I would often hear of frequent references to ‘Mohanji’ made by both these wonderful girls during our conversations after the class. Their love for ‘Mohanji’ was indeed endearing, and it ignited my curiosity to learn more about their Guru’s philosophy and teachings.
The year 2020 would be remembered as historical due to the coronavirus pandemic. Here in West Bengal, we faced another calamity The Super Cyclone – Amphan.
As per the Indian Meteorological Department, Amphan was to touch Kolkata at 5 pm and gradually head towards Bangladesh.
What is bhakti? The answer to this question touches a chord deep within. When we lose ourselves for the sake of love, that is bhakti bhaav. The spontaneous flow of bhakti is like the waves of a haunting whale-song reaching out through the unfathomable dimensions of time to touch the chords of one’s soul. Mohanji’s love for us is like that. Unconditional. He sees neither race nor colour nor ethnicity. Just the glorious brilliance of our magnificent souls. Unblemished. Pure.
20th April 2020. Amidst the fight with the negativity of Corona situation all across the globe, while spreading positivity through various online programmes, shocking news came from the parental home that shook me to the core! News that I had not expected to hear! My 2nd brother Bibhu, succumbed to a sudden cardiac arrest and had left us all forever! He was healthy, happy, joyful and very active. He was just 50 years old.
When I was sentenced and sent to prison, I was extremely scared. In my first week there, I was made to sleep on the floor. What made it worse was being next to a stinking bathroom where I could not sleep because everyone was passing by to get to the toilet. The only time I could rest and sleep was when all the inmates were already asleep. I can never forget that during my first few days, I was bitten by a cockroach and I really suffered a lot. There was no one that I could ask for help. I got sick because of the heat and congestion but nobody ever helped me.
During the coronavirus pandemic, inspired by Mohanji’s call for action, the UK family also came together and started doing online programmes from morning till night. We have had sessions of chanting starting from 6 am to sessions of book reading, meditations, online Mai-Tri, special devotional songs etc.
Mohanji and a small group of 12 people had the ultimate opportunity to visit Girnar in the state of Gujarat, which is considered as one of the most ancient ‘Datta Kshetras’ in India.
Mohanji says that before birth, we choose each moment of our life. In times of challenges, we think, “Oh my hat! What possessed me to choose these experiences.” With the awareness of acceptance and faith, life becomes easier to embrace.
Recently, I took part in the Mohanji Foundation (MF) Global Summit in Sri Lanka as the India Head. I really feel blessed to have gotten this opportunity to represent MF India at the Global Summit, and it was all due to Mohanji’s grace. I would like to share my experience, an incident at work, which made it very easy for me to go to Sri Lanka.
“I don’t have ownership. Things happen through me. You see, the pain is certainly there, but I’ve got no suffering (from the discomfort). You guys are all struggling because you happily postpone things or your own things. Ownership causes pain while surrendering it or not owning it frees you. Will you postpone anything if you know the next minute you may not exist?”
