Our very lives are grace, and from the moment we meet our guru the doors of the heart open to that grace, and destiny propels us onto the spiritual path to discover the divine. We may not be aware of the force at the time, but as we continue along the path and look back, in hindsight we see how the guru has been guiding us closer and closer to the divine. The guru tattwa is a force that guides us and awakens in us the ability to see the grace of the divine within our lives bringing us closer to the transcendental self.
The 26th of August was nothing special, a rainy Friday night. At 7.30pm, I raced across the ashram under my umbrella to get out of the rain, finish my duties and return to my room. It was then that a sweet miracle full of grace took place. I entered the Akhara and noticed one single flame burning in the pouring rain. The deepak in front of Sri Rama was still burning. I stood transfixed, unable to believe my eyes; it was an impossible feat: a flame being splashed with water and blowing in the wind.
The deepak continued to burn in the rain for another hour, during this time the rain only got heavier. When I couldn't bear my amazement any longer, I called Swamiji and exclaimed, "Swamiji, the deepak in front of Rama is still burning in the pouring rain! This is extra-ordinary!" Swamiji replied, "Yes, and Rama was extra-ordinary also." As soon as Swamiji spoke those words, instantaneously the flame went out, not slowly or gradually, but from a high flame it immediately extinguished to nothing. The Lord had been listening and in agreement sent a message, "Yes, that is true," and put out the flame with the same grace that had kept it burning fearlessly in the rain.
Every day I chant theRamacharitamanasin honour of Swami Satyananda whose ishta devata was Sri Rama. Through this morning sadhana I connect to guru and the divine. It is my lifebuoy at sea when the waves of mental and emotional turmoil become too high and the lighthouse of my soul that keeps me sailing in the direction of Guru and God. Last night the divine was a shining deepak in the rain that filled me with happiness and childlike wonder at a world full of divine miracles, beauty and grace, right when I least expected it, but when I needed it the most.