When
I said I am going for Dada’s darshan, two more
women followed me. They thought I was to meet Dada closely and have a personal
meeting with Dada J P Vaswani.
In
reality, I was on my route to see Dada’s darshan, a museum. I had
heard great reviews about this museum but never had opportunity to visit it
during my trip to Pune. On this trip, this was my priority. At the first
opportunity that I got, I went there with my cousins.
We
reached the campus of Dada Vaswani mission twenty minutes before the actual
show time, that happens hourly. One devotee came up to us and volunteered to show us around.
We
stood facing the impressive white building. A beautiful heritage building, originally a Jeejeebhoy Castle, was handed to the Mira School. For several
years, it was lying vacant and then occupied by Deccan College and Research
Institute. Gangaram Sajandas, a close disciple was successful in negotiating
with the owner of the building, Lady Jeejeebjoy, to purchase it for Brotherhood
Association. After the death of Sadhu Vaswani in 1966, the Association was
renamed as the Sadhu Vaswani Mission.
At
the far end, amidst the beautiful garden, is the sacred Samadhi that enshrines
the holy ashes of Sadhu T L Vaswani. We walked up to the Samadhi taking in the
peaceful vibrations in the air.
On
the right side, is a huge tree planted by Sadhu T L Vaswani way back in 1958.
This 58-years old tree has blossomed over the years and still stands strong.
We
walked further to the back of the building. We came across Mathuribhao
Karamchand Mahbubani Hostel for girls, inaugurated at the hands of first
Vice-President of India in 1965. Behind the main building are two school, Primary and secondary Mira schools.
For
a brief time, we browsed through some spiritual books at a book store in the
front near the entrance of the mission.
The
clock ticked on and we headed towards Darshan Museum.
The
museum is one of its kind, three dimensional, interactive, 3d holographic and
impressive. The museum is built on a
space of 9500 sq. feet and ranks as number one on trip advisor. It is
biographical depiction of Sadhu Vaswani life narrated through series of multimedia light
and sound shows combined with 3d projection system creating an impressive
experience.
After
the show, the word spread that J P Vaswani would give a brief sighting to a
small group of his devotees. We rushed to his chamber and were happy to meet
him.
When I said “Bless me Dada” he replied “I need your blessing too.” Such humility and love flows through this Divine soul. His words still
rings in my ears. He said- “Help the weak, the needy and the poor. Do as much as you can without any
expectation of fruit or rewards. But if you cannot help personally, at least pray that
somebody else can help them….”
