Sri Sri Stories
I am associated and connected to Sri Sri since 12 years now. Since then I have been hearing from all the teachers, devotees and the Master himself – “Do My work and I will do your work.” But I never had this experience all these years and I really did doubt it.
I have been travelling for Satsangs and Courses to nearby places while also looking after my business (Manufacturing Paints). Whenever I was out of my factory, there used to be some or the other problem that worried me. I once spoke to Gurudev in Teacher’s Refresher Meet about it, and He asked me to chant ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ and do Ganesh Aradhana (chanting for good luck) . Although I started doing that, the problem still continued and I started doubting more.
I was also going through lot of problems in my business and even on the personal front. Due to this I was continuously e-mailing Guruji about the issues but didn’t get any reply. This went on for 2 years. In between, I had recorded my album and had met Guruji to give Him the CD and get it blessed. He blessed me and asked me to talk and be in touch with publications. That was the time when I stopped doubting Him and started following-up with publications. A year passed by but nothing successful had happened.
Then I happened to meet the publication authorities in the Ashram. I got to know that because of various problems, my CD could not be released. This was shocking and I was weeping in Ashram the whole day.
Finally, in total frustration, I wrote to Gurudev about my experiences, and the amount of issues I was going through. I wrote to Him this final email & forgot about it, thinking that He must be running short of time to read it. I thought to myself, He just keeps on saying that He cares but in reality its nothing like that.
To my surprise, 20-25 days later, in the night at 10:45 pm, I received a call. When I answered the call, a lady asked me if I had written an email to Gurudev. I was annoyed and replied that I had but asked who was calling. And the reply I got was –
“EK MINUTE GURUJI BAAT KARENGE!!!” (Just hold for a minute – Guruji will talk to you)
It was truly breath taking and I went completely blank. Next moment, Guruji came on the line and asked in His loving, caring, soft voice (You can easily guess the way in which He would have spoken)
“HAA!!! BHUUSHAN, KYA HUA TUJHE? KYA BAAT HAI?” (Yes, Bhuushan, What happened to you ? What’s troubling you ? )
I was speechless for some seconds but finally gathered all my courage to talked as the MASTER Himself had called. Then as usual, as most of us do, I started complaining and telling Him about my experiences. I went on and on with my complaints and He was listening to everything that I wanted to tell Him, as if He was giving me a complete chance to come out of my frustration. He listened, and listened patiently.
Finally when I was done, He very calmly explained to me that problems come in everybody’s lives and one should not behave just considering the problems. He told me to forget all the past problems and talk to the publications team once again and tell them that Gurudev had called and asked to take the matter ahead.
At the end He said-
“All I WANT IS YOUR HAPPINESS AND I NEED YOU”.
“I AM THERE WITH YOU AND I CARE FOR YOU”.
I was in tears. All the doubts, frustration, questions in my mind were washed away forever. It made me realise that YES, He takes care of each one of us. We just need to keep faith and patience.
JOH WOH KEHETE HAI WO WOH DEFINITELY KARTE HAI! ( WHATEVER GURUJI SAYS HE SURELY FULFILLS IT)
JAI GURUDEV!!!
BHUUSHAN
This is an unforgettable phase of my life.
My daughter (Sanaya) and I were going through a terrible phase as death of my dear mother had devastated me. The health of my uncle (the only father figure at home) was deteriorating day by day. He felt he was a liability for us and his illness was hindering our lives. Meanwhile, Sanaya had been in hospitality industry working with Shangri-La as a GRE. She also had the privilege to be with Gurudev at the hotel on his recent visit to Mumbai in February 2013. Sanaya was happy with her job but her timings were very erratic as she had to work for long hours and even late nights (sometimes even till 2 AM). Due to this I used to be stressed frequently and my mind was never at peace.
On the day of Holi (a colorful Indian festival celebrated in March) evening, when everyone was resting having celebrated this day of colors, a disaster occurred in our lives. My uncle had committed suicide. This incident had broken me down completely.
