“Eka Sadhipra Bahuda Vadanti”
“The Almighty is One, People call Him by different names.”
One of the first exercises in our NLP workshops is goal setting. After Diwali there is a custom in Gujarat to give “bonie”(pronounced bow (as in bow and arrow) knee or cash from elders to children on bestuvarash (new year day). Every year since childhood my parents would go to the bank and withdraw brand new notes from the bank and give us “bonie” in cash. It is always believed that the cash received with blessings of elders ensures prosperity for the whole year. This year my parents gave my sister and me brand new 50 Rupee Notes and 20 Rupee notes. As is the custom, we retained the new notes in our house. After the bestu varas, we visit Ahmedabad’s oldest Lakshmi temple which is a short walk away from my parent’s house located in the old city. Here is the true story of this temple, as narrated by Esther David from Ahmedabad.
It is believed that Goddess Lakshmi lives in Ahmedabad and on Deepavali night,we wait for her, making beautiful rangolis, light clay lamps and welcome her. To mark this story, an eternal light is kept burning for her in an alcove of Teen Darwaza of the old city of Ahmedabad.
It is said, late one night, when the goddess stood at the entrance of the city, the guard allowed her to enter, left her there, locked the door from inside and went to take permission from the king Then, the king rushed to welcome her,but by then she had disappeared into the city. she wanted to leave and requested the guard to open the doors, but he did not; because, if she left, Ahmedabad would lose its prosperity. Since then, an eternal light burns in an alcove at the central arch of Three Gates, better known as Teen Darwaza near Bhadra Fort. There is a handprint of Godess Lakshmi on the gate, which we symbolically touch after New year arrives.
Then we proceed for a nice Gujarati meal at Chandravilas restaurant near the temple. One of the goal setting exercises in our ZeNLP workshops is to attract prosperity consciousness by writing “All things in this universe are connected and the energies of this universe will ensure that I am reaching my goal effortlessly and efficiently.”
I did this writing exercise on new year’s day and also visualisation exercises of reaching my goal.
On 8th November at 7 p.m. I went for a walk and as usual I went to feed the stray dogs which is my daily routine. An unusual incident happened. One of the stray dogs started barking loudly and almost howling like a wolf. Then he started to run and led me to an Icici Atm. It was a divine signal. I entered the Atm and withdrew Rs. 1200 which was my need for the week. I returned home and after demonetisation was announced there was total chaos. But I knew animals have a sixth sense so retuned to the same ICICI Bank ATM late in the night and found the same stray howling like a wolf and I withdrew emergency cash.
In the last ten days many of our existing book readers sent their friends to collect books on cash on delivery basis including the CMD of Bank of Maharashtra. Mumbai who requested his Branch Manager of Bhadra branch (located near Goddess Lakshmi’s palmprint. Needless to say, this manager was staying in the apartment opposite my house and after reading my book assured me that he would ensure that cash was delivered to me if I needed more. That is the power of visualisation which created the meaningful coincidences that propelled me to reach my goal.
God moves in mysterious ways. There are two theories of Prosperity. The first theory is the theory of scarcity. Most citizens have been programmed by bankers to think that resources are scarce and tomorrow is uncertain. Thus, they persuade individuals to invest in fixed deposits, mutual funds and bonds among numerous other financial instruments. However this is poverty consciousness in action. Those who believe in this theory spend most of their time im the future or the past buried in the share pages of newspapers. The second theory is the theory of Prosperity consciousness where it is certain that the whole universe is interconnected and the universe will take care of you if you surrender yourself unconditionally to the power of abundance. Your empty bank account becomes a vaccuum that pulls in wealth from the remotest corners of this universe. Whenever you hoard money or invest in financial instruments you are sending two signals to your mind and to your life that You DO NOT TRUST TOMORROW. Unfortunately, most so called progressive economies, where quality of life is the poorest are living examples of poverty consciousness. Whereas the so called third world countries are being forced to adopt poverty consciousness by their political and economic advisors as they have lost touch with the energies of this universe. Complete unconditional surrender to the universe is true prosperity consciousness. The universe is full of abundance and provides to those who believe. And don’t feel envious when you see the list of top 100 rich people in the world as they are the role models of poverty consciousness. An ancient tribal saying among the Bantu pygmies who live in leaf huts in forests where falciparum malaria is rampant but are role models for prosperity consciousness, says “For those who believe, no explanation is neccessary, for those who disbelieve, no explanation is sufficient.
Recently I went to withdraw Rs. 1200 from an HDFC Atm near my house but as usual it was out of cash. As I had come in casuals i was not carrying any cash on me except the atm card. So i went to other atms in a 2 km. radius but found that most were either shut down or out of cash. Then as it was getting late I decided to take an auto back home. Then i realised i had no cash, when I met a very old lady selling baloons on the way. I told her my predicament and without a second thought she took out a twenty rupee note and told me to use it for the ride back. When I asked her where should i return the loan taken from her, she replied that she had no house but slept on the footpath or under a tree. But she gave a toothless smile and replied ” God provides me eveything for my needs. You need not return the 20 rupees to me. I hastily thanked her and made my way home when I saw an ICICI Bank ATM open. I entered the ATM and withdrew Rs 1200 in three withdrawals of Rs. 400 each. This was the first time I had withdrawn money from a non-HDFC Bank ATM. When I returned home and checked my statements online, I was flabbergasted as HDFC Bank had automatically deducted rs. 69 as non HDFC bank account withdrawal fee for the cash withdrawn from an ICICI Bank ATM. I have decided to donate this 69 Rs. to both these banks as they are prime examples of “poverty consciousness” and salute the toothless old lady who was a living example of Prosperity Consciousness”.
What do the Hindu scriptures have to say about The RBI giving 400 10 Rupee coins to a senior citizen in her eighties who had queued up for 12 hours to exchange Rs. 4000/- (US$ 60) in demonetised notes? Well simple, the Sanskrit saying “Vinashakale Viprita Buddhi”, explains it all. I am going to include this anecdote in my forthcoming book “ZeNLP learning throuh stories-part-2”
Murli Menon, is the author of “ZeNLP – Learning through Stories” and can be contacted over email at ceo@tips4ceos.com
Photograph caption: State of HDFC Bank’s ATM at 10:00 a.m. on 15th November 2016
Source: World Hindu News (WHN)