Guiding Light of The Month

O Lord, how ardently do I call and implore Thy love! Grant that my aspiration may be intense enough to awaken the same aspiration everywhere: oh, may good- ness, justice and peace reign as supreme masters, may ignorant egoism be overcome, darkness be suddenly illu- minated by Thy pure Light; may the blind see, the deaf hear, may Thy law be proclaimed in every place and, in a constantly progressive union, in an ever more perfect harmony, may all, like one single being, stretch out their arms towards Thee to identify themselves with Thee and manifest Thee upon earth. - The Mother

A new beginning

Bharat, a qualified young and aspiring individual in his late 20’s, was sitting outside a nationalised bank manager’s cabin waiting for his new project loan to get sanctioned. After a long wait, the bank manager with a low tone called Bharat inside and told him that unfortunately his project plans could not be cleared and he will not be able to sanction loans for that type of project.

Bharat returned home with disappointment and sat on the couch with a blank mind; meanwhile his father entered the room and asked him why he was so gloomy and dull. Bharat replied in a very disheartened voice that life was full of failures and problems for him and he added that nothing was going right for him despite him spending 15 minutes a day praying.

His mother Parvati, an ardent devotee of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, came out listening to what Bharat mentioned about the prayer and mentioned a quote of the Mother which said “It is always a mistake to complain about the circumstances of our life, for they are the outward expression of what we are ourselves.”

She also said that it was no use spending even a whole day in prayer without realizing the mistakes we commit everyday. She went back to the kitchen again quoting “There is no greater courage than that of recognising one’s own mistakes.”

And she asked him to look back and understand why he had resigned the previous job.

Bharat suddenly felt a lightning strike in front of his eyes and all his mistakes appeared on a screen in front of him.

First, he concluded that he had resigned his job only because of his ego. Secondly, he realized that in spite of his regional manager requesting him to stay on, he was overconfident that he would definitely find another job and hence he left the job.. He also recollected that he had done the project plan for the bank with an arrogance and ego that he knew what he was going to do.

After this sudden realisation of his mistakes, he went and stood in front of Mother and Sri Aurobindo with tears in his eyes. He bowed down in shame and did a pranam surrendering all his mistakes.

The next day was the 31st of December. He felt very light when he woke . At 9.30 a.m, he received a phone call which carried the message that he was selected as National Sales Manager in a multinational company. Surrender had opened new doors for Bharat.

The New Year was a new dawn of realisations and hopes for Bharat.

- Saradha

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