I had planned to go for Sangeeta Jani’s (a senior teacher of art of living) Advance Course at Matheran which was scheduled shortly after this incident. For obvious reasons, I had to cancel it. However, our beloved Guruji blessed me and told me to do this course immediately.
I decided to go for the advance course although my mind was full of doubts and worries. During the course my mind started to calm down, my worries started reducing, all my doubts were taken care off. I was feeling blessed. Guruji’s words came back to me “Do this course immediately”. On the last day of this course when we were told to come out of silence, the first thing I prayed to Sri Sri was, to get Sanaya a desk job. No sooner did I return to Mumbai, within four days Sanaya got a job at HDFC Bank. She had no experience in this sector as her previous job was in hospitality industry, but I knew who had blessed us with this job, it was only ‘HIS GRACE’.
We are settled now in life, Sanaya is happy with her bank job and I am completely stress free.
WE CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH BUT WE LOVE YOU ENORMOUSLY GURUDEV.
Tina-Sanaya
I had done my Part 1 (Basic) Course in January 2006. After that I did my DSN Course, Part 2 Course, Advance Meditation Course, Sahaj Samadhi Course with Guruji. For me the Art of Living Courses (or even an entrance/basic course) is not just a stress elimination technique but a door towards heaven, a path taking you closer to the divine, to yourself! Even in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna has said: Whatever spiritual practices you do in this life, its good effects are carried forward in your next life; it does not lapse.
I knew the Art of Living Course have benefited me a lot and I wanted my family members to experience the same bliss. If not all the courses, then at least the basic course, at least they should experience the magic of Sudarshan Kriya (breathing and meditation technique). I don’t even expect them to practice it daily, but at least complete the Part 1 course. Just doing the Part 1 Course is good enough. The Guru Grace is such that the 1st Sudarshan Kriya itself burns our past Karmas.
I gave my 100% to involve them into the Art of Living, to make them do the Part 1 Course, but somehow they had their own excuse of not doing it. My family includes my elder sister, younger sister, mom, dad and aunt. While my elder sister had done the Part 1 course (interestingly she had voluntarily registered for the course in place of some other participant who had to cancel his seat at the last moment), the others were still hesitant to do the course. My mom would say that she had to look after household work and that 5 days was a long duration for a course. At the same time, she said she was afraid of getting too much into spirituality. My younger sister was least interested in meditation. My aunt had her own closed mind concepts. Convincing my father was out of question.
In 2012, one day, my sister, who is very fond of reading books, asked me if I had a book which she can read. She had finished reading all her collection of fiction/non-fiction books, so I gave her ‘Stumbling into Infinity’, a brilliant book written by Michael Fischman about his spiritual journey. She read and completed that book in 3 days! She loved the book, and asked for more. I gave her ‘Narada Bhakti Sutra’ (a book by Sri Sri giving an inspiring discourse on the Bhakti Sutras of Narada – Aphorisms of Love ) which she quickly finished. Then she came up to me and said ‘I want to do the Part 1 Course!’ My joy knew no bounds.
I ‘announced’ at home that on 10th October 2012, which was also my mom’s birthday, they would all (sister, aunt and mom) be doing the Part 1 Course. Of course, my mother and aunt were hesitant but then I was adamant too. On 10th October 2012, the course was supposed to start at 6:30 am, and just 2 hours before, my aunt suffered a life threatening fall and broke her ribs. The course got canceled (None of them could do the course because of this incident)
I started wondering, why this happened on the very day of the course. While Guruji himself says ‘Bring everyone to knowledge’ then why is He not letting them do the course. We hospitalized my aunt. The Art of Living teacher also helped us a lot in midst of all this. I sought blessings for my aunt from wherever possible. My only wish was to not let her die before doing the Part 1 Course. Slowly and steadily she started recovering. The Part 1 fees I had paid for all three was still with the teacher, which I let her keep because I wanted them to do the course from that teacher only (interestingly she was my Part 1 teacher too!). Incidentally, during that time even my teacher was going through some personal problems, which kept on delaying the course.
