Change Alone Is Permanent

Discussion in 'Religious places & Spiritual people' started by drs3232, Feb 16, 2019.

  1. drs3232

    drs3232 Silver IL'ite

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    One evening they called me and told me, “You should be ready by eight in the evening; you will be taken to the boat jetty and should board dhoni number so and so.” My imagination was that I would be boarding a passenger boat. When later I arrived at the boat jetty I found that it was not even a boat, but a dhoni which carries vegetables and consumables from Male to other islands. It had a top but was open on all the sides except the roof, with some poles on the parallel sides to hold on to. The vegetables and consumables were stored in the bottom cellar of the dhoni.

    To my luck I had purchased one bottle of soft drink and some bread on my way to the boat jetty. After sometime another gentleman joined me. He said that he was a maths teacher who had been allocated the same school where I had to join. I was happy that I had got company now. We waited for hours for the dhoni to start its voyage. At last it started on the journey the next day early morning. During all this time we were forced to spend our time in the dhoni.

    We asked the Captain of the dhoni how much time it would take to reach our island. It was a real shock for us when he said, “Only three to four days.” There were totally five of us in the dhoni, the captain, one assistant, an engineer who wanted to get down somewhere near to our island, myself and my friend.

    The dhoni moved very slowly. I was surviving on the soft drink and the bread I had. I remembered the days, when I would fight with my wife over simple reasons such as salt is more or less, when she prepared our lunch.

    Days rolled down. Two days passed. We asked the captain when we would reach our island. He showed a very small green spot far away and said, “Do not worry, it is very near.” One more day was about to pass. My friend and I got very much tired and all of a sudden to add to our misery the sea suddenly got rough. The waves just pushed the dhoni up and suddenly dropped it down. I was afraid and had a vomiting sensation. My friend was already in this process and I had no choice but to follow him. At that moment I took a decision in my mind that on reaching that island I would immediately resign my job and would go back home. Still the sea was rough and the dhoni went up and came down in the waves. I thought now the only escape is the supreme. My friend was a Christian I asked him, “Do you have the Bible?” He said, “Yes.” I requested him, “You start your prayers; I fear that something very bad is going to happen.” He took his Bible. I started chanting “Ram, Ram”. A miracle happened. All of a sudden the sea became normal. A narrow escape, we thought. The captain said, “It is already late. We will halt in the nearby island and take rest and continue our journey tomorrow.”

    Fortunately it was the home island of the engineer who was travelling with us. He invited us to his house and provided us with some chapatti and tender coconut. He also talked to the island chief and provided us with accommodation in a government guest house. He contacted our island authorities through wireless and informed them about our arrival. The school authorities informed us that only I needed to join at that island, and that the other teacher who came with me has arrived by mistake, and

    he had to travel all the way back to his island.

    The next day morning both of us left that island and started our travel by small boats in different directions. I reached my island and was warmly welcomed as a foreign teacher by the local teachers and assistant head master. They told me that two accommodations were available and showed me both. I selected the room adjoining the assistant headmaster’s house.

    I had to join duty the next day morning at seven, and they said there would be a breakfast interval, and that the classes would be over by one. I arranged the room neatly and had a bath. I could hear the rumbling sound of the waves, and I enjoyed the beautiful atmosphere.

    I woke up earlier than usual the next day morning and was ready for the school. I remembered that I was not so familiar with cooking and I knew to cook very few dishes. I was in the hope that there would be some hotels and that I could manage my breakfast there. Later after class I found that there was nothing such as hotels there, and that all the teachers were doing their own cooking.

    In the afternoon I went to the nearby shop and purchased a stove, kerosene and some vegetables and provisions. I was not so happy, but there was no other go and I had to do it. I started self-cooking and slowly started enjoying it. The students were good and well-disciplined with a thirst for knowledge. They liked me and called me SB in short.

    The head master liked my teaching style and the way in which I maintained the discipline in the class. He entrusted me with the duty of library in charge and also the charge of the class leaders. Everything went normal, and I became friends with the other teachers, both local and foreign. As I was elder to all of them they respected and loved me very much.

    We had vacations once in a year for nearly a month, and it was a real festival for all of us. I used to buy dolls and chocolates for my children and for my wife (Rani Lakshmi Bai) some small gifts. On arrival at the Trivandrum airport, I used to pass through the green channel and sometimes a customs officer at the door would ask, “What is in your luggage?” I would honestly answer, “These are only chocolates and dolls.”

