Burlingame, Ca
According to news reports a 777 aircraft run by Malaysia Airlines has recently gone off course while flying over the ocean and is now lost – vanished, without a trace.
Normally, experts can easily locate an off-course jet by following signals that come from its transponder, a device in the cockpit that transmits signals indicating the aircraft’s position, altitude, and its unique call sign.
Vexingly however, the transponder on the missing aircraft is not working. Some experts say it malfunctioned or was deliberately turned off while in flight. Whatever the reason, deprived of signals from the transponder, rescue teams freely admit that it will be nearly impossible for them to locate the misplaced jet amidst the vast ocean.
This morning while chanting japa in my garden I suddenly felt a deep empathy for the people on the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight, remembering that I too have been marooned in the material world since a time immemorial.
Spurred by this thought came another realization: “I have been stranded here due to foolishly turning off my transponder.” With this, I was also at once aware of how to turn it back on: Chanting the maha-mantra with sincere feeling.
Now I clutched my japa beads tightly and with each mantra sent a signal to Krishna in the spiritual world: “I’m lost without You! Please come and rescue me and kindly engage me in your service!”
After my japa session, I received Krishna’s answer in following Gita verse, assuring me that rescue is imminent:
“But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Prtha—for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.” (Bhagavad-gita 12.6-7)
Om Tat Sat
Vaisesika Dasa
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