Dear Folks, I realize that this is the first time in this year that I have visited my blog. I wish you all a very happy new year and hope that I will continue to post a few meaningful things here. I have been traveling for sometime and last week had an opportunity to visit the temple town ie Tirupathi. I like to do things which are different from routine.So, we decided to trek the mountain by foot to have the Darshan of the Lord. We started off at 7.30 in the morning and reached the mountain top by 10.30. It was a feel-good experience till we reached the top. We went ahead and joined the lines for Darshan. From here, it was a very arduous, frustrating and tiring long hours of waiting. Finally, after all this waiting we had a glimpse of the Lord for probably 10 seconds. We came out of the temple at 7.30 in the evening. It took exactly 12 hours for us to have Darshan. The waiting was very grueling but when I reached the sanctum-sanctorum, I felt a sense of calm. I felt happy for that. On an after thought, I did some calculation and came up with my own math. For ten seconds of darshan, we probably spent twelve hours of our time and effort. My question is whether it is necessary or required to struggle so much for that glimpse of the Lord. I am fully aware that it is a very personal issue but I feel that each of us have to question ourselves about why do we visit any temple. My personal belief is that God is indeed omnipresent and we don't have to put ourselves in trouble to see Him. Majority of us belong to a class where we crave to see the Lord and on the other hand there are a minority section of people whom God craves to help. I am going to narrate an incident from the life of Swami Vivekananda which highlights the latter point. During his wandering (Parivrajaka) days Swami Vivekananda used to travel from place to place. All he had with him was a copy of Bhagvad Geetha. He never used to carry any money with him. He used to beg for food and eat the same. Any kind soul would buy him a second class passenger ticket and he would travel with that. Otherwise he would walk from one place to another. During one of these days, he alighted at Tari Ghat station. His throat was parched and he was feeling very thirsty. He could not buy a glass of water nor eat food as he had no money with him. It was scorching hot and quite unbearable for the Swami. There was a fellow passenger who was a buisnessman by profession. He made fun of the Swami and ridiculed him for his plight. He sat on a mat in front of Swami and He bought himself few pooris and started eating them in ront of Swami. Swami bore all the taunts of the buisnessman with lot of patience. Suddenly, there appeared a local inhabitant carrying a bundle and a tumbler in his right hand, a mat under his left arm, and then an earthern jug of water in his left hand. He hurriedly spread the mat in a clean spot, put on it the things he was carrying, and called to the Swami, " Do come Babaji, and take the food I have brought for you. Swami was surprised. He said to the man that he had mistaken him for somebody else. Then the man narrated a story that brought tears in the eyes of the Swami. The man was having his afternoon siesta when Lord Ram appeared in his dream and showed him Swami and asked him to make hot Pooris, some sweets and serve him at the railway station. The man thinking it to be just an ordinary dream turned on his other side and continued sleeping. Lord Ram appeared in his dream again and reprimanded him for not listening to him. He showed him the Swami again and told him to serve him. The man came running with all the things and immediately recognized the Swami at the railway station. This is one of the many incidents in Swami's life clearly revealing Divine providence at work. This story is a very heart touching one revealing that God is indeed omnipresent. When we are in need, he will come running to help us. We need to take one step towards him and he will take a hundred. It is up to us if we want to take the first step or not.... Signing off for now, Krishna