An Encounter with the Divine!

‘Do you believe in God? If so why? Do you think you can find him  only in temple and mosque ?’ 

Sit alone for a while and think about it. Is something moving around you, yes, you may find him in that! Believe me. No?.. Ok I'll share an incident which made me to believe this. And even you have come across such an incidence but would have hardly known. I have an extreme belief in Him. If not, why should I keep going to the Holy Hills; Shabari Mala for over five years. Yes, I’m a very big devotee of Lord Ayyappa. But I just want to tell you that I could find him everywhere around me. 

I always fast for 41 days before going to Shabari Mala. Three years back also I was doing the same. I was in Chennai that time. This was for the third time I was going and my journey to the Holy Hills was about to start the next day. Everything was planned correctly. I was returning from my friend’s house in the evening, after handing over our college projects to be taken care by him in my absence. It was already late, and I needed to go back to my house as soon as possible. 

I caught an share auto from there. The auto was formerly loaded, thus I had to sit on the right side of the driver’s seat. First ignored but later agreed to take the seat as it was getting late. Everything was going smooth initially. But while leading to the Vadapazhani junction, there was heavy traffic on the road and the rickshaw stopped on a signal, which counted nearly 200 seconds. I was just fed up but helpless. 

In no time, driver of the rickshaw called me, handing over a ten rupees note and said, 'Swami, can you buy a pen for me from the nearby shop?' It came to me as a sudden surprise, I wondered why would he ask me to go?. I was feeling so tired to go, but the driver comforted me that there was lot of time left for the signal to turn green and by then I could return back. Taking money from him I started towards the shop. I would have hardly moved 3 steps; there was a huge noise from behind. When I turned I could see that a Container truck had hit the auto in which I was travelling. I went little nearer, I found that all the people travelling in the auto were safe, but the part where I was sitting was smashed fully. 

I went near the driver, gave him back his money and the charge for the ride, hugged him and then went near footpath and felt unconscious. When I opened my eyes, I was at my home, and then started wondering, ‘What had really happened?’ ‘Why had He asked me to go to the shop?’ ‘And how did the truck crushed the part where I was sitting, consequently?’ 

I had seen God through the Auto driver, he didn’t show any supernatural power, but he remain as a savior for me. Because if he had not been there, then I would have opened my eyes in the heaven! 

This could not be just an incident or an accident; for me this will always remain as an Encounter with the Divine. Encounters just happen, but they are mostly unknown or hardly cared by us. God is there in every person, but it depends on the situation in which you see them as.