BLESSINGS

BLESSINGS

Do humans count their blessings? Blessings are benedictions given to us by the Divine/ the nature. Are we grateful to our body, to our breath?  The guardian angels are always there to protect us. But we are seldom grateful to the enormous blessings showered upon us by the creation.

“If we never experience the chill of a dark winter, it is very unlikely that we will ever cherish the warmth of a bright summer’s day. Nothing stimulates our appetite for the simple joys of life more than the starvation caused by sadness or desperation. In order to complete our amazing life journey successfully, it is vital that we turn each and every dark tear into a pearl of wisdom, and find the blessing in every curse.” 
― Anthon St. Maarten, Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny

My wife is currently in Delhi and was to meet our old friends. Friends from school and college days. I enquired on the WhatsApp as to whether the programme of an evening get together was finalised or not.  He merely remarked that you are lucky and a charmed person to have such as one as this as your soul mate.

The year was 1992, my first posting in the railways. I was posted on Ambala Division of the Northern Railways and as a neophyte was learning to grapple with the passenger and freight operations of the division. Upon clearing the Civil Services examination, one assumed that everything would be hunky dory. But that was not to be. It was indeed a wrangle to establish a position in the hierarchy.

In order to prove my mettle, I became obese, gave up all exercises, started smoking and drinking heavily. It had a debilitating effect on my physical and mental health. Finally, I collapsed under severe strain and pressure. In a state of haze and daze I was taken atop a truck to the Saharanpur Railway Hospital and then to the Civil Hospital.  I was breathless, profusely sweating and absolutely distraught. The blood pressure had sky rocketed to 200 plus/ 180 and certain abnormalities were detected and revealed in the ECG and in the angiography.

The prayers of my wife and family proved to be the succour and my lifeboat.  For next couple of years, I maintained sobriety and smoking was a strict no and a taboo. I began living a disciplined life.  My wife took care of me, my dietary habits and for my health she was singularly reciting the Hanuman Chalisa.

But the monkey mind is always restless. It is never at peace with self and constantly at war with some force.  Once again I began my dalliance with alcohol and an occasional drag. Over a period of time, a couple of pegs got converted to half a bottle and I was soon to consume a full bottle. It was a matter of few months that one bottle became one and a half and eventually became two with my drinking becoming quotidian.  I became an alcoholic and began smoking recklessly.  It was indeed torturous for my wife, parents and children. But I was arrogant paying scant attention to the pleadings of my wife to kick the habits. She silently wept and suffered.  I could not empathise with her pain and anguish.

As things were becoming uncontrollable my wife stepped in and enrolled me for the Part 1 Course of the Art of Living in Jaipur (we were posted at Jaipur at that point in time). By the blessings of H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar I could learn the unique breathing technique of Sudarshan Kriya(Proper Vision Process). Though I did not quit drinking and smoking immediately, fortuitously the seeds of change were planted.

After an arduous struggle I gave up alcohol and smoking after attending various courses of the Art of Living.  I distinctly recall the momentous day when we were to travel to Delhi from Hyderabad. It was 9^th of December 2006.  I was having a swig from the bottle before the family could board AP Express. My wife snatched away the bottle from my hands. By almighty God’s grace and Guru Kripa it was the last time I touched alcohol.

The Part 1 course, the Advanced Meditation Course, the Divya Samaj Ka Nirman Course, the Blessings Course, the Sahaj Samadhi Course and the Teachers Training Course of the Art of Living have all fortified me to maintain my sobriety.

I need to count my blessings and be extremely grateful to my wife who displayed remarkable pluck, conviction and courage in the most trying periods of our lives.

“God grant me The Serenity to Accept the things I cannot change

Courage to change The Things I can AND Wisdom to know the Difference. “- The Serenity Prayer

All addicts need to remember the strength of this prayer, count their blessings and be extremely grateful to all those who have helped us when we were in the cesspool and in the quagmire of negative and arrogant thought process.