The most difficult thing on this planet is to put your experiences with Guruji in words. Nothing can compare with seeing Him (
darshan) or meeting Him. It's only then that you get a first, faint glimmer of who He is and the tremendous power He possesses. But even getting that darshan is not that easy. It's only after Guruji's consent that you can get His darshan. There are innumerable instance of well-planned and well-intentioned programs to visit Him getting derailed. On the other hand, if He approves, His call can unexpectedly pull you from any point. I experienced both these extremes and both were hard to digest.
When I started coming to Guruji and shared my experiences at His place with my friends, they also showed inclination and intent to come. The friends mentioned here are close to me and we used to be together almost for 18-20 hours a day. Notwithstanding their intent to come and my willingness to take them along, their program could not materialize for a marathon period of about six months invariably due to some trivial reason, beyond their or my control. Finally when they visited Guruji, they were delighted and Guruji's grace marked their lives in every aspect.
Yet, it always is Guruji who calls us. He demonstrated this one day to me. I was standing in the parking lot outside Guruji's place, waiting for a friend to come. As a car slowed down on the approach, I assumed it to be my friend's and directed it towards one of the vacant parking slots. But, I soon saw the gentleman driving the car was not my friend. He in fact politely enquired if this was indeed the parking meant for Nasha restaurant. I was slightly flabbergasted. I told him that the place they were looking for was another couple of kilometers from this place, further ahead on the same road. To clarify why I had directed them into the parking lot, I told him how I was waiting for my friend and that this space was meant for parking
sangat cars. After this short conversation, the newly-weds proceeded towards their destination.
But, within a few minutes they came back and enquired if they could have Guruji's darshan. I was stunned. A newly-married couple was foregoing their night-out at a happening restaurant of the locality in favour of going to a temple where they would be having the darshan of a Guru they had heard about just minutes ago. They enjoyed Guruji's darshan and went back happy and satisfied. This is how Guruji pulls you.
Under Guruji's protection
When I started coming to Guruji, every visit had a special feel-good element. It was always a pleasure to be at His place, and the time spent there always is the best part of the day and life. But over and above this pleasure, Guruji gives away many a thing; just one in that long, long list of His grants is His protection. The security you experience in Guruji's refuge is unparalleled. Many experiences of mine prove this fact.
We had just about started coming to Guruji; probably our association with Him was less than a couple of months. I was down with high fever and though I normally avoid medicines, that day I had to take a strong dose. Even that didn't help much, as the body temperature was just not dipping. My parents had to resort to placing a cloth (soaked in chilled water) on my forehead. But, there was no improvement in my condition. Then suddenly my mom thought of Guruji's photograph, which He had given to us. She asked me to put it in my shirt pocket. Within a few minutes, there was a dramatic dip in the body temperature: it nearly reached the normal level. Guruji's photograph provided me instant relief.
Once I had a terrible stomachache in college. It was followed by heavy vomiting and much worse. My friends took me home, by which time my parents had already left for Guruji's sangat. Two of my friends decided to stay with me till their return. But with my condition deteriorating further, they had to call up dad and intimate him about the situation. Simultaneously, as waiting for more than one hour without any medical attention was risky, they took me to the nearest hospital. After the check-up, the doctor gave me two injections, prescribed some medicines and asked me to go back and take rest. Those medicines and injections were of no help. In the meantime, while taking permission from Guruji to leave immediately, dad had to mention the problem to Guruji. Guruji instructed dad to ask me to have a glass of fresh lime. As soon as dad came out of the sangat, he called me up and conveyed it to me. I immediately requested my friend to prepare the same, and even though it was difficult to drink it, I had it in small sips. Guruji's glass of lime water did what medicines and injections could not. I was normal by the time mom and dad came back.
A few years later, I was again hit by a bad fever. Every evening my body temperature would shoot up to around 104 degrees Fahrenheit. This continued for more than two days, which forced us to consult a doctor, who prescribed some medicines. As those medicines proved useless, the doctor advised us to get some tests done, but they didn't help him arrive at a diagnosis. We changed medicines, on the reference of another doctor, but this was of no help. Finally after seven days, with no signs of improvement and with me getting very weak, dad told Guruji about the situation. Guruji prescribed a remedy involving some green chillies that He had blessed. After we had followed Guruji's instruction, the fever - not diminishing even with heavy doses of medicines - disappeared within a few hours. Nothing except Guruji's grace could have made this happen.
Escaping our car karma
Guruji knows your past and present and takes care of your future. We are very short-sighted and cannot foresee what is due to befall us. But once in Guruji's
sharan, you need not bother about the same as, truly, all your worries are Guruji's once you leave the decisions of your life to Him.
