Faith, conviction and volunteering for the mission!

By Arun Vathavooran, UK

Mohanji says, “When you move through the path of spirituality, you may face many obstacles. However, those will all dissolve if your focus stays steadfast on God. If you establish your focus on that highest Divinity, and are determined and resolved to continue till you merge with it, nothing will be able to stop or stand in your way. God or the Guru will automatically guide and hold your hand through that path of evolution.”

 Arun has experienced the above, sharing with us a beautiful experience of how Mohanji’s grace and love helped him miraculously at a time of need. He also explains how volunteering has helped his progress in spirituality, deepening his faith, love and connection to Mohanji. Enjoy reading the love of a volunteer for his Guru and the mission.

I grew up as a vegetarian but became a vegan shortly before my Kailash yatra with Mohanji in 2016. It was a fairly straight forward process for me to become a vegan by giving up dairy. However, I find it really challenging to obtain vegan food while travelling. In particular, I find it very hard whenever I travel to far off places like Siberia on business assignments. I am slightly flexible only while travelling and consume dairy products as a regrettable exception. My travel agent has listed my food preference as ‘Asian vegetarian’ in the file for a long time. I tried to update that to ‘vegan’ in 2016, but she advised me that it would be difficult to get vegan options on the routes that I frequently travel. So, I decided to leave it as it was. My business trips normally last 1 to 2 weeks and is always booked in advance so that the special meal is requested on time.

Last summer (2018 June) there was an unplanned request at work, asking me to attend a meeting in Freiberg, Germany at short notice. The request came on a Wednesday and I had to travel the next day to make it to the meeting on Friday. My flight tickets from London to Dresden via Frankfurt were booked at the last minute and the travel agent said it was too late to request a special meal. I wasn’t bothered much because it is a short flight from London. The itinerary was planned in such a way that I would fly out on Thursday to reach Dresden at dusk, and the host would pick me up from the airport to drive to Freiberg which is about an hour’s trip. The meeting was scheduled for that Friday morning; it was also planned that they would drop me back at the airport in the afternoon to catch an evening flight.

Everything went well until I reached Frankfurt, where I missed my connecting flight to Dresden during the afternoon rush hour at Frankfurt security. They rescheduled me on the next flight, but that meant I would only reach Dresden shortly before midnight. Therefore we agreed that I should stay at a hotel near the airport overnight and they would pick me up in the morning at 7.30 am. I checked in late, but got up early in the morning, did my Kriya and was ready to leave by 7:30 am. I couldn’t get any vegan options from the breakfast menu, so I had a light vegetarian breakfast (that contained dairy products).

Unfortunately, there was a road accident (which I was not aware of) and my host was stuck on the highway which was closed. They managed to reach my hotel only after 10 am to pick me up. We were on the way, but had to take diversions as a result of road closures and reached our meeting venue in Freiberg by noon. We all realised that we were running out of time as my return flight was at 6 pm and the road closures were still in place. Everyone agreed that we should go on with the meeting without breaking for lunch, and then I could catch a train by 4 pm from the nearby train station to avoid getting caught in the traffic again.

The meeting went well and I managed to get a train as planned, but I was really tired as I didn’t have any food since my light breakfast around 7 am. I didn’t try to buy any food on the train or at the train station simply because of my language difficulties (I don’t know a single word of German). However, I was hopeful that I would get some vegan / vegetarian food at the airport.  I reached the airport on time, but couldn’t find any vegetarian options there other than wraps containing shredded raw carrots and lettuce. I wasn’t prepared to eat raw food after almost fasting the whole day, but managed to get a slice of bread and banana from the business lounge (that was the only option other than peanuts and biscuits) and hoped that I would get some food once I reached Frankfurt.

Once in Frankfurt, I wanted to rush through the security to avoid the same mishap that happened on the previous day. While rushing through, I checked my emails on the phone and found out that there was an urgent request from the Mohanji Publications Team to translate the 360 degrees meditation in Tamil along with the other meditations. It was mentioned that someone was available in Mumbai to record and a quick turnaround of the translation would be very useful.

I had forgotten my hunger and tiredness after reading through the email but wanted to speak with my friend and fellow volunteer Jay about how we could split the work and get this done quickly. I rang him when I reached my boarding gate and we had a detailed discussion about the translation and various other activities including arrangements for an ACT seva (snack stall in Skanda Vale). At the end of the call, I realised that I didn’t have much time to look for a meal, but needed to board the plane soon. I managed to find a nearby café that served vegan falafel sandwiches and tea, and satisfied myself with that.

I boarded the plane quickly and was seated on time. To my amazement, once we were airborne, one of the cabin crew members came up to me, checked my name and said “Sir, we have received a special meal request for vegan food for you.”  I couldn’t believe it for a moment because no special meal request was made in the first place for this trip! Further, even if it was, it should have been vegetarian and not vegan. While my monkey mind was analysing this, they served me with a scrumptious meal that consisted of rice, dhal, potatoes and another vegetable curry along with a mini naan bread, followed by fresh fruit salad. I would say it as a feast, considering my situation (fasting all day) and the location (plane food).

It didn’t take too long for me to realise that this was a divine play of our beloved Guru Mohanji. It was indeed another confirmation that our Guru looks after us and fulfills every single need, even without being asked. I have read about food unexpectedly being served to Guruji Avadhootha Nadananada while he was travelling on a train and was really hungry. I have also read a similar account in ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ where Paramahansa Yogananda had been given food in a miraculous way while travelling. However, actually experiencing such an amazing miracle was a wonderful reconfirmation of the connection I have and deeply feel with Mohanji. My heartfelt gratitude and love for my beloved Guru for taking care of me always.

I would like to share here another experience that showed me when we serve with love, faith and conviction, Guru’s grace and blessings are always with us.

As mentioned earlier, we soon started translating the Tamil script of the 360 degrees meditation, and I promised the Publication Team that it would be ready within a week. However, it was a busy week at work and I was under pressure to get two reports completed in the same week. Report writing is certainly not one of my strengths; normally I take relatively more time to complete reports. Further, in the line of my business, reports are an iterative process as well. Normally draft reports are updated following peer review, project manager review and client review. Most of the time, it is a tedious time consuming process.

I surrendered all to Mohanji (both my work reports as well as the translation) and started working on my reports. It turned out that I was able to finish both the reports on time and also managed to complete the translation at the same time (much of the translation was done at work during unexpected free time after reports). Surprisingly, there were no comments from any of the reviewers!

The translation of 360 degrees meditation was another remarkable experience on its own. I was able to feel energy movements within my spine and sahasrara region (similar to meditation) while working on the translation at my computer, even with my eyes wide open. At one point during the translation, I felt that I should close my eyes for a moment to enjoy this energy (the energy was so intense at that time). Once my eyes were closed, I could clearly see Mohanji standing next to me at my office desk! I have seen Mohanji in meditations and dreams several times, but this was indeed a magical experience, to see Him watching over me at work. I realise how blessed I am, to be in the protective embrace of my loving Guru Mohanji and to be given such wonderful opportunities to volunteer for Mohanji’s mission. I surrender all at Mohanj’s divine feet.

||JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI||

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