During my kidney transplant, I realized that the
sangat was my real family. The surgery was a watershed event. Guruji made me see and realise a lot of things. I learnt the truth about relatives, for I saw their real faces.
I also had second thoughts about my kidney donation to my dad, for I got a bad back spasm due to the scar tissue that formed after the operation. I was unable to move for a few days, and soon had to undergo physiotherapy every day. In the interim, I changed five doctors.
I met a devotee, Shri Sharma, outside my physiotherapy clinic and was invited for a
satsang to be held at Select Citywalk on a Tuesday. On Monday somehow I went to Bade Mandir. On Tuesday, I went to the satsang where I heard a devotee talking about how Guruji had told someone to have four
langars. The message bore home. The next day I went to Shivani's house and the message was reaffirmed. Shivani told me that Guruji had told her to have four langars in a row. I returned home and told my husband, Anuj. He agreed to take me for four consecutive langars to the Bade Mandir.
We went to the Mandir on the Thursday of that week. On Friday, we were stuck in a jam for four hours, due to the many weddings that were taking place in the venues around the route. When we reached home, I confessed to Anuj that I would not be able to go to the Mandir again. That night I had a bad headache and I knew it was due to the traffic jam. Guruji was again testing us, I felt.
In the morning I went to a new physiotherapist suggested by a devotee of Guruji. I had got her appointment with difficulty–but her treatment made me better by half. Very happily, I called my husband and told him that I would go to the Mandir. Again, he offered to take me and said that we would find another route to reach the Mandir. I was scared of the jam, still we went to the
ashram and with Guruji's grace we got zero traffic on both Saturday and Sunday. It was still wedding time, so the lack of traffic was not explainable. After four langars, I began healing and was absolutely fine. I began working out and was back to my normal self in a week.
Blessings in disguise: Cancer is detected and then vanishes
However, soon after, I suffered through a lot of pain. Even the doctors were surprised at the intensity and duration of the pain. I used to ask Guruji why I had to suffer. I was given an answer during a satsang but could not trust it.
The satsang had been hosted at a devotee's house. I was meditating, when I found myself opening my eyes at the mention of cancer being worked out and healed through a kidney donation. I told myself that I was overthinking. After a few days, a friend and devotee, Gayatri told me to get a copper tumbler blessed at the Bade Mandir. Even though I brought the
lota and took it on Shivratri day to the Mandir, I kept wondering why I should have it blessed as the lota is for people with life-threatening diseases. As if in response to my subconscious desire, it so happened that my lota did not get blessed on Shivratri.
A day before Shivratri, I had gone to my gynaecologist and she had done a routine check for cervical cancer. I had thought nothing of it. After ten days I got a call from my gynaecologist's clinic. They wanted me to come to the clinic along with my husband. I went alone, and the gynaecologist said that my reports were not good and I had an infection. She insisted on meeting me with my husband. That evening I went to my homeopath for my kids and showed him the reports. He was shocked, but told me not to ask him about the reports. He started me on his medicines. I came home with the distinct feeling that something was wrong.
I called my maternal aunt who is a doctor and gave her the report over the phone. She told me that it suggested there was a tumor in the uterus which was in a pre-cancerous stage. I couldn't believe it. Then it sunk in. So I went to the Bade Mandir with the lota and the
sewadaars asked me for what disease I was getting the lota blessed. Now, I could tell them, whereas earlier on Shivratri, I couldn't have.
The cycle of going to doctors and getting tests done began again. My friend Shivani advised me to go to the Bangla Sahib for prayer. And another friend, Payal, a Sardarni who has great faith in Bangla Sahib, called me to get my tests done a second time from a different diagnostic centre. I told her that first I wanted to go to the Bangla Sahib, eat
prasad there and then go for my test. I did so: I went for langar on Thursday and Friday to Bangla Sahib and then gave my tests.
One week went by and during that week my uncle sent prasad from Siddhi Vinayak. After I ate that prasad, I vomited a lot and then slept. When I woke up, I felt very positive and as if cured. I rationalized that Guruji may have wanted me to have prasad from these places.
My reports were due the coming week so I again went to Bangla Sahib. An emergency at the hospital meant the report couldn't be done. That week, on Friday, I went to Bade Mandir, prayed to Guruji for a lot of langar and got it. That day too the reports didn't come out as the OPD was shut. The next day I was sitting in Guruji's
durbar at my good friend Shivani's place, where I got the news that all my reports were negative and that no cancer cells were present!
