Posted on: 10 Jun 2023
[By Ms. Noishadha Chatterjee]
With salutations to the lotus feet of my beloved Sadguru, Shri Datta Swami, I want to share an experience where Swami miraculously secured my visa appointment. Two months ago, I was blessed with the darshan of Swami for the first time along with my parents. After listening to the true knowledge of Swami, I knew that He was God in Human form. I once got a dream where I played with God Vishnu as a friend. When asked about it, Swami revealed that my devotion to God was in the form of friendship till now and I should go to the next step of total surrender (sakhya-mātma-nivedanam). Swami explained to me, “Total surrender means not to aspire for any fruit in return for our devotion to God. Whatever fruit is given by God is as per the rules of deeds and fruits only. It is the judgement given by God without any partiality. In such a case, we must accept the fruit given by God whether it is positive or negative as His gift of His grace only. If this total surrender is followed, God is pleased and as a result of it, even negative results start giving profit and happiness to us. God Krishna preached this total surrender to Arjuna in the Gita (Tameva śaraṇaṃ gaccha…).”
After listening to Swami, I came back home and firmly decided that I should leave the result to God and focus only on effort. I also decided to serve Swami practically in His mission of propagation of true spiritual knowledge. Currently, I am pursuing my 2nd year of engineering and planned to continue the next 2 years of the degree in USA from this August as part of student transfer program. My parents had already invested a large sum of money for this planned course and paid the tuition fees. However, the last and most crucial step was booking the visa appointment and getting approval for the US visa. Without this, I wouldn't be allowed to even board the plane. Booking these appointments is extremely challenging because thousands of people go to the visa interview centre every day. Students have been waiting for the appointment slots to open for the past two months. Suddenly, on May 13th, the slots for June became available. Many people rushed online to book their dates, causing the website to crash. The site is extremely sensitive and we were strictly advised not to log in more than two times a day. Otherwise, our accounts would be blocked for several days, months or even permanently.
When I tried to log in to book my appointment, the site didn't open as the server had crashed. I panicked because I thought I wouldn't get a slot and my next 2 years depended on it. Because of the panic, I logged in 5-6 times that morning which resulted in my account being blocked. I started crying because I couldn't control my emotions. My mother tried to seek help from people who knew about the site, but they said that there was no way other than waiting for my account to be unblocked. The chances of getting a slot the next day were very low. Some of my friends managed to book appointments in other states such as Delhi and Hyderabad. This is such a big issue that agents charge Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 40,000 for just booking a slot that too for next year i.e., 2024.
Feeling hopeless, I contacted my teacher for help and even she confirmed that my account was indefinitely blocked. I was crying continuously even after knowing that it was the result of my own sins. My mother suggested to ask Swami seeing my helplessness. I was not willing to do so because Swami had clearly advised me to surrender everything to God and be grateful to receive both happiness and misery. Then I happened to call Thrylokya Didi and explained the situation. She tried to help me by contacting her references and then told me that it is the test of God for the concept Swami taught me earlier. She explained that these kinds of situations will come to our lives again and again. The question is whether I want to become a better devotee of God or a successful person in the world. I could ask Swami to fulfil my desire and become successful or I could leave the result to Him as a devotee and accept whatever happens. I may not get Visa and stay back in India for rest of my life. My parent’s money and my effort may go into vain. Others may look down upon me for failing to go to USA. These thoughts ran in my mind and I prepared for the worst. I came to a conclusion that whatever is happening is by Swami’s will and I decided to become His devotee rather than becoming a successful worldly person. Finally, I did not phone to Swami for help and tried to thank Him although I know that it’s impossible for me to thank Him enough.
Realizing that there was nothing more I could do, I started doing Swami’s service by editing some audio clips of Swami for propagation of knowledge though videos. After half an hour, I received a call from my teacher who informed me that she had booked my visa appointment from my blocked account. It was an absolute miracle that my account which could have been blocked for months, opened in just 30 minutes. I didn't even have to book the appointment myself; Swami through my teacher arranged it for me. Even though my teacher had said that she won’t login again for that day, she took that huge risk although it may get my account blocked permanently. This was definitely due to Swami’s will. I also got both of my appointments in Mumbai unlike some of my friends.
In the evening, I called Swami to express my gratitude, but my emotions made it difficult for me to even speak properly. Then too, Swami with utmost kindness replied saying "Ok Ok." I will never be able to thank Swami enough, for the immense love and care He showed me, despite me being one of the most sinful and undeserving persons. Thank You, Swami, for everything You have given me, even though I don't deserve a single particle of it. Thank You for helping me to come to right conclusion. Please help me attain the total surrender to You because my highest effort will also be insignificant to attain it. Thank You.
Additionally, by Swami's grace, my visa appointment on June 7th was approved by the visa officer.
Thank You, Swami.
Paadanamaskaaram Swami.
-Noishadha Chatterjee