At the outset, with great humility and sincere devotion, I seek the divine permission of Almighty Guruji to pen my experiences into simple words. I know I am neither competent nor worthy of describing Almighty Guruji's colossal divinity and spirituality. However, I seek the blessings of Omnipresent Guruji for the same.
We go to Guruji after three years
We visited the Bade Mandir on 18th December 2008 for the first time with Rakesh uncle and his family. My wife Neera and my daughter Malvika accompanied me. It would not be out of place to mention how we reached Guruji's door that day.
Rakesh uncle's daughter, Vribha, was my daughter's friend and her class mate in Amity school till 2007. She had been telling Malvika about Guruji and advised her to go to Guruji at Empire Estate. But we were not interested and did not encourage Malvika; we did not want her to get influenced by such 'things'. Malvika had other ideas, and eventually in October 2008 she went to Bade Mandir with her friend's family. She also attended the annual function at Gurgaon in November 2008. Every time she would go to Guruji, she would return joyful and content. We, however, were disturbed by the fact that she was not only coming back late but was also putting Rakesh uncle to much inconvenience. Malvika was always full of Guruji's praise and requested us to come to the Mandir, too. Since we did not support her, she too became quite disturbed. I could see her excitement fading every time she failed to persuade us.
Still Malvika continued to visit Bade Mandir during the weekdays and was always keen to share her excitement with us. One night, after returning from Bade Mandir at around midnight, she seemed extremely exuberant. I noticed a radiance on her face, it seemed lit up and aglow. She told us that she has her first experience of Guruji that evening. She also took part in
sewa that evening and brought us
langar prasad, which we had the next morning. It was then that we decided, for the sake of our daughter's happiness, to visit Guruji's Mandir on Thursday, 18 December 2008.
Upon entering the Shiv Mandir, I immediately realized what I had missed all these years. It was like being in heaven—so peaceful, calm and serene. The majestic Shiv idol and the
shivling glowed with radiance, full of positive energy and compelling magnetism. It left us spellbound and mesmerized. All my anxieties and apprehensions faded into thin air. My ego, which had held us back from reaching out to Guruji and resisted His calls all these years, vanished in a moment. I surrendered totally and unconditionally to our Guruji. Rakesh uncle's
satsang acted as a catalyst in helping us understand the unfathomable spiritual stature and manifest grace of our Guruji.
We enjoyed the
shabads and the
langar that divine evening and returned home, enlightened and transformed beyond words.
My first connection with Guruji
In our house, we have a small mandir, with idols of various gods and goddesses. The morning after our visit, during my daily puja, I took permission of all the gods and goddesses with humble folded hands and, excepting Lord Ganesha, removed their idols. I had a small
shivling which I had not been worshipping for quite some years and which had been kept in a drawer. I cleaned and washed the
shivling and placed it in our small temple. Even before I could light the incense stick, a very pleasant aroma wafted around me. I immediately realized that Guruji was present. The very thought of being blessed by Guruji made me ecstatic and immensely joyful. I had never felt this kind of divine fragrance in my life. I had not experienced it even though Rakesh uncle had kept asking me if I had felt any fragrance in the Bade Mandir. He had explained that Guruji has ways and means to mark His presence, and Guruji's fragrance is one such indicator.
Guruji blesses my cousin
No one can reach Guruji without His permission. Those really blessed by Guruji can make it to Bade Mandir or to His
satsangs. We can testify to this fact: Guruji's pictures have been placed all over our house and several friends and relatives have visited us during the last one year, but no one has really shown any kind of meaningful interest in Guruji.
Our cousin from Indore was strikingly different. During his first stay with us, he wanted to know about Guruji. After our
satsang with him, he desired to visit Bade Mandir. I could see the sincerity and earnestness of his request.
We all had to go to Bareilly, our home town, on Friday and it was decided if we could return on time on Sunday, we would visit the Mandir. My cousin's train to Indore was at 10.10 p.m. on Sunday. While in Bareilly, we were busy with work and it never occurred to me that we had to go to the Mandir on Sunday evening.
We left Bareilly for Delhi by road after completing our work. We reached Noida within four hours, whereas it normally takes about six hours. We did not hit any traffic jams or closed railway-line barricades. We were not even fatigued, in spite of the bad condition of the roads. I have been travelling from Bareilly to Delhi, since my childhood, that is, for almost 40 years, and had never experienced such a smooth ride.
On reaching Noida, we dropped one of our cousins at his residence. My
bhaiya from Indore requested me to take him to Guruji's Bade Mandir. I was pleasantly surprised, as I had thought
bhaiya would have forgotten about the
satsang we had two days earlier. It was 7.00 p.m. and his train was at 10.10 p.m from the Nizamuddin railway station. My elder brother, also travelling with us, resisted on account of paucity of time and advised
bhaiya to defer his visit to Guruji. But
bhaiya was firm in his decision and was willing to miss the train. We left immediately and reached Bade Mandir by about 8.00 p.m. We three had
chai prasad, listened to a few
shabads and left at 9.00 p.m.
