Lessons learned at the Divine Lotus Feet

[Guest guest]

The unique opportunity of interacting with their Revered Chancellor in the Mandir and on various other occasions, is the most important feature in the lives of each and every Student. The greatest lessons of life and living are learned at His Lotus Feet. To quote a few examples, we have B. T. Kumar, who studied in the Brindavan Campus, Bangalore, from 1975 to 1980. One lesson that he had learnt at the Lotus Feet always stands out in his memory. There were 250 odd students in 1976 and the Warden used to divide them into groups and give them odd jobs like vegetable cutting, premises cleaning, gokulam (cow shed) cleaning, Mandir decoration etc. He along with 15 other students got the job of cleaning the College Auditorium. Kumar was cribbing all the while

about his bad luck as he was sure to miss Swami's Darshan and discourse that day. Most unexpectedly and much to their good fortune, Swami made a surprise visit to the auditorium. They were elated. Swami walked up to Kumar and said "The secret of happiness lies not in doing what one likes but in liking what one has to do" and explained to him for over 5 minutes how they ought to love the work they do, be it cleaning or studying! That was Gita straight from the Lord Himself! Kumar says, "This lesson changed my perspective of life completely. When I joined my first job, I was so dedicated and worked with so much of involvement that over a period of 5 years I had risen to become the general manager of a Rs.400 crore Pharma company. In the next 5 years I went on to become the first director outside the promoter's family on the board, in its 30 year history." T.N. Giridhar from UK, recalls an incident of his student days in

the Mandir, that delivers a very potent message. "The live flute music, which used to be played before the Bhajans, began. Swami happened to be standing directly underneath the speaker and looked up as soon as the music started. With a twinkle in His eyes, He asked, "Where is the sound coming from?" Without hesitation, the boys there answered, "From the speaker, Swami!" Pleased with that, He said, "Ah, see, the sound comes from the speaker but the source is inside" and pointed towards the Bhajan Hall. To this day, I am amazed at the simplicity with which He delivered such a powerful lesson. Years later as I was waiting anxiously outside the Board room in UK for an important presentation, I recalled those words of Swami and instantly felt comforted. I then went in, made my presentation, answered their questions and walked out after almost three hours of gruelling. I had no clue as to how it was perceived by them, but got the answer in about two days --

we were awarded the contract of several million pounds!" Source : www.saistudents.org