The Road Lies Ahead!!

 His Guru was meditating. One of the disciples told him to wait, but Madhav was very impatient. He kept on looking at his watch. He knew soon it will be time for the evening prayers (aarti) in the ashram. The temple bell rang and the prayers began. He waited for the prayers to get over so that he can meet his beloved guru. His impatient wait was noticed by his Guru. Madhav’s face was narrating a story and his guru took no time to understand that something was wrong with Madhav. After the prayer was completed he took Madhav to his room so that both of them can talk peacefully.

  Guruji, Madhav began, “I am tired of my life. I have given up and wish to die. I see no light ahead of me. My business partner cheated on me, my own brother threw me and my family out of the house, my kids are hungry and I have no money to feed them. I feel cheated from everyone. I have no one to help me. I am unable to see the road ahead, there lies darkness. I have lost control over my life. I see myself falling at every step. I have lost faith in God. You are my last hope, please guide me. I need help”. Madhav broke in to tears. His guru looked at him and said” the road to our ashram is damaged badly and needs repairing. I am planning to fix it tomorrow morning. Will you help me? Madhav was stunned at this. He wanted guidance from his Guru and his Guru was talking about the road repair. But Madhav respected his guru so he agreed to help him.

 The next morning he met his guru to fix the road. Madhav, his guru said, “we need to start the work. First of all, you will have to place the mud on the road to make it even. But remember while doing this you can’t look in front, you have to look behind. You have to mend the entire road while looking behind.” Madhav was astonished and said with a trembling voice, “guruji that is not possible. How can I repair the road if I look behind?” Guruji simply smiled and said” Do as I say”. Madhav’s love for his guru was beyond everything. He decided to honor his orders.

The work began and as per his guru’s directions Madhav looked at the back while he reconstructed the road. After every two steps, he would fall down and hurt himself. Every fall resulted in reduced tolerance and increased pain. Finally Madhav decided to give up.” Guruji, he cried out in pain, I can’t do this anymore. We have to fix a damaged road. It is not possible to do this while I look behind. The road is uneven with stones on it. If I have to renovate it, I have to look ahead”. His guru came to him and said, “Yes my son, there lies your answer. This is exactly what you have been doing. You say you can’t see the road ahead. It is because you have been looking behind, at your past, which hurts you. And every time you fall it hurts all the more. And then you give up and blame God for your own folly. How can you see the opportunities that lie in the future if you keep looking at your failures of the past? Until and unless, you look forward you will never be able to fix the damage in the path of your life. God has the best in store for you, but have to leave your past behind. Look ahead, the road to your future lies ahead.”

Madhav fell at his guru’s feet. He felt choked and had no words. His guru had indeed shown him the way and the future appeared clear to him. He decided to conceal his past and fix his damaged road, not by peeping into his past but by looking ahead. This was after all, the road to his bright future.