In the madness of being on a ‘Fast Track’, I did not realize that every day is going to throw up strange and compelling situations for me to fight and face! There are two parts to this interesting story and both are connected to my moving ahead in life. The first was that I began to do the Bhagavad Gita for the second time along with another student of my Guru and the second one was that I was in the process of taking up a new job in Singapore.
Let me begin with the latter. It so happened that I had to face an interesting and tough challenge while I was working through the offer with my company. HR came up with a strange and unreasonably low package that was based on the compensation I was receiving in India instead of the compensation I ought to receive based on the cost of living in the market I was moving to.
My Guru asked me to escalate this matter to my mentor the SVP of the company who was a direct reportee to the Chairman and to let him know what exactly was going on. Initially I was afraid. “How can I escalate to the SVP who is way up there as nobody would ever do something like this?” But I just followed my Guru’s advice and wrote the email. Immediately there was an action being taken and while it was quite obvious to me that I had become the target for revenge with lots of my management chain within the organization, I was determined to take up the job.
The most important lesson that I was taught here is not to fear anything or anybody. When my Guru ordains it is my duty to only just do what has been asked of me. The outcome or the repercussions of that action has nothing to do with me. My Guru takes care of everything. I realized the strength and power which I carried within me. It is very important to face the world and fight the battles when one needs to. And especially when your Guru puts you through this to see whether you can fight or not.
While I had to patiently await for my revised offer letter and my work permit, I was getting prepared to leave. It was a Sunday during the month of March in 2010. I was sitting with my Master and taking his guidance on various things in order to prepare for my relocation. While I was sitting with him, my Master took something out from his cupboard. Suddenly he removed a picture of Sai Baba and handed it to me. He said this was the original picture which was taken in Shirdi some years back and he had preserved them.
I was extremely delighted to receive it from him. He asked me to get it framed and take it with me. Since there was still time and my dates of when I will be flying were not known I did not get the picture framed. At the same time my Master at his other student’s place mentioned that he needs to quickly finish the study of Bhagavad Gita else I will not be flying off to my new destination until it is done.
It was the 3rd week of March and here I was still stressing and still very much awaiting my work permit. It was very strange feeling with so many moments of waiting to have gone through. Suddenly I remembered that I needed to get the Sai Baba photo framed and then immediately set out to finish this task. I was told that it will take at least a couple days for them to get it done and in parallel my Gita study was in its final stages of completion.
In the last week of March I went to collect Baba’s photo. When the shopkeeper handed it to me I had a very strange feeling. It felt as though my Guru in the form of Sai Baba had come into my life. It felt as though he would go along with me wherever I would and will be the Chatrachaya (God’s Hand/Grace) on my head. I started to cry right there. My heart filled with bliss, love and became heavy. I take the framed photo to my Guru. He blessed it and returned it back to me. The minute the photo came into my hand, I received an email containing my Visa approval and the dates to head off to my new life. I only had a week left before I was to fly. It was at that moment that it hit me that I would be leaving my Master and going off to a new world. An unbearable pain welled up in my heart and I started to cry like a baby. I could not stop crying. And it was that day my Master completed the 18th chapter in the Gita. He said that I was now ready to go. I could not bear the pain. As I type this I can still experience the pain of getting separated from my Master. My Master consoled me and said that – ‘I am Always with You’. I do not leave anyone. This you will read more in my articles in the future. How he is everywhere.
It was not just this. My Mom too was in Mumbai with my brother. She was not able to get tickets to be back before I was leaving. She was arriving the morning of the day I was leaving. It was a very strange thing to happen. It was much later I understood that this was the beginning of living the lesson – that I am not the body and I do not belong to anyone in this world. I come alone and go alone. The only one I belong is to my Krsna who is my everything of everything. There are no material worldly relationships or attachments. The only time I got to spend with this body’s mother was when I went to pick her up from the train station and when we drove back home there was heavy traffic jam due to which we got stuck for solid hour and that’s all the time Krsna gave me.
With my heartfelt thankfulness and gratitude I was ready to leave and start my new lease of life which is now defined by my Krsna Guru. From then on I started to follow the path which he has laid for me. To date it has been the most wonderful and amazing start to a journey in my life. Every day is a roller coaster ride. There has been no looking back. I am in tears even now as I understand how kind my Master is to me. He goes through greater pain of this separation than I do. . I am his heart and he is my heart beat. My Master came to drop me off to the airport. I handed the reins to my Master and from then on he drives the chariot of my life and the one thing which I will never forget is where ever there is Krsna and Arjuna there is Goodness, Victory, Glory and Unfailing Righteousness. My heartfelt and humble obeisance to Thy feet my revered Krsna.
With the grace of my Master I have been able to pen this most wonderful experience in a string of words. Thank you for reading and do watch out for my next write-up about ‘Vision of Krsna in my heart’.