You could surmise that the earlier testing at the gynaecologist's was incorrect, but I know it's only Guruji's blessings and the langar that healed me. I also understand now that the kidney donation and the suffering was his way of taking out the cancer inside my body.
Guruji keeps testing us and demolishing our karma. We should just surrender and never ever question his doings. If we completely surrender without any ifs and buts, then we will see how our lives change for the better and for the highest, that is,
Kalyan.
Guruji has given me a new life. I love you so much, Guruji.
With His graceful marks, we succeed in life's exams
I have started keeping a satsang in my house on the first Tuesday of every second month. This summer, the satsang fell around several key dates: My daughter had her board exams in March–which we were anxious about–even as Mahashivratri fell on March 4 while my son's birthday was also around the corner. My husband was travelling and wasn't at home for the satsang. Keeping in mind the constellation of significant dates and his absence, I requested Guruji to keep the durbar, set up at home for the satsang, for the full month. I wanted my daughter to give
bhog to Guruji, but her tuition timings wouldn't permit it. The loving sewa of offering bhog to Guruji fell to me, and I would give my daughter chocolate prasad for her exams.
My daughter is not fond of science and doesn't study it overly. She got high fever before the board exam in the subject; doctors suspected swine flu. Her teachers advised that she still appear for the exam. I prayed to Guruji and kept giving her bhog prasad. Since she wasn't able to study, I put all her science books in front of Guruji at the durbar. And, every day, her science tutor, a devotee of Guruji, would come and quiz her on the subject. By Guruji's grace, her fever came down a day before her exam and she could appear for it.
Even as she gave her exam, I prayed for her in the durbar at home. She got the easiest set of questions and answered them without effort. I removed the durbar after her board exams got over by March end. I kept praying that she obtain good marks, but the board results were delayed.
Soon after, on a Monday, I felt Guruji's call to go to the Mandir. I went in a friend's car. As we reached the Mandir around 1:45 pm, I got the unexpected message that the board result would be out at three in the evening. I got nervous and remained so during the whole
darshan, during which we had langar–not typical for a Monday.
I came out of the Mandir and checked my phone. (It is imperative that mobile phones are not used inside the Mandir). It had 25 phone calls and messages from relatives, but there was no word from the school. I called up my daughter's school teacher, who congratulated me. Gazing at the big Shivlinga for support, I asked the teacher about my daughter's marks. She had scored 90s in all subjects except science, I was told, where she managed to get 83 marks. Her aggregate was 93 percent–all due to Guruji's
kripa.
I believe Guruji gave me news of the board result at the Mandir because it was He who had taken the responsibility of guiding my daughter through the exam.
Shabads play on uncharged speaker
As I had mentioned in my previous satsang, after my blood type changed from B+ to AB+, I was able to donate my kidney to my father in 2016. After my surgery, I was shifted to the hospital's high dependency unit (HDU), where I requested my husband to play Guruji's
shabads though my anesthesia hadn't worn off. My husband had brought a small Bluetooth speaker, with a battery life of a couple of hours, along with his iPod. He had forgotten to bring the charger, though it couldn't be used in the HDU since it posed a risk. However, we were allowed to use the speaker and play the shabads.
My father was admitted in the same hospital, since his surgery, as a recipient of the kidney, was slated after mine. At around 11 pm my family returned to the hospital to visit my father. My husband and brother checked up on me in the HDU and, surprisingly, the shabads were still playing. My brother wondered how. My husband said that the shabads were playing because of my strong faith in them and they brought me comfort.
My incision was long and painful and I was unable to sleep. At one point that night, I felt that my pulse was low and rang the bedside bell to get the attendant nurses to intervene–successfully. It felt like I had just been to heaven and returned. The next morning I was cleared to be shifted from the HDU to a convalescent room. When my husband and brother came to help me shift, the shabads were still playing. As soon as my bed was moved from the HDU, the speaker made three beeping noises and finally gave up. It had functioned from 6 pm to 8 in the morning!
Later I tried to see how long the speaker would run after being fully charged, but it ran out of battery within three hours. There is no rational explanation for it. Guruji had effortlessly fashioned a miracle in response to my prayer and the shabad's words had saved me.
