H.P Eswar is one of those unchanging images of the Chinmaya Mission. An ardent devotee and sevak, Eswar ji has been teaching Bal Vihar students in Kapole Niwas,Mumbai since the last 50 years at least! His ever joyful and boisterous nature can only be attributed to his continuous state of joy. His laughter of course is un mistakeable.

The moment he is asked about Gurudev, Eswar mama ‘s collection of anecdotes begins to flow.

Every year Eswar mama goes to Sabarimalai. On the 16th of one such November he donned the garland that Sabarimalai pilgrims don and prostrated before Gurudev. As he was getting up, Gurudev asked him, “What is Pampa?”

“I knew if I said it is the name of a river, it will be stupid, because Gurudev will not ask me such a question,” said Eswar ji, narrating the story. “So I looked at him and blinked. Gurudev then said, ‘Make that Pampa, ulta, reverse it! Eh? What is it? Pam pa becomes Paa-pam! (Paapam is sins).

Gurudev continued, “So you take a bath in the Pampa and your sins get washed away! Then you change into white dhoti and white angavastram…From November
16th till you reach Pampa you are wearing black or blue or kaashayam (saffron) colored garments. Is it not?
“Once you are purified, made pure (by the dip in the Pampa) then you climb the final lap, the last 18 steps of the malai (hill, referring to the Sabari Hills)!”

Eswar ji laughs; “So you come in black, bathe in the Pampa, drop your sins there, come out and wear white, now that you are purified!”

Eswar ji unleashes his boisterous celebratory laugh. He relishes his own memories as if they are happening right then before him!

Unstoppable now, Eswar ji recounts another incident that took place in the Jagadeeshwara Temple at Powai Ashram, Mumbai. “You have been there? Ok. Right in front of Lord Siva’s idol in the temple, there is a rectangular depression with water in it. Lord Siva faces the entrance and Nandi faces Siva. Near Nandi is a bannaaram, a donation box. I was standing there, having offered prayers. I had taken out my wallet from my pocket and I was counting out the money to drop into the donation box. “I am so engrossed counting the pennies … suddenly Gurudev is behind me, breathing down my back… he startles me with these words that he whispers to me, “If you count your offering to Him, then He will count and give his blessings to you!” Eswar ji breaks into his unmistakable laugh…. there is great enjoyment lurking in every of his memories of Gurudev!”

-Excerpt of an article from Celebrating Gurudev by H.P Eswar