Its been 11 days into our training in India now, and Swamiji is still in a cast – in fact, he changed into a new cast; which he called “my new hand”.
Right after we confirmed our trip, and 2 weeks before our arrival in India, Swamiji met with a nasty accident while traveling up the mountains in Reishikish.
He was in a ‘Tuk-Tuk’ (something like an open air taxi) together with 2 other people from the Yoga School, making their way up. The 2 people sitting in front were the driver & one assistant driver, which Swamiji hired to bring them up.
While moving up the winding mountain roads, the brakes failed, and without warning, the vehicle started sliding backwards. The 2 drivers in front leapt out of the ‘Tuk-Tuk’ to save themself, abandoning the 3 passengers who were confronted with a treacherous situation.
Swamiji, in a split second, heaved himself out through the window on the left side of the vehicle in an intentional attempt to overturn the vehicle towards the left; so as to prevent the taxi from tumbling down the killer cliffs.
Something similar to what we would see in a Superman movie.
He succeeded in stopping the taxi from falling down the cliffs. The taxi crashed onto him, split his head, and smashed his left arm.
“In my mind I am praying to Divine how I can save the 2 other people and myself. And Divine gave me the idea of over-turning the vehicle to the left so that we don’t fall into the endless cliffs.”
The other 2 people got out unscathed, while Swamiji was bleeding down from the middle of his head.
This is what I find the most amazing part yet – after he saw his own blood dripping down the forehead, while the other 2 passengers still stunned in shock, Swamiji picked himself up, made sure the other 2 people are alright, and walked out to find transport to a hospital.
“Blood is important, so I walked out to find a way to go hospital. The first people I saw said they can take me to a Yoga Ashram nearby, and a Master can pray for me. I say to them I need a doctor, to sew my head up, not a prayer now. I walk further and see some motorists, I ask if they can bring me to hospital, they ask me if I’ve got money, and I give them 100 rupees. They bring me to the hospital & then everything is mended properly.”
This is simply a story of a nasty accident. However to me, there were some pretty remarkable lessons:
1) What strong faith this man has!
So many times in life, when I met with problems and obstacles, faith becomes a book concept. It is so easy to define, discuss & talk about faith; but when it comes to doing, it’s a different story.
Swamiji’s faith in Divine Grace is so big, that even in the face of Life & Death, he knew he would be fine. I felt a little ashamed when I think of how many times in life I wanted to give up simply when things don’t quite turn out the way I expected.
I mean, I have a bad day & I think Divine left me; but Swamiji has a broken head & arm, and he still has no doubt that Divine is guiding him.
2) It’s not about ‘him’
Even in a cast and stitches down his head, he never rejected any disciple from going. He even phoned us in Singapore to reassure that his brain is functioning fine, he could still teach & told us to make the trip as planned. The only difference is that our plans up to the mountains have to be shelved.
Jolyn and I are not the only ones apparently. Transformational Yoga has touched the lives of many foreigners and things are suddenly happening all at one time. We have different profiled people visiting the school from all over the world, half of them are second time students like ourselves, there are crowded classes everyday, and Swamiji spends each day fully utilized teaching.
His focus is on nothing but the intention of spreading the light of Transformational Yoga, to empower more disciples, and bring its benefits to as many parts of the world as possible.
He never did complain once; we ask him is his arm in pain, and his reply is always “Pain is always coming and going”… The impermanence of Life demonstrated in a real life example!
I could imagine him saying to himself – “Ok, you are bleeding, so let’s fix that; ok you have a cast & it hurts, but it’ll be fine, so get over it. There’s something bigger out there for me to do, something much bigger than this bleeding & pain which is temporary anyway…”
The first 4 days I arrived in India, I was nose-bleeding everyday due to the dryness here. Besides Yoga training, we also work con-currently on upcoming workshops, answering emails, creating recipes, plus making Green Smoothies everyday! One day I was sneezing blood, and caught myself whining.
Then, I remembered that what I face is probably nothing compared to Swamiji’s accident; he definitely lost more blood in that accident haha, and told myself to “Just get over it!”. And besides, it was never about me!
Right now I feel so grateful for being born in nice fresh clean Singapore.
Ironical how Divine gives bigger problems when a person gets stronger, isn’t it? Its almost like Divine is preparing Swamiji for something really BIG ahead.
3) This man’s got extraordinary Awareness – which makes extraordinary Love possible.
Let me elaborate. How many of us can really take it when we are split down the middle of our head, bleeding down the face, a left arm with crushed bones, and then when we seek transport to a hospital, somebody ask us for money.
Yet, when Swamiji reiterated the incident to us, he was absolutely neutral and without judgment. He had a slightly pleasant look on his face; the same look which he carries when he conducts his lessons and talks. His tone was no different from saying “We had Chapati for dinner…”
I realized that he simply accepts situations the way they are, and make the best out of them. This is tricky. Any person can practice this principal, but to what degree? I can accept having a broken blender, and find a best way to fix it so I can enjoy my Green Smoothies. This is probably only the ‘beginners’ level.
Perhaps what Swamiji encountered is on the ‘intermediate’ or ‘advanced’ level.
What I got from this trip is more than Kundalini training; I got so encouraged by Swamiji’s unwavering faith. I said that I wanted to save the planet with Raw Foods & Yoga right? Well guess what? It’s a super-challenging path!
But what I see from Swamiji gave me reassurance that as long as my intention is pure, think speak & act in alignment with my intention, stay tight with Divine, the right circumstances always blossom.
As long as I organize my life around Divine, everything falls into place.
Like Swamiji, I strive to keep a tight friendship with Divine, because I realized that really in life, this is all that matters.
Ok what a heavy article? Now for a light refreshing India Green Smoothie recipe! ☺
Muskie Romans
3 Bananas
½ Musk Melon
1 Handful Green Grapes
1 Bunch Romaine Lettuce
½ Cup Water
© Copyright 2011-2012 Linda Loo, Light Love Laughter