“Whom are we worshiping in the temple? This query of mine was unanswered till I reached ISKCON.”
I was born and brought up in a Hindu family in Delhi, and we used to go to various temples and offer prayers before the gods. Two questions, however, always tickled my mind: Why do we worship so many gods, and who is the real God? As I never got answers to my questions, I considered all the gods equal, and in my teenage years all religions and faiths became one for me. Be it Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, or Christianity, all pointed towards one God. But I could not find out who this God is.
During my school days, when I badly needed the help of God I would cry out to Him, but no name would come on my lips. Sometimes I wondered whether God has any name, and slowly and steadily I felt that God has no form or name but is a supernatural power—a powerful light we cannot see but can only feel. Then whom are we worshiping in the temple? This query of mine was unanswered till I reached ISKCON.
Receiving the Gita
After completing graduate degrees in microbiology and law, I earned a masters degree in company law. In the meantime I married a close friend I had met while pursuing my masters degree. Soon I started working for a multinational corporation in Delhi. My office was about two kilometers from the ISKCON temple. Even though I passed the temple on numerous occasions, my feet never took me inside to see the Lord.
After four years, in the year 2000, I joined another company, which was farther away. I left there within two years, after I got pregnant. While leaving the job, one of my colleagues, an ISKCON member, gave me a copy of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is. This was the first time I ever read the Gita. As I could not understand this scripture, I kept the book in my study and left it untouched for the next seven years. Today, however, I feel that because of this book, in November 2002 I was blessed with a baby girl, Gaurika, who showed spiritual inclinations from an early age.
A Life-Changing Invitation
In March 2008, my daughter and I were visiting the local temple in the evening to say our prayers. While coming out of the temple, I saw Hare Krishna devotees passing out pamphlets. When I eagerly approached them, I learned that they would be conducting a six-day Bhagavad-gita program in April. The venue was at a short distance from our residence.
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