A pain greater than my pain

I offer my obeisance to you Rev. Sri. Om Swamiji🙏🕉

I was busy with my meetings and organising a big event in Kolkata, few years ago and I had a temporary assistant Rina ( name changed) who came to help me with my work, for a couple of days as she was doing another part time job as a beautician .  The second day howerever she did not show up, and towards mid afternoon I called her up, but there was no response. It got me a bit worried, as she was the sole bread earner of her family, plus being a girl her mother often worried about her if she ever got late from work.

Towards evening I called up again , at around 6 pm, and this time her younger brother who was barely 12 years, answered my call. When I enquired about Rina , he started crying saying , she has rushed their Mother to the hospital who had a massive brain stroke. He gave me another no which was of their father . I called on the respective no. and finally managed to speak to Rina, she was nervous, shaky in her voice , crying she mentioned to me…that her mother has been refused  treatment as the hospital team has asked them to submit a sum of 10,000 Rs and then they would admit her to the I.C.U and start the treatment. So for good few hours her mother was laid in the corridor floor, and Rina was running around to arrange money, but no help came not even from the place where she worked for so many years. Unfortunately, her father was jobless and a drunkard, so as good as not being there.I really could sense the plight of the girl.

Without wasting anytime, for it was a matter of someone’s life, I asked her to send someone to collect the money from me. I knew this girl was very hardworking and her dedication to do something for her family was always evident from her conversations, moreover she loved her mother dearly and cared for her.

All this while my son who was in his room,  preparing for his exams  came out and was listening to the conversations. He always would get worried if he saw me anxious or in tears . He patted my back and was glad that I offered to help the girl.

Rina came with her aged father, I took out the money , roughly Rs. 12,000 , since I had just that much cash amount on me, at home and thinking she might now require more after this, I took out two of my gold rings , and asked her to sell it and get more money , just in case. Though she was reluctant to take the jewellery she finally consented.

I really can’t relate, how I felt after she left. All I could see was Divine energy and I felt engulfed with gratitude , thanking God that He chose me to serve…with tears in my eyes, I knelt down and prayed for her Mother.

Next day was a crucial day.. I was anxiously waiting for Rina’s  call….Around 11 am Rina called up, giving the good news that her Mother is out of danger.  It was such an elated feeling, tears of joy rolled down my cheeks this time….What could be more worthy than this in life…

Reminds me of a little story, which I am sharing  here  of Bryan Anderson…Verbatim..

            A man was driving his car, when he saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road. He saw that she needed help. So he stopped his Pontiac near her Mercedes and got out.

He smiled, while he was approaching her, still she was worried, as nobody had stopped for hours. Moreover, he did not look safe, as his appearance was so poor and shabby. He could see, how frightened she was, so he tried to calm her: „ I‘m here to help you, don‘t worry. My name is Bryan Anderson“.

The tire was flat, so he had to crawl under the car. While changing the tire, he got dirty and his hands were hurt.

When the job was done, she asked how much she owed him for his help. Bryan smiled. He said: „If you really want to pay me back, the next time you see someone, who needs help, give that person the needed assistance. And think of me“.

At the same evening, the lady stopped by a small cafe. That place looked dingy. Then she saw a waitress, nearly eight months pregnant, wiping her wet hair with a towel. The waitress had a sweet friendly smile, although she had spent on her feet the whole day.

The lady wondered how someone, who has so little, can be so kind and giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.

The lady had finished her meal and paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress went to get change and when she came back, the lady was gone. She left a note on the napkin: „You don‘t own me anything. Somebody once helped me, just like now I‘m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, do not let this chain of love end with you“. The waitress found four more one hundred bills under the napkin.

That night the waitress came home earlier. She was thinking about the lady and the money she left. She was wondering, how the lady could know, how much she and her husband needed it, especially now, when the baby will soon arrive. She knew that her husband worried about that, so she was glad to tell him good news. Then she kissed him and whispered „Now everything will be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson“.

Goodness, kindness beautifies in many forms of Blessings. My dear father always taught us to be great Givers. I picked this virtue from my parents and have ever been happy and immensely content.

After a weeks time I got a call from… guess whom…Rina’s mother .. she had insisted her daughter, that she wanted to speak to me.. with her soft frail voice,( as she was still recovering) she said  “you are my saviour, how can I ever repay you, I have nothing to offer you, I am very poor, but I have one thing to offer as Mother to another Mother, I Bless you and your kids with abundance, your children  would be very successful and great humans”. I was so deeply touched with such Divine Blessings of a Mother. I thanked her, and asked her to get better soon and not worry for anything.

In the meanwhile, after couple of weeks later, Rina came and returned me those gold rings, she said that they managed well without selling them. I was truly touched with her honesty. I handed her few amount for her mom’s medication ,she looked at me saying, “how will I be able to pay you back, you have already done so much. I gave her a warm hug and told her “ you don’t have to pay back, I have only done something for a Mother”.

Life is too short, to think and calculate when it comes to rendering help to someone in distress , or for that matter even offering someone to save a precious life.  An unconditional kind deed with utmost purity of heart,  magically takes you closer to the Lord.

We are all capable of some help be it in our worst or the best case scenarios of life. The Truth is I was always cash strapped owing to my circumstantial dependency in an abusive marriage for good 25 years, sometimes I could barely save for my growing kids, though it’s a dream of every Mother to give the best to her child , but everything becomes secondary when we see the situational agony of what the other goes through, even if it’s a stranger , for his/ her pain appears bigger than yours. And that very feel never ever stopped me, in my whole life from giving,  for I know that the Divine has chosen me for a purpose and undoubtedly all of us are born for this bigger purpose. For He is the True Giver passing on His gifts to us to further give away. 

Eternally  grateful to the Lord for choosing and granting me this humble virtue🙏

Let’s keep doing our bit ….

Thank you for dropping by and reading this post..

Jai Sri Hari🙏🕉

Siddhika Umesh