Uss ko Kahaan dhoondhey re bandey .... 💐

( A childhood memory and a spiritual awakening has triggered this write up. )

Soon after the Morning Namaaz, my father used to switch on the cassette player and we children would literally wake up to the voices of Sabri Brothers singing one of the most popular Qawwalis ever ...
"Taajdaar e Haram ..."
and
Lata Mangeshkar singing that heavenly Bhajan soaked in spiritual purity ...
" nis din barsein nain hamaarey ... "

Those voices, those words and those thoughts are forever etched in my heart.

Having been brought up with such fulfilling and plentiful diversity has not just enriched me spiritually but also prepared me for the life that I am now leading ...

Many times in life man needs a cushion (or perhaps a punching bag 😊 !) to rest upon in difficult times (or alternatively punch the pain out !!! )

So while no one really knows between Religion and Man, who invented / created whom, logically speaking religion must have germinated from this seed called pain.

And therefore, religion should ideally become like that comforting cushion ( or the punching bag ) for the believer in their stressful time

But it has ironically brought more discomfort and misery on this Planet for reasons that are no more secretive or pious 

So the flight from being a "true religious believer" to becoming "a true human being" is grounded before take off in most cases

The shocking fact that God / Allah / Bhagwaan is being "sold" to unsuspecting believers sometimes in the form of bread and sometimes in the form of guns , has never dawned upon most of us ... !!!

And hence in the midst of life's tough times the believer thinks only of more Pooja , Havan , Waziifa ( specific number of chants for a special purpose ) taaviz , pilgrimage etc 

So when more than a decade and a half ago, I faced an extremely challenging and the most difficult phase in my life , some well wishers  advised me to go for Hajj / Umra to find peace of mind

( Umra is like Hajj , all rituals are same , but it can be performed at any time of the year , whereas Hajj is performed in a specific month and on specific days of that month )

But my parents, sincerely religious and admirably courageous souls that they were, were against any such "escape" route.

They argued as to how could anyone find peace in pilgrimage when one's life was scattered like a city after a devastating storm?
How on earth would going away from problems solve them ?

Indeed back then picking up the broken parts and reconstructing a walkable path ahead was not easy ... But bringing back some normalcy in life was the need of the hour ... and for that I had to put in my most diligent efforts by ensuring my presence where I was needed most.

The pilgrimage was forgotten as I gradually began attending to the more worldly matters requiring my attention at that moment.

Some months later I met a cousin, who had been for Hajj that year ...

What she told me is something I still find unbelievable and intensely goose bumpy !!!

My eyes become moist and my heart flutters with joy and amazement ...

I feel wrapped in the embrace of a deeply protective divine power

It was tremendous joy, incomprehensible wonder, immense gratitude, complete amazement and so much more when my cousin described vividly in detail the miracle that she had seen ...

She had seen something that to rationale, logic and perception seems completely impossible ... !!!

She said that during the tawaaf (parikrama) of The Holy Ka'baa, she had seen me, some distance away from her !!!

At that place which is the Holiest Land for any Muslim .... at some distance from her  .... but right there in front of her ... She had seen me !!!



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