Jiva to Atma

I was at my parents’ place and about to set out to go someplace. My mom tipped me with info on how much I would need to pay the auto-driver for the distance I would be covering. Not more than Rs. 40, she said. And don’t take any autos from the nearby auto stand, take one from the next street.

I stepped out and since I was short on time, went to the nearby auto stand and signalled one of the drivers. As he drove his way over, I was mentally bracing myself to drive a hard bargain of the said 40 rupees and no more. My face was stern, my demeanour rigid and there was a little bit of unconscious stress building up into my system as he approached me. I told him the destination and then asked him the big question….How much?

40 rupees…he said.

I stopped in my tracks for just a second. The fight I was about to put up died within me. 40 rupees is all that he had asked for?

My shoulders slumped in relief and I happily got into the auto feeling a good sense of not having let him down by bargaining and moreover having struck a deal which made both of us happy. I got in, sat down and when I looked front, that’s when I noticed it. A bright, sharp picture of Shirdi Sai Baba greeted my eyes, and next to him were pictures of every deity possible neatly arranged and taped to the front glass.

Seeing that picture there was the point of instant connection. And it reminds me of one of the things I have read Swami say, which made such an impact some time earlier…Why fear, when I am here?

This has now become a mantra of life, and everytime a worry, big or small surfaces, this one thought rises surely above it, instantly defragmenting all the related stress, leaving no more fear…and only a feeling of being in the HERE.