I was in Bombay and suffering a lot due to constant pain on account of Hernia. This was in late December 2000. In that period I relly suffered and I was not sure when to get the surgery done and whether the surgery would be the best option at that time; would it take me away from business for a long time? And in any case, I was wondering who would be the best surgeon to do the surgery.

Just a few months before the above mentioned period somehwere in August/September/October 2000 when I was camping in Chennai, when Yogiji was in the hospital, I had met Dr.Rangabashyam under whose care Yogiji was being treated and I found him to be an excellent surgeon and a great human being. I wanted Dr.Rangabashyam to do my surgery. However, as Dr.Rangabashyam is based in Madras, I felt it would be rather expensive, if I would get the surgery done in Madras,

However, deep in my heart I always felt safe with Dr.Rangabashyam, but I was more inclined to get the surgery done in Bombay as it would be cheaper and help me retum faster to business.

While all this was in my mental process, I was in great pain and I started making inquiries in Bombay through known people as to who would be a good surgeon in Bombay. I didn't want to spend much money and I thought that it would be best for me to go for a surgeon who is reasonable; who at the same time would ensure that I get discharged may be within a few days or preferably 24 hours, so that I could come home and recover at home rather than being in a hospital.
I was going through all ths pain, physical and mental trauma of being confused and tom apart. I was tom apart because my heart wanted me to be in Chennai and to get the surgery done through Dr.Rangabashyam. However, my mind told me that it was a bad idea because of the extra expenditure and extra time. Just then somewhere in mid January, I received a call from Justice Arunachalam who told me that I should come immediately to Tiruvannarnalai to see Yogiji, as he felt that probably Yogiji would leave His body soon, as Yogiji's body had deteriorated a lot.

    Even before receiving Justice Arunachalam's call I was already aware of Yogiji's condition, although I did not think it was so serious as I had some people posted in Tiruvannamalai from my company who would specifîcally call me on a daily basis and give me the report of Yogiji's physical condition. Thus,
I was already aware that Yogiji's physical condition was rather bad; in any case I felt I should go to Chennai/Tiruvannamalai to see Yogiji.

    However, as my physical condition was not good and I had to go through a surgery, I was not clear how to go and when to go. And somewhere deep in my heart I always thought that all suffering which Yogiji's body was enduring, was one of His Lilas and He would ultimately recover and be OK. I really never thought that it would get so worse that He would eventually leave His body.

   When Justice called and told me, I was shaken up and on the same day or I think the next day morning I left.

    I still remember, after reaching Chennai when we left for Tiruvannamalai, somewhere inthe late afternoon by way of a van, we had one of the most tiring and unforgettable experiences because of what happened on the way. In fact, what happened on the way made me recall somediing which Mr. Purna had said in his speech in Bombay. He had said that we may monetarily be able to afford visits to Tiruvannamalai but there is a price to be paid every time we plan a trip Tiruvannainalai. I realised this when we had this long and tiring experience en-route to Tiruvannamalai that, yes, every time when we visit Tiruvannamalai there is a price to be paid.

    What happened was, after leaving Chennai/Madras within about one and half hours of travelling, when we had just reached the outskirts of the city or a little further maybe, our car had a breakdown. It was may be around 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.

    I think we left from Madras by about 4 p.m. or may be 5 p.m.

    This breakdown was very serious and hence in spite of the best efforts of our drivers, we could not really do anything about it. And unfortunately, no garage nearby could be found and those, which could be found, had either no expertise to repair the serious breakdown or did they have the specific spare part, which was essential to repair the breakdown.

    They tried to repair the part without replacing it and for this they spent about 5 to 6 hours, which means we were in the vehicle may be from 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. upto almost 1 a.m. or 2 a.m.

    Finally we realised that all efforts, which were being made to repair the vehicle, will not work out and it would be best to continue the joumey in another vehicle. By then, it was already late in the night. In the small village or may be a smail town we tried to find vehicles, which would be available on rent, so that we could leave this vehicle behind and proceed towards Tiruvannamalai.

    Finally we got a vehicle around 3 a.m. in the morning.

    We left by one Ambassador on rent.

    The driver was a young boy who was driving very rashly. As I have had a severe car accident in my life, it is very difficuit for me to sit a in a car driven by a person who drives fast /recklessly. Hence this entire joumey to Tiruvannamalai which lasted for three hours was most horrifying.

