I was born in New Delhi, where I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child. I later moved to the US. Diabetes requires constant medical monitoring and gradually eroded my health. The reality of my situation came home to me while I was lying in bed at St. Luke's Hospital in Houston in year 2006 and the doctors said that my kidneys were failing.
Over the next eight years, I grew increasingly sick. I was tired all the time. I had given up and was living without any quality in my life.
My sister in India suggested that I trust Guruji and join Guruji's
sangat in Houston (Texas). The fear of the unknown held me back.I was scared to connect with Guruji because I thought I might not do things correctly or do something that was not to His liking. I had a long talk about Guruji with my sister, who has full faith in Guruji Maharaj. I began crying after that conversation. The tears did not stop, and I began mentally addressing Guruji with my thoughts the next day. My conversations with Guruji soon occurred every day. I had connected with Him.
Slowly and surely I would tell Guruji what was in my heart. I would complain to Him and tell Him how I was feeling on a particular day. My trust in Him became stronger; I asked Him to heal me. With a true heart, I knew that He would bless me when the right time and place came. I had become negatively comfortable with my life and had no goals. That's the time God wants us to realize there is more to life than we think. I saw adversity as a challenge to place trust in Him. I thought, "Guruji is testing me and seeing my capability to endure adversity." So, I put my trust in Guruji, my divine father, day and night and became more independent and stronger.
Realizing that He was behind me, I became a whole new person. Guruji was like a beacon—a glimmer of light in a dark, stormy night. My respect for humanity and for other people as well as my sense of caring came back. My thinking totally changed. And Guruji's sangat in Houston (Texas) prayed for me. I felt as if I had found a lost family.
My kidneys failed in October 2014 and dialysis began on January 3, 2015. Dialysis is horrible. You feel weighed down with a ton of bricks, because your body doesn't function properly and your mind plays tricks on you. Every day this disease jolted my body. I became very weak and was in bed almost all the time. I would open the curtains behind the French doors in my hospital room and look up toward the beautiful, blue, clear sky and talk to Guruji:"What is your plan for me?" I'd ask. "I will accept it. I am not afraid."
I wanted to give up—but then would ask Guruji to make me strong and give me strength to fight this battle. I would pray every day and my faith became stronger. When I put my trust fully on Him, the burden just lifted from my shoulders.
Both my kidneys and pancreas required urgent attention, and I was put on the organ transplant list because there my blood type didn't match any of my family members'. That was the medical reason. But it was my positive attitude, my will to live, my diligent and consistent application of my doctors' instructions and, most important, my faith in Guruji that placed me on the organ transplant waiting list.
I was told I would have to wait for three to seven years before I received the organ transplants. My transplant coordinator said that it would "take a miracle". I believed in my heart and soul that Guruji would deliver. And the miracle did come to pass: I was put on the transplant list in January 2015 and received the transplants, not one but two organs, in July 2015.
I found a donor in 17-year-old John, a Caucasian of German ancestry. That is unusual because I have type B positive blood, which is typically found in people of Asian ancestry. My transplant coordinator said that when they matched the blood type my name was the first one on the list. They called me in July and let us known that the organs were an exact match.
The double-organ transplant took thirteen and a half hours. When I was under anesthesia, I saw Guruji with me. I can never forget His face. It was so peaceful. His eyes were watching over me like a mother's looking out for her child. After the transplant surgery, one of my surgeons told me I was crying out to someone: Don't leave me, don't leave me. She asked me who I was calling. I told her that I called out to the one whom I talked to from behind my French doors.
A person has to believe that Guruji is watching over them.
I was walking two weeks after a double transplant of a new kidney and a new pancreas. For the organs to take as quickly as they did is incredible. I was healed. I no longer had diabetes.
One of my doctors said that what happened was that medical science and God's miracle worked together. I don't know how else to describe my experience other than to describe it as a miracle that occurred because of Guruji's blessings. I trusted Him to take me through this and He did. The support of my family and my husband was critical and I believe human support is an important aspect of both the recovery and the miracle.
Miracles happen. Everything happens for a reason.
Jason Cole, a devotee in Houston (Texas)
May 2016