Golconda and more - Read more in A Story of Faith and Miracles - a true account available on Amazon

Golconda and more It was the faith of my mother in the breathing techniques and other holistic approaches besides prayer proved providential when my wife enrolled me for the Art of Living Part 1 course in Jaipur. The unique rhythmic became the life boat in such trying circumstances and certainly performed a miracle as I could work despite extraordinary addiction to Bacchus. Humans think, homo sapiens procrastinate but the cosmos unfolds with immaculate timing which ensures that humans maintain time. My mother always hesitated to call us at Jaipur assuming I would pick up the phone and she would be forced to exchange a few words with me. My mother normally never interfered in my transfers and postings. But this time she put her foot on the pedal and pressed the accelerator and sought help from a close family friend and former trade union activist, who was also a staunch devotee of Sathya Sai Baba. It was once again faith and belief which came into play to perform a miracle. As I stepped out at Secunderabad station sometime past midnight my head was reeling on account of excessive consumption of alcohol during our journey from Jaipur to Hyderabad. I scrambled for space, fresh air and was unsteady on my feet much to chagrin and discomfiture of my wife as the coolies who carted our luggage smirked at my hapless condition. My parents believed and were hopeful that the change of place would trigger a positive development and in anticipation clutched the last straws that my star would shine in the land of the Nizams. A visit to a liver specialist “I am amazed at how your son is moving around with this fatty liver…. It would be catastrophic if he continues to drink in this manner,” two noted haematologists of the twin cities were to confide in my father and my wife. Once again in my life the abdomen and the organs (the mooladhara chakra was in question) were to be under the scanner. My mother who had earlier administered various alternative treatments on me at Bikaner resumed these techniques, while my father’s mind oscillated between auto-suggestion and the mysterious person whom he met at Bikaner. On the professional front my wife achieved a breakthrough as she went back to teaching at a prestigious school after a longish break. The children who were now growing up could see the pain in her eyes and tried to assuage her trauma. Though I was practicing Sudarshan Kriya at home regularly, I was still not attending the weekly follow-ups nor did I participate in any of the courses which are recommended to all who undertake the Part 1 Course of Art of Living. But it remained an enigma as to how I continued practicing the home-going kriya (or Short Sudarshan Kriya) unflinchingly. This was a clear manifestation of faith and belief in the power of breath, almost waiting for a miracle to happen. Why this happened remained a mystery! My answer to all doctors and liver specialists who examined me was that I practiced Short Sudarshan Kriya every day (despite consuming alcohol), drank plenty of buttermilk and consumed Liv. 52. The liver specialists did acknowledge that Sudarshan Kriya seemed to have had immense therapeutic value and benefits. It did seem to expunge toxins from the body and the cells were rejuvenated by fresh inject of oxygen. Several medical practitioners agree that this rhythmic breathing technique increases the level of prana or chi, helping it to virtually permeate into each cell of the body. A large number of studies conducted in AIIMS, NIMHANS and other hospitals only buttressed this point of view. My room at Rail Nilayam, South Central Railway Headquarters while extremely spacious had a very dry and desultory appearance. There was a calendar of Lord Venkateshwara Swami and his consorts Bhudevi and Padmavati. I used to religiously pay obeisance to the Lord whenever I entered my room and as I left the room in the evenings. The job profile was absolutely desultory. I had to monitor the Freight Operations Information System (FOIS). All that I was required to do was make a few phone calls and check certain computerized sheets. My time was largely spent reading a few papers and magazines and discussing politics with a close friend who appreciated my mental state. In the meantime, mother gave me her precious treasure- the Sai Charitra (the story and miraculous powers of Sai Baba of Shiridi) to ward of baleful eye and any malefic planets and asked me to read it while travelling to the office and back and whenever I was free. “The miracles of Shirdi Sai Baba would be an agent of change,” she would say. Every Thursday my mother and grandmother would pray at Raghavendra Swamy Mutt and give us the prasadam. At this point I had once again lost the trappings of power and was compelled to cover a distance of about eight kilometres by an autorickshaw rather than travel by an ambassador car (that undoubted sign of power of being a government servant). Much to the delight of my parents and my wife, I remained sober for a few days, till my mind capitulated once again and while returning back from work, I started picking up a quarter bottle of gin, which I consumed upon returning home. The quarter very shortly turned into a half and very soon a full bottle and the consumption only grew. The family members were quick-witted to appreciate as to what was going on as I sat stoned, literally like a zombie at the dining table and heard stinging remarks from a concerned mother. However, the following morning, I would touch her feet and do Sudarshan Kriya and before leaving for office would again touch her feet. My mother also gave me a book on Raghavendra Swami, the Dwaita saint of Mantralayam which I kept in my brief case in addition to the Sai Charitra. My grandmother