The Movement Center presents Nityananda.us
Devotees's Stories: Introduction
The stories included here are excerpted from Nityananda: In Divine Presence, by Swami Chetanananda and Captain M.U. Hatengdi, published by Rudra Press. The book is a collection of stories gathered from devotees of Nityananda or their families. They demonstrate some of the unusual qualities of Nityananda, as observed by those who were closest to him during his life.
As Swami Chetanananda, founder of The Movement Center, writes in the Foreword:
I had the good fortune in India to hear many stories about Nityananda--stories that reflected his simplicity, his austerity, his detachment from the world, and his pure and powerful love for those who came to him. The more I heard, the more I recognized two things. First of all, they deserved a larger audience. Secondly, these stories were the most powerful and direct way to express the essence of his very extraordinary presence. I decided to gather as many stories as I could, and began to travel along the route that Nityananda followed--from Cannanore in the south, through Mangalore and Kanhangad, and finally to Ganeshpuri. Along the way, I met many people who had known him directly or whose parents had known him. Their remarkable and moving narratives confirmed my sense of what an exceptional being Nityananda was as well as how rich a collection of stories about him would be.
Here, then, are a few stories from this collection.