Divine intervention on Shivaratri

M. Gautham Machaiah

Two days ago, my friend Ravi took me to a clairvoyant in Bengaluru, a Muslim lady with origins in Egypt. As I sat opposite her, she asked for my full name and appeared to go into a trance. Soon, she started muttering, “Shiva…Shiva...Shiva…”. I was a bit surprised she was taking the name of a Hindu God being a Muslim woman.

About thirty second later, she opened her eyes and asked me if I had recently visited a Shiva temple and I responded with an emphatic no. Seeming a bit confused, the lady said, “But in my vision, I can see you standing in front of a huge statue of Shiva. It is white in colour and at an elevated place.” I once again responded in the negative, and the clairvoyant shrugged, “Anyway that is what I see in my vision.”

At the Shiva-Parvati statue in Vizag

However, the next day when I was browsing through my Facebook page, I came across a photograph of Shiva and it struck me that lady was indeed right. It had completely slipped my mind that about a week ago, I had visited a hillock in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh, which had a huge white statue of Shiva and Parvati, just as she had described it!

While on the topic, the clairvoyant had also advised me to visit a temple which had a big statue of Shiva on Shivaratri day. The only such statue I could recall In Bengaluru was the one at Old Kemp Fort, but the thought of the huge rush there put me off and I reminded the lady that I was not a very religious person. She mildly admonished me and said, “You have to do it because that is what the vision says.”

While I was still contemplating if I should heed her words, a name instantly flashed in my mind—Pooja Singh, a good friend who had previously worked with the organisation that is in charge of the statue. I called her to check if there was a system of special darshan for an additional fee, something that is common in most temples today. Pooja who promised to revert with the details called me back a few minutes later. Yes, such a system did exist, but she said, “Gautham, you do not have to worry about anything. I have made all the arrangements.”

When I reached the temple early this morning, I was met by a very courteous executive by name Pam who escorted me inside and stationed me right before the gigantic statue of Shiva. It was a mesmerising scene. The view of dozens of arathis breaking the early morning darkness amid religious chants in the background was a sight to behold. It was like heaven had descended on earth.

Thanks to divine intervention, the entire process of my darshan took less than fifteen minutes, while otherwise I would have had to wait for over four hours.

As Paulo Coelho says, “When you want something, all the Universe helps you in achieving it.”