November 17, 2016
Sometimes we have doubts. Does God really care about us? Does He love us or protect us when we are unable to fend for ourselves? I heard an amazing account that shows that God and Guru are there when we most need them. Here is the story, as told to our center leader from Pune, India, and relayed to Devi and me this morning. It happened in 2014 to a young man in Ahmedabad, in the Indian state of Gujarat.
The young man was very good at business and became rich while still quite young. But his quick rise created jealousy among some of his rivals, and one day they falsely accused him of cheating. The papers picked up and printed the juicy story. The next morning when his parents read the account (he was still living at home), they threw him out of the house. At the bank, he found that his account and all of his credit cards hadbeen frozen. From one day to the next, he found himself abandoned and nearly penniless.
Stunned, wandering, and hungry, he stopped at a roadside stall to buy some food with his few rupees. As he was standing there a young monk in orange robes came up to him and said, “The food here is not very healthy.” The young man replied that it was all he could afford.
The monk said, “Come with me, and I will feed you,” and proceeded to take him to a nearby Kali temple where he was given a sumptuous meal.
By this time it was evening, and his new friend asked, “Where are you staying?”
The young man replied sadly, “I have nowhere to stay.”
The orange-robed monk said, “Come with me. You can stay at my ashram.”
They proceeded to a nearby ashram of Yogoda Sat-Sangha, where the monk led him to a room and fed him once again. In the morning, as the young man was leaving, a guard stopped him and asked what he was doing there. The young man explained that a monk had given him a room for the night. The guard said, “Visitors are not permitted to stay here. And besides, no monks are here at this time.”
The young man, quite bewildered, pointed to the cover photo of a nearby Autobiography of a Yogi, and said, “There, that is the monk who helped me.” He was, of course, astounded to learn that the man who had helped him had been “dead” for over sixty years.
Soon his denouncers were themselves denounced. The man quickly regained his wealth, and went on to achieve even greater success.
But a question arises: What drew Master to protect this man, who had never even heard his name? One reason might be that ever since he was a mere child, this man had had an implicit faith in the Divine. Or perhaps it was his karma due to a past-life connection with Yogananda.
But there is another possible explanation that I find more interesting and compelling. Maybe this story of God and Guru’s grace is meant for you and for me. Are we not in need of reassurance and help from time to time? Perhaps this miracle was performed not only to help that young man, but also so that his story could reach you at this very moment and show, once again, that Master is watching, loving, and protecting each of us in the hour of our need.
In gratitude to the Divine,
Nayaswami Jyotish
© 2016 by Hansa Trust. All rights reserved.
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