It was March 2013 and 5 months had passed since the accident. My aunt had recovered 90%. Suddenly a thought came into my mind. I decided to use the same technique that helped my sister to get convinced to do the course. I purchased three different Art of Living books written by Sri Sri and casually asked my mom and aunt to read it. Perhaps that would instill that seed of faith in them. They read and completed the book. On 16th April 2013, my sister saw a post on Facebook. It said ‘Do Part 2 course with Guruji’. Reading that she secretly prayed ‘Wow some people are so lucky to do the part 2 course with Guruji, and here even the Part 1 is not happening!’. That evening, my teacher came home as a surprise. She asked if it was possible to start Part 1 Course from tomorrow, 17th April. I said YES! Immediate calculation showed that all three of them would experience the Sudarshan Kriya on 18th April 2013, which was my sister’s birthday!
Finally that day came, when all 3 of them completed their Part 1 Course. Today, they practice the Sudarshan Kriya daily, without fail, and the best part is we go for the weekly follow-up together! Special thanks to all the Blessers who blessed my aunt, my dear friends who kept my family in their prayers. Looking back at 2006, who would have predicted that this day would come where me, mom, sister and aunt would go to the same teacher and complete the Part 1 course.
Guru Grace makes it all happen! Blessed to walk on this planet with ‘YOU’ at the same time!
PS: About dad. I am sure to get him in very soon! (perhaps with some other technique, some other Guru Story) 🙂
Jai Gurudev
Yogendra Bhonsale
On 18th June, 2013, Sri Sri was going to visit the BITS (one of India’s leading educational universities) campus in Goa where there would be a satsang (Vedic hymns and chants) and then He would address the students of the college. My plan was to catch a bus by noon so that I could reach Goa by 5.30 pm, attend the satsang, sing, dance, celebrate and meditate with my Guru, listen to him and meet Him in the darshan line and then catch a late night bus back to Belgaum
But if everything went according to plan, it wouldn’t have been The Art of Living. What ensued as the day progressed was lots of divine comedy and chaos! On 18th morning, it was 11 am and I was not extremely sure of going. My friend Deepak kept asking me if we should go and I was trying to find every reason to say no.
There would at least be 2000 people attending, thus slimming our chances to meet Sri Sri. The climate was also poor since it was monsoon season and I did not have sufficient rain gear. None of us knew the location of the campus where the Satsang was going to take place. I was also supposed to get interview calls from that day from the colleges where I had applied. Since it was 11am, we knew if we delayed more we would not be able to make it in time.
It was 11:30 am and I shut off my pestering mind and just sent a message to Deepak, saying we’d leave by 12:30 pm. This in a way ensured I wouldn’t backtrack, since I already gave a commitment to him. We soon boarded a bus, and were on our way to Goa. We reached by 5pm and thought we would easily make it on time since the Satsang was going to start at 6.30pm.
In-spite of telling the bus driver to drop us at the Birla Circle bus stop, somehow, he managed to forget about it. Enamored by the beauty of nature that was en-route, we lost track of the signboards around. It was when we reached the last bus stop, we realized what had happened. It was 6:00 pm now. The bus had dropped us approximately 20 kms ahead. And it would at-least take us another 30 minutes to reach to the original spot, and then locate the college.
We thought it was as bad as it could get. By 6:35 pm a local bus dropped us off at the highway and told us it would take us only 10 minutes to walk to the campus. Thanking him, we began walking. After 20 minutes, we were still walking, and the campus was nowhere in sight. Finally, we did find it, and decided to run towards the auditorium. We received news that Sri Sri had just now graced the dais. We were at the entrance then and the hall was another kilometer away. I hoped that if not for the satsang, at-least we would reach in time, before Guruji spoke.
