This year, Paramahamsaji's program, the Ram Naam Aradhana, took the whole month, and we were there from the beginning till the end. Now, seven days later, we realize how strong that experience was, and our impressions are still settling. Sometimes we have the feeling that we will never be the same people we were before the Aradhana, and it will take some time to digest our experiences there.
Today our five-year old son, Om, said, “Those days in Rikhia are so alive in my memory.” He underwent a great change in Rikhia. He wanted us to translate for him everything that Paramahamsaji said. So he began to ask questions about God. He asked everyone to tell him stories about Shiva, Rama and Ganesha. In Rikhia he bought himself a medallion with a picture of Lord Shiva on it, and he was very proud of it. He also bought a very ugly, cheap, black, rubber Ganesha key ring with a tiny red light which lights up when Ganesha's stomach is pressed. At night Om talked and sang to him, worshipping him with all his heart, and he expected very sincerely that Ganesha would bring us money. One evening we even found Om making Ganesha a cup of Horlicks.
One day Om said, “I want to see the real Shiva, the real Rama and the real Ganesha.” Somebody told him that there are beautiful statues of Shiva and Rama in the temples. But he ignored that and insisted that he wanted to see the real ones. We told him that he should ask Paramahamsaji about that. At noon every day Paramahamsaji was giving satsang. I told him that our son wanted to meet the real Shiva, Rama and Ganesha, and that he had also asked if Om was a second name of Shiva. Paramahamsaji said, “Yes it is”. Then he looked at me and asked, “How old is he?” “Five,” I replied. “How long are you staying here?” he asked. “Until the end,” I replied. “Okay, I will find a way”, Paramahamsaji said, and then he asked, “What is his name?” “Om”, I replied. “Om! Good questions. And good questions are looking for good answers. I will find a way by the end of the program.” Then he spoke about how in the last ten years in Europe children like this are being born whose minds are not just ordinary, and at five years of age they are asking such questions.
After this, up to the end of the Aradhana, Paramahamsaji didn't say a word about Om's questions, and Om also didn't talk about real gods. But when the Aradhana was over and we returned to Ganga Darshan, he started to talk about how he had seen the real Shiva in Rikhia! We asked him several times to check if his story was authentic, and he always gave the same answers: after he had exposed his questions in front of Paramahamsaji, he started to have dreams in which he was seeing the real Shiva, who was coming on a bull with a tiger skin around him and a trident in his hand. He would sit between Paramahamsaji and Swami Niranjanananda and speak with them a little, and then he would translate for Om what was going on in the program.
When I asked Om if maybe he had seen Shiva during the day, not just in a dream, he answered, “I see him only when I close my eyes. Usually Lord Shiva comes with Paramahamsaji or a few minutes after him, and he sits beside Paramahamsaji or above him, always wearing a rudraksha mala. Sometimes he might come with Swami Niranjan but more often Lord Shiva is with Paramahamsaji.”
So, the real truth is known only to Om and Paramahamsaji who maybe answered Om's questions by giving him an experience instead of verbal explanations. Anyway what is obvious is that Om has changed a lot. He has a kind of maturity which is not characteristic of a five-year-old boy, and still he is full of energy, laughing all the time, running from breakfast to dinner, and maybe keeping his secret deep inside.