Bhaiya was in a different world. We dropped him off at the Nizamuddin railway station at 9.50 p.m., and he left for Indore.
The journey from Bareilly to Delhi, followed with the visit to the Mandir and from there to Nizamuddin and finally to Gurgaon (by 11.00 p.m.) should have been extremely demanding on the body. But I was absolutely fresh and energetic—all on account of Guruji.
Bhaiya, from Indore, called up the next day to inform that he was enjoying reading Guruji's
granth, which he had picked up from us. He now wants to visit Guruji's Mandir every time he comes to Delhi. We had only one copy of the
granth with us, but willingly offered it to
bhaiya. Guruji arranged another copy for us within two days.
My journey to Guruji
It has been more than a year since we made our visit to Bade Mandir. I have come to the firm conclusion that my connection with Guruji began on 18th December 2008.
Around 1999-2000, when I was in Ahmedabad, a friend of mine used to visit his Guru every Sunday. I used to envy him, as I too wanted to be blessed by a Guru. But that was not to be then. I was facing huge business losses during that period and within a year was in a financial mess. The situation was precarious and looked irreparable. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to sell off my factory in 2001 and my house and personal assets in 2002 so that I could tide over the financial crisis. In spite of this set back, I kept receiving other business opportunities through my friends. These were just enough to meet the bare minimum of our requirements.
During this period we were guided to a lot of astrologers and others who advised me and my wife to do various
pujas, wear stones, and undertake other remedies. We were advised to visit a Shivji temple every Monday, which somehow I followed quite religiously. Perhaps this was the first step we took towards Guruji. Though immediate financial gains were not recorded, after a few Monday visits more business opportunities came my way and I was more mentally relaxed than ever.
By October 2003, I got an opportunity to shift to Gurgaon for good. The best part of my new job was that it was on my terms, and I moved with bag and baggage to Gurgaon in December 2003, after spending almost 24 years in Ahmedabad. It was not easy, but I took every change in my life as God's will and my destiny. My family joined me in March 2004 after the completion of our children's final examinations.
Around 2005, Malvika's friend Vribha had started telling her about Guruji, but it took us three years to reach Guruji in 2008. As I write about my experiences of the last one year, I also look into the events of my past few years.
These were probably inspired by my desire to be blessed by a Guru. I presume, I got associated with Guruji at the time that desire manifested. It is said that the path to reaching a Guru is not easy. It really tests one's patience, the ability and power to bear prolonged exertion, pain and hardships. After all these tests of endurance, getting associated with Guruji was the best reward for all of us. We could not have asked for more. My desire for a Guru had been fulfilled, and with what a Guru! We have been blessed by Lord Shiva Himself in the form of Guruji Maharaj.
My life takes a u-turn
From the first day we were made aware through various
satsangs that one should not ask Guruji for anything, as Guruji is fully aware of our desires and requirements. We should regularly participate in Guruji's
satsangs and visit Bade Mandir regularly to keep getting Guruji's blessings. And it is very true. Guruji has showered us with health, wealth, prosperity, fame, humility, positivity and peace within. You name it, and Guruji has given us all this and much more. Guruji has given us many times more than what we had lost since 2000. He keeps showering His blessings on us every minute, and we often do not realize it.
Guruji has guided us on our health checkups and has prevented some major health problems from cropping up later in our lives. He has even guided us to the right doctors and surgeons.
One instance is that of my hernia surgery. I had anxieties and phobias which disappeared in a flash as soon as I felt Guruji's presence in the operation theatre. A slipped disk (confirmed by an MRI) which I suffered in April 2009 got cured on its own. I did not even come to know how. My lower back pain of the last 20 years, a chronic stomach disorder, sinusitis and cervical problems have all now been cured-without medication, after Guruji directed me to an acupressure specialist just minutes away from our residence in Gurgaon.
Guruji's shield of protection
We had appointed an accountant for our guesthouse in Gurgaon in December 2008. In January, a guest mistakenly left his corporate credit-card behind at the time of checking out. The accountant did not bring this to our knowledge and misused the card, withdrawing a huge amount.
The next morning we got a frantic call from the guest from Chennai. Though it was hard to accept that one of our executives could have done such a thing, we decided to go to the store where the card had been swiped and check the CCTV footage. The accountant came to know of this and immediately accepted his crime. Within an hour the entire mystery was solved, we got the credit card and recovered the items the accountant had purchased. Our guest was delighted and also thanked us for our promptness and sincerity. He did not resort to taking any action against us, which could conceivably have resulted in our getting blacklisted and subsequent loss of business. The smoothness and ease with which the case was solved, without any external agency, was quite amazing. This was our first experience of Guruji's blessings of protection. Others soon followed. (Thank You, Guruji!)