    During the first vacation I noticed that there were some problems with the sight in my left eye. I consulted an eye specialist, and to my shock he told me, “Already you have lost 75% of your eyesight in the left eye, and only 25% is left. If you do not undergo a surgery you will lose your vision completely.” My wife admitted me to a nearby hospital; the surgeon (Dr.Satyan) was an expert and also a doctor with ethics. The surgery was done successfully, and I returned home. My vacation was over and the time came for packing my luggage.

    Back to school in Maldives. By now I had got accustomed to the atmosphere and the people. They were all very affectionate to us. Classes continued as usual along with a number of local festivals in between, in which all of us teachers participated actively. Normally I used to shut myself in my room thinking about my family all the time. I felt very lonely. The only source for our provisions was the dhoni which went to Male every ten days.

    That evening my friend came to my room and said, “Sir, the dhoni is not going today; we have to suffer as there are no provisions left.” I was carrying my pendulum as I used to do pendulum dowsing at home. I took my pendulum, carried out the dowsing and told him, “The dhoni will go today.” My

    friend did not agree, as he had checked just a few minutes back, and the captain had said that the dhoni was not going that day. I said, “You please go and check again.” He checked again and found to his astonishment that the captain had changed his mind and the dhoni was going that day. This made them look at me as someone very special.

    I used to write plays for our school drama competitions and all the plays written by me won prizes. Now what happened is that all the teachers were standing in queue before my room requesting for scripts, and I would write these for them happily. One day while we were in the school playground I observed that my eye sight was slowly become blurred. I got confused, and informed my friends about this. They too became very much worried. Within the next few minutes they arranged for me a speedboat which had come that way, and they even packed my dresses and I was all set for the journey.

    I reached back home, and after discussions with my ophthalmologist, found that my right eye was also affected, and the only option was to undergo another surgery. I was admitted to the hospital. The doctor gave me anaesthesia. They took me inside the operation theatre. The surgery started but I felt that the anaesthesia was not sufficient or not working. I could very well hear the doctor asking for a blade. He cut open my eye, I could feel the pain, but I could not move or say anything because I was afraid that the doctor’s attention may get diverted and he was holding the very sharp blade in his hand close to my right eye. I was waiting for the doctor to put the blade away from my eye, and once he had done it, I said, “Doctor the anaesthesia is not working.” With a smile he said, “Nothing to worry, I have already completed the surgery.”

    Again back to Maldives to the school. The loneliness, I could not bear again; I never mingled with my friends and used to remain in my room all alone. It was my practice to take a soft drink and a biscuit packet with me for breakfast. While going to school one day, my assistant head master (Mr.Ahmed) passed by me and asked, “What is it that you are carrying?” I said, “My breakfast.” He continued, “Oh, so this is your breakfast. Ok, tomorrow onwards I will arrange with my mother-in- law for your breakfast.”

    He left, and from the next day onwards his mother-in-law brought chapatti and fish curry for my breakfast regularly to my room without fail. After a month I asked my assistant head master, “Sir, I have been taking food from your house for the past one month. Please permit me to pay for it.” His instant and abrupt answer was in a single word - “No”.

    Days passed. My seclusion in my room continued. I used to keep a Holy Quran in my room as the entire population in the island were Muslim, and I got attracted to the principles of the religion. I started reading the Quran and some the teachers used to ask me to write excerpts from the holy book for use by the students. This brought me closer to Islam.

    On some weekends we used to go to the nearby uninhabited island after taking permission from the owner. There was a very beautiful lagoon with the colour of the sky nearby that small island. It was so crystal clear that if you dropped a coin into it you could easily locate it. We teachers used to practice swimming in the lagoon.

    In the nights, on some days I would hear the sound of footsteps as if somebody is running, after

    knocking on my door. When I opened the door I could not find anybody. This was repeated for many days. The thought of something, some negative forces disturbing me, is what I imagined. I never told anybody about this, because I know well that they would make fun of me.

