|| Hari Om ||
In the year 2011, our family was planning a visit to Kashmir. However, we felt slightly apprehensive thinking about the tense environment in that region. We went to Dr. Suchitdada’s clinic and my mother, Pratikshaveera sought Dada’s permission for our Kashmir Trip.
As usual with his ever smiling face Dada said, “Please go ahead. Just do not be afraid.” He also added that if we went there, even the extremists would have to flee. Since all of us know about his light hearted nature, we laughed. However, at that point in time, we did not realize the deep meaning behind his words. We obtained his permission and stepped out.
My parents, my wife and I reached Srinagar on May 24, 2011. Since we had gone there along with a large group of tourists, the arrangements for lunch, etc., were also done at one central place and we were transported in a Shikara to a large houseboat in Daal Lake. We were to then go to a designated place for lunch. Once again, we got into a Shikara and within 15 minutes reached our place for lunch. I had worn my favorite t-shirt with Bapu’s picture printed on it. On getting off the Shikara, while going to the designated place for lunch, a person hurriedly passed by me and greeted me with ‘Hari Om.’ I also greeted him back with 'Hari Om'. I almost felt that running into someone who knew “Hari Om” in an alien land was an acknowledgement of Bapu’s existence there. I never saw that person there again.
The next day, we were to go sightseeing to Sonmarg. All members of the group were to go by a bus but our family decided to travel there in a taxi. On visiting Sonmarg, since we had the car with us, we returned quite early. On returning, we were stunned to see the sight in front of us. The day had begun with a bright sun, but just about couple of hours back, there was heavy down pour and a thunder storm had totally turned the place upside down. No one, including the local residents, had seen anything like that in the month of May.
We continued to sit in our car for almost 45 minutes. We waited for it to subside so that we could go to our houseboat. We continued to chant Bapu’s name. We were quite sore after traveling almost 200 kms by car. We were desperate to reach our houseboats. Although the storm had subsided, the wind was strong and therefore, the shikaras were not operating because they could have flipped quite easily. Moreover, just so that they do not flip, the locals had removed the head cover of those shikaras as well. After all, man tends to feel helpless in front of the nature’s fury. We had no choice but to sit there and wait on it to subside.
We kept on invoking Bapu. In the end, Bapu made everything possible. My father, Bharatsinh Shah finally got a boat keeper to agree to transport us to our shikara. We had begun to feel quite cold by then. Since it was quite warm in the morning, we had not carried any sweaters, jackets with us. Since there was no head cover to the Shikara, the cold seemed quite intense.
In the nick of time, we got the message that we needed to go to the place where they served food and then we were expected to go to our respective shikaras. Most of the lights were non-functional due to heavy storm. Just few of them were operational and those too were on the generator. We took Bapu’s name and got into the Shikara. There were two more people with us who navigated the boat. In fact, one person can navigate a shikara. However, since the storm had just subsided, there were two people assigned to our shikara.
Now the shikara began to move. We had enjoyed our ride in a shikara the previous day. In fact, we had sailed for almost 2 hours the previous day. But now? Now the journey of merely 15 minutes seemed scary, tedious and long.
Since the storm had hit Srinagar without any advance warning, several Shikaras had flipped in the afternoon. On hearing that we all felt doubly tense. Of course, there was no fatality and every one was rescued but most of the people had lost their mobile phones, valuables and hand bags. We were continuously chanting Bapu’s name. I was playing the Gurukshetram Mantra on my mobile. Our only hope to evade the nature’s fury was Bapu’s Gurukshetram Mantra.
We reached the place for dinner. We had our food and then began our journey once again towards our houseboat. On the way to our houseboat we were chanting Bapu’s name as well. Once in a while as our shikara would tilt with the force of wind, we would chant Bapu’s name with more gusto. However, we soon realized that, in spite of forceful wind, the shikara somehow maintained its balance.
Finally on reaching our houseboat, we felt quite relieved. We managed to reach safely only due to Bapu’s blessing. Else, we were quite unsure of the happening around us.
On reaching our houseboat, we freshened up and sat together to chat. Needless to say, the topic was the incident that had just taken place. All of a sudden I was reminded of Suchitdada’s words. ‘If you went there, the extremists would run away as well.” I then began to realize what he had really meant. The dictionary meaning of the word ‘Extreme,” is “not ordinary, very severe, and serious.” The situation we had just faced was extreme, was that of the storm. One does not experience such weather during that season. The situation was 'not ordinary', it was 'very severe' and even 'serious'. It was an 'extreme' situation!
That is when we realized that Dada had forewarned us about this incident when we approached him to seek his permission. Not only that but he had taken care of us extremely well (The storm had hit Daal Lake during the time that we were away, i.e. after we left for Sonmarg and until we came back to Daal Lake.)
This is how caring the triad is – Bapu-Aai and Dada! While they appear like three different people, they are one. Regardless of where we go in the world, their unconditional love is with us, they take care of us and protect us. We must learn to reciprocate that love unconditionally only then can our life be beautiful .....Aniruddha beautiful!
|| Hari Om ||
