Being an author of several best-selling books on Stress Management, Storytelling, ZeNLP and Prosperity Consciousness, I am often invited to be the keynote speaker at international schools, corporates, hotels and other organizations all over the world.
In 2003, I was contacted by Mr. Prakash Shah and Mr. Hirnank Mazumdar from the HRD department of Torrent Power to conduct our one day session on stress management, which was attended by 20 of their managers. My travels for conducting our ZeNLP storytelling sessions took me to Thailand, Malaysia, Tibet, Cambodia and Nepal between 2003 and 2017. In 2018, the HRD department of Torrent Pharma nominated their HRD Manager who attended our ZeNLP- Storytelling workshop at Ahmedabad. One of the interactive sessions in our ZeNLP- Storytelling Workshop is the session on true Prosperity Consciousness.
Many years earlier, I had received an invitation from one of our book readers Mr. Mohanty, the librarian of Dhirubhai Ambani School, inside the Reliance Township at Jamnagar to conduct our “ZeNLP- learning through stories” workshop for their teachers, which I successfully conducted.
After the session was over, I had an an informal chat with the teachers during which I mentioned that my hobbies included palmistry, astrology, tarot reading, face-reading and numerology. One of the teachers drove me to the residence of her family friend, who was facing some problems and wanted to consult me for a palmistry session. I dutifully accompanied this lady to her friend’s house. She was newly married, highly religious and had a young girl-child.
After a delicious Gujarati meal, including kela ni sabji with Gujarati phulkas, I came to know her story. She hailed from a simple family who had lost their land in her native village and were living in a rented house in Jamnagar. Her husband was working in a small shop in Jamnagar as a photocopying machine operator, so their income was just enough for a hand-to-mouth existence.
As is the case of arranged marriages in Asia, no medical tests were done before their marriage and this couple gave birth to a female child who had Thallesamia and required regular blood transfusions for her survival. As their income was just enough to make ends meet, the couple ended up spending a large portion of their income on blood transfusions and were in dire financial straits as she did not get any help from the government or NGOs. As her husband was employed in the informal sector and neither did they have health insurance, she had faith in astrology and hence requested her friend to refer her to a palmist to suggest a remedy to help her family. After the palmreading session, I advised her to surrender to prosperity consciousness or to Lord Krishna who governs this universe! As palmistry is my hobby and I believe in the power of prosperity consciousness, I do my sessions gratis and have read more than 9000 palmprints on WhatsApp of nationals from more than 50 countries, who have read my books on prosperity consciousness.
I requested this young mother to go to Dwarka with her husband and child and visualize a divine protective energy enveloping from the forehead of Lord Dwarkadheesh and protecting her daughter during her darshan, which she did. From that day, she surrendered to Lord Krishna’s divine will and her total surrender to the Lord is true prosperity consciousness in Hinduism.
I assured her that she would not face any difficulties as the universe would take care of her family. Having total faith in palmistry, she immediately agreed to my advice and went to Dwarkadheesh temple with her daughter and requested the Supreme Lord to take care of her child, as her little girl was brought into this world because of the Lord’s divine will. She prayed to Lord Dwarkadheesh that as the Lord had brought her daughters’ soul into her womb, the Ĺord should also ensure that her child had a normal future.
From the next day onwards her life changed. She got motivated to start a small home business of making khakhras at home and started selling to her friends, relatives and neighbours. Due to the power of prosperity consciousness it so happened that her home business ensured exactly enough profits to pay for her daughter’s blood transfusions over the years and she would always get the bare minimum amount needed for the blood transfusion of her daughter every month and her daughter started going to school. This is the power of true prosperity consciousness. Unconditional surrender to the divine or to the universal energy.
Now fast forward to the lockdown in 2020.
There was a lockdown all over India and especially in Ahmedabad. My mother lives in the old city and is a Ahmedabad Electricity Company (now renamed Torrent Power) customer since last 70 years and has paid all her bills unfailingly before the due date. After online power bills payment came into vogue, I pay her bills through netbanking, as I am constantly traveling.
Usually our consumption of electricity is very moderate as my parents are elderly and they do not use air conditioners and other fancy electrical gadgets. They get a moderate electric bill, which I paid every bimonthly online as I keep travelling extensively for researching my books and newspaper columns. Torrent Power is the electricity service provider in Ahmedabad City and we had no major issues over the years.
Now it so happened that after the lockdown was announced in Ahmedabad, meter readings were not taken for the month of February and March 2020. However, Torrent Power and Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission, decided to send electricity bills for February and March based on estimated electricity usage calculated on past consumption patterns, instead of sending a bill based on actual meter readings after the lockdown period was over. This meant that Torrent and GERC, were pessimists who thought that the lockdown period would continue forever. They sent an sms to consumers to click photographs of their meter readings and sms to them. However this was not communicated to my parents as our landline number was registered with Ahmedabad Electricity Company since the day meter was installed as there were no cell phones in 1980 and no phone call was received on the landline number asking them to send photos of the meter reading.
Our Torrent Power consumer number is 375682. My parents received their electric bill for February and March during the lockdown period, which was due on April 17 2020 of Rs.1970 which was paid by me, using netbanking online before the due date as I am a firm believer in thepower of prosperity consciousness in Hinduism. The average bill my parents receive is Rs. 1300 every two months from January to June, as they don’t have air conditioners. The bill for April and May arrived in June for Rs. 1300 (which was also paid immediately via netbanking as this bill was normal). To my surprise, I was informed by one of our book readers from Ahmedabad, that Torrent Power had not taken physical electric meter readings in April 2020, due to lockdown, while the printed electric bill was delivered to the society watchman, who delivered to our doorstep only a few days before the due date. This could have led to late payment fee for many who had no netbanking, senior citizens staying alone and students staying in rented apartments who would not be able to pay the bill in such a short notice compounded by the curfew.