We reached just as a bhajan (devotional hymn) got over and Sri Sri took hold of the mic. For the next two hours Sri Sri took over. He amazed me, mesmerized me, made me fall in love with him and everything that he spoke. ‘Today is definitely a special day’, I thought. For the first time I went so deep in meditation, when Guruji was conducting it live, and then the question and answer session was exactly what was required not just for me, but for all the students seated there. We lost track of how time flew by, and before we knew it, Guruji had left the auditorium, while Jai Jai Radha (a devotional hymn marking the end of the event) was being sung in the background. He came like a King, and went away like a King, having conquered all our hearts.
Then reality hit us. It was 9:00 pm and we had to quickly rush to the bus stop. Deepak and me thought of asking two of our friends, Ashnika and Anjana, who had also come from Belgaum to attend the event about their plans to go back home. Amidst a sea of hugs,high fives and congratulatories by the Goan teachers and volunteers for a successfully organized event, we rushed out to find some transport that could drop us off till the bus stop. There was a red bus, with RED MAGIC written on it. We boarded that local bus, and by 9:45 pm it dropped us at the national bus stop, that would take us back to our hometown.
We were confident that we would get the bus and we politely rejected an offer to stay back at the home of an acquaintance’s place. To our horror, the bus stand wore a deserted look. There was not a single bus in sight. Suddenly, my friend Deepak asked me if I had collected his bag. I asked him, “Was I supposed to collect it?”, and right there we froze. Deepak’s bag went away with the local bus, which we had no idea was going to which location. It contained his ATM card, Driver’s License and some money. I silently prayed to Guruji to get us out of this mess.
Once we accepted the situation, and knew that we weren’t in control of it, we actually seemed to have gotten some control of it. That is what happens when you completely surrender. I immediately recalled that the bus had RED MAGIC written on it. In my friend Ashnika’s bag, there was a flyer about an upcoming PART 2 course in Goa. And it had all the prominent numbers of every Art of Living teacher from every region in Goa.
We knew that the bus was specially hired for the satsang, and some teacher would be responsible for all the transport. After calling up five teachers, we still were waiting to track the bus. Tired and hungry, we decided it would be best to eat first and then decide where to stay. Some of the locals already told us, that we could get a bus only at 6:00 in the morning now. As we ate, the teachers had already started working out on who could help us.
Then we got the number of Mrs Shudha Phal Dessai. We were told that she was in-charge of all the transportation for the satsang and she also stayed near where the bus may have gone. Deepak called her up and within minutes, his bag was traced. But the catch was, that we could get hold of the bag only in morning, and we still hadn’t figured out where we would stay for the night. Then as if she had read our situation, Mrs Dessai offered to accommodate us at her flat. She had two flats, one of which was vacant. Deepak and me realized this was the best way out, however the girls were apprehensive. They asked, ‘Would it look good to stay at someone’s house, whom we don’t even know?’ Finally, we accepted the invitation and informed Mrs. Dessai about it.
Sri Sri takes royal care of us always! Mrs Dessai said that a Government car would come and pick us up soon. I thought it was part of the transport arrangements for the satsang. But when we reached her flat, we realized that she was the wife of a local politician, Mr Subhash Phal Dessai. We couldn’t believe our luck. Getting to sleep at his home, safe and secure for the night, not having to worry about anything, only Guruji could have taken great care of us like that.
After a great night’s sleep and some sumptuous breakfast, we took leave. Mr. Subhash said if we ever come to Goa again for any Art Of Living function, we were always welcome at his home. While coming back, we discussed of what had just transpired. The permutations and combinations of what had just happened were mind boggling. What if we had not taken the girls along? Deepak would have never lost his bag. He lost it, in trying to hold the girls’ bags. Now if that would’ve happened, most definitely me and Deepak would’ve spent the entire night wandering.
