When the Urgency Becomes Urgent

When the Urgency becomes Urgent
How Swamiji’s blessings brought me from Canada to India

Nithyanandam! My name is Ma Ananda Sangavasini. I would like to share an amazing story with you. This story is about how Paramahamsa Nithyananda, lovingly referred to as Swamiji, came into my life and brought me to India in a miraculous way.

For the last ten years I have lived in Canada, North America. In September 2009 I went to Kalpataru, Vancouver, meeting Swamiji for the first time. I asked Swamiji to help me come to LBE (Life Bliss Engineering) as I had no money at all, only financial debts. The tuition fee was USD$8000. Swamiji blessed me and answered with “I’ll take care, Ma”.

From my own experience I would like to share how this process went. Along the way, like many others, I faced challenges, doubts and negative thoughts that could have stopped my from going. I know many of us are going through this. May this be an inspiration for you to see what I did and how many miracles happen that can happen to you too!!!

Clarifying Some Myths…
One myth is the idea that Westerners have lots of money and it’s no problem for them to pay $6000 or $8000. The other myth is that people who attend the LBE or I.A. program don’t have anything to take care of to come to the program, that it was just easy for them to just come and spend 3 weeks or 3 months in India. Sometimes people commented: “You are So Lucky.” I can tell you, these myths are both false. For one, the living standards in the West are very costly, so many people have credit cards, debts and not a lot of money. Secondly, to be able to come here, there is no “Luck” involved. In most cases it takes tremendous courage and the willingness to drop certain things to be able to come.

While in the LBE program, I was often joking with fellow participants. Most of us were either homeless, without a job, or both, in order to make it to the program. All of us agreed that we had never been happier, more blissful in our life, and would not have wanted to miss the tremendous experience and transformation for anything in the world. All I can say is: there is nothing else in life that could be more beneficial for you. Don’t miss this amazing opportunity! If it can happen for me, it can, and will, happen for you. Just be open.

If Not Now, When?
There were many times when situations came up that could have been considered obstacles, that would have prevented me from going. Nevertheless, the urge had become urgent; the intense desire to wake up from the dream was undeniable. The wish to live a blissful, amazing life had become stronger then these self limiting thoughts and depressing life I had been living. Even when negative thoughts would come, I would not buy into them. There were many times when friends told me; “Maybe you are not meant to go this time” or the thought would come “maybe this is not the right time, first I have to take care of this and that, I’ll wait until the next program.” Believing these thoughts was simply not an option for me. I strongly felt, after so many years of intense searching and longing: If not Now, When?

Blissful Sharing to Support You
The reason why I want to share my experience with you, is because sometimes we don’t have the support in our lives that we need. We might not understand what we are going through and might not have the kind of people around us to uplift us. This journey can be so confusing. My wish is that through my sharing, it might bring more clarity to you. After all, we are all in the same boat, we are all going through the same process. The question we can ask is; how badly do we want to change our lives? When we’ve had enough suffering, when the intensity and surrender to the master is there, it will simply happen. Just like it did with me. Sometimes we might think that after Swamiji blesses, the money will just fall into our lap. Through my direct experience I can say that this is not true; we have to take action and play our role too!

My challenges were:
• I had to move out of the rental home within two months after I moved in (the only way I could afford to go to India was not having to pay rent) which resulted in me having to go to the small claims court with the landlady as I had signed a one year lease.
• I had to put my belongings in storage;.
• No money: I was self employed with a very small income, no savings, no assets and a credit card that was maxed out. I had no possessions of any value that I could sell.
• I needed someone to take care of my dog for three months
• This all happened in September, which was only two months away from the start of the program. To be able to make my dream come true, the amount of USD$10.000 minimum would had to show up within this time frame. Something unheard of for someone like me.

All in all, it didn’t look very good. When Swamiji said “I’ll take care, Ma” during the Kalpataru, I knew that he meant it. I also realized my role in it - I took action. Not forcefully, but intuitively. I tried everything I could possibly think of. In this, I realized that the process had already begun, even before I arrived in India. It showed me again that Swamiji is with us, no matter how ‘far’ we think the physical distance is. For Him, there is no physical distance. When He says “I’m with you”, He is. Right here. Right now.

The actions I took:
• I continuously asked Swamiji for guidance, no matter what challenge came up;
• To get the tuition fee, I tried everything I could think of. I applied for a line of credit, a credit card, even a line of credit with a friend as a sponsor but nothing worked out;
• I had to tell my employer that I would have to quit my job for the time I was in India;
• I did fundraisers, asked for small loans and donations;
• A dear friend lend me money to buy the plane ticket, even though I had no funds to pay the tuition fee for the LBE program;
• I got my Visa to enter India, before I had the tuition fee.
• Daily I visualized myself being in India. For example, when I practiced Nithya Dhyaan, I visualized myself sitting in the meditation hall at Swamiji’s ashram with hundreds of other people. I felt intensely the joy that I “made it there”, that it had happened.
• I asked my friend if he could take care of my dog.

The miracles that happened in the process:
• I won the court case with the landlady. In the process I faced tremendous fears amongst other emotions and worked through those with the grace of Swamiji;
• I experienced deeply what Swamiji had told me at the Kalpataru: “I’ll take care”. Such tremendous trust and love started to flow in my being more and more as I went through this experience;
• Through different means, the money started to flow in: a friend sold his guitar and had done fundraiser meditations for me. He just gave me $1400 with wanting anything in return. I did fundraisers myself, the store that I work out of did fundraisers for me, I got some small loans and people just gave money to me. Even several people that just knew me only from volunteering at the Satsangs gave me $500 with not wanting anything back!
• Not only did I find a place to stay for my dog, another friend donated food for her during my stay in India!
• The amazing miracle that happened: I MADE IT TO INDIA through Swamiji’s grace only. TWO DAYS before I boarded the plane, all the funds came together! Not only $10.000, but $12.000 dollar came my way within two weeks!!! So now, not only could I go to the LBE, but, as I intensely wanted, I was even able to go to the Khumba Mela!!!
• Through this experience, I felt the deep love, care and compassion of people and the experience that people do care, that the universe supports us. So often, even when I was here at the ashram, I would break down into tears of deep love and gratitude for Swamiji and for all those who had made it possible for me to come to the ashram. If I would have just gotten the line of credit, I would have missed out on this amazing experience. I would not have wanted to miss this in the world!!

Words of Inspiration for You
• Intensity is the key! Simply be intense in your desire to come to the program.
• Visualize daily that it has already happened, and feel it in your whole being. Even as you go throughout your day, do not say anything that will contradict this. Just keep visualizing, and have fun with it. Feel the excitement.
• Watch Swamiji’s discourses daily, surround yourself with His energy as much as you can. Ask Swamiji to help and guide you. Drop expectations of how you think it should happen!! Allow the intelligence to do the job.
• Don’t listen to or mother any negativity, whether it is from your own thoughts or from other people. Anything is possible when you believe in it! Don’t suppress it, but just see that they are fish jumping out of the water. They are not real.
• Take action when action is required. This is about taking responsibility. I believe that the biggest misconception is that we think just because of Swamiji’s blessing we can be lazy and it will all happen automatically. NO! We have to play our part too.

Conclusion
My deep wish is that this was of some help. When I went through all this, at times I felt utterly insecure and totally desperate when things did not go as I expected. There were many times where I was not sure if it was going to happen. All I could think of, was this: Swamiji has said it, so it will happen. I surrendered it all to Him. And look at what happened! I know that like me, many people have experienced the same thing. And you can be one of them!!

If you have any questions or would like some personal feedback you can contact me in person at sangavasini@gmail.com