Just Say Yes!

In May 2024, I get a ping from Priyanka, my VTP batch-mate, at 8:00 pm. She says,
a Utkarsha Yoga teacher needs a female volunteer for a course starting the next day.
The person who had originally signed up to volunteer had to travel at the last minute.
At lightning speed, my mind cooked up five excuses : too short a notice,I don’t know
anything about Uttkarsh Yoga, my kids have exams, I have many meetings, it’s too far….
Well, not even one was true!
So I agreed to volunteer and showed up at the course. I was amused at how much fun
the teachers were having, let alone the kids. The host had generously handed over their
designer-like house for the program and had even stacked the fridge with a large, red
juicy watermelon, carefully cut into wedges for teachers and volunteers. I thought to
myself, “woah, this also happens in Art of Living!”.
My take-away from the volunteering – The sky-blue upholstered sofa went very well with
the red cushions. Small mind😃.
The following week, my daughter had a particularly grinding week at school and we
decided to visit our Bangalore Ashram. Gurudev was in town. The slurpylicious pizza at Vishala
Cafe and the sweet tender coconuts were an additional draw. I requested an
appointment, giving a good reason for needing blessings before her Board exams and
all that.
It never got approved.
On that day, my daughter and I set out for the Ashram anyway. We would catch a
glimpse of Gurudev during satsang. After a long Metro ride, just as we entered the
Ashram gate, we saw a familiar person waving from afar.
It was Priyanka.
She then frantically fidgets with her phone and as we catch up , she says, “I have two
appointment slots. My husband and daughter got busy. I already met Gurudev in the
morning. Would you like to use them in the Darshan line?”
Our jaws dropped!
Eyes swelled with tears that I quickly hid from my teen daughter. We gratefully took
them and ran like it was the last bus to catch to paradise !
No pizza, no tender coconut could stop us.
At the Darshan line, we explained to the security that we had borrowed those slots and
he let us in.
And finally there HE was. That moment…no words can describe what we felt.
As Gurudev went past, blessing all of us, my daughter and I hi-fied as though we had
just won a competition. And yes, we both knew we had won at Life, just because we had
shared a smile, a gaze and a sacred space with our GURUDEV.
In hindsight, although my take-away that day was the blue-upholstered sofa, the
give-away from Gurudev was priceless.
Hence, my new take-away is this: any chance for Seva is a Blessing, a gift.
I learnt not to let go of a single seva opportunity listening to my small mind.

– ⁠Brinda Chakrapani