1. His Holiness Dr Athavale giving strength and energy while giving birth to my son, Narayan
When giving birth to Narayan, I initially had difficulties to bear and accept the labour pains. I was not able to think at that time or do anything else, but suddenly a strong thought came to chant God’s name and pray to His Holiness Dr Athavale for strength. I prayed with my last ounce of energy for help, to stay calm and that He only gives me strength. After that, my chanting occurred with great intensity. Thereafter my fears and worries came down and I felt that the pain reduced in intensity. As I was giving birth at home, I had a picture of His Holiness Dr Athavale in the room which helped me tremendously to accept the labour pains.
The midwife was surprised as to how I was bearing the pain calmly. I was able to follow all steps told by her without complaining, as I felt the presence of His Holiness Dr Athavale in the subtle and that He was giving me the strength. Normally labour pains start increasing during the process of giving birth, but it was the opposite in my case as I felt more and more inner peace and even Bliss throughout the whole process. This was despite my being in labour for 11 hours and not sleeping for 1–2 days prior to childbirth.
2. His Holiness Dr Athavale giving me the strength to look after my baby despite my having spiritual distress
I recently gave birth to my son Narayan. As I have spiritual distress along with dealing with the challenges of motherhood, quite often I would be reduced to tears. However, I found that by continuing my spiritual practice and spiritual healing remedies, the situations would become more tolerable. When things got really bad, I would cry out to His Holiness Dr Athavale and the following are some of my spiritual experiences where I felt He was with me in the subtle.
- When Narayan (my son) was 3 months old, my husband had gone out of town. I was home alone looking after Narayan. During this time, I had very little sleep and had difficulties to manage all household chores including taking care of the baby. One night Narayan did not sleep till the early hours of the morning and I felt like collapsing as I could not carry him any longer. I went to the altar and cried in front of the picture of His Holiness Dr Athavale. I prayed earnestly to Him to please come and give me the strength to handle the situation. After that even though I was about to collapse earlier, I suddenly experienced a new lease of energy and was able to take care of Narayan effortlessly. I did not feel exhausted anymore, but instead I started to feel blissful. Narayan soon fell asleep. At that moment, I was feeling very grateful that His Holiness Dr Athavale heard my prayers and came rushing to help.
- One day when I was alone with Narayan, I experienced spiritual distress in the form of paralysis. I was panicking and did not know how I was going to look after Narayan. I prayed to God and His Holiness Dr Athavale to help me and I visualised placing Narayan at the Holy feet of His Holiness Dr Athavale. At that moment, Narayan started to play by himself and I could focus on chanting intensely. After some time, I began to feel better and that was the exact time when Narayan started asking for my attention again.
- I was worried if I would be able to complete the 4 hours of concentrated chanting that were prescribed to me. This is because I was taking care of my baby and the household. I prayed to His Holiness Dr Athavale to get the spiritual healing completed through me. Later that day, in the moments where I felt that I could not manage anymore, Narayan would fall asleep and I would get time to chant. In the end, Narayan was content and all my household chores also got completed.
All these experiences showed me how important it is to rely on one’s Divine connection to God as He is the only one who is with us at all times.
