MEETING WITH MAHASHAKTI

Before the tragedy struck....

I had told the two young men things that diverted their thoughts from the impending danger to Mr.Sattar's family.But I couldn't keep quiet.I didn't know how Imtiaz would react to my suggestion to keep twelve rupees in his father's wallet secretly.This was something easier said than done. Yet I told the boy to carry out Baba's order.Mr Sattar was dead against Sai. According to him,Sai was a charlatan and polluted Islam by adopting wrong religious practices. Imtiaz however was a very obedient child. When I told him about what I had heard in my half-awake state,he instantly got ready to do as directed. I gave him a ten rupee note and a two rupee coin.He cleverly inserted them in his father's wallet. After this I couldn't help bothering about its meaning.I prayed to Baba to clear me up but there was no response from his side.I kept worrying about it most of the time.

After the passage of two days,the boy arrived in the evening and told me about their potato farming in the village. His father had gone to their village to inspect the potatoes in the fields. He was rather childish and overly concerned about it.The next morning when it was Sunday news came that a cobra had bitten Sattar in a potato field.Sattar was treated at the hospital in the village and was immediately taken to the famous SCB Hospital in Cuttack.
There was no news of the family.I visited him there twice.His condition was precarious and he even couldn't open his eyes. Imtiaz and his mother told me that Sattar had seen Satan again behind the same roadside mango tree minutes before the tragedy struck.He spent one month in the ICU.It took him nine months to be able to stand!Then what was the meaning and significance of rupees twelve?

Imtiaz,Pranay,my younger brother,my daughter and my wife Mrunmayee were the people with whom I interacted closely. My two sisters lived in Balasore with whom I shared my interests and ideas.

My elder brother Niranjan Dash is a never ending source of inspiration.His positivity is infectious and my sister-in-law is full of love and affection for all of us.I also love to talk to my nephews.In spite of all this,I was hundred percent alone because I was unable to share my thoughts and feelings with any of them. When I was translating Shraddha Saburi into English,an author's opinion had appealed to me a lot. "Can anyone express their intimate experiences?" The answer now I realise is a big No.If you tell your beautiful experiences to the worldly people,they can't help laughing at you? They will call you either a liar or a madman because after having them you hardly believe that you have experienced them yourself. You alone are the one who can relive and cherish them.Your master if a perfectly capable one can most satisfactorily answer each and every question that arises in your mind.For some particular reason I was terribly upset and was apprehensive of some unknown trouble approaching.Totally unasked,my great master gave me the most befitting answer that no such danger was ahead.After teaching a boy I was coming back on my bike.I heard a noise over my head. The motorcycle was moving.Using my right hand I caught a lemon that was falling to the ground...!My surprise was immense and unlimited. How was I able to catch a falling lemon...?It was beyond my belief,beyond my wildest possible expectations...I came home and started browsing the internet. I got my answer.Lemons indicated auspiciousness. My worries left me.

Now both the young men most of the time asked me how to discover God.Pranay had been told to read the Geeta whether he understood it or not. Similarly Imtiaz had been severely beaten and tortured to offer Nawaz five times a day. Like every other fool whether Hindu or Muslim,each of them were committed to their religious texts. They were wrongly convinced that religion was a matter of faith only. What a terribly mistaken idea! True religion is not at all a matter of faith because faith being always blind can't lead you through the proper way;you may easily fall into a ditch or trip over a thorny bush and get bruised.True religion is pure science.

Once Imtiaz said to me,"You always tell us search and you will find God. Please explain what you mean by a search.How did you start such a search...?"

I thought marks and milestones were required for true seekers of Truth. I did have them.It all started with my visits to astrologers.The very first question that arose in my mind was:"Were all our Hindu saints and ascetics after illusions only and were they all crazy?" I acquired some knowledge of astrology and the position of planets in my horoscope confirmed that I was poor in Mathematics. And that was true ? The great Odia astronomer Pathani Samanta was an astrologer of the highest order...!He couldn't be a superstitious person. All Hindu scientists and mathematicians were staunch believers. Only the superstitious modern scientist is skeptical about God.If the planets exerted their influence on us and if our great astrologers could accurately predict the future events,there was bound to be some outside power.I vigorously searched for the outside power and eventually I located the existence of that from within my self.The outward search invariably turns inward and that is the only truth asserting that every living creature is a reservoir of unlimited power,wisdom and happiness. I had become sure that I could establish close contact with God and then will follow all worldly enjoyments but I was grossly wrong and hundred percent mistaken.

I told the two boys all this and they were gaping with wonder and utter consternation.Now if I see a woman however charming and pretty,I can't be attracted. This is the strangest part of my experience. I freely observe her and instantly realise that she is my own image and an extension.Such a fact was once beyond my wildest possible expectations.I keep wondering how our great sages used to get married to charming princesses.Without some ignorance nobody can marry or be attracted by a beautiful woman.I no more wonder why Ramakrishna Paramahamsa worshipped his wife.This must have been a very very easy job.Prior to my own experience,I suspected the sage of having some kind of clandestine relationship with her.I also suspected Swami Vivekananda and thought he must have been attracted by Sister Nivedita's physical charms. I was skeptical about Sri Ma and Auronindo's relationship. Now I realise OSHO was not hundred percent spiritual and most of his wisdom appears to be more materialistic than spiritual.He was full of wit and humour but lacked the knowledge of Truth.
Motivational speakers say witty and intelligent things but I don't enjoy listening to them. They are leading the people along the wrong path. They tell them how to achieve success.In other words,they want to transform their audience into camels.The camel,says Ramakrishna,eats thorny plants,bleeds in the mouth but does so again and again. I am no more interested in people's success stories.The conquest of the fear of death in absolute terms is the only success that counts.But there are millions of daredevils who proudly go to the gallows with smiling faces to immortalise themselves.