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Posted on: Jun 23, 2018

How Swami Has Solved Every Problem of My Life

Mrs Meera Sharangat

Part 02

“Be Like Meera”

Although I was enjoying a happy life with my husband and kids in the UK, there was one thing which upset me. This was my husband's reluctance to believe in Swami or any form of God.

While the kids were growing up from the baby to toddler stage I started applying for a job but our strict divine Sai Maa did not allow me to take up a job and send the kids to a baby sitter.

I kept getting rejected in each job I applied for. I was frustrated and again I started praying regularly to Swami. Finally, He gave me an opportunity to work in an evening shift job which started once my husband returned home from work. This way he took care of our kids while I worked.

Once my kids started attending school, I began praying to Swami to give me a full-time job as I was getting bored at home. And He did give me the opportunity to do full-time office-based work, but the job was on temporary contract. I now pestered Him to give me a permanent contract.

Then in 2011 for the first time in my life Swami gave me a dream where I was in the interview room with my kids and husband. Swami got up from His chair and gave prasadam water to my kids who were running around Him. They dropped the water and my husband was cleaning their hands. Swami asked my husband to take the water but he refused. This was the most painful moment for me in my dream.

Swami then came to me. I had a letter in my hand requesting Him to give me a permanent job in the same place where I was working on temporary contract. He accepted the letter but nodded His head as if to say no.

I kept requesting Him to make it possible, but He continued saying ‘no’, and so I gave up. Then asking about my husband I said, “Swami, my husband does not believe in You. Please make him a Sai devotee.”

Swami just replied, “Be like Meera” and gave me vibhuti and the dream ended. I could not understand this statement then, but today I realise my life is similar to Meera Bai.

As my husband stays away from home very often due to his job I do bhajans on my own at home. He has never objected to me doing bhajans or believing in Swami. I have his full support but till date he is not ready to accept Swami as God.

However, my husband likes Swami's teachings very much. Sometimes he even makes me aware of my mistakes when I do something wrong and says, “Remember what your God says.”

So I understand Swami's statement “Be like Meera” to mean that I should develop devotion like Meera Bai and do my duty as a mother and wife. This is the big task which Swami has given me. I feel I must do this and merge in His heart before I depart from this world.

The Folly of Imposing My Desires on God

In 2012, I got a permanent contract job as per my request to Swami in the dream where He had nodded His head indicating ‘no’ to my request. I thought He had got convinced with my plea and changed His decision. I wasn't aware that praying against His wish was a big mistake on my part!

My problems started as soon as I got this job. My colleagues at office did not like me and I felt lonely and upset. I concentrated on my work and shared all my work knowledge with those who worked under me but there were a few people who were desperately waiting to put me down. They also tried to trap me in their politics but I did not get pulled in. I did not support them in doing wrong and in hurting others' feelings.

There were some colleagues who were going through difficult times and I was by their side trying to support them. But suddenly I found that even these innocent colleagues joined hands with the ones who were playing politics. This really hurt me a lot. I thought there was no point in being nice or helping anyone at work. I felt I should concentrate only on my work.

In 2014, I got promoted to the post of supervisor and there was no manager above me. I was reporting directly to the organisation's site manager just like other department managers.

Since my role demanded it I had to start becoming strict with my team. I had to give them extra work and report their negative points to the site manager so that the HR manager could take appropriate action against them. Thus my team members felt hurt by my strict behaviour and unknowingly the feelings of ego, anger, hate and the idea of hurting others' feelings entered me also.

Within three months I developed a lot of stress due to the negative approach of my colleagues and I went on sick leave for two weeks. During my absence at work, a few people who were waiting to put me down made false allegations against me and took full control of my work.

When I returned to work after my leave, the HR manager told me that I was being demoted as they had found some of my mistakes during my absence. I requested her to show me my mistakes but she said they were not obliged to. I was deposed without any disciplinary action being taken or any proof of mistake being shown.

It was a big shock and I cried a lot in front of Swami's photo and on the phone to my parents. The same day my mother got a dream of Swami where she was very upset about my situation but He told her, “I am the real mother” and the dream ended. She immediately called me and shared this dream. I got a little hope but at the same time I had several questions and kept complaining to Swami about my situation.

