siddhis to control Nature. You might have mastered the control of the pancha-bhutas."
I kept silent. But he was eying me with envy. He wanted to dig out details of what exactly had happened. I never bothered to offer any further explanation to him. A few days after this incident, I left for the Ramnagar ashram
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