《Letters from Shanti Ashram, India》21. Raksha Bandana

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Raksha Bandana

August 13, 1995

Dear Parents,

It is sooo nice and quiet here, a real heaven! The vibrations of peace and the joyful presence of Jnaneswari make life a real heaven. But then again, as Jnaneswari reminds me, what is the use of the small joys in comparison to the ever new and surging bliss of forgetting the body and all maya, and being fully immersed in the Divine Consciousness? All things are useless, in my opinion, if they cannot awaken in us the experience of our true nature, eternal and full.

On 10 August it was the festival of “raksha bandhana” - on that day elder sisters tie fancy strings on the wrists of their brothers, asking God to protect them. I was busy in the morning giving strings to many of the well-known little school boys, praying for their welfare. (The girl’s Warden does not allow the girls to come to the Library, they have to remain stuck in the hostel building during holidays.) For each one I put kum-kum dot, gave them little candies and tied the string saying “OM” three times and requesting the Lord to always bless them.

Unfortunately, all the hostel kids came running and many were disappointed when I ran out of strings, as I had only got a certain number of strings for the children who come regularly to the Library (30 special decorative strings and 45 smaller ones). Good thing it was a public holiday so the day-students were not there, otherwise it would have been an even bigger disaster. As it was, all the hostel boys were like teenagers crashing into a rock concert in USA. Shanti Ashram was not very peaceful during the hours of me tying rakhis (the strings)!

That afternoon, Jnaneswari took me in the car to Kakinada, two hours away, for a function celebrating raksha bandhana by a spiritual organization called “Brahma Kumaris”. Jnaneswari was the chief guest. The organizers tied strings on everyone there, requesting all to make the resolution on that holy day to give up anger completely and to always remain cheerful and to never let depression enter into their hearts, as it is a big obstacle to spiritual progress. On the way back at night, Jnaneswari’s string got loose and just as I was about to ask if I could tie it on her tighter, she turned to me and said, “Come, you tie it on me!” After she looked at my wrist, “Did yours also come off? And I promptly untied mine for her to put it again on me! We went there at 12 noon and returned at 11 PM. I was the only one she took with her, as the people who came to invite Jnaneswari also specially invited me also.

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Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu.

Love,

Divya

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