There were a few colleagues who were reporting to me earlier but now I had to report to them. A few people whom I had treated as my own brothers and sisters started going against me and a lot of office politics started. I was asked to stop doing the tasks with which I was familiar and had to start doing difficult jobs.

Selfless Service – The Panacea During Office Stress

It was very challenging to cope with such colleagues and also protect my job. Just to come out of the painful situation at work I started to focus my attention on something else.

I started showing interest in running a seva project with my parents as they were actively doing such projects in the Sai centre nearest to them in India. I started supplying some finance from my earning as this was the only thing I could do being physically away from them. The project became regular and I felt happy whenever my parents sent me photos of the project.

Now came another turn in my life. Other devotees started questioning my parents about the money they were getting for the project. I had requested my parents not to mention my name as I wanted to remain anonymous. Even my brother and sister-in-law started quarrelling with my parents saying they should help them instead of spending the money on the project.

Some people even started believing that my father was a rich man and tried to get close to him claiming to be Sai devotees. They invited him to functions and he got carried away. They cleverly made him part with a lot of money. But somehow my father never left their company. When I came to know of all this I stopped sending money to him. Thus this weekly medical service project also had to be suspended.

On one side I was going through work stress and on the other side I felt bad that my father was not staying on Swami's path. Situations were out of my control. I started spending more time in reading Radio Sai articles daily. Brother Aravind Balasubramanya's blog articles also helped me. Swami was answering my questions through various media.

One day I shared my experience at our nearest UK Sai centre with a Sai uncle who was a student of the first batch from the Sai University. He just said, “Who you are to judge your father's devotion towards Swami? Is He not aware of this? Swami is your father's father. So leave everything to Him and just perform your duty as a daughter and give your 100%.” I got inspired and felt this was Swami's stern advice to me.

I apologised to my father for not talking to him and being rude with him and doubting his devotion to Swami. My father slowly realised that he had lost his way and promised that he would return to the Sai path. He became active in attending the nearby Sai bhajan centre's activities. I too decided to offer a wonderful seva project to Swami by making myself available physically and also give some financial contribution.

In February 2016 Swami came in my dream and I started crying like a child on seeing Him before me. I was on my knees and I had my hands folded in praying posture. Swami held both my hands and touched both my cheeks like a mother consoling her child to stop crying and said, “I will take care of everything for you.”

I pleaded, “Please do not leave me, Swami. I do not want to be born again. Please keep me with You.”

I hugged Swami tightly and did not let Him go. I started feeling His breath and my dream ended. The entire night I couldn't sleep as I was lost in feeling Swami's breath. This was an amazing experience for me which just cannot be described in words!

The Joy of the “Pyjama Project” and the “Mosquito Net Project”

In August 2016, I started planning for a summer project in India and we offered it to Swami when we came to India during my kids' school holidays. I wrote all the details about the project in a letter and offered it at Swami's photo in my home.

The name of the project was ‘Pyjama project’. My sons collected pyjamas from their school with the head teacher's permission. Some parents even gave new pairs of pyjamas.

We got three big sacks full of pyjamas and took them to India during our visit. We distributed the pyjamas to children in a slum area. This area is close to the house in which we stay during the holidays in India, which my husband bought in 2015.

When we returned to UK my sons showed a few photos of our interaction with the slum children to their head teacher and he in turn presented these photos in their school assembly.

A few teachers were moved to tears seeing the photos. Everyone who contributed felt happy seeing that their pair of pyjamas had reached its destination.

During this trip in 2016, I also visited Puttaparthi and thanked Swami for giving me the opportunity to do this project.

At the Maha Samadhi I offered a letter with details of this project and all my work-related issues. I requested Swami to take care of everything and give me more opportunities to do such wonderful projects in future.

Before I departed from Puttaparthi one day I went to the Western canteen for lunch. I don't know why but I started crying like a child in front of Swami's picture there. I requested only one thing and told Him that I want to return from work happily every day.

I told Him, since 2014 when my work stress began, every single day I was returning from work feeling upset and was unable to perform my duty as a mother and wife diligently.

Swami heard my prayer! After I got back to UK, two most troublesome people at work moved out within a few months. One person got transferred to another department and another left work. I felt immensely relieved.

