Unforgettable journey with Swami ji

After attending an annual sales conference at Pune, I was returning home. The train reservation in Gitanjali Express was done by my company. And Pune-Mumbai distance, I was supposed to cover by share-taxi. I always use to visit my boss's residence on the way to Mumbai, and that night, after a dinner with my boss, I left for taxi-stand at mid-night. I was fully confident of covering the distance within 4 hours by taxi; the departure time of Gitanjali Express train (from Shatrapati Shivaji Station, Mumbai) was 6-AM in the morning and I was having six hours in hand.

We crossed Chinchwad at 1.30-AM, but we were stuck on the way due to heavy road traffic and massive jam at the Ghati road. I had no option left but to pray to my Lord and I actually started doing so in frustration. The other co-passengers in the taxi were sleeping without any worry or tension. I started cursing myself for this delay. In the head office, my senior's always used to advice me to leave early for Mumbai, so that I may not miss my train and this time, I knew for sure, I was going to miss my train.

But, thanks to my Lord, I reached the station just on time and I straight away entered AC-II compartment and went to sleep on my side-upper-birth. Around one o'clock in the afternoon, I woke-up and asked the service boy for a cup of tea. But the service boy told me, point blank that its lunch time and tea will not be served now; I better look for tea at the next station, which will come within half an hour.

Finally I stepped down from the upper-birth and I sat down at my side-seat and in the opposite seat one very healthy, fair, beautiful and very impressive Swami ji was sitting and he gave me a big smile and asked me "did you have a nice nap, Vatsa?" and I was not very keen to answer his question, but after seeing his saffron cloths, first I folded my hands offered respect by saying "Pranaam" and nod my head in approval. He replied with a long smile "Ayushman Bhava" (have a long life), and raised his right hand in the air for blessings.

Gradually, we started discussing various subjects, which includes Shrimat Bhagwat Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Guru Granth Sahib, Kuran Sharif and Bible. Besides, we also discussed about Guru's: Shri Arvindo, J. Krishna Murthy, Shri Ramkrishna, Acharaya Rajneesh, Shridhi Sai Baba and Swami Vivekananda. I was not only surprised but also amazed to see his vast knowledge, experience and clear conviction about his thought process and views on various subjects including Life, Death, Salvation and Sanyas. He answered all my questions with ease and explained to me with facts and figures, gave logical/rational answers, but the thirst to know every thing in one day was not ever-ending and  I was afraid, his destination may arrive any moment now and his discourses will be stopped automatically.

Train was running towards it's destination with high speed and so was the time which was not running but was flying. As the time passed, I started liking this Swami ji and gradually the deep sense of respect developed within and he was no more a stranger and so called Swami ji, I was getting more and more impressed with this young Swami ji, who was very practical, well behaved,  well mannered, knowledgeable, educated, well read and having positive attitude.

He was around 32 years of age, bachelor, post graduate in Sanskrit, became a disciple at the age of 18 and head of the Ashram at the age of 24 (when his guru expired). Since then, he is running the Ashram very successfully and having strength of ten lakh disciples spread all over the country and abroad.

The Ashram head quarter was at Haridwar, build on 15 acres of land, plus they were having 100 acres of agricultural land also where they grow crops, vegetables and housed 150+ cows, which is in the out-skirt of city limits, on the way to Rishikesh. Besides, Ashram was having  150+ disciples, Sanskrit School up to class ten and old age home. The land and building belongs to Ashram which was registered under the Hindu trust act.

I always wanted to know more about Indian Bhikshu, Guru, Naga, Ojha, Oghar, Swami, Sadhu, Sant, Sanyasi and Tantarik. Our conversation started in the afternoon which continued till late night, and it stopped only when the train reached it's destination at Bilaspur station. I got down at  the station along with Swami ji to wish him good bye and I was surprised to see the big crowd of his disciples at the platform, and most of the people were carrying garlands, flowers, snacks and hot/cold beverages; and they immediately started serving food to all passengers of our coach.

Swami ji was literally surrounded by his disciples and the distance between us was getting longer and longer and I thought, I will not be able to meet him again but to my utmost surprised, all of a sudden, Swami ji came in-front of me and said, -"you have not asked any thing for your-self, not an issue, but one day, you will have to come to our side and I shall be waiting for you with my open heart, may God guide your path and always be with you." I bow down and touched his feet with respect and he hugged me and blessed me with his love and affection. The fragrance of his blessings are still alive, very much, which I will not forget, within this life  span.