and mother had over a period of time developed deep faith in Raghavendra Swamy and in the miraculous powers of Sai Baba of Shiridi to engineer a change in my personality. My mother and grandmother were also to visit Shivam where Sathya Sai Baba followers held satsangs. Shri V.S.R. Moorty, a spiritual scientist and a staunch devotee of Baba who was also known to our family conducted satsangs at our residence which were well attended. “What was the need of all this? Was it not an overdose of religiosity as there no change in my attitude to life,” my wife thought. Though there was no improvement in me vis-a -vis my drinking, nevertheless I continued reading the two books and practising Sudarshan Kriya every day. I am sure it is my faith that helped me when one fine day on my way back home to my parent’s place (as we had yet to be allotted railway quarters) the autorickshaw I was travelling by toppled in the midst of a huge traffic jam. But thankfully and most inexplicably I emerged unscathed. Most certainly it was the faith of my parents, grandmother and my wife which protected me and a miracle took place. The autorickshaw diver suffered minor bruises and I absolutely suffered no injury. The stellar moment was that I had Sai Charitra in my hand and was reading the book … I narrated the incident to all the family members, who gave a wry smile. Promptly my grandmother warded-off the evil eye using salt as is the practice beyond Vindhyas. “At least now for the sake of Shiridi Sai Baba you stop drinking,” she was to say. But days turned into weeks, weeks into months and I continued my dalliance with liquor. Somewhere in between Vasu Uncle took me to AA meetings again as he did so in Delhi. In Hyderabad I learnt the Serenity Prayer, which I still keep in my pouch till date as a reminder about how helpless an alcoholic can be or for that matter any addict. SERENITY PRAYER “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.” Amidst all this chaos in my life as I continued to drink, I maintained the practice of Sudarshan Kriya without a break every morning and after that a short walk of fifteen minutes. This was essential as I felt extremely uncomfortable in the mornings on account of binge drinking which led to immense problems (the age- old and chronic problems of abdomen continued to be a severe irritant). Years ago, while in the womb the transmigratory souls had once mentioned that it was so essential to balance the three doshas- vata, pitta and kapha and my conscience endorsed this point of view. Thus, it is paramount that all physical exercise (be it aerobics, yoga, muscle training), our diet, breathing techniques and meditation balance the three doshas. I compounded all my problems with the consumption of junk food and quotidian drinking which led to abdominal problems, restlessness in the body and mind and finally a highly disturbed sleep. It was temporally arrested by intake of anti-biotics and butter milk. But it was positively the practice of Sudarshan Kriya which provided oxygen to the moribund cells in my body. During that time, one fine day I was summoned by the COM of the zone. I hastened to his room after paying another round of obeisance to Lord Venkateshwara and his consorts and swallowing two tablets of Alprax to sooth my frayed nerves. He looked at me mischievously and in a stern voice announced that I had been transferred to Guntakal as Sr DOM on the express orders of the General Manager, and that I had to pack up my bags and leave for Guntakal post haste. It was a tough and challenging post as the railway had to load humungous quantity of iron ore to China. This was required by their government for staging the Olympic Games. “Take your family along with you, so that you do not feel lonely. Work hard, get immersed in freight operations and not in liquor,” barked my benefactor, the COM of South-Central Railway. It was a challenging task and they opined as I would be occupied with work over a period of time, I would give up drinking. The bijou railway town of Guntakal dots the landscape of Anantapur district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The arid region is replete with iron ore, limestone, cement plants, power houses – the temples of modern India as Pandit Nehru would say. During my stint at Guntakal Division on South Central Railway, I happened to visit the mutt of Raghavendra Swami at Mantralayam. The alcoholic mind smuggled a bottle of gin and a few cigarettes into the precincts of the holy shrine. After paying obeisance at the shrine, I was desperate to consume liquor in my room at the mutt. Upon my return to the room, I was shocked to see the bottle absolutely empty. There was no crack in the bottle nor was the seal tampered with or broken, yet the entire alcohol was spilt outside on the carpet and my clothes. Only my puja material and the notes of Part 1 of the Art of Living course which I had jotted down at Jaipur were spared. To me, this was a strong manifestation from the divine. This was no hallucination, but a clear message sent to me by Raghavendra Swami and Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar that enough was enough! And I had to positively abstain from drinking alcohol. The seeds of change were being slowly implanted by the divine power. My maternal aunts who were present during the pilgrimage endorsed the view and my inner conscience sent a similar signal. A few months later I was once again transferred back to Hyderabad as consumption of excessive alcohol was not tolerated by the establishment. Despite this, I was able to carve a niche for myself and the division as we won General Manager’s shields for excellent performance in punctuality and in safety. Once back in Hyderabad in a horribly drunken stupor and I found myself in a scrap outside the Chief Minister’s Bungalow