Guiding Grace

One day in the summer of 1999, I had decided to ride my bike to work. I was meditating on Sri Chinmoy's photograph, when I got a very distinct feeling that I should not go yet. So I continued meditating, and a short time later I got the inner message that I could go now. Inwardly I asked, "Is anything going to happen?" To my surprise, the answer was yes. So I started asking more questions. "Should I drive my car?" "No." "You sure?" "Yes." "Will I be OK?" "Yes." And with that yes, I felt some peace. I thought, "I am supposed to experience something, God wants me to bike and I will be OK." So off I went. I was extra careful and more aware than usual of the traffic, looking for anything that might be strange. As I was approaching an intersection, there was a car in the opposite turn lane coming towards me, wanting to make a left turn. I was going with the traffic, right behind one car, with two cars behind me. I thought there was no way that the car turning had enough room to go between the three approaching cars and myself. I was wrong. As soon as the first car went through the intersection, the car turning left accelerated. All I saw was a mass of steel coming at me, and I knew it was all over for me—the car would not be able to stop in time. I hit the brakes hard and went airborne over the handlebars. That's when everything went into slow motion. I was flying through the air looking at the oncoming car's grille, when I noticed that my left foot was still clipped onto the pedal and I was dragging the bike airborne with me. Time was going so slow that I unclipped my left foot and went back to watching the grille. It was plastic but still intimidating. I was totally amazed that the car had not hit me yet, but I was thinking about the next issue: landing without being run over. I knew that I needed to tuck and roll as fast as I could away from the car. As I landed, I was still watching the car. Why had it still not hit me? I rolled out of the way, and then everything went back to normal speed. I was lying on the street taking a quick inventory of myself. All I had was a little elbow scrape! The car had stopped, but the driver sat frozen to the steering wheel. The other two cars had swerved and just missed her. I found my bike; the chain had fallen off, but otherwise it was fine. I meditated for a moment with gratitude, then I fixed the chain and was ready to go. The driver was still glued to the steering wheel. She had not even looked at me. Walking over to her car, I tapped on her window and it slowly came down. I asked if she was OK. She said, "I never saw you. I never saw you." I just smiled. I know that there was no physical way possible, once she had accelerated into the turn, that she would have been able to stop in time. Guru had warned me about the situation and told me I would be "all right". Actually, I felt super-excellent, partly from the adrenaline rush, but most of all from knowing that Guru is right here all the time watching over me and guiding me. Such a feeling of wonderment and gratitude I had all day long and still have, knowing of Guru's guiding grace.

Yuyudhan (Minneapolis)