Many years have passed since, neither I could meet Swami ji nor I have visited his Ashram till date and I don't know how long will it take to reach his Ashram, may be the journey is very long and I am still not prepared for it or maybe I am not capable or qualified of being his true disciple in this lifetime. I pray to my Lord for his blessing to enable me to have enough strength, courage and confidence, so that I can put my right foot forward towards the final destination, wholeheartedly with my mind, body and soul, Tatha-asthu! 

With Prayers

Gurcharan

My True Gurdian, Guide and Rehnuma

I wanted to reach my customer's place before lunch time, where I was expecting an order, but due to very heavy traffic on the way, I reached my destination during the lunch break. The security person at the factory gate told me to wait at the reception and go inside only after the lunch break. I sat down at the reception and started imagining things and some how or the other, thoughts started coming to my mind, like, if I don't get this order, concerned person has gone on leave, competitor has given better price or the decision of the capital purchase postponed for a year etc. etc. And to divert my mind, I started reading a magazine which was lying at the reception, but I could not concentrate on it.

All of a sudden I was interrupted by some one from the back and when I look-up at the stranger, I simply jumped from my chair, oh my God, look who is here, the Unit Head himself standing in front of me; I came to meet him and his team for the order. He was looking at me and smiling, for few seconds, I was simply shocked and speechless, he asked me very politely "why are you sitting here at the reception, come to my chamber please?" 

Thereafter, he took me to his chamber and after Greetings, he asked me again "did you have your lunch, you must have left home early in the morning, isn't it?" And before I could answer his question, he came out from his chamber and took me to the staff canteen. I was offered lunch and when I asked him to join me, he said - "I already had my lunch, you carry on, we will have coffee together, alright."

Later, I met with his team members, but all said and done, in-spite of my best/sincere efforts, I could not get an order that day. I was told by the Purchase Manager that the proposal to buy the said machine has gone to head office for approval and budgetary sanction for capital purchase and they will release the purchase order and advance only after the due approval/sanction. I was not satisfied with their answer, but I was left with no option but to wait for some more weeks for the said order. They assured me that this order will be given to us, I must go home without any tension/worry and with peace of mind.

I was wondering, going back home without an order was not adviceable. And how to face my boss was a big question in front of me; because, I was over confident and have assured him that in this visit I will definitely get this order, due to my excellent customer relationship and my confidence level was above 90% for this client.

I was just wondering, how will I explain these things to my boss, and what excuse I will offer to him, I was dead sure that he will not buy my story of delay in getting this order, (which was long over-due). He will definitely ask me the basis of my so called confidence about this order and once again it's proven that I am not capable of forecasting and my judgmental skills are very poor. I have no option left but to leave this client for the time being and look for some other prospective clients for the order/s, so that I can achieving my yearly target, without fail.

After completion of my work, I was planning to leave, but then, I remember my host's invitation to have a cup of coffee with him. To be honest, I was not in the mood of having coffee. But at the same time, I wanted to convey my sincere thanks to my host for his warm hospitality.

Therefore, I visited my host, in his chamber with my sad/dull face and he immediately understood the reason of my sadness and said: -"you did not get an order today I know, but you don't worry, order is all yours, it will take some more time, because HO has raised few quarries, which has been answered, the revised proposal has been sent again and we are expecting an approval within next 15 days from head office, as soon as we get the approval will let you know, you don't worry and cheer up."

In between our talks, he opened his flask and poured coffee in two cups, (which were lying on the table), and he offered me, hot cup of black coffee, which he brought from his home for himself. Although, coffee has never been my favorite, but that day, I liked the black hot cup of coffee very much. I had witnessed his deep sense of care, concern, love and sincerity for the well being of his company, employees, vendors and customers, which was crystal clear, transparent and it has further made me comfortable and gave immense satisfaction to my soul and I left his office with peace of mind, because whatever he said to me that day was truth and only truth; which was genuine, pure, transparent and 24 carat gold.

28 years have passed since then, but even today, I very clearly and distinctly remember the taste, flavor and richness of that cup of coffee, because it was offered to me by my client with his love, care, concern and affection.

