I had just arrived from a preaching program late at night when the phone rang.
On the screen, I saw the name of the pujari doing the evening service on the altar.
I answered reluctantly, wondering what the problem was.
“Hare Krishna prabhu, sorry to bother you” the pujari said, and then continued speaking: “A guest came and wanted to give you a bag with a few items inside. He is insistent that he will give it only to the head priest. Can you come and collect the bag?”
I asked the pujari to accept the bag on my behalf. Hesitantly, the guest agreed to hand over the bag to the pujari.
In the morning, when I received the bag, I found inside maha prasadam from Lord Balaji from Tirupati, His piece of cloth, water from the abhishek and a Tulasi leaf from the feet of Lord Balaji. What mercy!
“Who was the person who gave the maha prasadam?” I asked the pujari.
“Some pious Indian man, not part of our ISKCON institution. He wanted you to receive this special maha prasadam.”
“Does he know me?” I inquired.
“No, he does not know you, but he wanted you, as a head priest, to receive special mercy from Balaji. He was clear about that!”
“I will not complain!” I replied.
I took all the items and wondered what message the Lord wanted to convey to me.
When our devotee friends go to the holy places, they usually bring one of those items and share it with us, but here is a person who does not even know me, gave all the items at once, specifically for me, to receive a special blessing. I offered prayers of gratitude to Lord Balaji, expecting more “magic”.
A few days later, I met a close friend who invited me to go with him on a tour of south India. A couple of weeks later, I was on the road to Tirupati, the place where Lord Balaji resides!
We walked in forests, climbed hills and visited many temples where the ancient Deities are worshipped in the caves, high in the mountains.
The local priests came to know that our next destination was Tirupati.
They happily gave us blessings and arranged for us to meet the spiritual leader of their community to receive special boons before travelling to see Lord Venkateswara.
With all the blessings safely kept in our hearts, we reached Tirupati.
After thousands of miles of travelling with planes, cars and rickshaws, walking long distances, and queueing up for hours, surrounded by thousands of people, we finally took the darshan of Lord Balaji.
I walked slowly towards the Lord, remembering the bag I received back in London.
I remembered the devotee who sponsored me to come here. I remembered the priests and their spiritual leader who gave us blessings. I thanked them all in my heart and offered prayers to the Lord. That was definitely His arrangement; I did not doubt that.
The words of one saint came to my mind; “I can’t say that I can see the Lord’s form every day, but I can surely say that I can see His hand, orchestrating my life in such a way so I can come closer to him.”
Srimad Bhagavatam 3.28.26 purport- Either by hearing, seeing or meditating, the objective is the transcendental form of the Lord; there is no question of voidness or impersonalism. The Lord can bestow the blessings of transcendental pleasure upon either the visitor of the temple, the meditator-yogī or one who hears about the Lord’s transcendental form from scriptures like the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā.
Ananta Gopal das
10.04.2024
Bhakti Wisdom 