The Beginning

She was born on the auspicious day of Diwali and they named her Sita. 

She was the most adorable child and never cried or had tantrums. There was an otherworldly peace about her and she was loved by everyone. She always wanted to sit in the family prayer room and would spend hours speaking with the idol of Lord Rama. 

Her parents were God loving simple folk and they were very happy about her natural inclination towards devotion. She hardly ever played with other children and was most happy on her own. 

When she was sixteen, they wanted to get her married as was the custom in those times, but she was not for it. They went ahead with the marriage and she was greatly distraught. 

She locked herself in a room at her husband’s home and started chanting. Days went by and she would not come out. 

Finally she asked to speak with her husband and explained to him that this life was not for her. Her love belonged to Lord Rama and she would not be able to perform her duties as his wife. She explained her situation and he seemed to understand. 

She asked to be freed from this marriage and said that she would get him the right girl who would be a devoted wife. And she did. She found a lovely girl from her village and got her husband married to her. 

Sita did not have the slightest doubt about the match she had made. She foretold that they would live happily with a huge family and they did. They had six children. 

Sita returned to her parents’ home and continued living there. 

One day she was called by a neighbour to come to her house for a spiritual sermon. She went to her neighbour’s home and saw the Saint sitting on a cot and she felt a great rush in her heart. 

She was totally besotted and sat down and listened to the sermon. At the end of the sermon, she went ahead to pay her respects and bowed down in front of the Saint. 

“You have come” said the Saint, “We had come here only for you”. 

Sita had tears of joy running down her cheeks and she just held their feet. 

The Saint said “ You must come to our ashram and continue your devotion. This world has nothing for you.” 

She was totally overwhelmed hearing these words. The Saint then initiated her into the practice of NAM and told her that they would next meet at the ashram. 

She had heard that only those found a Guru who had it written in their destiny and that one would have to search high and low to find one. Here, her Guru had Himself come looking for her and she felt like a torrent of blessings was showering on her. 

She sat in front of her Guru and her whole life would be a prayer from that moment on. She went on to live at the ashram for fifty years and came to be known as Mataji.

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