What if in-spite of the girls being there, he still took his bag along? Again we would’ve wandered searching for shelter. There would be no Mrs Dessai to help us. What if we did catch the Belgaum bus on time? We would’ve have missed the wonderful opportunity to experience surrender, and also meet such wonderful people.
In Art of Living, everything happens for a reason. Wisdom is to take out the learning’s in all of it, and move on, smarter and more skillful than before. An ordinary trip, made extraordinary by His grace.
Jai Guru Dev
Ignatius Dsouza
I was given accommodation during pre-TTC (Teachers Training Course) in the home of another participant and I stayed with him the night before the first day of the pre-TTC. After the first day of the course, we were let to relax by 10:30 pm. My friend and me started walking to the bus stop to reach home soon and relax as the next session was supposed to begin very early the next morning.
As we went near the bus stop, my friend noticed that there are other participants who were looking for some help in shopping and returning back to their place. He wanted to help them out so I told him to go ahead. Since I didn’t know the city and wanted to retire for the day, I took the house key and got into the bus thinking I can make it to the house. When the bus started to move, I realised that I don’t have my phone with me.
I went to the bus driver and requested him to help me with the address since I remembered the street name vaguely and he complied. I traveled for a few minutes and I noticed a stop name on display that was partially to what I remembered. I went to the driver to confirm for which he replied in broken english that I’m right. I was very happy that finally I made it and got down. I started walking and realised it was very dark and there were very few street lights. Though I could feel that I haven’t seen that bus stop in the morning, I started moving thinking since it is dark, I could be bit confused. Relying on the confirmation of the driver, I kept walking confidently but realised that I was lost.
I started walking back and started to look for people. Since it was almost midnight, I could not find anyone on the street. After walking for a while, I met two people but they did not know English and we were not able to communicate. Being unable to recollect the exact address of my friend’s home or phone number, I started thinking of all my next options. Then a thought came to me that its not me who decided and made it to pre-TTC, its HIS plan. If coming to the course is HIS plan, taking me further also should be HIS only. With this thought, I continued to walk little further.
Suddenly, I saw a lady coming out of her house with her dog. Without thinking much, I asked her to help me out. She tried to guide me a bit but since I was tired and didn’t remember the address, I couldn’t grasp exactly what she is saying. I gave up the idea of asking for help and started to move, even though it was dark and there were no bus stops in sight. I continued to simply walk as though I knew where I was heading. I don’t know what kept me going. My mind was simply struggling and I was losing energy. Despite of all my internal struggles, something kept pushing me to walk some more. After covering some more distance, I started to feel a familiarity with the neighbourhood and I felt I have passed this area before but wasn’t able to fully recollect.
The feeling that I knew this area made me calm down. With confidence, my pace was increasing as well. After walking for a few kilometers and taking turns, I realised I was on the right track home! I could not thank Gurudev enough for His Unconditional Love and for always being there. As quoted by one of the teacher during pre-TTC, one has to be REALLY dumb to miss noticing HIS grace. Even if we ignore it 100 times, it shows up 101th time demonstrating HIS pure love for us.
Guruji, cannot thank you enough for choosing me!
Jai Guru Dev 🙂
Shiva Shankar
Shiva is currently studying in University of Liège, Belgium
It was 24th December, 2009 and I had returned from the Ashram (Art of Living International Center in Bangalore) after completing my 21 days TTC (Teachers Training Course). I had loads of stuff to do and I felt like taking a day off from everything. Instead, I got a call from my father to leave immediately for Kumbakonam (Tamil Nadu, India) to visit a few temples.
Initially, I was a bit reluctant but I did not want to say no as it would cause an unwanted conflict between my father and me, since he is not very much into Art of Living. So, I packed my bags that evening and left for the Shanti Nagar bus depot in Bangalore from where I could get the bus to go to my destination. Due to excessive rush, I was not lucky enough to get a seat. I did not know how to tell my father that I would not be able to make it for the pilgrimage. I prayed to Sri Sri and told him that I am coming to your birthplace, Papanasam (15 km from Kumbakonam) and it is your responsibility to make me happy.