On my way back home, I explained to myself, I did not get an order this time, never mind, but with the grace of God, I have met with a perfect Gentleman, who is not only a good human being but also very decent, well behaved, down to earth and a highly professional Businessman with a human touch.

And to my utmost surprise, a week later, I got a telegram from the said client's office, in which they advised me to collect the order with advance from their office immediately.

This visionary with his determination, dedication, clear-vision, positive attitude, Midas touch and charisma has made him the top class business tycoon of Indian corporate world and he is holding the portfolio of "Managing Director" of  Rs. 3500 Crores plus empire, very successfully, in India today. 

I feel honoured and privileged to have him as my true Guardian, Guide and Rehnuma. The God has given me the best gift of my life, which I cherish with pride. I pray to my God Almighty (with folded hands), to bless him with his wisdom and all his dreams may come true, Amen!

With Prayers

Gurcharan  

I sincerely ask for your forgiveness

It has never happened in my life before, the people to whom I trust, believe, love and care the most today they are no more with me because they don't want me in their lives and all of a sudden I became a stranger and an outsider who is not wanted in their world and all the doors were closed on my face.

Today, while sitting alone at my cave/shell/home, I started rewinding my life from the begining, which I could remember very distinctly, clearly and properly; thereafter, evaluating each and every incident, episode, action, deeds of my past and trying to pin-point the route-cause of my mistakes, which has made my present life miserable, painful and hell.

But to my utmost surprise, I started trembling, shaking and shivering to remember the number of incidents which took place in the past were wrong/incorrect, which could have been avoided, and when I look back and see from today's prospective, they all seems to me, my wrong doings. But when I did those things at that particular point of time, they were not wrong; may be because of my childhood ignorance or sheer madness, I have done it, but that was my past and those deeds were done without any wrong intension, intent or motives, it just happened in that particular situation/incident which was beyond my control, and I just can not set them right today, inspite of my best intentions.

After deep thinking/evaluation, I have come to the conclusion that we are simple human beings and God has made us a social animal; in this life we keep on making similar mistakes again and again intentionally or unintentionally, but in real life the wise-man is he who learns from his mistakes and move forward. But if he starts compiling life's all wrong doings and living with it, then one day he will find his life itself a bundle of mistakes and the true essence of life will be gone with the wind.

Therefore, I have decided to ask for their forgiveness in your presence (you be my judge), from each and every person/s, who came into my life since my childhood, and I am sure and confident they will accept my sincere apology and they will excuse/pardon me once and for all, which might have hurt them very severely, since the scares of my sins were so deep that it hurts them even today.

Oh my lord, I beg of you and ask for your forgiveness for all my wrong doings, mistakes and deeds. Instead of giving them my love and affection, I have hurt them with my selfish act of arrogance, high headedness and ruthless behavior. Therefore, I pray to God Almighty with my folded hands, please make the life of each and every person/s, (who came into my life, as a friend, family or stranger), comfotable, smooth, trouble free with your blessings and give them good health, happiness, wealth, joy, fame, love; all their dreams may come true; and make them so powerful that nobody can hurt them, in this life time, again, Amen! 

With Prayer

Gurcharan

The witness of my sins

Whenever I don't get a sleep, I simply go out on the terrace and start thinking about the past incidents which makes me worried, disturbed and impatient. It makes me very low and sad and my heart starts weeping and gradually my eyes also gets wet with tears and I don't know for how long this continues.

All of a sudden I start communicating with someone who never came in front of me, He has never shown me His face but He has got a very sweet and at the same time very deep voice. He started communicating with me in my language, which I speak, whether it's a Bengali, Punjabi, Hindi or English, he responded in the same language with a very clear and perfect pronunciation.

I put forward my reasoning's, logics and justifications for my deeds. He listens to me quietly but He never accepted a single answer for my deeds, instead he started proving me wrong with facts and figures. I sometimes wonder, how he knows every things and that too in the right perspective without missing even a single link and incident.

Still I am not convinced with His reasoning's and I say the same thing to Him with full volume of my voice, spirit, force and arrogance. But He never gets angry, upset or disturbed with my selfish, greedy and negative attitudes and He starts explaining to me the incident from the third angel, which never came to my mind earlier.

