Spiritual Experiences
(Part 2)
Kishore C.S. (March
2001)
Read Preface to Spiritual
experiences before reading the following experiences for better
appreciation
Read Spiritual Experiences (Part
1)
Whenever we travel by train we request for Lower Berths as
it would be comfortable traveling with my daughter. Once I was booking tickets
for a round journey: Chennai to Hyderabad, Hyderabad to Rajahmundry and
Rajahmundry to Chennai. At the time of telling the travel agent, I forgot to
mention Lower berths. But I somehow felt Lord would take care of our needs as
he knows everything. When we got the tickets I found for 2 journeys we got
lower berths and one sector: Hyderabad to Rajahmundry we got side berths. It is
very uncomfortable to travel in side berths when we are traveling with our
daughter.
We boarded the train in Secunderabad. We got into
compartment. My relatives who came to see us off at the station remarked that
we should have asked for lower berths. Again it is normal in Train journeys
that people request for lower berths if they get the upper berths. Requesting a
exchange with side berths to normal berths is something I have not seen
happening many times. Hence I kept quiet and I was thinking whether I should
request someone.
To my utter surprise two north Indians who were occupying
lower berths offered to exchange the berths even before I could request them.
Again, it was an experience that you normally won’t encounter and this also I
count as another divine blessing.
To anyone else this experience again may appear silly, but
as a family man who is interested in making the family comfortable my concern
for their comfortable journey was a genuine worry and the Lord solved my worry.
During Nov 2000 we had to make a very sudden and expected
long road journey. We had planned to vacation in my native place Rajahmundry.
The morning we reached there, we came to know that my father-in-law expired
because of sudden heart attack. We were very unhappy and added to that we have
to travel 600 kms to Anantapur which is not well connect by train. We had no
option but to take a taxi to make it to Anatapur as early as possible.
It is a journey so unexpected and we were not sure how risky
such a journey would be. I have never traveled such a distance by car till that
time and certainly we didn’t know how our daughter who is less than 4 years old
would cope up with such a strenuous journey.
When we started out on the 18 hours journey at 1 PM we
prayed to Lord Hanuman that he protect us and take us safely to our
destination. Lord heard our prayers and protected us throughout the journey.
When we got into the highway I saw one lorry going ahead of us as escort which
has ‘Jai Hanuman’ written on the rear of the vehicle. I kept checking the road
and I found every 10 minutes or so I would come across at least one lorry on
which name of Lord hanuman is written. This made me feel that we were being
protected and our journey would be safe. Besides this we also found at least
once in an hour a temple of Lord Hanuman en-route and we used to do our pranamams
in our heart.
We also had to cross slightly dangerous Ghat roads in the
middle of the night. These roads are robbery prone zones and police protection
is provided on these roads for a few vehicle that go together. Luckily we
reached in time to catch a ‘escorted batch of vehicles’. We traveled
continuously through the night except for the halts for a tea or dinner.
Throughout the journey my daughter also remained composed
and my wife who is prone to ‘motion sickness’ didn’t experience any problem.
And as were reaching our destination, I got another doubt in
my mind. If Lord Hanuman’s protection during our journey is real, the next
lorry that would come will have Lord’s name on it. And indeed the next lorry
again had the name of Lord Hanuman. I felt ashamed for getting such a doubt and
told myself that never doubt Lord’s blessings. If possible count the blessings
and increase your faith in the Lord.