How Do I LOVE Thee….let Me Count the Ways!

Sonia is the name that she gave herself, and later Sonia OM:)

Born to a hardworking and honest Major in the Indian Army, who later went on to be called Col Harpratap Singh and to a strong willed, god fearing Mother, Rajinder Kaur . On a rainy Diwali night in the Ambala Cantt, on 14th of Novermber in the mid fifties were a pair of twins so cute, that their elder sister, my mother, Rani, gave them the names, Sweety and Pretty, which stuck with them for a long time, till it was time to step into the world and become adults.

She was mostly a cheerful child, her fathers pet. Always curious, always unwittingly ready to speak the truth when questioned about her siblings, much to their dismay :). She was smart, as the story goes, she loved sweets, aam papad, churan and the lot, sometimes when all the four kids would be indulged, she would ask her twin to give her her share for safe keeping, and lo and behold it would somehow just disappear 🙂https://os.me/short-stories/life-5/

The most beautiful quality was that Sonia believed in herself and was refreshingly spiritual from her younger days in college. She was forever young at heart, with the most childlike exuberance. She was a poet,https://os.me/short-stories/love-5/ for her words just came to her. They just poured out without any effort. She believed in following her dreams  and excelling at her work. In time in Mauritius, where she spent many years, living in beautiful homes, she was the made the Quality country head for Polo Ralph Lauren and then she was hired by Tommy Hilfiger. All along her work life, what kept her centered was her spiritual calling and practice. There was a time of two to three years, where she did not break her routine of waking up at  5 am every morning, getting ready and sitting down to do her Sadhna, apart from a few daily rituals and mantras, she just put her attention on her breath and meditated. Until one day, she found herself lying on the floor flat on her back, and all she remembered was seeing a GOLDEN BEING in front of her, with its hands folded bowing to her and she was bowing back. That experience was very powerful and yet, somehow she found it difficult to get back into her routine. She said ” It was as IF I WAS BOWING TO MYSELF .

There was a different light around her, her beautiful smile, a gentleness, a spark of divine and a mischievousness of a young child…… 🙂 <3

Had she been alone or with a person who deserved her inner beauty without trampling on it or feeling threatened at every success, she would have been even more successful! She fought for her freedom, freedom to pray the she wanted to, freedom to her peace, freedom to just be herself. It wasn’t a fair fight at all, she said no to narcissistic behavior, and all hell broke loose! It was a storm around her, manufactured lies, deceit, patriarchal tornado, but she persisted all alone, with great strength and continued praying for justice. In hind sight, she said “I should have done this 20 years ago”, how women feel tied down, giving in to our conditioning.

One day, she told me that as she woke up, she was a if transported to another realm for a bit and all she remembered were the words ” These are Phantom worlds” indeed MAYA. She was connected to the divine, another day when she was crying bitterly and praying to Swamiji…..she heard him say “enough! I’ll pull you out of this!……from that time things began to unfurl in her favor. After all the years of pain and suffering, in this patriarchal world, she had to buy her peace. She had to give, in order to keep her home and her sanity, even though she would be left with little. She said ” I HAVE FOUGHT FOR EVERY WOMAN IN MY LINEAGE “.https://os.me/short-stories/i-am-arjuna/ Like Swamiji had remarked to her once ” no woman should go through, what you have “. Even after she won against all odds, she had the heart and compassion to forgive, “I FORGIVE” she told me, but my heart still hurts.

She was delighted to receive her initiation from Swamiji and religiously followed what she was instructed, completing one purushcharna.  Her second level initiation had been approved…..I wish times were different and one could have traveled  together to the Ashram for it. 

Unwell in the latter half of April 21, her spirit was amazing! Like every battle in her life she fought with great courage, resilience and faith. Even though I was  feeling much better, when she was in hospital, she would ask how the family was doing  and tell me that she was Praying for us. When her oxygen level was in the 70’s, she attended a Buddhist meeting on Zoom and raised her fingers with the sign of Victory! On her behalf, yet again I would like to thank everyone who prayed for her from this platform, (you know who you all are <3 ) and others she knew and those who sent her healing, so many beautiful souls came forward to say how she had helped them somehow. We prayed and we prayed, ……she prayed and she prayed. She decided it was time, to do some good work in the next realm and transitioned end of May 21. My last text to her that she read, were two photographs of Swamiji, and she sent me a thank you emoji, though we said a million things to each other after that……the language of love works all across. I pray, that no one in the world has ever to go through what she had to – 

Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah।
Sarve Santu Nir-Aamayaah।
Sarve Bhadraanni Pashyantu।
Maa Kashcid-Duhkha-Bhaag-Bhavet॥
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih॥

May All Be Prosperous and Happy
May All Be Free from Illness
May All See What Is Spiritually Uplifting
May No One Suffer In Any Way
Om Peace, Peace, Peace

For her I know, it would have been a beautiful journey  ahead, for all that was sown was LOVE.

My prayer for her is, that she be blessed with extraordinary good health, love all around her, unending good fortune and enlightenment!

I would say to her ” you are my Guru Bhai” and she would laugh :), whenever we would do a havan together, we both would have this feeling of Deja Vu, as if we have done it many times in the past. We did so many fun things together, such beautiful memories, tears just flow without notice…

Shine on you beautiful soul, more power to your love!! You are a victor now and forever! When I think of you, all that I can feel is LOVE. You make my world brighter, you are my angel! May you shed the unwanted, open all the knots,  find absolute freedom from these PHANTOM WORLDS….and SPARKLE!

Om Gam Guruve Namah….