The doubting Thomas that I was, I used to harbor many misconceptions about Gurudev. One was, Gurudev must be too busy to care about me or my problems. After all, I am just one among the millions of devotees all over the world, some who have served Him longer and with more dedication and commitment. Why would he bother about me? I knew Gurudev was not an ordinary man but I was yet to come to terms with what happened to me on 5th March, 2016. Of course He did not look at me, as my pet peeve had always been, but He looked out for me.
We were a week away from one of the biggest events of the year-the World Cultural Festival that was going to witness the gathering of more than 3.5 million people from 155 countries, a colorful cultural celebration of our One World Family. There were super VIP international guests traveling to our ashram for the event every day, the new accommodations were coming up, and Shivratri was to be celebrated a day later. And then there were multiple media interviews from hundreds of publications that Gurudev was tirelessly addressing. Not once did I see his energy diminish. I could not believe my eyes. I could not believe someone could attend to so many situations, each seemingly more important than the other, without losing His energy, centeredness and compassion. All of this blew my mind already.
Back then, I had recently starting serving with the Art of Living media team (ABC). One day was particularly busier for us all when Gurudev easily had more than 6 or 7 interviews to attend to, three of which were supposed to happen in the evening, on 5th March. One of the channel guys came in to set up the camera. He handed an earphone (with mic) to Gurudev. And I thought, this must be a used one. We should get Gurudev a new and unused one, before the interview starts.
I ran down from Ganga Kutir, towards Gate 3 (Ashram kitchen gate), hitched a ride with a sevak to the nearest shop in Udipalya, and bought 2 pairs of headphones (one black and one white, so He could pick a color of His choice.) They were no Apple headphones but the best I could find in that place, with the money I had in my pocket. The wonderful sevak dropped me back at gate 3. I ran back up to Ganga kutir. I ran the fastest I could, as if I was being chased by 2 grey hounds, and I am certainly not much of a runner. Only He can make lazy people run, and restless people to settle, with Love. Anyway, so I reached Ganga Kutir, and despite my personal record best running, I was late. The first interview had already ended, and the second one was going to begin. I had just enough seconds to pass on the new headphones to Sreekumarji (a long time Ashramite), to give it to Gurudev.
To my surprise, Gurudev took them and put on the new headphones, for the interview with NDTV. I was all smiles. I sat down with the small group of people who were around in the room. Now you should know I had run and climbed up a little too fast. So my throat was all dried up and contracting in discomfort, forcing a cough out of me. But I could not, because the interview had started rolling, the lights in the room had been dimmed down and there was pin drop silence, apart from the interaction between the NDTV journalist and Gurudev.
There was no way for me to excuse myself out of the room, as that would attract unnecessary attention. But my throat was drying up, and it was becoming more and more difficult to hold back. I surrendered the discomfort to Him and sat tight.
A minute or two into the interview, Gurudev started coughing incessantly. The filming stopped for a bit. Gurudev drank some water before continuing with the interview. And just like that, my throat felt hydrated and the urge to cough simply disappeared. I sat there with tiny tears in my eyes because I knew what He did there. After the interview ended, devotees around Gurudev were trying to figure out why Gurudev was coughing so much. Gurudev said, "(It) must be the carpet" and He moved on to the next interview.
That evening, after all the interactions ended, my friend and fellow sevak with ABC, Mansi Dharmaraj, who was also coordinating the media interactions, asked me where I had been in the evening. I told her, I had gone to fetch new earphones for Gurudev because I suspected the channel guys were giving Him all the used ones and I wasn’t sure if those were clean. What Mansi told me next, left a lump in my throat and to this day, it remains the most special in my entire life.
Mansi told me, after the first interview (when I ran down to Udapalya), Gurudev’s secretary had also offered to fetch Gurudev's personal and new/unused Apple earphones. But apparently, Gurudev refused them only to later use the sasta ones I got, with zero qualms.
That moment I realized, how casually without a word spoken between us, in the midst of the chaotic and extremely busy evening that was for Him, Gurudev did the unthinkable for me, that nobody had ever done for me-acknowledged my love. He showed me the truth that Guru is a caring essence, and that no matter how busy things around Him get, He knows. He always Knows.
Later that night as I went to bed and reran the whole evening in my head, it dawned on me. I pulled out my phone, to see it gleaming on my wallpaper - "You are in me as me and I am in you as you". Indeed, You are and indeed I am.
