Chalo Berlin

“I have told Guruji that we would be about 100+ people from YES!+ coming to Berlin”. I remember the day when Bawa told me these lines with a big bright smile on his face World Culture Festival. The Olympic Stadium has been booked for this grand ensemble. Only GOD(Pun intended) knows why on all earth he has selected such a venue! I was like…Kyun yaar, India mein Jagah ki kami hai kya? (Is there lack of space in India?). Bawa had also mentioned about the month long Euro trip after the event which was too irresistible. I mean it. You can read it here. And what about the money, honey? Roughly about 2 lacs! plus some thousands…Come on…you go there so far and you just cant just return empty handed right? Would be so stupid!

Can you imagine, the moment I heard that number, my mind was already on its way doing all mathematics with the money I had in my RDs, FDs, shares etc. but it would not sum up to it

The Olympic Stadium, Berlin

Saying YES to this trip took some time but once I did, arranging for the money was the biggest challenge! But as every salaried class person, there were many other hurdles for which I needed money. The next few days…the song – Apna sapna…money money…was humming in my mind. Thoughts of taking different workshops, courses, gambling in share market, take a loan etc bombarded my head for quite a long time…and I mean days together. I was not ready to risk anything. The anxiety and confusion rose to such an extent that I decided not to go and watch the event via webcast. Big deal! And what about the trip? I had already visited some of the places which were in the plan. So it was not all that bad either…I consoled myself. :’(
My appraisal had just got over couple of months back. Thoughts like – “Oh! I should have asked for a onsite trip that time itself. Probably they would have agreed.”, “Should I go and ask now?” etc were bombarding my head every now and then. All this was happening just before and during the Manavathe season

It was another regular Friday afternoon in office. I was in no mood to work. Whats new you might ask. But more importantly, now what has this to do with Berlin? It does!
That friday evening, my manager calls me and says – “We have planned travel for you to Germany for 3 months. You will have to leave in a month or so…” I coolly replied – “Ok.” and came back to my seat. Just browsed through the calender to check the dates. Taking passport,visa factors into account, I might mostly travel by May end. 3 months, so June, July and August. Wait a second! July?! Will I be there? For a minute(or little more) I didnt know whether to laugh, cry, feel grateful…absolutely stunned! Tears just brimmed in my eyes and a drop just trickled down from the right eye…

WCF Logo

Thats the month…July 2nd, 3rd the dates for the World Culture Festival which I badly wanted to witness. Can it get better?
Guruji had charted out a plan already and I was here doing all circus to be there and finally when I gave it up, he offered it to me in a platter. As i was driving back home that evening, i was thinking what had I done to deserve this? The answer was – Nothing! I had done nothing to deserve this. Probably this is what is called as GRACE.

JaiGurudev!

Suman Ramaswamy
(Art of Living Teacher)