Oh my God, what I have done, what will happens to me now? As usual, I started criticizing, cursing and shouting at myself and on my stupid deeds. All of a sudden the tears starts flowing again, uninterruptedly, my voice get chocked and I sit down on the floor. I don't know for how long I cried that night, there was nobody on the terrace  to console me or make me quite.

But I do have the witnesses of my sins with me that night; the moon, stars and the dark, deep and a very long night. I felt as if they were also crying with me and making me realize about my mistakes apparently and also putting an envelope of my guilt on my deeds.

And all of a sudden, I saw a bright thin red ray on the eastern part of the sky and the Sun God was planning to fill the sky with his broad smile, bright light and warm atmosphere, which will further boost our moral and we will again start doing our routine works as usual, which may be good, bad or ugly, we don't know.  

With Prayers

Gurcharan

  

  

The real Angels of my life

I have been blessed with lots of love and affection of my parents, guru, well wishers, friends and many unknown but good souls who simple came in my life blessed me with their wisdom and went-off without asking for any favour, help or support. In the past fifty years of my life this miracle has happened not once or twice, but several times and every time I used to think that, may be, this would be the last favour I am going to get from them; but I was repeatedly proven wrong by my God Almighty and his Kripa (blessings) continued to bestow on me and I was simply astonished, surprised, speechless and shocked to see my Lord's uninterrupted flow of Karishma, Kripa and Karuna.

I have met them at many places which include the ashram, airport lobby, burning-ghat, book stores, church, corporate offices, client's place, gurudwara, hill stations, hotel lobby, library, mandir, mazaar, market, park and river-bank. They all were from different age groups, characters, colours, caste, creed, customs and sex and they have always tried to answer all my questions, solved my puzzles and shown me the road-map to move ahead in this life. To be honest with you, they have also taught me to face the situation up-front and with clear, unbiased and opened mind. They have been the real source of my existence and inspiration of my eternal journey.

It's also true that they were not at all like: Acharaya Shree Rajneesh, Master Chari, Shri J. Krishnamurti and Shri Shri Ravi Shankar. I have not seen my God Almighty, but yes, I have seen his chosen Angels who are beautiful, great, wonderful souls, with full of life, having smiling face, always offering their unconditional affection, blessings and love. I used to get the glimpses of my God Almighty in their personality, I also knew for sure that my eyes are not accustoms to see my Lords in-person, but yes, I was certain and convinced that they were my true Angels and when-ever they came in my life, I got new lease of life which is very precious, precise and priceless for me.

Even today, when I remember the faces of those good souls who came into my life, did good job for me and left without leaving their impression, foot-print and signature. They have became a part of my daily prayers, I remember them with my mind, body and soul, offer my prayers, which is full of gratitude, love, respect and trust, because they were the real source of my life. 

At the end, I pray to God almighty that He must bless them all with his wisdom, love and affection and where-ever they are today, they should always remain there as my true master, guide and angels, amen!   

With Prayers,

Gurcharan

If there is any problem solve it

If we are happy at our present position, we must be there and be happy. And by any chance if we are not happy and satisfied with our present position, then, it's a matter of great concern and worry. Therefore, we must sit-down, do serious thinking, do SWOT analysis thoroughly and note down all the plus and minus points to remain in the  situation, if required discuss it with our mentor, guide and/or our best friends and be honest in what we think feel and believe. And after this exercise, if  we still feel low and lost then we can plan our next move accordingly with extra care and caution.

We have been in the similar situation many a times and we used to think of running away from the present crises but the fact remains, if there is any situation we have to face it and if there is any problem we will have to solve it with our sincere efforts and capabilities. We will get out of this situation very successfully, but we will have to keep our patience so that things should not go out of proportion and our control because many a times we become so influenced by the present crises that we simply start thinking negatively at that particular moment and the said problem becomes a major issue for us and our total focus and energy is devoted towards the problem itself and we simply forget to solve the problem at large. 

It's a universal truth that nine out of ten problems are man-made, or if we can say so, created by our own illusions. As a matter of fact, most of the time the simple situation becomes a problem for us due to various reasons and the fact of the matter is to keep ourselves cool, think positively, analyze properly and come out of the crises without creating any more problems for us 

Therefore it's always advisable to understand the situation thoroughly, so that it remain under our control and we can solve it without any major hindrance  And by doing so, we will become an expert in solving day to day problem with ease and without much hassles.