on Banjara Hills with the cops. A few hours ago, I had had a tete-a-tete with our COM and that was followed by a lengthy discussion with our family doctor where I was certainly not sober. She concluded I needed psychiatric attention to grapple with the problem of my alcoholism. I was taken to a psychiatrist and was now garrisoned so to speak, in a rehab centre. And as the mind was in an ossified and obfuscated state my thought process was not straight and it became wild. I began to believe that a fiendish plot hatched by my friend and wife to imprison me. Once out of the bars of the rehabilitation centre I was finally consulted a psychiatrist who prescribed a regime of medication. So, yet another word was added to the lexicon that is medicine. It was thus a mix of science, religiosity and spirituality to provide the required succour to my problem. I was soon under a treatment of a psychiatrist to overcome the dependency on alcohol. But this had a partial effect as I continued with unabated drinking. It was not long that my liver and abdomen eventually caved in. First, I suffered from a bout of jaundice and soon developed severe problem of fistula for which I had to be operated upon. The double whammy resulted in my mother and grandmother to attend weekly satsangs of Sathya Sai Baba, the temples of Raghavendra Swamy and Shirdi Sai Baba temple almost every day and prayed for recovery. Incidentally her regular practice of Vipassana, Siddha and Pranic healing she was much sought after by several people suffering from host of physical ailments and they all seem to recover. Patients from various parts of the world began contacting her and my mother continued to alleviate their pain and anguish with startlingly positive results. However, her own son who just recovered from jaundice and the problem of fistula was still addicted to alcohol, cigarettes and Pan Parag. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I can recall the events vividly. It was November 2006 to be exact, I began having apparitions of Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Raghavendra Swamy and Sathya Sai Baba virtually every day for a month exhorting me to give up alcohol. Now these are things which a rationalist, an atheist, and in particular science would ridicule. But those wretched nights when I was thoroughly drunk, I kept having visions of Gurudev, Raghavendra Swamy and Sathya Sai Baba, I kept wondering as to why was it happening. Then the penny dropped; a miracle occurred on 9th of December. We were to leave for Delhi that morning by A.P. Express to attend the wedding of my brother-in-law slated for 14th of December and I was having a few swigs from the bottle. My usually calm and self-effacing wife suddenly assumed the incarnation of Goddess Durga and snatched the bottle from my hand and severely berated and admonished me. “This was the tipping point in my life. Number 9 is considered extremely auspicious for Indians especially among Hindus,” the transmigratory souls were once to counsel me in the womb. For many Indians, the number nine plays an important role in their lives, especially while buying property and jewellery as well as registering vehicles. As per Hindu astrology, the number is ruled by the planet Mars, which is associated with power, energy and movement. Upon quitting drinking, I recall attending a mega Advanced Meditation Course of Andhra Pradesh in the year 2007, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar met all the participants. I broke down and thanked Gurudev for pulling me out of the morass that I had been sucked into so miserably. So did another youngster who was seated beside me, from the tech field. We did not know each other, yet by a strange coincidence happened to be sitting together at Vishalakshi Mantapam (at the Art of Living Centre Bangalore). Interestingly, we both had emerged from alcohol dependency and were at the feet of the Master. This is what Gurudev does when a person surrenders all problems and botheration to him in no uncertain terms. Gurudev asked me to share my story with the whole world in order to motivate them to take to this path of happiness. By his grace several railway men have done the course across the length and breadth of this country with astonishing benefits. We have testimonials of engine drivers giving up smoking, drugs and alcohol. Similarly, loco pilots who could barely sleep and only sighted signals (red, amber and green) in their dreams, now enjoy a sound night’s sleep. This was video graphed by a former DRM of Trichy. Similarly, the office staff of DRM, Bangalore, had undergone a lung function test. Smokers, who had participated in the Part 1 course of Art of Living, were surprised to observe there was no trace of tobacco in their system unlike smokers who did not participate in the programme. In February 2014, I travelled with Guruji by a special train —Sri Sri Express. Anugraha Yatra travelled across the then undivided Andhra Pradesh. The moment we crossed Kurnool, Guruji gave me prasadam from Mantralayam. I was taken aback and was reminded of the incident at Rayar’s Mutt (Raghavendra Swami’s mutt), where I had carried liquor into the holy precincts. It is only divinity which transcends body, mind and spirit. This once reinforced the belief of my mother in deep and profound faith which moved mountains and a miracle was once again performed on me. During the sanctified pujas at Navaratri, photographs taken by advanced cameras are able to capture the extraordinary presence of celestial beings when Gurudev, the Siddha Purush is in deep meditation and the Master slips into ecstasy seeing them. It is inexplicable and almost unbelievable to an ordinary individual. One has to see Gurudev being transported to the seventh heaven, only a Siddha Purush or a Guru be in such a state.