I have mentioned this to some of my close friends a number of times, I am so grateful and feel so gracious to have so many wonderful and loving people around me, both professionally and personally. This is my personal tribute to a special person who has had a prodigious influence on me in so many ways.
I have mostly been an agnostic person most of my life, never in my wildest dreams could I imagine someone having such an extraordinary impact in my life ever since I found HIM (rather HE found me, through co-incidence). HE changed my life and the life of so many others, I couldn’t really imagine getting pulled by a person who looked and behaved like an ordinary human being, yet his extraordinary ability to pull with his unconditional love is beyond mere words and beyond any comprehension.
To start with, if not for HIS style of pragmatic talks and HIS charismatic aura, I wouldn’t come even close to anything “spiritual”. That way I feel HE was such a diplomat, pulled so many us close to HIM, tricked us into making us fall in LOVE with HIM. But beyond that, HE spoke with such authority as if HE was directly experiencing what HE was talking about, and not like a scribe quoting theories from scriptures. Gradually, the personal experiences and co-incidences I had with HIM, built my faith in HIM and brought me closer to HIM and to the practice of Surat-Shabd-Yoga (which essentially means union of attention and the sound current), HE really made me and many others experience unconditional LOVE in its purest form; HE truly exemplified LOVE and DEVOTION in its true essence. I strongly believe, any spiritual faith is established only through a series of experiences, merely listening to discourses and not following those leads nowhere and is a shear waste of time and quickly turns into blind faith. HE always maintained that the spiritual path that he’s urging us to tread on is based on living faith, it takes immense courage, requires exemplary determination in every aspect of life and necessitates one to fulfill all worldly obligations and not to run from them, claiming to be a spiritual being.
HE left HIS physical body on 24th December 2020, and left so many of us with loads of unforgettable memories, it felt like a carnival which lasted 5 years. HE was a rare real Soorma (warrior), who reached the epitome of excellence in so many ways, which would take others lifetimes. HE reached the pinnacle of success in his personal and professional life and his spiritual life, the balance HE maintained in all dimensions of his life was truly exemplary. Never saw a frown on his eyebrows despite everything he went thru in his tireless trips across the globe despite being 90+ years of age, meeting hundreds of people 1:1 each day, which was hard to imagine but it seemed HE was on a mission, like a shepherd determined to find HIS marked sheep, before gong back home.
Many
of us will miss HIS physical presence would be an understatement, the thing
that I’ll miss the most would be the grace and unconditional love flowing thru
those twinkling eyes, which can’t be captured in mere words but only by sheer
experience in HIS presence, HIS touch on the head, HIS pat on the cheeks, HIS
powerful aura and a mere look from those eyes enough to bewitch anyone, as if
they were a portal to a whole ocean of LOVE behind them. When I look at the
last meeting with HIM in retrospect, with a bunch of us, I feel HE knew it was
HIS last with us and HE showered HIS grace to the fullest. HIS favorite Shabd being “Jo mange thakur tere te, soyi soyi
deve…” (The lord gives whatever is asked from him), which I have always felt has
been more of a message from HIM, and something to be experienced and realised than a Shabd to be recited and listened to, but the bigger
Question is do we know what we need as against what we ask for, I feel HE has known all along what I need and at what juncture. In one
of HIS talks he quoted a verse from Krishna’s address to Arjun, which still
reverberates in my ears and got embossed in my memory and a lifetime lesson in the way he explained - Yoga Karmasu
Kaushalam, which essentially means doing your duty to the best
of your abilities and to the best of skills without getting attached to the
results and the outcome, is the purest and highest form of yoga.
I miss HIM, I long to meet HIM again some time somewhere, though I know HE would be smiling upon me as I pen down this narration, the memory of HIM holding my hand is so fresh as if it happened yesterday, as HE looked into my eyes, as if HE could see through me and my soul and said “Amit, do you know I’m with you all the time…”
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