With Prayers

Gurcharan

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Never quit, if you want to grow in a company

Today getting a good job is not a big deal but yes, getting a right job is off course an issue which cannot be ignored. Similarly, joining an organization, learning the job, performing the duty with dedication, honesty, hard work and sincerity; giving our 100% to the company with mind, body and soul and also growing with the company, would be the right approach in a professional career. There are two types of employees in any organization, the first one, who stay in a company, perform their duty as instructed and advised by the management and the second  one are those employees who wants to grow in a company, think out of  the box and do things in a non-conventional way, which in return makes  them an extra ordinary employees  and  great performers in the company. We have many such examples in our corporate world today:

1) Ms. Chanda D. Kochhar - MD+CEO - ICICI Bank, Mumbai

2) Mr. Manoj Kohli - JMD+CEO of Bharti Airtel, New Delhi

3) Mr. Rajiv Sinha-DMD of DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd., Delhi  

4) Mr. Sanjay Chamaria - VC+MD of Magma Fincorp Ltd., Kolkata

Each and every one of the above mentioned senior professionals have given their golden period of  life to the company which developed and progressed with their sweat, blood,  hard work and passion.  They  have always worked with honesty, dedication, and performed within the company's policies, rules  and regulations without disturbing it's culture and environment;  at the same time maintaining a very high standard of moral with a very strong personality and doing things in an ethical and right mannerism; sincerely achieving company's short term and long term targets; strictly following corporate policies  without any deviation and/or dilution,  putting  sincere efforts, hard work and keeping strong belief  in corporate mission  and policies. They were not 9-AM to 5-PM types of employees and many a times they have sacrificed on their personal front and that too with their own will, so that they can  be with the company at the time of the crises and also during the most difficult period due to external reasons. 

In their up-hill task and professional journey, they were supported by their family and friends who stood  by them through out their long, difficult  and pain staking journey; at the end of the day when they come back home with job satisfaction, lots of pride, peace and sense of satisfaction of a true, honest  and dedicated employee. In return, they were rewarded and appreciated by their Employer/Owner/Promoter/Stake-holder/Director with  lots of Money, Position, Perks, Fame, Stock options and  they also earned high respect from their  Clients, Colleagues, Corporate world, Employers,  Family, Friends, Society and Vendors 

We sometimes get impatient with our own position and simply quit from our existing job/position for some silly reason/problem and for small monetary benefits due to lack of clear vision and foresight. In such cases our excuses were so illogical, irrational, unprofessional and selfish.  Our  sheer ambition also becomes a hindrance on the way to success in our career path and forced us to simply jump from one company to another  for short term gains and by virtue of this  unprofessional act,  we  always put our wrong foot forward and land up in mid-term career crises, which further bring us down by thousands of feet in our career goal. Later, when we sit back and think about our past deeds, we make fool of ourselves with such stupid and unprofessional act, which has directly effected our career growth.

For any successful career one needs to work  with lots of planning, clear vision,  define goals,  well planned road map, hard-work,  honesty, determination, dedication, positive out-look, patience and  thereafter, we can achieve our predetermined career targets and goals without any major problem.

There is no shortcut to success, and if we have to achieve our professional and personal goals, we must stick to one company provided we are wanted there and treated well as a good human being without any prejudice, partiality and preference. We, therefore, must be dedicated and  committed  towards our company; at the same time, we should also take an Oath, (like Doctors and Army personnel does at the time of joining) to work for the company whole-heartedly till the last day of our retirement with the same zeal, dedication, hard work and passion;  come what may, we will  never quit/resign. We must think in a broader  prospect and work in an organization as a  team-member and make our company goals and targets as our own personal goal and target and put our right foot forward to achieve them first.

To  do so,  we will have to put-in lots of hard work and many a times sacrifice our family life for better and secured future for our loved-ones; to be honest, at the end of the day, it's  a win-win situation for both of us and we must come forward and do it with our sincere efforts, dedication, determination and single-mindedness, so that all the preset professional goals can be achieved without any difficulty. We would be the happiest person, if on arrival at home, (after attending the late evening marathon meeting at HO), our loved ones welcome us with a broad smile.

With Prayers

Gurcharan