Birthday Party

One day at 9:am, I told Gurudev that I was going to the city. Gurudev said that Kirpal was also going so I could go with him. Then Raghu, too, wanted to go in the same car. Along the way we met Divya and she, too, wanted a lift to the city and Kirpal agreed. I didn't know what was going on.

I had wanted to go to the city to collect some clothes from my tailor. I got out at the tailor shop and asked them to continue, but they said they would wait. The clothes were not ready, so I sugggested that we go to the snack shop opposite, since it was always noon . After eating, Kirpal had work to do, so he said that he would
meet the rest of us shortly at a place on MG road.

While we were walking towards MG road. we met Shekhar, a cousin of mine who was looking after the Ashram gardens. He said that the director of the Agriculture University and his wife were waiting in a car and he wanted us to meet them. I was reluctant and not at all interested in meeting them. The people around began giggling and I could not fathom why. Anyway, I went with shekhar to the car, which
was parked in the front of the Oberoi Hotel. Inside the car were my father and mother. The entire set-up had been arranged as a birthday surprise!

It was such a great experience and I was totally overwhelmed being with people who were most close to me. We were given the centre table in the restaurant. I thought that Gurudev did not know what happened and when we returned to the Ashram, I began to tell Him the story.
But He cut me short, saying, "Ah, so you got the centre table!" So He
was behind all this...

Another year we were in Pune, I had forgotten it was my birthday. That morning in a Satsang of over 1000 people, there was a question-and-answer session in which someone asked, "What happens when you come to a Guru?" Gurudev responded, "When you come to a Guru, fun is born." IN Hindi, the word for 'fun' is my name Vinod. That's when I realised that it was my birthday.

On another Birthday, Gurudev was away in Canada. I recieved a phone call: it was Gurudev. He said, "Everybody is singing Art of Living birthday song!" In the background, I could hear the entire satsang group singing away. I was overwhelmed. He has remembered me!

Life with the Master is not easy to talk about, because it touches me so intimately. All those deep impressions which you cannot share with anybody else, you can share with the Master. He is there to take all those away. He meet each of us at our own level, constantly inviting us to open up to Him. This becomes easier later on, because you realise that He is totally non-judgemental.

---Vinod Menon