[Shivani Devi]

Namaste.

Today, I woke up experiencing the weirdest sensation...I woke up TO love, feeling as giddy as a schoolgirl with a new puppy.

I sat in that feeling for a while, just going with it despite having a huge Cheshire Cat-like silly grin from ear to ear, then I decided that I wanted to fully explore it...find out the 'what' and the 'why' behind it.

The immediate thing I felt, was that Lord Shiva was very pleased with me, proud and happy that I had finally decided to get around to doing what it was that I was born to do... translate the Scriptures.

When I said that the Scriptures had been translated hundreds of times already, I got how all the literal translations of just words, approximating to the closest English equivalent, without really looking for the correct definition within context, wasn't doing the Scriptures any justice whatsoever, in the attempts to be understood by a wider audience.

All I could say was "Aaaah, I get it now".

Anyway, after that I decided to jump in my car and just drive around..

I had $10 to last me for a week... NOTHING in my refrigerator or pantry, so I thought about getting a loaf of bread and some milk as that would be a good start, because my stomach was growling.

On the way to the supermarket, I passed by the Salvation Army charity store and I decided to go in and take a quick look around.

In a glass cabinet inside the shop, I saw an old Radio Shack radio (still new, in the box)....I have been after the same model and brand for years, so I could hack it into a great "ghost box" but I didn't want to go through the hassle of creating an EBAY account and looking every so often in the hopes that one of these would show up.

So I asked the lady behind the counter how much it was...she said "it is two dollars, but you can have it for a dollar" and with that, I said "YES PLEASE".
Then the lady behind the counter said; "listen, I don't know if you would be interested, but this morning, the Church dumped dozens of large boxes full of fruit and vegetables on us and told us to just hand them out for free to whoever...would you like one? " and again, I repeated the "YES PLEASE" and so she fetched it..and it was HUGE! full of mangoes, apples, bananas, potatoes, carrots, avocados, tomatoes, spinach...all ripe and just starting to get a little soft, but not overly so...I would have to cook a lot of it and freeze it..but it was food! It was sustenance!

I thanked the lady again, closed my eyes and also thanked Lord Shiva, then I got a shopping cart and with my radio in hand and the box of free produce in my cart, I made my way to the supermarket.

As I was heading towards the supermarket, I passed by a bakery and I though "I may as well get my loaf of bread in here" and as I walked in, I noticed a baker walking out with a tray full of bread rolls, loaves, pastries and cakes.
I pretty much bumped into him. I apologised for being absent minded and not looking where I was going and then the baker said to me "no problems at all..It was probably my fault anyway..hey listen, I am just off to the trash with all of these...they were baked yesterday... nothing wrong with them, but I can't sell them...would you like to take some home? Have as many as you like free of charge!" I said "Oh wow! yes please! so kind of you" and I helped myself to about half the items he had on his tray. Once again, I thanked him, said a silent prayer to Lord Shiva which included how much it was that I loved Him, put the pastries inside two plastic shopping bags and added them to the cart where the box of fruit & veg was.

I finally arrived at the supermarket to get some milk, only to find that the thermostat on the milk fridge stopped working that morning and the milk, even though it was still fresh (they got it in yesterday) went off the chill and they had no space in any of the other fridges to put it...I sorta said that didn't matter to me, as I could go home immediately and place it in MY fridge! I ended up being given four litres...for nothing!

In that went, into my trolley and I became SO overwhelmed with gratitude and devotion, tears were streaming down my face and I had to sit down before I fell down!

With that, a young girl of about 5 or 6 came up to me...gave me a rather puzzled look and said "why are you crying?" Then, she reached inside her pocket and pulled out a wilted daisy...giving it to me and saying "here, lady...take it..I hope it makes you happy". I smiled at her and said that it already had and she smiled back, before her parents called her away, giving her the whole "what have we told you about talking to strangers?" lecture.

With that, I fully surrendered my heart again to Lord Shiva with a "YOU WIN...how can I EVER top this?" and all I heard and felt within myself was a resounding laughter and I knew that it would take a while for me to get over this...If I ever could!

Aum Namah Shivaya
AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA!!! HARA HARA MAHADEV!!! JAI SHIVA SHAMBHO!!!