Continuing where I left off in my last article, allow me to recap a little – In order to address all the problems I was facing, I continued to believe in various kinds of Godmen and started to perform countless Pariharams (which are a gamut of odd rituals and prayers). These Pariharams comprised of things right from circumambulating a mountain, bare foot, on a full moon night to visiting a temple in a cave in some distant jungle to performing odd rituals for different Gods on each day of the week, wearing amulets and birth stones. I performed these rituals and said these prayers tirelessly, always following the prescribed rules by these so called Godmen.
The reason I am reiterating this is because even though I am an educated person and can differentiate between right and wrong, I still fell prey to superstition and all its corruptions. My KrsnaGuru used to ask me frequently how it was that I got myself into these types of things. His list of questions were endless. What in God’s name had taken over my mind that I went to such extremes? How could I blindly believe such things and was willing to walk in to any fire? I had no answers as to what made me believe in all this.
A few years later, while my Guru was expounding to me from the Scripture ‘Tripura Rahasyam’ and ‘Bhagvad Gita’, I finally received answers to all my questions and this answer left me in complete shock. This is called ‘Maya’. Maya is that which creates illusions, and then delusion, leading one to one’s own doom. Maya is considered to be the Lord’s illusive power and this power is incredible. Without His grace, there is no way around Maya. Hence, always seek only the Lord and do not get carried away with material worldly wants and desires. It is desire which is the root cause of all life’s miseries.
So coming back in the process these Godmen understood that in my desperation, I would go to any length to achieve my dreams to make them a reality and so they began to exploit me by making undue demands. A fool that I was, I kept fulfilling these demands. Their ego, lust and greed kept growing. I saw the change in them, from being Sattvik individuals into the most Rajasik and Tamasik beings. It must be noted here that this is what happens when one indulges in superstitions beliefs and rituals. There are no short-cuts in life. Neither are there any quick-fixes to one’s destination. So these Godmen continued to exploit my helplessness, and I continued going deeper into their trap, ensnared in their web of deceit and lies, where there is no easy way out.
Of course, then my Lord whose Grace was always on me came along, to whom I am always thankful. When I returned from US end of Dec 2008, my life transformed. With the beginning of the New Year of 2009 in January, I received a calling from Baba and made my first visit to Shirdi on the 8th of January, 2009. This was to become the most unforgettable day of my life. I met my Baba and prayed with all my heart asking him if there was a God at all in this world, if my prayers were true, and if my faith in Baba was sincere, to come to me in whatever form possible and take care of my life. I stood in the shrine for a long time and cried like a child to Baba, to redeem my life. I have no further recollection of what happened that day.
In a turn of events, once I returned from Shirdi I began to question everything that these Godmen were asking me to do. It was the last lap of race which I was running before I could meet my Diamond Cutter, my Helsman, my everything of everything – My Krsna Guru. During those 6 months I was almost maniacal. I prayed to all the Gods and Goddesses on this Planet Earth. The most shocking thing to all these Godmen was that every temple I visited, I would receive what is considered ‘direct blessings’ from that particular God/Goddess through flowers or fruits or some such offering. The minute I would step in to a temple, a huge garland would fall from an idol – something considered quite sacred. And nothing these Godmen predicted ever happened in my case.
My parents of course were panicked at my state. They began to tell me that I should not believe so much in such things and pray so much. They thought I would go mad. But I wouldn’t listen to anyone. On the contrary, I started to receive countless blessings wherever I went in every form possible. For the first time in my life, through Baba’s Pothi, Baba answered my question which despite my ten long years of reading, he had not yet answered and that showed me hope and faith in the Divine, which grew even stronger.
The strangest thing was that just a month before then, I was about to meet my KrsnaGuru, while I was driving home with one of the Godsmen she mentioned to me that I should start chanting RadhaKrsna constantly. The entire universe was conspiring and preparing the field for my Lord’s arrival in my Life. It’s amazing how everything was pointing to that one entity alone, that which I could not understand.
The message I would like to drive home with this article is to never believe in superstitions. It is all mumbo-jumbo, created to allow those that fall prey to such things in their weakest moments to be taken in by them and they only provide short-term relief in life. There is nothing like that at all. Please note that when you go into these things, if you are not careful, you will get trapped along with them for eternity. You will accrue a great deal of karma and will therefore sanction many millions of lives for yourself.
It is only when all your negative Karmas have been almost expended and when your Good Karma is beginning to surface, that is when the Grace dawns on you and Your Guru finds you and then takes you with him. He helps you across the ocean of material existence and in to the ‘La La land’ of the Spiritual. This realm is far beyond any human’s ken and understanding. That is when you become what is known as ‘twice-born’.
In conclusion, it is my humble and sincere request to you all to face your life fearlessly and only to have faith in the Lord alone. Pray with your pure heart and he will definitely come to you in some form. Ask him for his Grace that you should have the foresight to recognize him when he appears. You will read about this in my future articles. You can never imagine the forms he dawns and comes to you when you call upon him with all your heartfelt and pure love for Him.
Seek Him alone and nothing more than that. Ask for what is Good for you rather than what is Pleasant because what may be good for you may not be so pleasant! Yet know that it will help you expend all the Karmas in this life and create a beautiful future for yourself. For me at least, after this realization dawned, like my Guru says, he “Halal cut” me from all my entanglements with these terrifying Godsmen and set me free. I am ever grateful and eternally indebted to my KrsnaGuru. Nothing that I do can ever repay him. With all my heartfelt and entire being I offer my humble obeisance to Thy Feet – 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 ‘My first Dattatreya Jayanti’.
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