    I became restless. I was keeping the holy Quran and also Devi Bhagavatham (it is said that when negative forces look at this book it will appear like a fire ball) with me, and how dare these negative forces disturb me. I was a stringent devotee of Devi Maa. I prayed earnestly to the Divine Mother and then immediately I heard the song “Ayigiri Nandini Nanditha medini…” (The Mahishasura Mardini Stotram -This song was composed by the great sage Adi Shankaracharya sometime around 810 AD. This song is sung in praise of Goddess Chamundeshwari and describes the way she destroyed many demons).

    Now I understood clearly that it was a positive force. None other than my Divine Mother to whom I was very much attached right from my very early childhood. I remember how during my college days, one day in our Pooja room, from the photo of the divine mother (Chottanikara Bhagavathy), something like Bhasma started falling down. I showed this to my sister (Prema), who said, “It is your imagination”, and she tried to wipe it away with a cloth, but it continued to fall from the photo for some time.

    Again I remembered during my college days, when I was all alone in the house, I used to hear footsteps (similar to this) and heard very feeble sounds of somebody trying to talk to me. Again when I was in love, to make my love successful I used to pray very sincerely during rahukal to please the goddess, reciting “Lalitha Sahasra Namam”. (This hymn occurs in Brahmanda purana - Old epic of the universe - in the Chapter on the discussion between Hayagreeva and Agasthya. Hayagreeva is an incarnation of Vishnu with the head of a horse and is believed to be the storehouse of all knowledge. Agastya is one of the great sages of yore who is one of the stars of the constellation Great Bear. At his request Hayagreeva taught him the most holy 1000 names of Lalitha).

    During the days of Ramadan I used to be all alone in my room. Again I used to hear somebody knocking at my door and running away; I never went to look for who it was as I was now sure that it is none other than my Divine Mother playing pranks with me. Now I was totally transforming to another mental stage - a meditative stage. Nobody noticed me as it was holidays during that time. I forgot to take food, take bath, or to drink water. I never felt like visiting my rest room.

    The most important day in my life came which became the cause for a complete change in my life, my status, and my financial position. I understood from the holy Quran that on the nights of Ramadan angels would come to watch what people are doing, and those who are doing righteous deeds will be blessed by them. That day my mental situation was such that I was afraid and confused.

    In the night I felt that somebody is in my room and they are talking to me which I could not hear clearly. Well that is the end, I thought of running outside and getting help, but something prevented me from doing this. I looked at the holy Quran on my table. I do not know what happened to me I started saying, “La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah.” I said this once and I heard it repeated a hundred times by many people around me although nobody was there in the room.

    I understood that the angels were in my room. I kept quiet and sat in a corner of my room on the

    floor. The next day the school reopened, but I never went to the school. Other teachers came in search of me. I never revealed anything to them. They asked me whether I had taken food. I just nodded my head to say “no”. They brought me food which I refused to take. They went back disappointed thinking that I was sick and asked me to take rest.

    The wheels of time rolled on. Days passed. An incident took place one night. (Now I was able to communicate with the unknown in such a way that I would ask a question and I would get an answer, sometimes it was the voice of a male and some other time it was the voice of a female that I heard).

    That night also I was sitting awake, and I heard the voice of my Divine Mother. She asked, “Son, what do you want?” I said, “Mother, I want to see you!” Her answer was a question, “In what form?” Without hesitation I said, “In the form of light, Mother!” The next minute I saw a very bright green light on the wall of my room. I continued, “Oh Mother, you have to give me a promise.” She asked me, “What?” I said, “You should promise me that you will be with me till my end and after that.” She promised me that she would do so.

    The next day I took a glass of water, saying, “Let water be my food today.” The following day, saying, “Let air be my food today”, I took a deep breath. I was sitting in the chair and refused to move from it. My colleagues got worried and admitted me to the nearest hospital on the nearby island. On my way while I was about to board the dhoni, I said in mind looking at the sea, “There should not be any problem because of you in this island, and God if you have really blessed me, the sea water should not cross this line as I love this island very much.” With my foot I drew a line on the shore which nobody noticed. (When tsunami attacked the whole of Maldives there was not much damage in this island).They admitted me in the hospital and still I refused to take food or water. The doctor tried glucose intravenous infusion which failed. The doctor informed the teachers to put me in a different house. The teachers packed my luggage in my presence. I looked all around. I saw fresh vegetables on the kitchen table, which I had purchased earlier for my use. I said in my mind to the Divine Mother, “Let these vegetables not rot but dry and remain here until I return.”
     
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