No prizes for guessing what happened next! A Tamil Nadu government bus stopped right in front of me, its destination being Kumbakonam. Though I saw some seats vacant in the back, I waited till the driver said that there are ten seats in the back and I could take any seat if I was willing to sit in the back. Overwhelmed, I went to the time keeper and asked him why he did not tell me about this bus when I asked him if there would be any more buses just a few minutes back. He rechecked and said this was a special bus decided at the last minute and though there were large crowds going to other more popular places down south, the authorities decided to chart it to Kumbakonam. I couldn’t believe my prayers were answered by Him so quickly!. To top it all, no one came for those remaining seats. It was like all ten seats were reserved only for me and I had a wonderful ride. He kept his words, “Your desires were answered even before it came to you mind”. And so I reached Kumbakonam comfortably. When I called my dad on reaching, he said that they were stuck somewhere due to an engine problem and it would take another four hours to reach.
So, I took the next bus to Papanasam and went to Guruji’s home. While I stood outside waiting for someone around to respond, a man who stays right in front of the house came out and asked about me. When I told that I am a devotee of Guruji, he was more than happy to give me the keys of the house! He took great care of me and showed me around the house. After that he told me to make myself comfortable while he went out to get something for my breakfast. I did my ablutions in Guruji’s home and did my Padma Sadhana and Kriya right in the place where Guruji’s heavenly foot touched this earth. The fact that it was 25th December, Christmas Day made it even more special. It was a divine experience and I had the best Yoga Nidra (sleep-like state while meditating) so far. After that I had my breakfast, took some photographs, played in the swing where Pitaji (Guruji’s father) used to sleep, thanked the guy who gave me the keys and started back to Kumbakonam. I reached half an hour before my parents could.
The whole time, I remembered what Bawa (Khurshed Batliwala, senior teacher with the Art of Living) kept saying during my TTC, “We rely on miracles” and now I finally understood why he is very confident when he says it!
Jai Gurudev
Sridhara Krishnan
Sridhara is a teacher with the Art of Living Foundation
When Sri Sri had visited Punjab (India) in November 2010, I went from to Ludhiana from Jalandhar, where I study, to meet Him. I was new to the city and Art of Living as well. My brother and me wanted to attend the Satsang with Guruji. I really enjoyed myself and got to take His blessings as well. After the Satsang ended, Guruji left the venue.
We saw that all the cars were fully crowded and everyone we knew had left in their vehicle. The main town was far from the ashram which is on the National Highway. We decided to take a lift when out of nowhere a man came in his car and offered to give us a ride. We sat in the car and traveled for another kilometer. He dropped us on the highway as he had to take the other route.
It was dark and there were no buses or auto rickshaw’s in sight. Luckily, another car came and two brothers who were in the car offered to give us a lift. Turns out, they had also attended the satsang with Guruji. Their father was also in another car behind them. We got off and traveled with their father so that his sons could go home.
He asked us what our destination was, and we told him that we wanted to go to Ludhiana. A priest was also with us, sitting beside the father. He dropped him off first and then asked us a little bit about the courses in Art of Living. He ended up dropping us near a hospital in Ludhiana even though he had to go another route. We thanked him for graciously coming all the way to drop us. My brother’s friend then came to pick us up and dropped us home.
It really does not matter where you are and where you have to go, when you have your Guru, he will always take you home!
Jai Guru Dev!
Ankush Nag
Delhi
My daughter Shruti is doing her graduation in Communication Design and had to take a lot of print outs for her project. She had to make a hard bound book .We went to the printing shop at 7.30 PM and it was due to shut by 8 PM. Sadly, her laptop battery became very low. Luckily, the staff in charge decided to stay back and help my daughter. We were there till midnight but the printing was still not getting over.
