Param Shradhey Shri Radhe Maa - How I became a devotee - III ( Rita Purohit )

Plastic bangles and pure love 

By Sanjeev Gupta

Rita Purohit’s story: When I had my first darshan of Mamtamai Shree Radhe Maa, I had asked Talli Baba, her attendant, if I could have the tassel that hung around her hands and her plastic bangles as memento. He refused. What a rude man, I thought. All that fuss over some trinkets! I did not know at that time that it was not up to Talli Baba to decide what could be given away. That is entirely Devi Maa’s call. After Devi Maa left the venue, I was drawn to the place she had given darshan to the sangat (congregation). And what did I see – there, on the seat she had graced, were the two bangles and the tassel I had coveted. The skeptic that I was I wondered if someone had (maybe Talli Baba) had told Devi Maa what I had asked for. However, I brushed such doubts aside and claimed the objects as Devi Maa’s prasad. 

The doubts refused to die. At the next darshan I stood in a corner looking at Devi Maa. “I will believe in you if you single me out for a gift of a tassel and four bangles again.” A fraction of a second after I voiced the desire in my mind, Devi Maa looked at me and with one finger gestured for me to come closer. I did and she took off her tassle and four bangles and handed them to me. All my doubts were put to rest. I have never had reason to question her divinity after the incident. 

Shortly after the incident, I found my husband and my in-laws being drawn to me. There was less bickering happening and we were soon reunited. I knew it was Devi Maa’s energy at work. It has been nine years since then, and we have grown to be an extremely close knit family of devotees dedicated to the service of Mamtamai Shri Radhe Maa. I am not alone here. Thousands of devotees attest to how Shri Radhe Maa’s love has united estranged families. The stories and many and they keep coming in.     

           

As spoken to Satish Purohit

Param Shradhey Shri Radhe Maa - How I became a devotee - II ( Rita Purohit )

By Sanjeev Gupta

Rita Purohit’s story:  When I reached the chowki, I took in the lavish preparations and wondered if God who is said to expect simple heartfelt devotion would approve of this grand setting. It was too loud, too colourful and too elaborate for my liking. Then my brother irritated me with his comment that Ma had visited the place in pavan roop. What he meant was that Devi Maa had in some magical way visited the place while we sang bhajans. He said this was told to him by Choti Maa who is Devi Maa’s closest attendant or sevadar. “Maa says she would not come to the chowki because she does not feel khench or pull towards the congregation,” Sanjeev told me. I wondered if my Choti Maa had called Devi Maa and communicated my skepticism to her. Maybe, they had spoken over the phone, I told myself.

A few moments passed and Sanjeev came to me with another message from Devi Maa. Devi Maa wanted me, yes me, Sanjeev’s sister is whom she had chosen for the job, to sprinkle ganga jal in all over the house. I hesitated for a moment before agreeing to the order. It is the normal devotional thing to do, I told myself. What harm was there in doing it? After doing what had been asked of me, I alighted the stairs that led to the space where the chowki was being held. As I looked ahead, Shri Maa’s car zoomed into view and stopped a few feet from where I stood. I watched transfixed, as the door of the car opened. She just put one foot out of the car, and that is all my eyes took in. I looked at it and wondered at its beauty. For about a minute, the foot is all she took out of the car.    

Then she stepped out and I was stunned by her beauty. I also saw a halo spread like a rainbow rising from her shoulders, its curve rising high above her head. My God, I remember thinking, she is divine, and began to sob uncontrollably. I cried my heart out for three hours for no reason at all. She smiled at me.  I felt her loving energy envelope me. It was bright, motherly and extremely positive. If I had to use one word to describe her, it would be ‘positive’. She is a dynamo of positivity that spreads not only in places she visits but also in homes and other places where her swarup or images are honoured.

 

As spoken to Satish Purohit 

Receive Mamtamai Shri Radhe Maa’s blessings at the Maa Jagadamba Jagran in Film City, Goregaon, Mumbai on 3rd March. Call 9820969020 for passes

Param Shradhey Shri Radhe Maa - How I became a devotee - 1( Rita Purohit )

By Sanjeev Gupta

Rita Purohit’s story: Mamtamai Shri Radhe Maa entered my life in 2003. I had separated from my husband and had moved out of my marital home with my kids over differences that had appeared to be irreconcilable to me. I was staring at an uncertain future and was also at an emotional low. When my mother called to invite me to a mata ki chowki being held at the house of my parents, I wondered if my people had lost their minds. That was because my mother also spoke of a Devi Maa who would give darshan at the chowki. My brother Sanjeev had also called me about this, so it was getting irritating. I was a believer alright but the idea of addressing someone who was flesh and blood like me as a Goddess was too much for me to digest. Moreover, being Rajasthani, I did understand bhajans, kirtans and pujas but the essentially Punjabi tradition of chowki was alien to me.      

“I am too busy,” I told her, and I was not lying. I had four meetings scheduled on the day of the jagran. There was no way I would find the time. Shri Maa had different plans for me that day. On the big day, two meetings got cancelled. I laughed and told myself that I would call my mom and tell her I was coming if the third meeting got cancelled. When that happened, I began to wonder. Then the fourth meeting got cancelled as well. I called my mom and told her I would be there! 

As spoken to Satish Purohit 

Receive Mamtamai Shri Radhe Maa’s blessings at the Maa Jagadamba Jagran in Film City, Goregaon, Mumbai on 3rd March. Call 9820969020 for passes

Param Shradhey Shri Radhe Maa - Amrut Leela - Defeating death on the highway

By Sanjeev Gupta

Rita Purohit’s story:  Once, Devi Maa asked me out of the blue to call my husband who was not in the city. I did as I was asked and he told me that Devi Maa had just saved his life. He had been driving on a narrow road in the mountains that had space for just one vehicle at a time. As he turned at a bend, he noticed a heavy truck hurtling towards him. There was no way he could have prevented collision. He closed his eyes and called out, “Devi Maa protect me.” Two seconds later, he opened his eyes and found that the truck was already behind him and he was staring at a clear road. I thanked Devi Maa.

