A story about my mom and Guru

This is a story about my mom and Guru. Over the years, my parents have become increasingly grateful to Guru. Originally they were not at all—quite the opposite—but they have since grown to be quite thankful to Guru in a deep way.

A little background about my mom—the first time she can remember going to the doctor was when she had her first baby. She grew up in the Italian countryside in a very poor family. Her mother knew about herbs and the old ways of curing sickness, so she never went to the doctor. To this day, whenever she gets a pain or feels anything wrong, she says, “As it comes, so it will go.”

Several years ago my mom called to tell me about some shoulder pain she was having. She never complains, so I knew it must have been pretty bad. “My shoulder hurts so much I can’t sleep at night,” she said. “I can only sleep sitting up.”

A couple of days of this went by and I told her, “Mom, talk to Guru, tell Guru.” I knew that in their bedroom my parents had a photo of Guru, and they also had a Transcendental photograph in their car which Guru had told them they could have, so my mom knew that was for protection. So I told her, “Mom, just tell Guru.” She didn’t, and day by day her shoulder pain got worse. Finally she got to the point where she couldn’t sleep for two full nights. She was in her late eighties, and this was very much telling on her health. Unbeknownst to me, she finally became so desperate that she inwardly spoke to Guru. I got a phone call out of the blue, and my mom asked me, “Does Sri Chinmoy talk to you?”

This was after Guru had physically passed away. Nevertheless, I said, “Yes, he can, if he wants to. He can speak to you, too.”

“He did speak to me,” she confided.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I was in so much pain and I didn’t know what to do, so I talked to him and he said to me very clearly, ‘The problem is not your shoulder. There’s nothing wrong with your shoulder. The problem is that your handbag is too heavy.’” She finished by saying that she immediately knew this was true—in fact, many years ago a doctor had told her that her handbag was too heavy and she shouldn’t use it. I asked her if she had been carrying it lately and she told me she hadn’t picked it up in a few weeks because her shoulder was getting so bad.

However, at that exact point her shoulder pain started getting better. Guru had fixed her shoulder, and she knew it.

To this day, if she forgets this incident and we’re talking about Guru, I’ll say, “Remember how he talked to you, and how he cured your shoulder?”

“Oh yeah, that’s right!” she’ll say, recalling the whole experience.

I hope this sweet story can serve as inspiration to others and to increase our gratitude to Guru. He is very much here, aware, and taking care of us often before we even know there’s a problem. Sometimes what we call a problem just indicates a time when Guru can help transform us in some way. He can use that experience as something to help us in our spiritual life.

As God knows that we have
Many problems,
Even so,
His Heart has
All the solutions
For each and every problem of our life.

Sri Chinmoy 1

• 1. Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 25, #24523, Agni Press, 2002