Welcome to Chinmaya Mission Alpharetta

This message is indeed a very inspiring one, and has enabled many of Gurudev's devotees to interpret difficulties as opportunities, consciously, and their efforts have borne fruit, proving beyond doubt the wisdom in the message. In fact, if you study the lives of successful people, you will find, time and again, how they converted difficulties as opportunities and became achievers - be it materially or spiritually A young girl at an age of 18, was married to a 55 year old man. The girl though young in age, was very mature in her thinking. She never cursed anyone, not even accused anyone - not even her prarabdha karma. She analyzed the situation and thought, that it was an opportunity given by the Lord to help her to withdraw from lusts and passions early in life and direct her energies in thoughts of the Lord. Ere long, she proved that her marriage to an elderly man was a blessing in disguise and today a great Mission is standing in her name - worldwide.

Certain events become turning points in life. As Gurudev very beautifully puts it, there is a reason, for every pain that we must bear, for every burden, for every care, for every grief that crushes our heart, for every scalding tear we shed, for every hurt, for every plight, for every lonely, painful night, there is a reason. If we trust God, it all can turn to be for our good. He knows the reason.

The following incident was narrated in the popular Reader's digest. This happened in Delhi. It was written that a Delhi based rich householder living in the US came to India to perform his mother's death ceremony. He had invited about 400 guests to partake lunch. Unfortunately, as it rained very heavily, only a few could respond to the invitation. The gentleman was sad and brooding - sad because the purpose was not fulfilled and brooding over the colossal wastage of food. As the morning turned to noon, he decided that he would serve the food at the slums and engaged a truck for the same. The joy of serving food to the poor and the needy did not end with that day. The hunger turned the pathetic state of the slum dwellers haunted him through out the night. Next morning, he visited all the big star hotels and choultries and enquired about their use of extra food. As expected, the food was being wasted while the poor were starving. He decided that to serve food daily to the poor would be his goal of life and set up an office for this purpose. He took upon himself the task of taking a tempo to all the star hotels and choultries, every day, late in the afternoon to collect the extra food and take it to the slums. The concept has become so popular that he receives calls from people requesting him to collect food. Blessed indeed is this gentleman. Instead of complaining that all his efforts went futile and eventually forgetting all about it, his decision to serve the food at the slums on that day, changed his life and that of the slum dwellers.

As Gurudev says, "What is more important is not what you meet in life but how you meet it". You are ordinary or extraordinary depending on what is your attitude towards the situations that you face and how you respond to the challenges in life. There is no dearth of personalities who have had the grit and the determination to perceive every hurdle as a stepping stone to success. I know of many who have not been in limelight as they are living a very simple, humble life, quietly in a village or a town, but nonetheless, they are achievers in their own way. I had an opportunity to address the school students which had the reputation of being an excellent high school. In that connection, I was told that the school is run by a single lady who was born and also married into a very rich family and was widowed at an young age of 22. When we view the situation, we would consider it as a very unfortunate event in the life of a young girl. But when we see the turn of events, the incident facilitated the lady to blossom from just being a housewife to being a mother to thousands of children, guiding them with love.

Our Gurudev is a shining example of this thought. Of course, He never felt any situation was a difficulty. There was nothing in this world that could shake up this mighty master. However, events, which we ordinarily would have considered as tragedies, were opportunities for Gurudev to demonstrate to the devotees, Lord Krishna's description of 'Man of Perfection' - A Sthithaprajna. Be it a emergency landing of the aircraft or yagnashala on fire, a ventricular failure or highly diabetic state, a yagna cancelled due to unconducive environment or disciples leaving the mission - nothing could even bring a grin on his face. Sri Gurudev faced life with equal equanimity even in His poorvashrama days. He was jailed for his participation in the freedom movement and later thrown on the streets as he was very ill. That did not deter him. After he recovered, he continued to write powerful articles as he was working as a journalist. He visited Swami Sivananda's Ashram in Rishikesh as he thought that sanyasis are cheats, living upon the society and doing nothing. While living there, he felt there was a deep significance in the spiritual way of life and he continued to stay on at the ashram. He adjusted to the simple life although he was born into a royal family. He was guided by Sivanandaji to study under the tutelage of Swami Tapovanam who lived in Uttarkashi. Gurudev trekked the entire stretch and reached Uttarkashi. A study of "My trek through Uttarkand" would reveal his struggle to reach his Master. He was trained by Swami Tapovanam with strict discipline, that few students could withstand. Sri Gurudev was convinced that the scriptures was not meant for retired life but that the scriptures spoke of a WAY OF LIFE which we need to know when we are young. Inspired by the mighty flow of the Ganges who serves people in the plains way below, Sri Gurudev took upon himself the mighty task of reviving Hinduism in its true sense. Sri Gurudev's glory the life He lived and his contribution is well known.

With such a mighty master as our Guru, it is important that each one of us practise as per his advice and achieve all that we wish to achieve.