Mom evades stomach surgery
My mother suffers from stomach issues and had major intestinal surgery in the year 2010. A few years ago, she was put on a rice diet; the only chapatti she could consume were at Guruji's langar. The problem resurfaced this year again. She started vomiting and, when that did not stop, was admitted to the ICU of a small nursing home.
When I reached the hospital and spoke to the doctor, he said that my mother's small intestines were blocked. She required surgery the very next day, and I was required to find out about her insurance coverage. Intestinal surgery is a major procedure. My husband, brother and sister-in-law were travelling and I didn't know what to do. But I made my Mom wear Guruji's locket.
Mom had to go for a CT scan and I requested the radiologist to allow her to wear the locket. Meanwhile, we did mantra
jaap outside the CT room. The results of the scan were surprising: The dye was passing through the intestines, the doctor said, and surgery was not urgent. Another doctor who was present laughed and said that we had managed to contact a higher power!
In the evening, I left Mom alone in the ICU as I went to the ashram to fulfill a long-pending promise I had made to a friend: That I take her to the Mandir and get a lota blessed for her ailing father. I didn't have the heart to postpone her trip. We had an amazing darshan and I got a little prasad for my mother. In the morning, my mother passed stool–a positive sign.
We all wanted that the surgery be avoided though we shifted Mom to a bigger hospital for the operation. The doctor there wanted to wait and watch, which gave Mom time to drink water from her copper lota. After two days, Mom's intestines cleared up and she was discharged. Guruji again answered our prayers.
Langar relieves cook of a stony problem
Our cook, Baburam, has been working with us for the past 15 years and is family. He does Guruji's
sewa with a lot of
shraddha and makes langar for Him with great happiness. Some time ago, he had a severe sever stomach ache and went to the doctor, who gave him medicine for a mild stomach infection. But his pain increased and an ultrasound showed stones in his kidney. We took him to our family doctor, who injected him with painkillers. Then I sent Baburam for langar and after having it, he was better.
The following day I took him to Bade Mandir for langar. He was apprehensive that his pain could come on at the Mandir. But with Guruji's kripa, he was fine all through and ate the langar, too. He had not slept for a week due to pain and that night, he slept very peacefully. Today he is absolutely fine. Such is the power of Guruji's langar.
Halwa for two feeds 28
Everything is possible for Guruji. He keeps manifesting His grace, but we can be ungrateful. On a Thursday, I went to the Mandir with my son and asked for a little
halwa prasad for my father, who is unable to go to the Mandir, as well as for my cook's wife, who too was unwell. A
sewadar gave me some halwa, and I was dissatisfied as I wanted more. The next morning when Mom's driver came, I packed a spoonful of halwa in a small container for my father and set aside another spoonful for my cook's wife.
In the evening, I asked my mother if she had given the prasad to my father. She said that not only Papa, but almost 28 people had partaken of the halwa. I disputed that, wondering how the spoonsful of halwa could possibly have fed so many people. It suddenly hit me that we were talking about Guruji, our angel, who is listening to us every moment and can do anything for us.
As He keeps making us realize, once we are in His
sharan we just have to surrender completely and we will be taken care of. Jai Guruji!
[Following section added August 2024]
Guruji showers love on Janmashtami
Since childhood, Janmashtami has always held a special place in my heart and I have celebrated it with great festivity. After I got married into a family of Lord Krishna devotees, the custom only grew stronger. I named both my children, Krishna and Nandani, in honour of Lord Krishna. For the past 23 years, it has been my devoted practice to decorate the
mandir at my in-laws' home, dress up my children as Radha and Krishna while my mother-in-law makes the most delicious
chappan bhog.
In 2024, Janmashtami fell on August 26
th, a Monday. But I was feeling low. I missed my children, who are studying abroad, and could not go to our in-laws because of unforeseen circumstances. A wave of sadness washed over me, almost bringing me to tears. Just when I was feeling the weight of it all, plans were suddenly made to go to Guruji's Bade Mandir.
When I arrived, the Bade Mandir was nearly empty of devotees. I had been fasting since the morning and I recalled how I would have had
kadhi at my in-laws' house. Out of the blue, a devotee appeared with kadhi,
roti and
bread pakora, which I accepted gratefully. I wanted another cup of tea, but was too hesitant to ask. As I was leaving, another devotee handed me a cup of
chai prasad. I was overwhelmed by how Guruji cared for even the smallest of my needs. It is His love for us! I can't thank Him enough.
Mamta Agarwal, a devotee
August 2024