Once Guruji called dad and conveyed to him that mine and Mom's stars were not favourable. He had probably seen some trouble coming towards us in the near future and was definitely blessing us, making provisions even then to save us from it.
The next day, at around noon, I was going in the car to a market around two km away from home. I had only one major crossing to go though. While crossing that junction, my car was hit on the non-driving side (left) by a speeding bike. The impact was such that the car skidded and hit the road divider. Small pieces of glass were scattered all over me. I looked at the windscreen of the car, expecting it to have shattered, but it was intact. I then realized that the glass shards over me had come from the window panes. I stepped out and went to the bike. For the first and till date the last time, I saw a crowd sympathizing with the driver of a bigger vehicle. They were disfavoring the natural logic of the accident's post-mortem in the street: The bigger vehicle owner/driver is always at fault and the owner/driver of the other vehicle gets all the sympathy due to his vehicle's smaller size.
I took down the contact numbers of the motor vehicle driver. A few of his friends came and took him away. I also decided to move on. Looking at the damage, I was not expecting the car to start. But, I still gave it a shot and surprisingly it purred in the first attempt. I decided to go ahead to the market and make the purchases. I returned home and had a bath and only then realized that there was not a single scratch on my body. The shards of exploding glass had not found their natural target due to Guruji's divine intervention.
When we went to Guruji that evening (in a cousin's car), He just told dad: "
Singla, never mind, just the car has been damaged. Your son has not got a scratch, and that is more important." Anyone who saw the car would have been forced to conclude that the driver had sustained very serious injuries. The damage to the car was massive. One complete side had to be replaced and it took more than a week for the repairs. Except for Guruji, no one could have ensured 100% safety for me in this accident.
Then one winter day, as I was driving the car and we were heading towards Guruji's place, the brakes suddenly failed. Had this occurred anywhere in the middle of the heavy traffic flowing out from Noida to Delhi, and even at a normal speed of around 50-60 km per hour, it would have been fatal. But under Guruji's protection, even the brakes failed at the right place and time. The incident happened on a red light, when the car was hardly rolling. With the brakes not working and with us being midway through, we were neither in a position to go back and make some alternative arrangements nor were we in a position to continue. Further, those were winter days and darkness had already set in by that time (around 7:30 pm).
We finally located a car mechanic, but he was about to leave. When we told him of our situation, he agreed to try something. He connected a bulb to our car battery to have some light to work under and tried to find where the break oil was leaking from. Even after half an hour of hard work, he had no success. My sister, Aarti, in desperation requested Guruji's help so that we were not delayed further in reaching Him. Just then we heard the mechanic's shout of joy: he had located the leakage point. We were soon rolling towards Guruji.
Not just this, when we started coming to Guruji, I was still learning driving and had never driven on my own beyond the borders of Noida. So dad used to drive both ways. But one day dad planned a trip to Chandigarh and we were left with no other option but to wait for his return to go to Guruji, a drive of about 20 km in Delhi traffic. I was a bit hesitant, but with support from mom and sister, I asked dad if I could take the car to Guruji's place the next day. Unexpectedly and surprisingly, dad permitted me to go ahead.
The next day, as we were ready, I took the car out of the parking space with some butterflies in my stomach. Suddenly, all three of us in the car - I, mom and sister - could smell Guruji's fragrance and sense it was located on the vacant rear seat right next to my sister. Throughout my drive that day, we could smell the fragrance and we reached safely, without any incidents on the way. Further, on our way back, from the moment we started from Guruji's place to the time we reached home, Guruji's fragrance was with us all along. It disappeared the moment I parked the car safely in our garage. This is the extent to which He cares about His disciples. His presence during my first drive-out was not just a very kind gesture of the support and care He extends, but also ensured our safety and provided me a great boost.
Sitting at home, I gain admission in engineering college
I was in Class X when we had the good fortune of coming to Guruji. I completed my Class XII board exam (from the science stream), with a plan to drop a year to prepare for the engineering entrance exam. As a fall-back plan, I joined B.Sc.(honours) in Delhi University. Without much preparation, I also sat for some entrance exams for the sake of gaining experience and with half a hope that I'd get through and would not have to waste an academic year.
The results were not good enough for me to get in to good colleges in and around Noida, which I preferred, as I wanted to study from home and not go out to other areas. However, when contacted, colleges offered NRI seats that came with hefty one-time charges and annual fees, which amounted to a few lakhs of rupees. So, I decided to drop a year and proceed with the original plan.
A few months passed. A special entrance exam was conducted for the state of Uttar Pradesh. Since some more seats in various colleges were up for grabs, I appeared for exams related to these, but the story of NRI seats and hefty charges remained the same.
