Living Spirituality

By Radhakrishnan Nair

(Mr Radhakrishna Nair is the Vice President – Talent Acquisition, Group Human Resources of TATA Group. He is a Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from XLRI, Jamshedpur (PGDPM&IR). His interests are genuine Development of Human Resources which is not limited to the Corporate World. He enjoys mentoring and coaching sessions and says these sessions leave him feeling enriched. In spite of his vast attainments and senior position in the TATA group, he is very unassuming and approachable to all. His enthusiasm and down to earth attitude are worthy of emulation for all aspiring CXO’s.)

When I was a child I used to watch my mother wake up very early in the morning and start the day with prayers. My father, in his own way, was also a very pious person. Since I was the youngest of the 3 boys in the family, I was the luckiest to learn from my parents the maximum. We were a very simple family with little or no capability to spend money on even small luxuries. I was fortunate to start experiencing God’s hand so early without anyone being connected with Bhagawan, which I realize today, was Swami’s first miracle in my life. Swami had entered our lives in anonymity. Baba has always told us, not to consider HIM as limited to HIS form. This lesson was taught in an experiential manner. No books were read, no discourses were heard, but the lesson of Omnipresence, Omniscience and Omnipotence was taught. The beauty of these lessons is that the stories that you read and the fairy tales that you hear lead to faith and in turn with faith these become real.

GOD becomes a part of daily life if we are lucky to be born in a pious, God Loving family. As we will realize that the theory of Karma plays a big role in where we are born and how we are nurtured. For a person born and bred in Godly environment, she/he is able to see the Grace of God early and unless we consciously give up this advantage, GOD holds on to us tightly. The analogy is with the mother cat that carries her little ones in her vice like grip.

Now to come back from the philosophical digression, couple of good things happened in the childhood, which continue to happen even now. I was born and brought in a very pure environment. Second, as a child, I was not seen as academically bright, third, we were in a middle class situation. Then there were many twists and turns in life, starting with my mother having to leave me in the care of loving neighbours as she had to go home to take care of her mother, my grandmother. This phase could have led to a major disaster since I was not interested in studies and was quite happy hanging around with friends. In retrospect, like on many other occasions, I see the Divine Hand ensuring that I do not get tempted to do irreversible harm to myself during this phase. It does not mean I was blemish less, it only means that HE carried me around and overcame the temptations for me.

HIS next big miracle was giving this boy, who came from a family that struggled, at times, to make both ends meet, admission to one of the most prestigious and possibly expensive school in Delhi. I have stopped trying to figure out how my father managed my fees. I can only say that Swami made him succeed in keeping me in that school. While I missed my parents, my Divine mother protected me from my own self that was forever complaining. HE even made me a big success in sports and in dramatics, while I continued my academic struggle. Like in the bhagavatham, one reads stories within stories, in my life I can see experiences within experiences.

School days were over and the college days brought in a new dimension. Swami entered my life through my Aunt. During this phase, I read books which strengthened my faith in miracles and I started experiencing these miracles with some more awareness. However college life brought with it the usual temptations and I did display my weakness in falling into the traps off and on. However, again looking at where I could have gone on this I can experience Swami’s presence. One of the early learning from reading Sai literature was that I must not crave for things and I should learn to be happy with what I have been blessed with. So when Swami gave me a job I was thrilled in just doing the work, the remuneration became irrelevant although, technically I should have become depressed on account of low compensation. Readers must remember that during all this period, my connection with Swami was limited to reading something once in a while, but HIS connect with me was like the mothers connect with her child.  

Then the miracle that took my life to a different trajectory happened. HE decided to send me to one of the best Business Schools in the country. A young man, not ambitious for such things literarily gets pushed into a future that makes all past associates wonder. The interesting aspect is that in this journey HE makes me experience many a failures. The failures were part of the route. Today I realize how important those failures were.

In 1984 after I finished the MBA program, a group of us friends went on a holiday to Kodaikanal. By this time I had started experiencing HIS miracles with some awareness. On one of the days in Kodai, I went around the lake in rain singing bhajans, not knowing where Sai Shruti was. This was HIS way of blessing this ignoramus. The next 27 years of work life have also been experiences which make me see HIS Divine Presence in every event. Maybe another time I could write about that. 

I can go on and on sharing my life’s miracles and maybe cause the readers discomfort. The realization as it dawns on me may dawn on many of you. The realization that our Lives are HIS Divine Miracles. That is how OUR LIVES BECOME HIS MESSAGES,  Knowing fully that HE is NOW HERE. With each one of us let us all go forth and live the rest of our lives in HIS DIVINE Presence.  

There is no aspect of our daily life that is bereft of spirituality. From the moment we wake up till the moment we lose consciousness to sleep we are bombarded with choices. Do we wish to live as per HIS Divine Message and experience the challenge of such living, or do we want to live our mundane lives in an animal like manner. Even as this document is getting typed, I am experiencing HIM typing this using me as HIS tool. Thus I feel blessed.