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Bapaji – My Support System

Bapaji – My Support System

Sarvarpit Shreyance Shah, a member of the Steering Committee of the Mission and a part of the Sadguru Prerna Core Team inks how Pujya Gurudevshri’s ceaseless compassion and constant support have paved the path of his spiritual journey.

That morning in 1985, 39 years ago, is as clear in memory as if it was yesterday. I was seeing Bapaji after many years. I was around 11 years old then and I had last seen Him in Hampi in 1980, 5 years before that day, where I had gone with my parents. There was an orphanage on the ground floor of our school and He had come there to meet someone. I approached Him thinking He might not recognise me, but I still went ahead and bowed to Him. To my surprise He said, “You are Rameshbhai’s son!” This was my first face-to-face meeting with Him. Connecting the dots today, I am sure He wasn’t there to meet someone; He was there to reconnect from where we left in the past.

Through almost my entire teen years, I had been fortunate to be around Him a lot! Those are my most memorable days yet. We used to talk a lot – the topic would range from what I did during the day to current affairs. The topic wasn’t important at all. The important part was spending time with Him. It would really seem like time had stopped and I was in a different world. Since I would spend most of my time with Him, my friend circle from school and college was very small. As I see it today, His main intention of keeping me with Him, was to keep me away from the vices of college life. My whole world was revolving around Him. And, it was such a great feeling. Days passed and I enjoyed every minute of it. There wasn’t a single day when I hadn’t met Him, not a single day when I hadn’t spoken with Him over the phone.

Rising in Devotion

In 1989, He had to go to Antwerp for His father’s heart surgery. He was going for almost a month and a half and He had promised that He would write a letter from there. Days were passing and I was waiting for His letter. He wrote a letter on 6th April, 1989. In the last paragraph, He wrote a small quote, which meant a lot to me:

Pray without ceasing, God hears what you say;
From the moment you rise, to the close of the day,
Don’t think for a moment, that He turns a deaf ear
Trust and have faith and you’ll never know fear.
He ended the letter with the words “your constant companion” followed by French words, “Je t’aime”, which means I love you.

One Sunday during the mid-nineties, we had gone for an outing. I had told Him during the day that I had brought my treasure with me to show Him. All my memories with Him, His letters, His handwritten chits, wrappers of chocolates received as His Prasad and so many other things. There was a box full of all these things. On our way back, He asked me to stop the car and give Him the treasure box. He took the box and acted as if He had thrown all its contents in a stream nearby. I was virtually in tears as I had tremendous attachment for those things. After some time, He returned everything back to me and told me that it was a test of my devotion. He wanted to know, whether I accepted His every wish or not. It taught me two lessons – His ajna is much more important than His prasadi and to not cling on to the past, but stay in the present.

Holding me Through Joys and Sorrows

An extremely joyous moment of my life came in January 2001, my daughter Rhea’s birth. At 11.48 p.m. in the night, Bapaji visited the hospital and we got the news of Rhea’s birth. Bapaji took her in His arms and touched her forehead. He said that she was the first baby He had touched at zero hours. We all can see how blessed she is!

The year 2004 brought two news at opposite ends of the spectrum. First, I heard the good news that Bapaji wanted me to become the Sarvarpit Group Leader. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn various skills and apply all that Bapaji had taught me all these years. I was very happy on hearing this. At around the same time; my mom was diagnosed with cancer. It was something totally out of the blue. I was completely broken when I heard this. We met Bapaji and He became the pillar of strength for all of us. At one point, I even thought that I should ask Bapaji to make someone else the leader, since I would be busy with mom’s treatment, doctors, hospitals, etc. and so wouldn’t be able to give justice to this seva. However, He asserted that I become the leader. I couldn’t understand why. But it gave me the indication that there was another dimension to this. It slowly dawned upon me that with this responsibility He kept me busy and the negative thoughts stayed out of my mind. If He had not made me the leader, I would have passed through a very low phase. It would have been a disaster. On the night of Diwali, 13th November, 2004, everyone was celebrating Diwali in Dharampur and at 2.30 a.m., mom breathed her last amidst constant japa. I called Bapaji and told Him how it had happened. From that moment, He took care that we got over this grief. In doing this, He made me realise, how much He cares for me and each one of us.

Shaping me Through Seva

It is Bapaji’s hallmark that He polishes every facet of our existence. He worked on me by grooming me for seva, inculcating the importance of perfection and yet teaching me to be detached and free from pride. I realised that the important thing was not to get the work done, but the attitude with which the work was done.

During the construction of Yajnasthal at the Ashram, we would make weekly visits to Dharampur to supervise the progress of the construction. At the fag-end of the construction, when barely two weeks were left for the deadline, we decided to stay back in Dharampur, so we could expedite the pending work and ensure that we were ready by the deadline. During this time, Rhea had to be hospitalised and I spoke to my wife Amee over the phone and asked if she needed me. But my family told me to take care of the construction seva and they will take care of Rhea in Mumbai, so we decided that I would stay back in Dharampur. When Bapaji heard about this, He visited Rhea regularly at the hospital and ensured that she didn’t miss her father and made her feel fine. What better example of YogakshemamVahamyaham – He ensures the safety and well-being of His devotees.

As a Steering Committee member, I have seen how He nurtures the seed of spirituality through seva. Our usual Steering Committee meetings are scheduled in such a way that the committee meets for two hours to deliberate on the various points on agenda, followed by half an hour of meeting with Him, when the committee apprises Him about the various points discussed and subsequently He gives guidance on the points. But before taking up the points, He starts with a few minutes of satsang. In this manner, He ensures that not just the head, but the heart is also used while taking decisions. We have also experienced that He comes up with a point that we may have thought as being not so important and not deliberated enough or something which we may have completely overlooked. It is the Master’s way of guiding us subtly but surely.

All these years, Bapaji has taught me so many things, how to think, how to talk, how to get things done and much more. To sum it all up, He taught me how to live life. It’s up to me now to live it in the way He wants me to.

Quotes

The root of all blunders is forgetting one’s true nature.

A mature mind profits spiritually even in adversity.

Do not be insistent. Keep an open mind and be all-inclusive, respecting and accepting others' opinions.

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#SadguruWhispers Do not be insistent. Keep an open mind and be all-inclusive, respecting and accepting others' opinions.