|| Hari Om ||
For a long time I wanted to visit Leh-Ladakh. My close friend, Mrs. Jayashri Kardile’s son had arranged a tour to Leh-Ladakh and she asked me to join the tour. Initially I was in two minds but then finally my husband and I decided to go. The reservations were done and we had a get together on the 11th of July at her place.
Our tour was to start on the 24th July 2010 from Mumbai Central. For all the shraddhavaans the month of July is very dear as Guru Pournima falls in this month. I wanted to give my name for seva for that day and it was then that I realised that Guru Purnima is on the 25th of July. Hearing this I was very upset. It had just slipped my mind to check the date of the Gurupournima. I asked Bapu to forgive me and with a heavy heart I set about the preparations.
When we left on the 24th July to go to Mumbai Central by taxi from Borivali it was raining very heavily. We were worried whether we would reach on time. But by Bapu’s grace we reached on time and the train also left on time. However, we reached Delhi two hours later than the schedule. Our journey was from Delhi to Chandigarh and from there to Manali.
With 3 days of continuous rains at Manali the conditions of the roads were very pathetic. We were 18 of us and there were 3 senior citizens amongst us. There were landslides and the roads were blocked so we reached Sumiri lake at 10 at night and the temperatures were 5 degrees. We reached Leh on 4th August.
So far our journey went off very well but at Leh we had to face a terrible time. At night there was a cloud burst in the Leh- Kargil area. And on 6th August we were to be shifted from our hotel to a place at a higher level. On the way we met a person who suggested, “Why are you taking these old people up there? Instead put them up at the ‘Hare Ram’ temple which is close from here.”
We were about 30-35 people at the temple. In the evening the ‘aarti’ was done and then the priest starting chanting the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ I was overjoyed hearing it. I could not understand how ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ was said at a place like Leh. Our Bapu has told us to chant ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ everyday and I chant it regularly. When we were in trouble Bapu showed his presence there by the chanting of Hanuman Chalisa. It was his assurance to us that highlighted the reassuring fact that He was with us.
After the Hanuman Chalisa we chanted the Ramraksha and the Ghorakshtodharan Stotra.
Who else but Hanuman could have come to protect us in this calamity? I was very sure that it was Aniruddha who got this done from us so that we would be protected in the forthcoming calamity. I was overwhelmed by the thought of it.
The following day we went to the airport. Nearly half of our group had not got the flight tickets. Fortunately by Bapu’s grace we got the tickets and we returned home safely on 7th August.
I pray at Bapu’s lotus feet that his grace be showered on all his bhaktas.
|| Hari Om ||