Then one night, Guruji summoned dad and told him: "
Singla, your son is granted admission; go and enjoy." Dad, unable to make much of the laconic remark, thanked Guruji and left. Next afternoon, when I came back from college (Delhi University), dad asked me if I want to join an engineering college in Greater Noida. I was overwhelmed and surprised since it was already November 14 and all the admissions had closed on November 10. But, I took no time in saying yes.
We went to the college office - a walking distance from our home - submitted a copy of the required documents and I was asked to join the next day. Dad narrated the whole story on the way back: how one of his friends had called up that very morning and told dad to come immediately to the college office. Dad had rushed there and was asked to fill in a form and submit it along with a back-dated cheque of Rs 24,000. A total of Rs 19,000 was towards the first-year fee and Rs 5,000 was the refundable security. There was no one-time fee, and the seat had the lowest annual fee possible.
Dad finally understood the meaning of Guruji's remark. I had been practically called from home and granted admission!
Blessings extend to my friends as well
Everyone who comes to Guruji has thousands of experiences with Guruji's grace that are worth a special mention. In college, Ashish (my schoolmate as well), Yogesh and Mukesh became very good friends of mine. After some initial hiccups, they were lucky to get Guruji's darshan, a place at His lotus feet and also their share of experiences.
Our university follows a semester system, wherein six subjects are to be cleared in six months. In case you fail to score the required minimum marks, you have to reappear for the same examination after a year. There was a provision of 10 grace marks at the end of the year if a candidate cleared all the subjects after these grace marks were granted. At the end of the second year, Yogesh was left on the border line, as he required 11 marks instead of the available 10. This translated into a loss of one year. Very upset with all this, he had to sit at home for about a month as he was not allowed to attend next-year's classes. One day he was sitting idle at around noon and desperately requesting Guruji to help him out. He fell asleep. When he woke up, he was happy but a bit confused by what he had just dreamt. However, he never shared anything with us.
The next day, newspaper headlines conveyed the decision of our university board to grant a special grace of 15 marks, once in any of the four years of our engineering course. Yogesh's academic year was saved and a delighted Yogesh decided to share his amazing experience with us.
He said he had seen a dream in which his mother took him to Guruji, seated on His seat, and told Him how troubled Yogesh was. Guruji just said that there was nothing to worry about and everything will be set right. This dream occurred just a few hours before the board meeting of the university hotshots and whatever happened thereafter was definitely due to Guruji's intervention to bail Yogesh out.
Every six months, as we all prepared for our final examinations, we wanted to have Guruji's darshan at least once before sitting for the exams. For me this was facilitated by the fact that my parents were regular visitors, but for my three friends, it required a special effort. Ashish seemed to have a specially rewarding relationship as far as these darshans were concerned. He was able to steer clear of all the semester papers when he was able to have Guruji's darshan prior to exams. However, exams in which he was unable to have Guruji's darshan inevitably saw him trapped in a single subject or more. He then had to reappear for these exams.
With Guruji's grace, after the successful completion of the engineering course, Mukesh got placed with Honeywell, a renowned MNC. He was taken as a trainee for one year. After the completion of that year, Mukesh was desperately waiting for confirmation that he had been made an executive grade employee. However, the matter had been pending for two months and he did not know why. He came to Guruji on 14 April 2005, had Guruji's darshan and
prasad, and went back. The very next working day, on 16 April, he got the news that his position had been confirmed. Guruji makes everything possible with a shower of His blessings.
My change of marks
The third-semester final exam results revealed that instead of the 30 marks required to pass, I had obtained just 19 marks. This was shocking news for me, as after the paper I had evaluated my performance, and I was sure I would pass. After hearing the results, I evaluated my performance once again - this time on a worst-marking scenario basis. Even then, I judged that I would have cleared the exam with ease. I told this to my parents adding an apprehensive remark that if I could just score 19 marks in this question paper, it would be hard for me to clear this exam ever.
Dad told Guruji about the problem and he advised me to apply for re-checking. Next morning, the first thing I did was apply for re-checking. After attending the day's classes, I went back. The next day there were rumours in the campus about changes in some students' marks. To check the rumour, I went to the professor concerned. As soon as I told her my name, she confirmed that my marks in that very subject stood changed: instead of 19, I had now obtained 53 marks. I was delighted and immediately withdrew the request for rechecking the paper and thanked Guruji for His blessings. Later we got to know that in the whole state, having some 120-odd colleges with each college having hundreds of students, marks of just five students were changed - not all of them had increased. I was one of those to obtain an upward revision, all with Guruji's grace!!
