A real life drama

....and divine help

I have always spoken about the power of Mantras. Well, today there was a drama in real life that unveiled to me the power chanting, in the most threatening crises. This morning began with meditation before the energised crystal at the Akshara Foundations in Chennai. I offered to drop two volunteers Santosh and Priya from Nungambakkam to Chennai Central to take their train at 7 a.m. to Mumbai.
The scheduled time for departure from the Centre was 5.30 a.m., but we managed to load the heavy luggage into my Maruti 800 which I have bought second hand and began driving barely three weeks ago.
Santosh started with "Jai Swamiji!" And we needed all the meditation possible for Chennai roads were flooded following the incessant rains last night. As I began driving out with my usual mantra, "Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Aksharaya Swahaha," the vehicle came to a grinding halt barely a few feet away. And again, pulled the choke, put it on first gear, as the engine revved back to life. Nungambakkam High Road was like a river in spate. Myself on the wheels, with two more people and 140 kgs of luggage, without a next word of speech we began chanting the Gayatri Mantra together and aloud in the car, behind the closed windows and the AC switched off as it would draw more energy if on.
It continued - stop and start, sometimes with the facility to go on the third and fourth gear also. At a spot on Poonamalee High Road, the traffic came to a halt as cars ahead were half submerged and floating. 10 minutes to go for the train and the traffic cop wasn't bothered and asked us to divert. Gayatri Mantra was going on as I turned into another water-logged road and splashed my way near Central Station exactly on time for the train. But information over mobile phone told us that the train was delayed. As we wheeled in to the bus bay, Santosh suggested that I enter Wall Tax Road near the Central Station and even as I was protesting that it's impossible, we moved left into that road. The vehicle stopped and water was streaming in through the windows. It was a flood inside when Santosh opened the door. He got behind and pushed and revved it up to the first gear and we neatly wheeled on to the cement floor in front of the station.
It was a victory of sorts as we hugged each other in joy at having made it. It is a different story that they returned four hours later as the trains were cancelled.
It was after that the drama began. I was alone - probably the only woman on the road, driving a car through the floods. Stopped and started and moving along, chanting and in meditation. At Millers Road, an ambulance and a bus that moved close by sent waves of water into the car that almost covered the seat. Can the engine take it. It stopped. Totally. I could have gone further only if I had oars. Within the four closed windows, I cried out aloud and prayed to my Guru Swami Akshara to come for help. His pictures are stuck in on the glass before the two front seats. It was a total cry, surrender and sharanagathi. I was helpless.
And from nowhere, the car moved in the water on the first gear. I was trying to shake the steering wheel left and right to break the flow of water and got close to a petrol bunk as the fuel touched end. But the bunk was flooded, closed and cordoned off. I tried moving further into a parking lot of a shopping complex.
A lorry and bus that whizzed past, destabilised my car with waves of water. Twice I tried going up on the first gear and twice my car drew back - two right wheels down and the left two wheels up on the slope. A total prayer the third time and my car was up on the parking lot. A man who was watching this drama said, "Madam, this is not an ordinary car." Another said, "This must have a foreign engine, not Indian!" But I know it was chanting that did it.
The rest of the day was completed with a bus ride back home, a bike ride across 100-feet road at Koyambedu which looked like a piece of the Bay of Bengal to hand over the key to my mechanic who later drove the car to his shed.
Then I went for quiet hours of meditation at the Akshara Foundations as the storm raged all around.
Mananath Thrayate Iti Mantraha: I realised the truth of these words. When my mind could have been bogged down by fear and depression, chanting of the mantras helped my mind stay tuned to the divine and allowed the grace to flow and take me through.