A Hospital Without Medication

            I go to this place every year to have my system checked up – A Thorough Check Up. It was not a 'one fine day morning decision', It has now become a yearly tryst. “As you all have heard about the saying “Precaution is Better Than Cure.” I make sure, that I do my thorough check and do the necessary rectification, before my system shuts down wholly. You might be thinking about which  place and which system.

            The place is a Retreat centre, and the system, my soul. Now you might be thinking, why all these junky talk. Anyway do hear me first.

So, this year, as usual, my spiritual clock went off when my last year’s spiritual energy started dwindling, I really started getting so much screwed up and a feeling of loneliness and depression started to creep in,  I knew then, “Meena, it's time to look around for a place to recharge your energy. But there was a problem, I didn’t know any place where I could literally leave my Self into the hands of God. So as usual my Lord, intervened. He brought an opportunity on my door step. So when the knock came, it came from my own roommate, Lilly Bernard. It happened like this, “Didi, I’m going for a retreat, I really do not feel comfortable going there alone.” And that’s how, I grabbed the opportunity to go to Faridabad, Divine Retreat Ashram. And I do not know whether you would believe it or not, my initiation to spiritual retreat was from their mother house Potta, in Kerala,   and consecutive years many a retreats followed. My first experience with this group of spiritualists was simply AWESOME!!!!! Seeing the multitude of people, I thought there was some sort of religious festival going on as India is a land of festivals and celebrations and for this all join without any inhibitions and it stays only for some hours or might be a day.when I came to book the room did I know that they too have come for attending the retreat. I thought of returning back. I really didn’t feel comfortable in the rush. And I was thinking again and again, would anything be possible in this rush. But seeing is believing. The end result is one and only one, people are happy and they return. Anyway, we’ll come to the Faridabad centre, I was very happy, when I knew that it was the branch of Kerala Centre.

            You might think, why should I be so happy. I had a friend, a little on the old side of age. She said to me when I decided to go to the retreat, “If you’re planning to go for a retreat, you should start with Divine, in Potta or Muringoor. I was a bit piqued, I asked her what’s the speciality of the place. She smiled and said, “You’ll know after the retreat, why break the suspense so early?” I shrugged off and I followed her advice. Now you might want to know, why, right? Well, you too will have to wait because I’m here to write about my experience in Faridabad. The first thing that attracted me was the peacefulness of the place, it might be because I stepped in before 8 in the morning, but in general it was very peaceful, we could feel that we are stepping into the precincts of a church, only when I stepped in I knew, it was not because of that there were less people. There were people, priests, sisters, lay people, people, who had come for the retreat, but they were silent – a very important necessity in a place. So we were allotted a very good room, very neat place and very spacious and the necessary accessories to make our stay comfortable. That in itself was a relief. We were four in number, except for me and another friend Elgeena, the other two, Lilly and Somari were physically sick. Somari was terribly sick. We were given breakfast. We all united in a hall at the stipulated time and all went well, the first day, with introductions and classes. The speciality of these classes is, it is taken by well educated and spiritually experienced teachers. Why these specification of qualification of the teachers. It's very very important because we are treading a path to the unknown, the soul, which very few have known, they are guiding us. It’s like a tight rope walk, one misstep and there lies our doom. That is one speciality of this place, they give a very strong foundation to the initiation to spiritual life. It's a very important facet of their healing. They do not take us for a joy ride, blindfolded. They make sure that we are aware of each and every aspect of our soul and the spiritual connection which leads us to physical well being along with spiritual healing.

            So Somari and Lilly had their share of physical discomforts on the first day, but they persisted to stay to hear the classes of the retreat, both are illiterate, but they liked all the classes on the first day, they were happy, but I have never seen Somari smile when she was staying in the hostel, she was always angry. Even if we smile at her, she looks at us like an alien. So her facial expression remained the same and I thought it might be due to her physical discomfiture. So if you want to know about Somari, she is a Hindu. She met with an accident in her work place, she had fallen from a four storeyed building and broke her hip and the back bone into two, but she didn’t die and she was bedridden and she was alone and the nuns of our hostel did all the work for her. Seeing her pathetic situation, they decided to take her to Faridabad to pray because they had faith in the prayers of the place and the priests and nuns and the director, Fr. Joby and they believed that Somari would walk. So our Somari was taken there and after the prayers the first day, Somari, with a broken backbone and a hip and the verdicts of the doctors that she would never walk in her life started walking and that too in front of many  people. That spectacle was very heart rending because, when we see it will we have tears streaming down. All cried, me too.

Somari had lots of other problems and all these problems, she came and cured it in this place. Now she has a wound which would never heal, according to her body immunity and health, she has no other diseases, which hinders her body from healing the wound, nobody could understand. So the nuns decided to take both Lilly and Somari to this retreat Ashram which was organising the inner healing retreat for four days. That is why I too joined them for company. For me, the retreat was my lifeline, they didn’t know but they were happy with my presence because I could help them with their luggages, no sweat because I really need their help in directing myself to this place.

So we are in that retreat. Somari was the same, no smile, always discomfort, etc...On the third day, the Ashram provided counselling to those who needed. So Somari was also given counselling. She got a very good counsellor. He immediately knew what her ailment was. He asked her, some questions and she was sitting poker faced because counselling is a personal affair, only the counsellor and the person knows, what is spoken. Then I saw him speaking to her and she was nodding and then she broke out crying. She couldn’t stop her tears. She cried and cried and then the counsellor prayed for her. She returned back to attend the testimonies of people who once were sitting in our seats. She continued her tears and by evening break, she was a changed person. She started smiling. I could feel she was happy. I was relieved. I knew, she was healed, she had forgiven and to be frank, only then I knew that she was a very good looking girl and I told her so and to smile regularly and this advice goes for you too guys, ok?

That evening a miracle happened, her urinary infection was cured and her wound started healing. She was very very happy. Only when she told me that she was cured of urinary infection did I know that she was suffering from it. That is one disease which is very difficult to sit for long time and the burning sensation, the pain in the lower abdomen. I really salute her for the strain and the suffering she took upon herself to get the healing. Anyway God worked miracles, not only for her but all of us and the whole congregation who attended that retreat, seeing the number of testimonies given, we will have to believe, that this place is indeed a hospital without medication. But the admission is for the selected few because we are chosen by God. It's for the people, who are ready to tread the path towards God. It's for the people who really needs a change or else, we would have lots of reasons, not to go. Anyway, reason or no reason, I too received my share of gifts, which for me is priceless and am still wonderstruck by the depth of it. So now I hope you understood why my friend asked me to go to Divine?

If not, then I’ll say it myself, you’ll never deviate from the path of God, first trodden. The base is strong and you could face the world easily and the faith towards God is unshakeable. So I would also recommend you the same. May the Spirit of God guide you. I forgot to say one thing, this part is written after a week of the retreat, Somari is still smiling and Lilly was cured of her ear infection and partial deafness along with her rheumatism. Praise The Lord.

Bye and Take Care.

Meena