Power of Prayer

Life is often a mystery in the way things happen and when we have an experience which shows us how a divine hand – call it God – plays on us like a master, it makes us ponder, even if we don’t have answers. I share one such divine experience which reached a closure today with good news. An experience that I felt compelled to share.

My wife goes to a nearby Raghavendra Swamy mutt every day early in the morning for a short while. She returned from one such visit very disturbed. She had seen a young girl at the mutt circle perambulating the sanctum sanctorum 108 times and she was obviously in great personal distress. She used to literally clutch at anybody she saw and begged them to pray to save her child.

Apparently her 4-year-old lovely talented daughter had come down with a virus infection and soon the child’s condition deteriorated resulting in a stroke, followed by the child going into a coma. The single mother had taken the child to different big hospitals in the city with no luck or solution. Desperate, short of funds, she had admitted the child to a small hospital and the child was in the ICU. The doctors had tried whatever they could, given the best possible medicines but to no avail. They clearly told her that the situation was beyond their control and the only recourse left was for the mother to pray to God and hope for a miracle. That is how the young girl had landed up at the nearby mutt to beg God to save her child’s life. 48 hrs deadline was what the doctors had given with little optimism.

In the evening when my wife went again to the mutt, she saw the same girl once again circle perambulating the sanctum sanctorum but this time she was prostrated on the ground and rolled over and over around the place. This is extremely hard to do physically. Regular devotees to the mutt noticed her and exchanged sympathetic comments.

The next day early in the morning, once again my wife saw her, doing the same 108 rounds and this time the girl clutched at my wife begging for her to pray for her child. The doctors had given the child 48 hrs and 24 hrs was over. My wife and few others were extremely moved by this distressing scene and tried to encourage her with positive words but could do little else. The young mother was so distraught that she said that if anything happened to her child, she would herself not live because she would have no purpose in life. The lady was educated, in a decent job and staying in the hospital full time.

Wife came home very distressed and when I heard the details, I was also suddenly upset. Total stranger, we didn’t even know their names, who they were, but yet both of us were feeling extremely distressed and even disturbed. It affected us deeply though we could do nothing. Unknown to each other we suddenly started praying for the child. I even drove to an old Raghavendra Swamy mutt, where I rarely go and prayed fervently for the child. We literally spent the day praying every time we could for the child. We then heard that some others who also had seen her, had started praying for the child. By evening we were anxious but didn’t discuss it and the moment my wife returned, my first question was whether she had met the girl and if there was any news. Yes, and it was status quo.

The next morning the girl didn’t come, and we were anxious as hell, our worst fears playing in our mind. Others also enquired about her absence. There was no logic to our emotions. She however came by in the evening and while there had been no progress, the child still lived. By now everybody who had seen her were praying.

The next day, the crucial 48 hrs having been crossed, the child was still in a coma and while that was good news at one level, it only prolonged the agony at another. Every day we started waiting for updates and hoped that she would turn up at the mutt. Encouraged, the girl started giving updates to my wife every day when they met at the same time and all she could do was speak encouraging words.

A day or two later, the girl was again at the mutt in the morning, and as she stood in front of the deity, praying, the priest suddenly felt compelled to speak encouragingly to her and blurted out – the child will open her eyes today. Later, he was horrified at his words since he was no astrologer or possessed any special powers. He started asking others what to do because his comments were rather definitive and could create false hopes in the mother. That evening as we walked the mother happened to pass by and seeing us came up with a big smile saying that the child’s eyes had fluttered, a positive sign. It was as if God had messaged the mother through the priest.

By now, all else forgotten, we and few others were waiting for updates every day and we didn’t even know her name, her child’s name. The mother was also seeking out my wife every day and while we could do nothing, just a few encouraging words made her feel better. We suddenly got a call from the mother. She had begged around visitors to the mutt till she managed to get my wife’s phone number and wanted to just talk. She wanted the contact details of any priest/ astrologer because after that miraculous premonition coming true, she was chasing a new hope. Till the call, we didn’t even know her name.

She spoke to some priest/ astrologer and called back the next day to say that in a weeks’ time, he had said the child would start recovering. The mother was distraught at the wait, but my wife encouraged her to stay optimistic, positive. She told her that positivity created good vibes and would help. The young mother in turn seemed to clutch at the encouraging words my wife spoke. Our and some friend’s thoughts seemed to be focussed only on the child – a unknown little girl – but yet who had profoundly affected all of us and occupied our mind all the time. We forgot so many things we had to do and kept wondering why our memory was so bad.

Few days later early in the morning the mother called and was weeping with joy as she shared the news that the child had regained consciousness albeit partly, but more importantly she recognised the family members, remembered her dog, remembered her favourite hotel and most importantly refused/ disagreed when offered something she didn’t like. Unable to speak or move her limbs, her faculties seemed to be working. The mother said that we were the first to know about this good news as she wept over the phone.

Strangely, without even realising it, both of us were also weeping, and we immediately called up all the others who also waited for the news update and our mood was as if WE had crossed a major hurdle. The mother shared a video from the hospital of the child awake and the joy we felt was huge. Soon after, it felt that as if a huge weight had been lifted, we suddenly realised that we were so involved in this that all else was being forgotten, crowded out of our mind.

The progress was slow, but progress there was. Some weeks later the girl could move one side of her body. She was still unable to speak but could communicate. The mother stayed by the child’s bedside in the ICU every day and night and lived in the hospital. Then a week or so later the child could move her limbs and then progress was faster. The joy that all of us felt at this news can only be felt and not described.

The mother every time she sat by the child during her coma period used to chant a certain prayer loudly dedicated to Lord Raghavendra Swamy. When the child could speak, she chanted the prayer which she never before knew but was obviously listening all the time when in a coma. The mother shared the video of this cute child chanting the prayer with us.

The child now recovered is being discharged from hospital today - 17th Nov22 after a few months in the ICU. She has got a second life literally. We now know the name of the mother and the child, but beyond that we still absolutely don’t know anything else about them but yet there seems a divine connect with the child. The child has occupied our mind the last few months.

The mother has promised to bring the child to meet us once she is fully recovered and now, we continue to pray for the child to be back at school, playing. The joy when looking at the child’s video chanting is again difficult to describe.

I am stuck at how the divine powers trigger emotions and made so many of us pray collectively to help an unknown child. Maybe God felt that “more prayer power, goodwill, good wishes, positive energy” was required at a crucial juncture to pull the child across the dividing line and so brought many of us together to add weight so to speak.