A week after my email to the Chief Secretary of Gujarat requesting more information about how the bill was calculated by GERC , I received a phone call from the AGM of Torrent Power who informed me that her company took the neccessary approvals from Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission and estimated the electricity usage based on the previous two bills. This is classic poverty consciousness in action. Torrent and GERC, were uncertain about the future of the lockdown and were unsure if physical meter readings would restart after the lockdown period ended. The first rule of prosperity consciousness is to trust tomorrow, but with the introduction of estimated bills sent by Torrent Power and GERC the company was sending a signal to the universe that they did not trust tomorrow! But I trusted tomorrow and paid both the bills before the due date, without realizing that the Rs. 1970 bill was only estimated and not based on the actual meter reading and this estimated bill had the implicit, explicit and tacit approval of the regulator.
My emails to GERC went unanswered and the message was clear. They were firm believers in poverty consciousness. They did not trust tomorrow. So unlike the family at Jamnagar who were firm believers in the power of prosperity consciousness!
Even after a week of complaining to Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission, elicited no response, I have decided to donate the overbilled amount if any, to the universe, as the universe is interconnected. The theory of prosperity consciousness will prevail over the theory of poverty Consciousness. (Torrent and GERC) as explained in this Sanskrit mantra “Vinashakale viprita buddhi”.
The Shanti Mantra which I recite daily says
“Om Poornamidam Poornat Poornamudachyate
Poornasya Poornamadaya Poornamevavashisyate”
This mantra means that the macrocosm is contained in the microcosm. Whatever you throw at the universe, will return to you with a manifold effect. Whatever the mind conceives and believes, it achieves. What goes around comes around. Later on I discovered that I was not the only one facing this issue, as my book readers from Mumbai also faced the same predicament!
True prosperity consciousness on part of regulators and electric companies in India would have been to wait patiently for the lockdown to end and read the meter after four months and present a genuine four month bill instead of sending estimated two month bills a few days prior to the due date, as with this move the regulator and electric companies in India were sending two signals to the universe, that they did not trust tomorrow and they were unsure about when the lockdown would end, displaying a poverty consciousness mindset. I would like to conclude by this interesting story about the difference between poverty consciousness and true prosperity consciousness.
Once, in the heavens, Lord Indra, the lord of rainfall, got upset with farmers on earth and he announced there would be no rain for twelve years and cursed farmers that they won’t be able to harvest crops for twelve long years.
The farmers begged for clemency from Lord Indra , who then said, rain will be possible only if Lord Shiva plays his Damru. But he secretly requested Lord Shiva not to agree to these farmers and when these farmers reached Lord Shiva, he repeated the same thing that he will play Damru after twelve years.
The disappointed farmers decided to wait for twelve years. But one farmer started regularly digging and putting manure in his soil and sowing the seeds even with no crop emerging.
The other farmers were making fun of this foolish farmer . After three years all farmers asked the foolish farmer why was he wasting his time and energy when he knew that rains will not come before twelve years.
He replied, “I know that crop won’t come out but I’m doing it as a matter of “practice!”. “After twelve years I will forget the process of growing crops and working in the field so I must keep it doing so that I’m fit to produce the crop the moment there is rain after twelve years.” Hearing his argument, Goddess Parvati praised his version before Lord Shiva & said “You may also forget playing the Damru after twelve years!”
The innocent Lord Shiva in his anxiety just tried to play the Damru, to check if he could….and hearing the sound of Damru immediately there was rain and the farmer who was regularly working in the field got his crops immediately, while others were disappointed.It is practice which keeps on making you perfect. We become diseased or old just because we don’t practice. Practice is the essence of prosperity consciousness. When you lose you lose, but do not lose the lesson of prosperity consciousness in Hinduism.
So let this pandemic end after twelve weeks, twelve months or twelve years. Whatever trade or profession we are in, keep sharpening our skills, practice with what we have, upgrade our knowledge of true prosperity consciousness. Don’t wait for rain , that is for the lockdown to be lifted and then start something! Torrent Power AGM has assured me that in the future, no inconvenience will be caused to genuine customers.
Focus on our skills today, upskill ourself so that we are ready to meet the challanges. Reading inspirational stories is the most powerful and easy way of programming our unconscious mind. Abraham Lincoln is quoted as having said, “If I had five minutes to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first three sharpening my axe.” Sharpen your mind through meditation, prayer, exercise and chanting to increase immunity. And chant the gayatri mantra, maha mrutyunjay mantra and surya mantras and surrender to the power of abundance.
When you lose you lose, but do not lose the lesson of prosperity consciousness in Hinduism. For watching our live sessions on true prosperity consciousnes in Hinduism, please follow murli.menon.12 on Instagram, watch Murli Menon live on Facebook, buy our ZeNLP books on Google play books, subscribe to our YouTube channel titled Murli Menon Travel Storytelling. I will be publishing this article in my forthcoming book “ZeNLP- learning through stories-2” being published by The Written Word Publishers, soon. To join our book readers WhatsApp group on Prosperity Consciousness WhatsApp +917436009084. You never know when Lord Shiva may practice the Damru!
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Murli Menon is the author of ZeNLP- learning through stories and ZeNLP-the power to relax and ZeNLP-the power to succeed and 20 other travel storytelling books titled ZeNLP travel guides on Rajputana, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal,Tibet, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,Andhra Pradesh, India And Thailand, available on amazon books and Google play books worldwide. His hobbies include Palmistry, Facereading and Astrology. Murli conducts Travel Storytelling webinars online for corporates. He can be reached at zenlp@rediffmail.com
Source: World Hindu Network
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