In June 2009, we purchased a new car and went that Thursday evening to Bade Mandir to thank Him and also to seek His Blessings. On our subsequent return from a short outing to the Aravali hills, a big boulder came under our car out of the blue. There was a loud noise. We stopped, but did not get off to check the car for damages. Instead we kept moving on, as we did not want to spoil the happy mood we were in after visiting Guruji's mandir. The next morning, on examining the front portion of the car for any possible damages, I was pleasantly surprised to see nothing more than a small scratch and left for my office. I did not realize then that it was Guruji's blessings that had granted us all a new life.
On Saturday morning, I had a dream. I 'saw' how Guruji had saved our entire family from a major accident, which was destined to happen a few minutes later. I distinctly remember 'seeing' that our car had gone 50 feet down the hill and that my family was badly injured. In the dream, I somehow managed to reach the main road and seek assistance. We were then shifted to Paras Hospital in Gurgaon.
That day, we again went to Bade Mandir to offer our humble thanks to Guruji.
Blessings for our driver
Guruji has also blessed our driver. He has been to Bade Mandir on several occasions with us on Mondays and has had
chai and
samosa prasad. One night, he was driving back at high speed from Jaipur to Gurgaon with guests in the car. A passenger bus was ahead of him. Suddenly, the bus moved to the left and our car was right in front of a dumper travelling at high speed but on the wrong side of the road. Our driver narrates that there was no way to avoid a head-on high-speed collision with the dumper and he literally blanked out.
A few moments later he found the car parked on the left side of the road. It was unscratched. The dumper had moved on. He narrated this incident while we were on our way to Bade Mandir on our Monday visit. I immediately told him that Guruji had saved him, the car and the guests in the car. While I was talking to him about Guruji, I got Guruji's distinctive and pure fragrance, as if He was assenting to my explanation of the events and signaling His reassurance.
Malvika's cab solution
Malvika had been commuting to her college from Gurgaon to Noida by a cab since 2007 and was quite fed up with the timings and the arrogant behavior of the cab owner. She was adamant that she would not take that cab anymore and wished that alternative arrangements be made for her travel to her college from her third year onwards. In spite of our frantic efforts, we could not make such arrangements. The college was to reopen in another week's time; the previous cab owner had already booked his cab; and he too refused to help. Yet through all this time we were quite sure that Guruji would find a suitable solution. But nevertheless, we kept up our efforts.
The college was about to reopen when my wife Neera received a call from the mother of one of Malvika's friends. Her daughter, who was in Malvika's section, had been living in the college hostel since the last two years. For the present academic year, her parents wanted their daughter to shift base to Gurgaon and commute daily. They offered that Malvika and her friend share cars on rotation. We accepted. The arrangement worked really well, with the girls not waste timing on the cab. Thanks to Guruji, the effortless ease with which everything worked out and is continuing to do is incredible.
My son gets his dream job
My son, Shreevar, who graduated from Symbiosis, Pune, in April 2009 always wanted to pursue an MBA after he had gained two to three years of work experience. He wanted to take up a job immediately after his graduation. On account of the economic recession, none of the good corporate houses was offering meaningful jobs. After trying for a couple of months, he picked up a job. Though it did not suit his profile and plans, he felt it was at least better than sitting at home and doing nothing. We agreed.
Since his job involved marketing, he required his own conveyance. A two-wheeler was out of question, the public transport system was not practical, and we did not have a spare car for him. We decided to buy a car for him on a bank loan. But Guruji had other plans for us.
Enter a business associate of mine. He owed me a handsome sum, which I had been demanding quite persistently. One day, to our pleasant surprise, he sent me part payment of the sum. It was just about adequate for us to buy the car without any kind of obligation or loan. Within a month of joining the marketing job, Shreevar got his dream job at a foreign bank, headquartered in the US, in Gurgaon. All thanks to Almighty Guruji!
Guruji has inspired every word of this
satsang. Guruji has been guiding me since the time we got associated with Him. Guruji has blessed me to such an extent that I pick up His commands and follow them as far as possible. My business has increased manifold in the last one year. Every thing moves with incredible ease not only in my business organization but in our personal and domestic front, too. No challenge or task seems to be huge, tedious or cumbersome any more. I have completely surrendered my self to Guruji, and go about making righteous and honorable efforts, leaving the outcome to Guruji.
Last but not the least, my entire family is very grateful to Rakesh uncle and his family for being the channel that led us to Guruji. Thanks a lot, Guruji, for admitting us as part of your
sangat!
Guruji's devotee in Gurgaon
June 2010