However, there was one desire buried in me—to restart doing the tasks which I had earlier been enjoying and doing. However I ignored this deep-rooted wish and started returning home from work happily.

In early 2017, another most difficult person moved to another department and this again gave me more relief. I started preparing another seva project for August 2017 in India. I got approval for three weeks at my work place most miraculously and I went to India with my kids and husband. This time too we visited the slum area and asked the residents what they lacked and how we could help.

They said that as it was monsoon time they were getting bitten by mosquitoes and so it would be great if we gave them mosquito nets. We immediately bought the nets along with floor mats. They bowed down to Swami's photo thanking Him. We also went to Shirdi and offered this project to Swami there.

Sai Gives the Right Job to Continue the Seva

In December 2017, suddenly I got dismissed from work based on false allegations against me but this time I didn't have a single tear in my eyes.

I had survived the office politics right from the time I joined till the time I had to leave. Without Swami's grace I could not have stayed in that company with such hideous games going on behind me.

In early December 2017 Swami ended my bad karma with the company by making them dismiss me. Thus He put a full stop to this painful journey.

I packed my stuff and took Swami's photo which was on my desk and returned home. I couldn't share my pain with my husband or parents but at the same time I couldn't hide it from Swami.

I locked myself in my room and looking at His photo poured out my pain. I begged Him to give me one more chance because losing my job meant a full stop to the upcoming summer seva project. Within one week I got a job offer from a call centre where there were late night shifts.

This was a big problem as my husband's job involves 90% of travelling and so I have to be at home to take care of the kids. However I decided that the seva project was most important and so I requested, “Swami, You please take care of the kids and allow me to do this late-shift job to get enough finance for the upcoming summer project.”

I accepted the offer and started the job but I was constantly worried about the kids. My husband kept saying, “Please stay at home and enjoy your life and take care of our children” as his salary is more than enough to provide me and our sons with enough comforts.

But I felt that for the seva project I should not take money from his savings. I had two choices: enjoy a comfortable life at home or sacrifice my comforts and work to get the finance for the projects. I accepted the second choice.

Our divine mother Sai was well aware of my worry about the kids and so within one week I got dismissed from this job too. I was left with no choice other than staying at home and forgetting about the seva project. But I couldn't give up and so I again begged Swami to give me one more chance. I started applying for jobs but got rejected twice.

Just as a child keeps crying and does not give up trying to get something he wants from his mother, I did the same. Each day I sat in front of Swami's photo while my husband was at work and kids were at school. I sang bhajans and I could not stop my tears. I am sure Swami too must have cried, as His heart is softer than butter!

Finally in the end of January 2018, I got a phone call from an agency and they said, “We are calling from PS Agency (I took PS to be ‘Prasanthi Service’). We have a job. Please see if you are interested in applying for this post.”

I gave them my salary expectation—a figure slightly higher than my previous salary. I then asked them to go ahead and forward my details to the company. They did so and I got the interview call.

Due to multiple rejections earlier now I was mentally prepared for anything. I offered my preparation for the interview at Swami's feet and said, “Swami, I am a big zero without You. So You please be my number one and help me.”

When I went for the first interview I came to know about the role and the responsibilities of the position. The job was much better compared to what I had lost in 2014.

I got selected in the first interview and also got the call for the second interview which the senior managers from the organisation would conduct. I felt there was no chance for me to go through this second stage, still I started preparing.

I again offered my efforts to Swami and prayed to Him to take care of this interview as I was not capable of doing it on my own. Just before the interview started I again requested Him to simplify it for me and not make the panel ask me tough questions.

By His grace the panel did not ask any job-related questions but only wanted to know about me. One senior manager even picked up my CV and said, “There is something attractive in this CV.”

They gave me the same figure which I had quoted to PS Agency. I got selected and got the job offer. This type of job profile had been my deep-rooted desire but it was not in my wish list anymore. I had lost all hope but how can our divine mother Sai ignore my wish?

It took three years for me to come out from my job-related stress but finally I got the job I wanted. The position and salary are much better than what I had lost in 2014.

