My Divine Guardian Sunil Mehta, a member of the Master Plan Committee and a mumukshu of the Pune Satsang Centre, reminisces how Pujya Gurudevshri became his Guiding Light, showering him with love and directing him to lead an enriched life The only way I can actually start writing my experience is to offer gratitude at the Lotus Feet of my Gurudev, my angel for He has taken special care of me and has given me His precious moments whenever I needed Him. Those invaluable moments helped me connect with Him and take important decisions. His helping hand and His words of wisdom were always pushing me in the right direction. Meeting My Guardian Angel I lost my father in November 2000. We then had a nice small business and were a happy content family. But the emptiness remained and I used to wonder who could ever replace my dad? At that time, I had a three-year-old son, my mother and wife. We did not have relatives in Pune and had few friends then as we had shifted from Kolkata only two years ago. This placed immense responsibility on me to look after my business and family. Who would tell me whether what I did or the decisions I took were right or wrong? Unfortunately, no one! I silently prayed for help. My prayer was answered soon thereafter when Param Krupalu Dev sent me His angel in the form of Bapaji, my Eternal Father. My first meeting with Him took place in Dharampur, on the terrace during the Diwali Shibir, 2001. The second meeting was remarkable and a turning point in my life. It was on December 9, 2001, that Bapaji saw me and immediately let out a knowing sigh. An expression that clearly said, ‘We know each other.’ I could not help but make the remark, “It’s so nice of You to remember me,” and Bapaji promptly responded, “Because you are so nice.” I looked into His eyes and realised that this was a special message of love from my angel. Evolving Emotionally I always loved to live in my world of technology, engineering and logical thinking where Intelligence Quotient always superseded Emotional Quotient. He then started His work on me. Many times, He would send me a loving message, a token of love. I vividly remember my niece carrying a chocolate from Him when she returned from Mumbai that made me cry as she kept repeating, “Bapaji loves you, loves you a lot.” He taught me to cry, to empathise and to love. He softened my heart considerably. My ‘two minute’ meetings with Bapaji were very special. One unforgettable meeting was in Lonavala on September 29, 2007, to seek His guidance and blessings, as I was interested in relocating to a new home. I carried many photographs to show Him how the new abode looked. I was quite surprised to notice that He rarely looked at the pictures, but kept looking at me when I was explaining about the apartment. Finally He said, “Yes, you should relocate to the new home.” This was a special moment for me as I realised that my Gurudev has always been interested in me, not in the pictures. This one incident made me feel very secure as I realised that it could be only God’s blessings to have a caring angel beside you. Cooling the Flames of My Anger On December 15, 2003 when He set foot in our home for the pratishtha, I started crying spontaneously asking Bapaji to help me with my problem of anger. I was surprised at my outburst of emotion. I was an angry man, known for having a short fuse, not being accommodating, trying to impose perfection and feeling good that this was how life should be lived. He recorded this event and then His subtle treatment started on me through all the years which finally culminated in a ‘Cooling the Flames of Anger’ shibir in 2007 for the Pune mumukshus at Lonavala. I felt that every word from Bapaji was spoken for me. He gifted me the ‘Friday meetings’ with my wife to bring love and harmony all around for all days to come. The Friday meetings were an ajna from Bapaji for all married couples to spend one hour over coffee or tea on Friday evenings, preferably or on any other fixed day, to clear misunderstandings, doubts, confusions and frustrations between the couple. This was a time to get rid of negativities which had crept in during the week. The Friday meetings were made sacrosanct by Bapaji, where this time was exclusive between husband and wife. This proved to be a huge blessing as the weekends turned out to be pleasurable and full of fun. My anger was cooled by the showers of His grace. For me, this was the beginning of a new life, a life full of love and understanding. Life Filled with Spirituality The nature of my business was such that it occupied a lot of my time. Working 12 hours or more per day was quite normal. Bapaji knew about this. In February 2006, during the shibir on Shri Anandghan Chovisi – Shri Sambhavnath Stavan in Dharampur; He turned a bit in the middle of the satsang and said, “I dedicate this example to you.” Then He went on to relate the example of a big jar filled with table tennis balls, marbles, sand and later some coffee. He explained that the jar should be completely filled with table tennis balls first, then marbles, followed by sand and coffee, the order being very important. Even though the jar may seem full once it is filled with balls, the marbles will roll through the spaces between the balls. Sand being finer will fill in the gaps left by table tennis balls and marbles. Lastly, when coffee is poured in the jar, it will seep through. The jar represented life, table tennis balls represented meditation, bhakti, swadhyay; marbles represented seva; sand represented career and worldly responsibilities while coffee represented time with friends. Thus, He guided me to fill life with spirituality first. It may feel that once life is filled with spirituality there is no time for anything else, but the marbles of seva, the sand of career and worldly responsibilities and the coffee of time with friends will all find space. However, if the jar is filled in any other order, say with coffee first, there will be no space for the sand, marbles and balls. Caring Compassionately I never cease to wonder at His personal attention and care. With thousands of people around the world receiving the same attention, I can only look at Him as a living wonder of the world. In my moments of frustration and weakness, He has always been in my thoughts and a source of strength. When Bapaji visited Pune in December 2012, I was waiting for His arrival at Alkeshprabhu’s home as a part of the welcoming and seva team. He got down from the car and was surrounded by several mumukshus including children. He acknowledged everybody’s welcome and walked towards the lobby entrance where I was standing. He just cut off His attention from the crowd for two seconds, looked straight into my eyes and said, “Have Faith.” This message pierced me like an arrow and brought the realisation that He is and always has been connected to me, even though I have my cycles of emotions, diluting my connection with Him. Lately there were issues which were bothering me, plus I had taken up a challenging new career, which was totally unrelated to my past work experience. There was a lot on my shoulders and in my head and He knew everything that I was going through without my telling Him anything. This experience resulted in an important realisation that God will just not leave me alone and vulnerable. All I need to do is to stay aligned to Him. I realised that He has always been with us and for us. Connection through Seva Every visit to the Ashram would get me connected to Him through some seva or the other. Be it manning the serving counter, facilitating training programmes, taking up responsibility for the medical camp etc. I kept asking myself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ And every time the answer hit me, because Bapaji loves me, because I stay connected with Him, because I no longer remain the doer. The very fact that I could do something for Bapaji and the Mission filled me with a pure sense of joy. I wish I had the power of expression to explain better. His grace and love got me into the Master Plan seva. He could see more in me than I could see in myself. Finally He, the Master Planner, knows best. When I recollect my experiences with Him, I can vouch for one fact ─ He found me to fill me with spirituality, love and understanding. Topicsinspirationpersonal experiencesadguruspiritual growthspirituality Quotes Show your strength in defeating your inner enemies, not in controlling the weak. If you feel the absence of others, you will experience loneliness. But, if you sense your own presence deeply, you will find solitude. A good student is a learner for life. The present is the gateway to the soul. Do not wander in the past and future. Come in the present to glide into the inner skies. View All #SadguruWhispers A good student is a learner for life. Select category for which you wish you receive updates via email - SRMD Updates Wisdom Updates Subscribe for updates
