That night in Ganga Devasthan: Part Two- Was it maktub.

Ganga Devasthan is a small cluster of temple about two kilometers from the Shahapur Village, on the bank of a rivulet called Ganga for the matter of faith. It has two main temples, one devoted to Lord Shiva and other to Lord Vitthal. This place is well revered by people of Shahapur village and nearby Atgaon and Asangaon and lies south of Mumbai-Agra highway.

The motorcycle owner told me that it was an 'Ekadashi' night and there will be night long prayers in the Vitthal temple and therefore it would not be very difficult for me to spend a night over there. He said that I can have food (actually prasad) and shelter for the night.

Initially, I was a bit skeptical- for the simple reason that I will be using a temple premises for my selfish need, but then something deep within me told me that it’s a divine call.

We Hindus believe in the concept of divine call, it is said that the divine shrines beckon a person and not everybody can go to those shrines- how so much one tries. I subscribe to the belief; I have this urge of visiting 12 Jyotirlingas, spread all over India. And I have visited by now, quite a few of them, located far and wide- in Rameshwaram, in Aurangabad, in Somnath to name just a few- and still till date I have not been able to visit the one closest to the place I spent 25 years of my life- Baba Vishwanath in Varanasi.

It was almost 9 at night, when I started walking towards Ganga Devasthan- bidding adieu to Shahapur. The road to Devasthan was pitch dark, and a distance I could see the lights of the Devasthan, showing me the path and calling me towards it. There was something magical in those twenty minutes of walk, even after the five years went by, I distinctly remember that my feelings of loneliness, fear and homelessness gradually changed to an indescribable emotion- suddenly I was one with the entire surrounding, there was no fear, there was no past and no future.

I remember those days I was at the cross-roads in my career and my life- unable to decide which way to go- unable to understand which way I am drifting, both professionally and personally. And all of a sudden, that stress was gone- as if it never existed. It was something divine, something similar to what happened to me when I visited Somnath- when I intended to visit Diu, for a couple of carefree night with booze, took a wrong bus, reached Veeraval, cursed myself and just to salvage the trip of mine visited Somnath temple. Before visiting Somnath, I was an atheist- contemplating adoption of Buddhism as faith, and after the visit and a series of coincidences (or were they) that followed, I became a believer.

After those twenty minutes of walk, I was close enough to the temple to hear some Marathi bhajans (devotional songs) being sung by the people over there. No blaring loudspeakers, no remixes, simple voices companied by the rhythm of a 'dholak' and melody of a 'manjira'. I knew- I am at the right place at the right time. As the Alchemist told Santiago, that wandering shepherd boy- "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it..."- it actually did for me, I wanted to sleep at peace, to decide, to feel loved by God and all universe conspired. It was maktub (the destiny). It was half past nine; six hours ago I was lying in my hostel at IIT wondering whether I will be able to get any good summer placement at the end of the first year of my MBA- having been kicked out of Wipro and PWC, the flagship recruiters; and now I was 50 kilometers away from the hurly-burly, far from the battles to be lost and won, far from a deteriorated myself.

There were some hundred people gathered over there, from Shahapur and other nearby villages. I wondered if they will object me being there. I entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Vitthal temple- it was strange because normally I always go to Shiva temple first, at any place- but today I was just following the beckon. The moment I faced Lord Vitthal, a strange feeling ran down my spine- for never had I seen, eyes more powerful and so intense- I knew everything will be going to be alright. I felt numb and peaceful.