In my 2016 dream Swami said, “I will take care of everything for you” and He has indeed done so right from my dismissal at work in early December 2017 to getting me a new signed job contract in March 2018. In fact, He even ensured that the HR manager from my previous job gave a very good review about me to my new employer. The manager even sent me good wishes by email when she heard that I got a new job.

A Bus Load of Stories of His Protection

In my 2011 dream, Swami said “Be like Meera” and so I know that I shouldn't expect my husband to believe in God. Till date he is not ready to accept any form of God.

However, a few years ago my husband had a dream of Swami for the first time. In it Swami gave him travel tickets to some place in India, though he was not sure of the exact location.

Next morning he told me, “Your God came in my dream and gave me travel tickets.” We both could not understand the significance of this dream. We did not pay any attention to it thinking that it must have been his illusion and soon forgot it.

After a few months we went to India and my husband wanted to see some of his family members who live in Rajkot. So we bought luxury bus tickets for the journey. My husband, the kids and I boarded the bus and suddenly midway during the journey everyone in the bus started saying there was some smoke smell. But no one was smoking.

The driver stopped the bus and everyone checked but found nothing burning. The smoke smell became very strong and so everyone decided to recheck. This time somebody suggested checking the boot where the luggage was kept. There they found that the driver's old vest which he used to sometimes clean the bus was on fire. Our bus could have easily caught fire if this had not been found at the right time!

Another time the currency notes that I had in my hand just flew away because it was too windy. I had no hope of getting them back but within a few minutes two ladies came to me and said, “We know where your money has flown and fallen. Come with us.” They asked me to follow them.

They took me little further and opened a gate which was hardly used by anyone. They started searching the ground there and found exactly the same amount that had flown away from my hand. This is impossible because it was so breezy and I saw the notes flying away like kites. It is a miracle that all of them had fallen together!

There are so many instances like this where Swami has taken care of me as my divine mother.

As a father, Swami has put me through painful experiences such as work place challenges and family issues but now I have learnt big lessons for life and have understood how to deal with the world and its problems.

As a Guru, Swami has shown me how to be polite, calm and loving and has filled my heart with compassion. He has inspired me to focus on loving all and serving all.

As a friend, Swami has answered each of my complaints and questions to Him through various articles on Radio Sai. He keeps encouraging me to meet every challenge by holding my hand.

Neither can I put in words what I feel for my Swami nor can I describe His love and omnipresence. What I have shared are very small incidents from my life.

The Only Blessing to be Sought – A life of Surrender

Swami's words in dreams are indeed the Vedas. It takes time for them to come true but they definitely get fulfilled!

When Swami was physically present we always felt reassured seeing Him in Puttaparthi in His form, just as a child would feel reassured seeing the mother.

During His physical presence on earth I never understood His omnipresence around me but from 2011 onwards I started experiencing His miracles. Today we have lost His physical form but we have not lost His omnipresence around us. His love and care for us are always with us!

Some people say that God is not present everywhere in His physical form. That is true but He has given a mother to take care of us at the physical level. He has also put many more people around us who help and take care of us.

Here I would like to mention that my mother's devotion towards Swami is more than my father's and mine. She never loses any chance to attend Sai bhajans or seva activities. She always supports me and feels happy that my children and I are involved in seva projects.

She always says, “Swami is your real mother and not me. If any problem comes your way, call your real mother.” My mother is my inspiration and I do see Swami in her physical form.

Another thing I remember vividly is how while doing our 2017 summer seva project of distributing floor mats and mosquito nets in India, one lady came to me and said, “May God give you a lot of money so that you can come again here.”

This statement deeply touched my heart! I felt that the lady was serving me instead of me serving her, as she was praying to God to give me more resources instead of asking for herself. I feel this is the best blessing and reward for us because by serving such people we get their love and blessings in return!

By Swami's grace I send money to my parents in India which they use to run some seva projects in their Sai centre. Moreover, I do a few projects with my kids and husband whenever I visit India. I do everything in Swami's name so that the receiver knows that it is only He who is serving them and not us.

Personally I do not want any publicity for any of these projects because doing them is just for my own happiness and it is my way of thanking Swami for everything He is providing me. Whatever salary I get from my job is His gift and so nothing belongs to me. Doing these projects in His name helps me to not become egoistic. I would never prefer publicity. All I want to be is His silent instrument forever.

Go to Part 01