 
As spoken to Satish Purohit

 
Receive Mamtamai Shri Radhe Maa’s blessings at the Maa Jagadamba Jagran in Film City, Goregaon, Mumbai on 3rd March. Call 9820969020 for passes

Param Shradhey Shri Radhe Maa - Brush with the paranormal

By Sanjeev Gupta

Rita Purohit’s story: After watching a late night movie at INOX in Nariman Point, Mumbai, I asked my husband to wait for me as I proceeded to the wash room to freshen up. Just before I entered, I felt someone walk past me and enter the room before me. It was scary but I brushed my misgiving aside and proceeded to the washroom. As I straightened my dress and patted my hair into place, the hand sanitizer that was a few feet away from me came to life on its own. Surprised, I looked at it. It turned off and then turned on again. This happened five times. Terrified, I rushed out of room and babbled the entire episode to my husband who tried explain how it could have happened on its own. On our way home, I was shaken by the experience and also upset that my husband would not sympathise with what had happened. I later learnt that I had misread his attempts to calm me down. He told me later that he had also sensed the entry of whatever it was that was giving me company in the washroom and had also heard stilettos as the entity had walked out of the washroom.

He had felt a light breeze as it had walked past him.

 The next day, I called Choti Maa to understand what had happened. I heard Devi Maa laughing in the background. I rushed to Devi Maa's  Bhavan. Devi Maa told me, "She thought she could take you - the chandali! She had to leave when she saw my swarup on you." I had goose bumps. I thanked Devi Maa profusely, sought her blessings and left. It was past 1 am when I left the Bhavan in Borivli, Mumbai. Back then, I lived in Powai, which is an hour-and-half drive away from Devi Maa’s Bhavan. I had to drive alone through the Aarey Milk Colony stretch that has gained notoriety for its jungle, leopards and paranormal sightings. The memory of my narrow brush with the entity fresh in my mind, I was terrified at the prospect of passing through the dark, people less road. I arranged the rear view mirror so I did not have to see the back seat. If some spirit wanted to take the rear seat, I did not want to see it. I turned on the stereo and was relieved to hear the Hanuman Chalisa playing. Somehow, chanting Devi Maa's name and with the Chalisa playing on my stereo, I reached home. The Chalisa had also ended. The next day, it struck me that I did not have a Hanuman Chalisa tape. I checked with my driver, my family members and no one had purchased a Hanuman Chalisa album. I walked to the car and turned the stereo on.

Bollywood film music streamed out of the car stereo.

 

  As told to Satish Purohit

'Shri Radhe Maa' - Amrut Leela

Shri Radhe Maa - Vachan

 Fruits of love

By Sanjeev Gupta

Felling the mango tree that grew in the compound of 'Shri Radhe Maa' Bhavan appeared to be the only way out. After all, we reasoned, the tree had not yielded any fruit for years now. It had been there before we met Mamtamai Shri Radhe Maa. There was, therefore, no point in letting it stand. 

When Mamtamai Shri  Radhe Maa heard of our plans she would have none of it. No one should dare touch the tree, she said. I believe Devi Maa saved us from committing a grave sin. Our joint family headed by my father Shri Manmohan Gupta had decided to fell the tree but thanks to Devi Maa’s guidance we were spared of killing a tree.

As she said this, she walked up to the tree and hugged it. “Give me some fruit,” she told the tree. “I want to taste your fruit,” she whispered to the tree, and kissed it. Had it been another person acted in this manner, we would have found it strange. However, it was Devi Maa who was doing it, so we knew we were witnessing yet another of her leelas unfolding before our eyes.

Six years have passed since then. The tree did not sprout fruit immediately but we believed it would, because Devi Maa had said it would. Shraddha (faith) and saburi (patience) always work wonders for those on the spiritual path. Today, one has to see and taste the abundance of fruit the tree gives to understand what Devi Maa’s grace can achieve.

 
As told to Satish Purohit

'Maa Bhagwati Jagran' aur Shri Radhe Maa ke diyva darshan

 

Receive Mamtamai Shri Radhe Maa’s blessings at the Maa Jagadamba Jagran in Film City, Goregaon, Mumbai on 3rd March. Call 9820969020 for passes

'Shri Radhe Maa' saved my son

'Shri Radhe Maa'

 

By Sanjeev Gupta

Rita Purohit’s story:  Once, Shri Radhe Maa drew some snakes on my son’s hands with mehendi, and I paid no attention to it because Shri Maa’s ways are the ways of a child. She sports freely. She is extremely innocent and childlike and being around her is in ways like being around a child. I only understood what she had done a few days later, when a snake fell out of nowhere on my son as he was enjoying a joyride at a water park. He was with his schoolmates on a fun trip.

The snake did not bite him but it was narrow brush. Shaken, he narrated the story to me. I thanked Devi Maa in my heart. When I presented myself in her presence before I could say a word she said, “I had to protect him. He is your son. The snake had come to take him but I would not allow it. He saw my swarup (Her image in a string that he wore around his neck) and left after taking darshan.” I was too moved for words. A catch in throat, eyes streaming with tears, I fell at her feet. 

As spoken to Satish Purohit

Rita Purohit

 

Receive Mamtamai Shri Radhe Maa’s blessings at the Maa Jagadamba Jagran in Film City, Goregaon, Mumbai on 3rd March. Call 9820969020 for passes