I Prayed

The most visible miracles Guru has performed in my life involve my dear ones. When I came to the path I was worried about several of them. One of my closest friends had been drinking heavily for a number of years. A young man who had grown up with my older son during his childhood and adolescence developed a rare form of cancer that none of his doctors knew how to treat. My mother was elderly and needed a live-in companion, but for almost a year she criticised every possible candidate severely, and each new companion left within a few months. An older friend had been stuck for five years in a job that made him very unhappy, but he felt unable to look for a new job. Naturally, my worries about these people had no good effects. Now that I was a disciple, I prayed for them often during my morning meditations. One day the father of the young man with cancer called me and was overjoyed to tell me that he had found a doctor on the West Coast who was a specialist in just that form of cancer. The young man went to California for a year of treatment and is now still alive and happily married. A very spiritual woman who had the patience of a saint came to care for my mother, and they were fond of each other until my mother died in her sleep a few years ago. My almost alcoholic friend started attending AA meetings and has not touched a drink in over five years. My older friend stayed in his job, but his boss was replaced, and the new boss gave him much more interesting responsibilities and raised his salary by about a third. When the first of these miracles happened, I didn't think too much about it—I thought it just happened. By the time there were three, I started to offer my gratitude to Guru. I haven't stopped.

Bhadra (New York)