My daughter was very tense and sick as this was her tenth sleepless night in a row because she had been working hard on this project. She was angry, cranky, worried – and I was just sitting there waiting with her, repeating JAIGURUDEV and hoping the work gets done fast. At last it was done and we got the printouts.
As we were leaving the shop, one of the staff members asked us to check the print outs. My daughter realized that the whole projects was in the wrong order. We had to redo the entire process. The staff member who willingly stayed back to help had to go home too, since it was already so late. It was a miracle that he stayed on with a understanding smile on his face .
Finally when we finished, it was 12.45 AM and as we walked out of the complex into the deserted road towards the paid car park, it was locked with our car inside! There was no other mode of transport and to top it all, there were a inebriated people around. My daughter and me were wondering what to do next and how we would reach home.
Even before we could think what to do or before we could ask for help from Sri Sri, a policeman in a motorbike came driving straight to us and asked us what we were doing at this unearthly hour and told us that we shouldn’t be here so late. He knocked loudly on the locked gate of the park and woke the security guard inside. The gate was opened immediately. The guard was extremely drunk and was slurring in his speech.
A security guard in the adjoining complex told us that if it was not for the policeman, the gate would have never been opened considering the drunk state of the guard inside. It was our good fortune that the policeman came at that time. He was there because he was coming back after arresting people in a brawl close-by, but my daughter and me knew it was Grace!
The policeman waited till we got into the car and he dealt with the drunkard, who was making a fuss over the parking ticket payment. The policeman tackled him and made sure we got out of there safely. As I was driving, my eyes welled up with tears. Before we could even ask for help – everything was taken care of within minutes.
With Sri Sri by our side, we are so safe, so well taken care of. It is amazing! I can’t find words to describe it! I kept thinking of what He had answered in a satsang a month back which I was seeing through the webcast. Someone asked him, ‘Guruji we can see you through the webcast, can you also see us?’ to which He replied, ‘I watch over all of you, all the time!’ I got to experience that too!
I have profound gratitude because I am lucky enough to be with Sri Sri in this life time. I have profound gratitude for everything that is – because all that is – IS HIS GRACE!
JAIGURUDEV !
– Sashirekha
Sashirekha is a teacher with the Art Of Living
The Master makes sure that Fun and Chaos go hand in hand. Just fun is like the plain vanilla version – which He does not like serving His devotees with and chaos devoid of fun is not in His nature.
Guru Stories are ongoing sagas and sharing them each time fills my heart with gratitude. My marriage to Vivek is also His story and even post-marriage, He did not stop, instead the Guru Stories are increasing more and more. So here it goes – straight from the heart!
After the beautiful trip at Kashmir, we had our flight back to Delhi from Jammu ( nearest city from kashmir that has an airport ) on the 10th of June at 8am. Luckily, we happened to scroll through our mailbox on the 9th night at our cousin’s place and realized that our flight had been rescheduled to 12 noon on 10th June. Our travel agent had dropped a mail 3 days back for the same. We were grateful for the suddenly peeping our mailbox else the following day would have come into trouble. So we got ready the next day to reach the airport on time but there was something not in our favor and we got delayed.
The cousin had her own set of traditions to see us off that consumed 15 extra minutes. Each second seemed so precious that both of us could literally hear our hearts throbbing loudly, for our 5th level of existence, the memory, does not have many pleasant impressions as far as airport experiences are concerned; with awards for flight misses and cancellations at the last moment for both of us! Our attempts to explain our cousin to speed up her process had all gone in vain!
