Experience :

SAVED IN CAR-ACCIDENT

S.P.KUMAR, Chennai

In October last I had attended the first day’s Lecture-programme of Sage TGN, and after completing some personal work I could return home only by 11-00 p.m. On entering the compound of the block of flats where I reside, I heard the piteous howling of a dog from a 6-foot deep pit near the gate. It was drizzling and water had collected in the pit to about one foot. On enquiry, the watchman informed me that the dog had fallen into the pit early that day and it could not climb out. It would be dangerous to try to lift the dog which was sure to bite whoever came near. I had had a tiring day and my first impulse was to leave the matter at that and go in. But then the Master’s emphatic Teaching reverberated in my mind that humans alone, of all living beings, are equipped to go to the aid of another being in distress and they would be failing in their duty if they do not exercise this faculty of the sixth sense. In a quick sequence an idea flashed and I asked the watchman to seek the assistance of the gypsies who were camping at the bus-shelter outside the gate.

The watchman returned with two gypsies who got into the trench and in a swift operation they deftly caught the dog by holding all its legs together and flung the animal out. Barking in relief the dog ran away. I offered some money to the rescue-squad of gypsies and they accepted it happily, for that was unexpected income at that late hour. Feeling extremely light at heart, I had a very peaceful sleep.

The next day I had to travel to Tiruchirapalli with two of my associates for a business-meeting there. The road-journey, by Tata Sumo was uneventful for the space of about five hours when tragedy struck, at 10-30 a.m. The car was near Veppore, 90 kms before Tiruchi and there was a steady drizzle at that time. We did not know that the stretch of the road had been rendered slippery due to the spilling of some lubricant earlier. Our vehicle, speeding at 85 kmph, got out of control and my cousin who was driving applied sudden brake. The car dashed against a stone-pillar on the roadside and we found ourselves rolling three times in the vehicle. The driver’s door opened under the impact and my cousin was flung upwards and he landed on a grass-covered spot after describing a parabola.

I was in the front seat and I realised the seriousness of the accident, but strange to say, there was not an iota of panic in my mind. My left hand was swollen as I came out of the car. By then the residents of the hamlet had hurried to the scene on hearing the crash and they were extremely helpful in bringing out the other two passengers in the rear seat. One of them could not move by himself because of pain in the hip-region and the other had blood spattered over his forehead. The villagers guided us to first aid and I could also send a message to my friend in Tiruchi who immediately drove up to ferry us back to Chennai. Viewing the bonnet of our vehicle that was completely smashed through the centre, he could hardly believe that there had been no casualty. The villagers told us that normally some workers would be resting at the spot near the pillar at that time of the day, but because it was raining they had gone away. Otherwise quite a few of them might have been injured.

On returning to Chennai we went straight to a nursing home for check-up and treatment. My cousin was unhurt, one of the rear-seat passengers had only a sprain and the other had cut-injuries just a few millimetres above his eyes. As for myself there was a thin crack on the wrist-bone which was duly bandaged until it healed.

During the next few days of enforced rest, I did some introspection and I am giving out my conclusions, which, I hope, would be of interest and guidance to other spiritual seekers:

(1) I firmly believe that my rescuing of the dog on the previous day had contributed in some way to our miraculous escape. Has not our Master told us repeatedly that an act of charity (eegai in Tamil) reinforces our life-energy and raises our immunity-level?

(2) At the moment of the accident, I could experience a disc of protection around me and the car, which perhaps was the outcome of my sustained effort earlier, to give appropriate corrections to my mode of living, in order to neutralise the old stock of adverse imprints.

(3) When we come to the Path, what the Tamil proverb says that “the danger targeting the head goes off with the turban” (“”) is demonstrated to us in a dramatic manner so that we may intensify self-effort to improve ourselves.

I have already replaced my leather shoes, belt and wallet with ahimsa products so that even in articles of our daily use we may not cause any harm or hurt to any living being.

Send this article to a friend!
Also Visit www.tgnfoundation.org