Sarvananda

 A lot of people keep asking me as I meet them, that how come my name has ‘Om’ in it. And why isn’t it used in my official documents. I recently read this really famous book, ‘If truth be told: A Monk’s Memoir’ by Om Swami, who is also my spiritual Guru, hence my name, Aavriti Om.

I got initiated in 2022. Initiation is a process by which your Guru, or a monk, a mystic, accepts you as his or her disciple. They allow you to follow their spiritual lineage, and you may also walk your spiritual path, guided by them. This is something, according to me, which my Guru loves to do. Anyways, I got initiated by him right in the beginning of 2022. I still remember, the date was 5 March 2022. It was a bright day.
I had been a religious and spiritual kid since I was 7, but I don’t remember the exact age. It was 2017 when I met Swamiji for the first time ever, and he left a never-ending impact on me. I was just 7. Since then, until I got formally initiated, I had a lot of love for Swamiji.
My initiation shook me from top to bottom. I had an energy imbalance. Sitting right in front of him, getting initiation, which means he having a physical touch on me, was mind-blowing. I still somewhat remember it. The touch.
My dad has always been away from god. I don’t know why, perhaps he has his own reasons. When I had the experience and the following energy imbalance, my dad was furious with my mom. She kept me away since. And in the speeding course of time, I think I lost touch with Swamiji. I lost touch with god. I was immersed in myself, and people around me.
I finished the book today. I had to read it someday, sometime. But God had planned it this time. Midway in the book, I got a hard realization. Looking at how dearly Swamiji loved Naga Baba, his Guru, I was filled with immense amount of guilt in me. It felt like I have lost everything. I felt like I disrespected my Guru big time, and lost the reverence completely. I cried out of guilt that night, it had built in so much in me. I thought I was a bad Shishya. Everything became really tiny there and then. No doubt I had had a change big time and realized everything. The first step my inner voice told me to do, was to do something for my Guru, and make it up to him. Swamiji mentions in his book to listen to your own inner voice. And reflect upon it, because it’s the most organic one and pure. I had to do something. It filled me with immense emotions. I had lost from him.

Swamiji is someone who has zero expectations and attachments. It didn’t even matter to him at this stage if I even kept Om in my name or even remembered him. But the one thing that had filled the guilt in me was not taking him seriously, and not accepting his orders.

I don’t know how to end today’s blog to be very honest. This one’s straight from my heart, and it’s a big revelation to everyone. I don’t usually show or speak about my spiritual side to a lot of people, maybe just two or three. And for the first time ever in my life, I was not hesitant about talking this topic, over here, because I know that the people who will read this are true to me, respect me, and accept me. I have honestly never had the courage, or even the wanting to show anyone this side of mine, but showing it here and speaking about it here really, really feels safe. So, whoever’s reading this, you hold a very, very special place in my heart, that I was able to talk to you about it. This part of my life has been the most beautiful and I will cherish it for the years to come. Thank you for reading it till here, and I hope I made you happy. Thank you for being such an important part of my life. I respect you and love you a lot. Drop me a text about how you feel after you finish reading this piece of my heart.

With this, I would like to end my blog. I pay my reverence to the Mother Divine in you, and wish you the best.

Until next time,
Aavriti Om

PS- If you would like to reach out to Om Swami, his official email will be easily available on www.omswami.org.
You can also access his blogs and read them at https://os.me/

Om Swami is usually at his Aashram, Sri Badrika Aashram in Solan, Himachal Pradesh. He usually spends seven months in solitude and four months in the aashram to meet the people who long for him.