Sri Sri – as always, our last resort! It feels utterly foolish at times to run around for these petty things chanting Guruji, Guruji when by relaxing, He is offering the highest! Nevertheless, the vehicle to take us to the airport had arrived by then and the little hope that we would be able to make it in time was deflated! It was a Maruti van with a lost driver (the driver was driving the car really slow and seemed to be confused). On our constant requests to drive faster, he did not budge from his pre-decided speed it seemed. Meanwhile we tried the online check in but somehow we always forget that it closes 2 hours prior to the flight departure. Also, on calling the airlines, we didn’t get any help regarding telephonic checking. To add to the humor I asked Vivek, which was the next available flight? Many-a-times, he had seen his flight flying in front of his eyes, with the boarding pass in his hands, from the boarding gate – so he has this extra flight phobia 😀
At Jammu airport – the driver said he’ll have to go through some extra sets of security checks before seeking entry to the airport, for obvious reasons. This piece of auspicious information made us laugh out to our fullest and the Guru’s work went a step further. We smiled more and started singing bhajans (musical hymns and chanting in praise of the Lord) instead of letting our minds dive into the blame game.
Luckily at the first check, the cops gave us entry through the road for VIP’s, which meant no further checks and direct entry to the airport. But to add to the spice, the driver did not know the correct entrance gate. It was already 11.15 am – the time when the check-in closes – 45 minutes prior to departure. A policeman was there again to guide us through the way. Both of us then started planning- I would barge in with our tickets and he would handle the luggage. On reaching, we literally jumped out of the van. Draped in a heavy saree (an Indian ethnic wear), I ran and ran, remembering to give my 100 percent.
A man came as an apprentice for our luggage and told us to head towards the check-in counter and grab the boarding pass. We then ran to the Air-India counter, with a new rhythmic breath pattern. It was already 11.35 am, and all my mind could hear was – how can you expect to board, twenty minutes after the closure of check-in. Silently, the executive took the ticket and issued the boarding pass and said – The flight had been delayed by 1.5 hours. The smile on our face grew wider and we asked what if it was not? he smiled at us and said, “I would have then guided you to the tickets and reservations counter for the next available flight.”
We realized how HIS working is! Chaotic fun turned to Grateful fun!
JGD
Suvidha Malhotra
Suvidha is an actuarial analyst with a leading MNC
It was the summer of 2007. I got a call from my Friend and Business Associate, Mr. Ameer Ali Khan residing in Lahore, Pakistan who informed me that one of our customer’s Brother in Law, from Chiniot, Pakistan, had to undergo a Liver Transplant at the Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi (capital of India) . He also gave me his cell number and requested me to help him. I then contacted them and came to know that it was a major surgery and his wife would be the Donor. They also informed me that they needed 18 units of blood and by that time, they had tried their best with their contacts in Delhi but were still not able to manage any blood.
So I made up my mind that I want to help this couple in whatever way I can. I requested 4 of my colleagues in Office and eventually, 5 of us donated 5 units of blood. I also requested my batch mates to donate blood so we managed another 8 units. At the end, we were still short by 5 units and I did not know where to look for help to get blood. The surgery was to happen the next day but the Hospital wanted the blood in their Blood Bank before the Surgery. All I had at that time was Faith in Sri Sri and I prayed to Him for help.
After my prayer, I went to my neighbor for seeking help. He advised me to call FM Radio for help. So I called this particular FM Radio station and they immediately connected me to the Radio Jockey. I briefed him about the case and the urgency for blood. He asked me to hold the line and informed me that he would broadcast me Live after the song. I then went live on Radio, just after 2 minutes of holding, and made a plea to one and all to donate blood for saving two lives. To my surprise, I received 45 calls in the next 10 minutes from all over Delhi-NCR, offering to donate blood. Next morning, we had people pouring in from Noida, Gurgaon and other places in Delhi and we had collected more blood than we needed.
The surgery was then performed and undoubtedly, it was a success, with grace and blessings of Sri Sri and the prayers of many. The couple recovered in the next four weeks.
Rest is history. Now I have a wonderful family in Pakistan too – Thanks to Dear Gurudev.
I had the beautiful opportunity to share this lovely story with Sri Sri Himself at Delhi in 2009 and on hearing it, He smiled :):)
JGD
Sameer Dua
Rohini, Delhi