    It was late at night and the highway had so many trucks coming with the headlights on, that it would always look as if our car would crash against a truck coming right in front of us.

    Anyway, nothing like this happened. We reached safe and sound although I was very tired because of the strain in this rented vehicle due to rash driving apart from that long waiting period in the other vehicle which we left behind.

    If I remember correctly, somewhere before we reached Tiruvannamalai may be an hour before, we stopped to have some tea.

    Finally, after reaching Tnuvannamalai, we went straight to the Ashram. And there at the Ashram we were told that Yogiji is serious but He was still in His body.
    The last one-hour drive to Tiruvannamalai was in great fear.

    This was fear of facing death.

    I had all kinds of thoughts in my mind. I was imagining a situation wherein I would be reaching the Ashram and I would be told Yogiji is no more, He has left His body. And there would be a lot of wailing and crying apart from a huge crowd spilling all over the place.

 When we reached the Ashram it was all quiet. There was no crowd, nothing. And people inforrned me that He was serious but He was okay.

   They also told us that we could have His Darshan.

   Thy had ananged to allow people to see Yogiji in the room where He was being nursed, by a full-fledged team provided by Dr. Rangabashyam.

  The Darshan would be from a window a glass window.

    I went to that place and had the most amazing Darshan of my life or rather a peculiar one too.

    What i saw from the window was a magnificent scene, although heart breaking but at the same time immensely divine.

    On this huge hospital bed, Yogiji with His flowing white beard, head with long and absolutely silver white hair, bare chested with so many tubes running on both hands, with an oxygen mask on His face was breathing very heavily and appeared in deep sleep.

    It was as if Lord Vishnu was lying on His serpent bed as the King of the Universe.

   The most amazing thing was that Yogiji's right hand would keep coning up in the Blessing posture every few seconds although Yogiji was deeply unconscious, almost in a coma.

    Hence, even in this deeply unconscious state, His hand would keep coming up almost every minute in a Blessing posture.

   This was the most amazing thing to be seen, as literally His hand would keep coming up after brief intervals.

    His hand would come up to Bless all the people there and in fact it seemed, there was the danger / risk of the tubes coming out or maybe His hand would go to the oxygen mask and thereby destabilize it; hence, il was felt that His hands should be tied by some string. Therefore, His hands were tied by strings. Even then His hand would lift up by a few inches and then would go down.

    Inspite of the oxygen mask, inspite of the tubes, inspite of being without a turban and inspite of being on a hospital bed, He looked as Divine, as radiant, as magnificent as always. He looked even more, maybe.

    I was fortunate that I was allowed by the Ashram administration to watch this for a longer time as compared to others; hence I was there for almost 15 minutes, I thiink.

   I didn't want to leave that place. However, as I realised that there were others who were waiting in the queue and in any case as my wheel chair and my attendants occupied a lot of space, I thought it would be better to leave, so that others would also have His Darshan.

   We went to the Ramakrishna Hotel, extremely tired, but at the same time feeling very nice about his Darshan, we could have.

   The night was very tough on us, but still this Darshan made a big difference.

   I recall, the next day I was so tired and even the day after, almost for 2 or 3 days in Tiruvannamalai, I had one of my most horrible times because of great physical weakness and body pain which I felt all throughout.

   After few days, I went back to Madras. In those few days in Tiruvannamalai, I went for Yogiji's Darshan almost once every day. Although, I think that on one day when I felt tremendously weak, I didn't go.

   My Hernia pain was one aspect of the problem. Overall physical weakness was another. Hence both, literally demoralized me and I could feel as if there had been a tremendous drain on the energy level within me in those few days at Tiruvannamalai.

   After reaching Chennai, I consulted Dr Rangabashyam who feit my Hernia problem had become serious enough to be operated upon almost immediately. Hence, within a few days I had to get operated in Chennai itself.

   After a few weeks of hopitahmtion, white I was still in the hospital, I was informed of Yogiji's Mahasamadhi.

   From the hospital, I could go to Tiruvannamalai, see Yogiji's Mahasamadhi function and come back.

   Now I realise this was all Yogiji's plan.. He knew that if I would be operated in Bombay, probably I wouldn't have ben able to come for His Mahasamadhi nor would I have got those fag end Darshans. Therefore probably it was all a Divine plan (His plan) to arrange My visit to Chennai and then it was His idea that I get operated by Dr.Rangabashyam so that under his care (Dr.Rangabashyam) I would visit the Mahasamadhi function with the least inconvenience