Fragrance of the Lord

Inundation of fragrance
The day after Swami visited the house of Mr. Bhimasankaram for the first time, a divine fragrance exuded from the chair in which Swami sat, the day before. The fragrance was so strong and was spreading so fast that family members panicked and closed the doors and windows of the house to prevent it from spreading everywhere. This lasted for an hour after which the fragrance subsided.
A devotee called Sri P.V.N.M. Sharma heard about Swami's 'fragrant miracles' and dismissed them as far-fetched. On day as he sat next to Swami, a strong and divine fragrance gushed forth from Him. Swami asked Sharma with a smile, "How did you like the fragrance?" Sharma, regretted having doubted Swami and fell at the feet of Swami.
Mr. Somayajulu and Mrs. Kameswaramma did not believe in the stories of miraculous fragrance from Swami. One night, a fragrance was emitted from Swami's bed. It lasted in the house all night. On another occasion, a similar fragrance was emitted from Swami's photograph, continuously for three days. Mr. Ramanadha Iyer once just referred to Swami in a casual conversation with his family and out of nowhere, the entire room was filled with fragrance. On a Guru Purnima (festival) day, Swami emitted a sweet fragrance for fifteen minutes and all devotees present there smelt it.
Sri Ajay once thought that Swami was not giving Him enough fragrance as He had given to many other devotees. As he thought this, he was immediately surrounded by a whirlwind of sacred ash for an hour with an abundance of fragrance. Ajay was very delighted and was in peels of laughter.
Thereafter Swami emitted fragrance of sacred ash in Ajay's house several times. In fact, every evening, while Swami gave discourses and Ajay typed transcripts of the discourses on his computer, Swami would emit fragrance of sacred ash. The fragrance would spread all over Ajay's home and spill over onto the street. Passers by, would be drawn towards it and could not help wondering where it came from.
There are indeed hundreds of occasions when Swami has given off fragrance to His devotees. Swami says that fragrance from Him indicates the happiness of Lord.

Fragrant comeuppance
One day, Swami asked a devotee called Nalini to smell His palm. She smelt a scent of sacred ash. Then Swami asked another devotee, Sri Balakrishna Murthy to smell His palm. He got a delicate scent of sandalwood. Then Swami asked a third devotee, Smt. Bhavani to smell His palm. Somewhat disappointed, Bhavani reported that she did not smell anything. She was sad, thinking that her devotion was perhaps less than that of others. The other two devotees, who had smelt the scent, had put on victorious smiles on their faces. However their victory was rather short-lived as Swami told that Smt. Bhavani, alone was the real devotee and not the other two. He explained that the real devotee does not need the Lord to perform miracles for his or her sake; therefore, He did not give Bhavani any fragrance. Hearing these words, Smt. Bhavani felt very happy.

Fragrance follows
Miss Nilini, a devotee of Swami and also His student in the engineering college, where He is a professor, was sitting on the first bench in the classroom. She got the fragrance of lotus flowers. So intense was the scent that she was unable to breathe. She moved to the third bench to escape from it but the fragrance did not leave her. Finally she sat on the last bench but the fragrance followed her there too. Later that day when she went to Swami's home to meet Him, He told her, "I am present everywhere. How did you think that by changing a bench you could escape from Me? Am I not present on that bench too?"

Persistent fragrance
Sri C. N. Rao, the manager of Union Bank, Vijayawada, does not believe in the human incarnation of the Lord on earth. In order that he may believe, Swami started giving him the fragrance of lotus flowers and sacred ash continuously; day and night. No matter where Rao went, the strong scent followed him. Inhaling it constantly made him sick. Swami told him that unless he accepted the human incarnation of the Lord, the fragrance would not stop. Yet, Rao was stubborn. He kept fighting, and refused to believe. Finally Rao's wife, requested Swami to stop the fragrance since her husband's health was being affected. Swami stopped the fragrance and told His devotees that miracles, visions and fragrance cannot turn non-believers into believers.

Fragrant chair game
The family of Sri Kamakara Rao is very devoted to Swami. Once in their home, Swami played a game with the family. The game was rather unique; analogous to musical chairs, this game could be called as fragrant chairs. The music was replaced by fragrance. Swami would spread fragrance all over the room. Everyone would get the fragrance, except one. Then it would rotate; everyone except another person would get fragrance, and so on. The family enjoyed the game very much.

Fragrance granted
Dr. Annapurna, a devotee in Cochin, once thought about the fragrance of lotus that Swami had given to many devotees. Immediately she was surrounded by the fragrance. The same thing repeated on a few other occasions as well.
Sri M.V.V. Prasad, manager of State Bank of India, Vijayawada was waiting for his train on the railway platform along with Sri Ajay. The platform was very dirty and there was a stench in the air. He remembered about Swami's spontaneously created fragrances and asked Ajay particularly about the fragrance of sacred ash emitted by Swami. Immediately the fragrance surrounded them. It was so strong that it totally suppressed the stench on the platform.

Smell of hospital
It was the sacred month of Karthika. Sri C.B.K. Murthy was admitted into the hospital for a serious illness. Swami was at home in Vijayawada and transferred C.B.K. Murthy's illness on Himself. Immediately the unmistakable smell of spirit and medicines, as one gets a hospital, surrounded Swami. Smt Padmavathi, a devotee who was sitting next to Swami smelled it too. She said to Swami "In this sacred month of Karthika, why do You give the smell of a hospital? Please give me the scent of sacred ash from Lord Shiva, instead. Swami agreed and waved His hand. Immediately she was surrounded by the fragrance of sacred ash. At the same time, fragrance of lotus surrounded C. B. K. Murthy and his family members, who were in the hospital room. The family members stepped outside the hospital and tried to see from where the fragrance was coming. Yet there was no florist or lotus flowers around the hospital.

Source of fragrance
Swami once said that the Lord is present in the heart of devotees. Smt C. Sumathi spoke to Swami on the telephone and since that day for one month, fragrance of lotus came from the telephone. One day, lotus fragrance started coming from a devotee, Smt. N. Sujatha, for one full day. Smt. P. Valli got lotus fragrance from water present in a steel pot. Once, Swami gave a discourse on these miracles of spontaneous fragrance. Smt D. Padmaja took notes in a diary. The pages of the diary started giving off fragrance of lotus flowers. Smt. Kalavathi also gets fragrances often. Swami explained to devotees that the fragrance that devotees get is from various divine flowers by which angels decorate Lord Datta. Swami said that the fragrance will be received by most devotees; however, one or two devotees will not be given the fragrance. This is to prove that the fragrance is not from outside. Had the fragrance been coming from outside, such as a flower kept in a room, then all devotees would equally get the fragrance. This spontaneously created fragrance given by Swami, comes from within each devotee. Therefore, Swami said that the devotees need not go outside in search of the fragrance.