The operation that wasn't

A devotee, July 2013
My destiny changed when I came to Guruji's Bade Mandir three years ago in 2010. Life was difficult before that but after that it became a bed of roses.

I had become a mother five years before, my daughter, Jia, having being born on 15 September 2005. However, her heart was completely blocked and she had been implanted with a pacemaker since day one of her life. When she was four years old, we gathered courage and planned a second child but I could not conceive. It was then that a relative forced us to go to Bade Mandir with her. I had my first langar on 24 June 2010 and conceived soon thereafter. I gave birth to a healthy baby boy on March 7, 2011, named Jiansh - Thank you, Guruji!

My daughter is now more than seven years old. We take her for routine checkups to the hospital. On 2 June 2013, her doctor told us to get her pacemaker's battery replaced. The doctor said that the battery would last only two to three months. We wanted to get the battery replaced during Jia's on-going summer holidays and the doctor too was not available after June 3. Hence, we decided to get the surgery done the very next day, the 3rd of June.

My mother got the news of my daughter's operation. She has faith in another saint and proclaimed that she did not believe in Guruji. She proclaimed that she would believe in Him only if the divine power in Him entered our daughter's body just before they took her towards the operation theatre and miraculously ensured that the operation did not take place.

On June 3, we got Jia admitted for a battery replacement surgery. Her initial medical tests were done. My husband donated blood required for the surgery. We got our room and my daughter's name was put outside it. My daughter had taken bath in an antiseptic provided by the hospital and changed into hospital clothes. The nurse came to take Jia for a pre-operative sedative dose. Just before the nurse could take my daughter with her, a man from the pacemaker company entered the room to check the pacemaker. He checked the pacemaker and told us that the operation was not possible because the battery had not reached its "reserve level". He informed us that the battery could only be replaced when it reaches this level. He could not give us a replacement battery, he added, because that would violate company rules and he would have to bear the cost. We then contacted the doctor and he apologized for the mistake.

We returned home and I told my mother how the operation was postponed just before they were taking the child for surgery. My mother went with me to Bade Mandir to thank Guruji and to apologize for challenging the great Lord Shiva, that is, our beloved Guruji!

I want to thank Guruji again and again and again. The words of His shabad keep coming back to me: "Kurban jaaye us wela suhai jis tumre dware aaya". (I am beholden to that day forever when I reached thy door, O Lord.)

May Guruji always keep us at His lotus feet. Jai Guruji!

A devotee

July 2013