On the morning of October 13, 2018, we performed the housewarming ceremony at our new house in Jillellamudi. The time between 8:31 and 8:45 a.m. was determined to be auspicious for this. Invitations were sent out to everyone, a week before. We had planned to start from Guntur at 5:30 in the morning and reach Jillellamudi by 7:30 a.m., but due to a delay in the arrival of our members from Hyderabad, we could only start at 6:15 a.m.
M and R asked if they could leave early on a motorcycle so that they could reach ahead of us and take care of any necessary preparations, to which I agreed.
A few people who were traveling with me said, “We might not be able to do the ceremony at the planned auspicious time! Did Mother not say, ‘It is not the time planned by us, but the time when the event happens, that is auspicious.’ So, it will happen whenever it is meant to.”
I did not say anything.
I have seen this in many devotees of Mother. They are just not able to grasp the depth of Mother’s words. They only cite her statements as examples, superficially, without much thought. Upon seeing them, I feel both amused and sorry for them at the same time.
Even the above statement of Mother has an unseen depth in it. Sin and virtue, past karma, present effort and the grace of God are all closely interlinked in these words, like a deck of cards. To comprehend the depth of these statements, one needs to have a subtle vision. Without understanding their true meaning, it is simply not enough to quote them. However, I have noticed that many of Mother’s devotees quote Mother’s sayings in a very casual way to suit their convenience.
Why do things happen as per their plan for some, and not for others? Who is it that determines a particular time to be auspicious and who is compelling him to do so? Who is the one preventing something from taking place at the scheduled time? Who is it that gets pleased when something happens as planned or disappointed, when it doesn’t? Just because it has occurred at an auspicious time, does it mean that all that follows thereafter is going to be good? Similarly, if we miss the auspicious time, does it mean that everything that follows will turn out to be bad? What is the auspicious time, as per which everything in this creation is happening?
I continued to drive with these thoughts on my mind. Even with driving at usual speed, we reached Jillellamudi by 8:05 a.m. I felt very happy to see our Panchawati members from various regions who had already arrived by then. We first had darshan at Mother’s temple and after a quick chat with sister V, we went to Mr.S’s place, where everyone had been waiting for us, holding a picture of Mother in their hands. All of us walked in a procession from there and reached our new house.
As I had previously requested not to have any traditional puja ceremony, no such arrangements were made. We cut the ribbon and entered the house in a modest way and placed the pictures of Mother as well as that of Sri Ramakrishna, Ma Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda in the puja mandir. The time then was exactly 8:35 a.m.
Thus, the auspicious time for which the ceremony was planned and the time at which it actually took place, coincided very well.
When we look at what Mother said, with an ordinary view, it is correct. When we act with ego, our wish might sometimes be fulfilled and at other times, it might not be. But, if our will is merged with God’s will and when the karma of the people present there is also favorable, then the time planned by us will turn out to be the same as the time at which the event actually occurs. This is exactly what happened on that day.
Here, I mention karma because, in all such activities the influence of karma is undeniable. For instance, I had invited many people, much in advance, to attend the event, but many of them could not. At the same time, a few who were new and who were not even invited, took part in the event. People who could not make it might have their own reasons, but the truth is that they had bad karma in their account, accrued from their past lives, which strongly prevented them from coming. Only when they are able to come by breaking this barrier, they have won over their past karma. Otherwise, it means that they succumbed to past karma and moved away from God’s grace.
This is my interpretation of Mother’s words.
In this world, many events are scheduled to be performed at an auspicious time and most of them take place as per the plan. So, a question arises here - do they all have the grace of God? It does not mean that God’s grace is on them fully, it means that they have enough grace on them, for the event to happen at the planned time ! That’s all !
The house warming event of ours is very valuable and an important milestone in the journey of Panchawati. It is unfortunate that some of our members could not recognize the significance of this event. We let the grace of God slip away many a time, due to our ego and negligence.
Our journey is based on our own worthiness, isn’t it?
All rights reserved. This article has been translated by Siva Ganesh, which was originally posted in teluguyogi.net on October 19, 2018. The content or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the publisher.