A couple of incidents which showed me what kind of faith Swami expects.
It was one Dasara day like this; I had just joined Brindavan College as a
student of the pre-University class in the year 1974. One day before the
Narayana Seva, normally the students know - we take out the bundles of dhotis
which come in pairs and we cut them and pack them in bundles of twenty five or
so.
A few of us were doing this upstairs in the Mandir here. Swami was
walking around and talking to us. He came to me and asked, "Has your father
come?"
I said, "No Swami."
He then asked, "Is your father coming?"
I said, "No Swami."
He said, "Ah! How can you say that?"
I said, "Swami, he is scheduled to have an operation today in the
morning; so I am sure he won't come." Swami said, "No, No. He is coming! And
when he comes, ask him to stay with you in the hostel."
I am talking of the time when there were hardly any buildings; there was
only one row of buildings here. When the work upstairs got done I came down.
When I came he had reached Prashanti “ my father was walking in with his
luggage! I was stunned. I asked him, "How is it that you are here? What about
your operation? Did you not have your operation?"
He said, "No, No. I had my operation today in the morning!" I asked,
"Then how is it that you are here?" He said, "I couldn't miss the opportunity
to have Swami's Darshan, so I got discharged and came straight from the
hospital."
I was stunned and asked him, "Father, there is no accommodation here.
Don't you think you will get infection?" He said, "Infection? Swami's Darshan
will take care of everything! He will provide me accommodation." Then I
remembered and I said, "Yes! He has provided you accommodation. He has told me
that you were coming and He has told me to take you with me and make you stay
in the hostel." When we have Faith in the Lord; the Lord is the most faithful.
He takes care of us so much.
There was another instance which I remember “ this happened in the year
1971 “ even before I joined here. I was in the bal-vikas of a Samithi (centre)
called Ulsoor Samithi and they wanted to have a drama in Swami's presence. So
they had asked me to be a part of it and I was getting trained. One week before
Dasara, when our half- yearly exams exams were announced, I noticed that all
the exams were exactly during the Dasara time. So I told the Bal Vikas
teachers, "I will not be able to come for the drama."
They were very shocked! When I went home and told this to my father, he
said, "No! You are going for the drama!" I said, "Father! I have exams!" "Exams
don't matter – they keep coming every year," my father said and continued,
"But this chance to go near Swami comes rarely. Don't miss it “ go ahead! This
is the most important thing; have faith in Swami and do what He tells you."
We are a joint family and nobody else knew much about Swami at that time
“ many of them were teachers and they told my father, "No! You are spoiling his
education." My father said, "No! This is the true education! The more closer
you go to God; that is true education. I want him to go closer to God."
So we came to Prasanthi Nilayam. I would just like to tell you one
instance of how things were in those halcyon days. When we landed at 2:30 pm in
what was called the `pata-shala' block at that time, the bal-vikas teacher
called me after a few minutes and said, "Go to the Mandir and find out what
time is the Darshan."
When I opened the door; Swami was standing outside! Swami had come to see
whether all the bal-vikas children were housed properly. I was so stunned!
Swami came inside and sat and spoke to us for forty five minutes! So we
finished our drama in Prashanti Nilayam; and Swami blessed us and sent us back.
When we returned home after Dasara, I went to one of my classmates and
said, "Please tell me what exam we have today so that I can read and come." He
said, "What do you mean exams? All exams have been cancelled! The government
has sent an order that they want to have some Dasara sports “ so all exams have
been cancelled." “ Not even postponed!
So this is the way God takes care of you. And when He takes care of you;
He takes care of your welfare.
- From a Wonderful talk delivered by Dr. T. Ravi Kumar in the Divine
Presence During Dasara Celebrations on October 1, 2006.
