In April 2012, we shifted to Gurgaon from our flat in New Delhi and began living in a rented place.
It was the intervening night of January 29-30, 2014, foggy and cold. We were fast asleep when around 3.30 in the morning when my wife Shakun heard noises from our son's room, just opposite our bedroom. Our daughter-in-law was shrieking. My frightened wife woke me up and we ran bare-foot to their room. It was dark inside and the door was slightly ajar. My wife gave a gentle knock at the door and asked, "
Kya baat hai, beta?" as she entered. I followed her in.
Before I could utter a word, my arms were pinned, I was gagged and bound extremely tightly. I was thrown on the ground near my wife whose hands and feet were similarly tied with her
dupatta. The man who had grabbed me whispered in my ears: "Don't shout."
In the dim light coming from the street's electric pole across the bedroom window, I saw three masked boys, hands gloved, aged between 20 years and 22 years, standing in the room. One was on the bed holding our son and his two-year-old infant; the second had our daughter-in-law bound and lying on the floor and was pulling her hair back, and the third one was controlling us both. Each brandished a dagger.
The robbers were after the cash and jewellery in the house, and threatened to harm my grandchild and set fire to the room. They could take everything, my wife said, but not keep us in pain. The robbers paid no heed and kept torturing us, even as they removed our personal jewellery-rings, ear-tops, and gold chains.
Suddenly, I felt severe pain in my stomach. Blood began oozing out of my mouth. My wife and I pleaded with the robbers to loosen our ties, but they did not listen. My wife told us to recite Guruji's mantra
jaap. In severe pain yet we started whispering: "Om Namah Shivay, Shivji Sada Sahay; Om Namah Shivay, Guruji Sada Sahay."
My condition worsened and I began vomiting blood continually. I was feeling helpless at not being able to protect my family. On my wife's repeated requests, my bonds were loosened, which gave me some relief.
The three robbers ransacked the house for an hour and a half. They untied the hands and feet of my son, warning him to free us only five minutes after they had gone. They took away our mobile phones; one of them took off his trousers and shoes that were bloodied and put on my son's.
My son untied us and called for the police and an ambulance from a nearby hospital. He informed our relatives and his friends about the incident and asked them to reach the hospital with whatever cash they had. The police arrived immediately and helped us reach the hospital. I was still vomiting blood.
By the time, we reached the hospital, I felt all the blood had been drained out from my body. And my abdomen was in severe pain. My wife, daughter-in-law and I were admitted for surgery. Our daughter-in-law was given laparoscopic treatment and discharged after two days, whereas my wife and I were in the hospital for six days. I was in the ICU for five of them and given 20 units of blood-donated by college mates of my niece's daughter in Gurgaon. It took us more than a month to recover from the injuries.
I came to know from my wife in the hospital that I was stabbed in the abdomen. Strangely, at the time it happened, I did not have any idea that I had been stabbed. After the robbers left, I was delirious. I had thought that the pain, and the blood that was oozing out of my mouth was due to how tightly the robbers had bound me. But the stabbing had ruptured one of the arteries near the lungs and the right kidney, which resulted in continuous bleeding. Reciting the mantra jaap, however, had cushioned the pain.
In the hospital, I wondered why if Guruji could reduce the pain of the stabbing had He let the robbery happen. One of our relatives satisfied my curiosity with these words: '
Karmon ka phal to bande, tujhe bhogna padega; Lekin yeh sai shakti kuchch bojh kum karegi, kuchch tere sar rahega...' (You will have to bear the burden of your karmas, but His grace will lessen it.)
It is very true; the robbing was a part of my destiny. But Guruji saved our lives: He softened the blow of the dagger, and the mantra jaap reduced our pain and gave us strength to go through this stress. If Guruji's blessings were not with us, I would not have been able to share these lines with you. Our entire family got a second life because of the blessings of Guruji.
After this incident, I have become so obsessed with the mantra jaap that even if I want to utter some other pray or invocation, I find myself reciting: "Om Namah Shivay . . ." Jai Guruji!
Shyam Kumar, a devotee
August 2014