Many of us have experienced this: a postcard in the old days or a WhatsApp message today, asking you to forward it to a certain number of people—or else. I’ve never paid attention to those messages. I’d tear the postcard into tiny pieces and dispose of it, or, in the case of WhatsApp, just delete or block the sender.

This kind of approach can be applied positively as well. When we go through difficult times, face health issues, or struggle to find solutions, we often turn to the only source we believe will hear us without interruption: God.

I think there’s a Kabir Doha that loosely translates to this: In times of difficulty, we remember God, but in times of happiness, we forget Him. Those who remember Him in happy times, why would they be beset by difficulties?

And that’s the issue that always hits us right in the face. Like a drowning person who clings to a straw in the faintest hope of survival, we do the same in tough times. No friend is spared from our pleas for advice. No temple is left unvisited. Every astrologer is consulted. Difficult times become their bonanza days.

If you have a real friend and pour your heart out to them, they will often suggest a solution—perhaps a parikaram (ritual offering), chanting slokams or stothrams, or reading religious texts. Maybe they benefited from these solutions themselves, or they heard about them from someone else, or read it somewhere.

During one such conversation with a friend, they suggested I perform an angapradakshanam (circumambulation) around the parigharam at the Tirupati Temple. In my desperation, without batting an eyelid or thinking twice, I accepted. In our belief, once you make a promise to God, you must fulfill it at any cost.

On my next visit, at 3 a.m., accompanied by my elder son, I lay down on the temple floor and began rolling my body around the temple. It is a huge temple, and I had never done angapradakshanam before. My poor eyesight also caused mild dizziness. Everyone else seemed to be an expert, rolling at jet speed. Since I was blocking their path, they had to overtake me. I felt ashamed but was determined not to give up. After about an hour of slow, steady rolling, I finally reached the endpoint. My head was spinning, and I felt nauseous. But after a brief rest, I went inside the temple, and after having darshan of Lord Venkateswara, I felt fine—His grace at work.

Believe it or not, a couple of years later, the issue that had been troubling me disappeared. Belief and faith can move mountains. And once you place trust in these forces, they provide relief and assurance that a solution will come. I sincerely believe that belief, faith, and trust are qualities we must cultivate diligently. Otherwise, during distress, we may find ourselves in blind alleys.

Having developed these qualities, I’ve always been open to divine solutions. However, I’ve never been a believer in astrologers, despite one of my close friends being one. I talk to him, of course, but I take his opinions with a pinch of salt.

Difficult situations come in battalions, sometimes all at once, and sometimes spaced out. So, what did I do next?

Continued in 124. Tantra, Mantra, and Swatantra – Part 2