It was a summer morning and the occasion of Guru Purnima. Param pujya Sadgurudev, Swami Paramanand ji Maharaj was sitting in a chair on the first floor veranda of Akhand Paramdham Ashram at Haridwar. Swami Jyotirmayanand ji and bade bhai Sri Sheetal Prasad ji were sitting on the mat near Gurudev’s chair. A group of devotees sitting opposite them were singing bhajans. I and Alok chose to sit behind all of them so that we could enjoy bhajans and seeing Gurudev. When Gurudev raised his head, he happened to see us. “Look , there sits our patrakar,” he said to Sheetal, pointing to me. “Call out to him.” I walked over to Gurudev.
He looked at me. “Do you doubt PM Modi’s loyalty to the nation?” he asked.
“I don’t think his allegiance to the countrymen or his honesty can be called into question,” I replied.
“Yes, you’re right,” he agreed. “He is pushing ahead with modest reforms to every field, thus trying to make India self- dependent. But a few diehards are out to stop that. Since change is often painful, he persuades people of the need for change.”