As just some of my experiences show, the powers that Guruji possesses and the selfless support He provides to all His children preserve them, protect them and let them flourish in all walks of life. Anything which you leave to Guruji is assuredly taken care of by Him. The key is to have total surrender towards Guruji, who is an endless source of love and affection. May His benign blessings be with us always and may He keep us in His divine refuge, His
charan sharan.
Guruji's love is forever
(Updated on March 2008)
Even after having life-altering and defining experiences of Guruji's grace, I am invariably left with a feeling of being unable to justify and present the true impact of Guruji on my life and on the life of all those connected to me. Guruji, in His physical form, always made us forget all worldly worries and every second passed in Guruji's
sharan was unforgettable and long to be cherished.
When Guruji took
mahasamadhi on 31 May 2007, it came as a rude shock. So dependent on Guruji, for every decision small or big, for every trouble that ever bothered me, for every step to take, I had never even imagined life without Guruji being with us physically. His darshan every weekend (to be precise every Sunday, as I was instructed to come once a week only) used to pump in a new lease of life in an otherwise monotonous and stale routine. I was just not able to accept the hard reality of His abandoning the physical form.
I had always felt assured of being protected from the uncertainties of life. Now, suddenly I felt as if I had been thrown to the dumps. When Guruji decided to take
mahasamadhi, I felt alone, stranded in deep trouble, helpless, with no one to whom I could ask for help or take refuge with. So, as always, I prayed to Guruji to revive His physical form, as living life in His absence was impossible.
On the day of his
mahasamadhi, as we reached the Bade Mandir and the sangat started flooding in to have Guruji's last physical darshan, the hope of His coming back in flesh and blood began diminishing. There was no way ahead...
Just then...a whiff of Guruji's fragrance - as if marking Guruji's metaphysical presence at that place, at that time. But in spite of that, disappointment and uncertainty loomed large, as I felt like lonely and insecure without Guruji being around.
Life extension yet another time
Then came Guruji's real big indication that He is still very much there with us...
We went to Haridwar on 3 June 2007 and started back for Delhi the same night. We were all moving in a convoy of sangat cars. All of us were a bit tired. I was with three other sangat members in Arjun
bhaiya's car. He and I were driving by turns; we halted a couple of times to have refreshments as well. At around 02:30 am on 4 June, we stopped to refill fuel at a petrol pump. A half an hour or so later, our car went off the road.
I tried to control the vehicle by applying the brakes. But the brakes were ineffective, as the car skidded on the grassy corridor to the left side of the road. At high speed, we hit an electricity pole.
My driving seat was forced ahead, the seat belt tightened across my chest and my face hit the steering wheel with great force. My nose started bleeding heavily. The seat belt was so tight that I found it difficult even to breath. So I immediately took it off and rushed out of the car. One more person, Vaibhav, seated across behind me, appeared to have only nominal injuries and he also moved out of the car immediately.
Once out of the car, we saw that the nearby grass had caught fire and we were in a risky situation. Also, the pole that we had hit was connected to a high tension wire, which fell off due to the impact. Both Vaibhav and I pulled the other two occupants out of the car. They were badly injured, with Arjun
bhaiya having broken his right leg and Hitesh {
see also Hitesh Lala's satsang} complaining of shooting chest pain.
Vaibhav immediately phoned up other devotees who were returning like us from Haridwar and asked them to reach the spot immediately. They were slightly ahead of us and reached us within 5-10 minutes.
The four of us were rushed to the nearest hospital (Fortis in Noida). All necessary tests were carried out immediately. Arjun
bhaiya had multiple fractures in his right leg with no other major injuries. Hitesh, Vaibhav and I were discharged after a few hours since all the tests were okay and there was nothing to worry about.
It was only on the way back home that I realized how we were saved by Guruji from inevitable death that day.
Firstly, I normally use a seat belt only if I have to because of the traffic rules in the city and don't have it on during long drives. Yet, I had used it after a fuel stop at 2.30 am on 4 June, because Guruji had guided me to do so. As I realized later, it was Guruji's power at work that held me safe and intact in that seat belt. In its absence, my chest would have hit the steering wheel and the consequences could have been terminal.
Further, as we moved out of the car, at least Vaibhav and I definitely touched the overhead wire broken as a result of the accident. When police reached the spot, it was found that the wire was charged and carrying high voltages. It should have given us a strong electricity shock, but that didn't happen. It was Guruji's protective cover that saved us. And lastly, as our clothes were taken off at the hospital, they were full of Guruji's fragrance - as all the devotees present at the hospital experienced.
Guruji has protected me from the jaws of death many a times and this was yet another time. With this experience, Guruji has clearly told us that irrespective of His physical presence, He is there with us, protecting us, helping us, as always!
Om Namah Shivay Shivji Sada Sahay
Arvind Singla, son of R P Singla, executive at Siemens
March 2008