Sadhvi Kalp Lata
Sadhvi Ratanshreeji (Dungargarh) along with her fellow nuns was returning to Rajasthan after completing her Chaturmas in Jalna. Crossing the boundaries of Maharashtra, they entered Madhya Pradesh. During their journey, they saw a large and ancient statue of Rishabha and reached Chikhalada village, situated on the banks of river Narmada. The nuns were to go to Ratlam from there. Followers like Uttamchand Sethia and others from Jalna were with them. He said, “There are two ways to go to Ratlam. One goes to Ratlam via Bandha and Raj garh and the other via Manavar, Anijhhara, Vadnaver. The first one is dangerous and so we will go via Vadnaver.”
On the 28th of November, the nuns reached Keshigram after walking 18 km in the morning and decided to cover 11 km, in the evening. Though the persons who went to examine the road didn’t return, two nuns whose speed was rather slow had already started for the next village to avoid any wastage of time.
Meanwhile they had gone a little further, the persons came back and said, “There is a dangerous Valley on the way and you are not allowed to go.” Hearing these two nuns returned to Chikhalda.
Next morning, the nuns made their way to Mangola which was about 15 km The followers had already reached there. Five nuns accompanied by two brothers were moving in two groups. ‘Each group had two nuns and one brother. Hardly had they crossed 5 km, they saw two strangers coming from the direction of the valley. Seeing their countenance and rapid pace the nuns got frightened. The strangers followed the nuns and started questioning them, “Who are you?
From where have you come? Where are you going?” etc. They followed them up to 1 km., and then disappeared into a narrow lane. The nuns heaved a sigh of relief. The nuns went a little further, and they saw the same strangers standing on the hills. They started throwing stones from there. But fortunately it didn’t hurt the nuns. The guard alerted the nuns and said, “It seems that these persons are notorious man or drunkards, so it is better if we move faster.” After saying this to the nuns. He gazed angrily at the strangers. The guard rebuked at the top of his voice and said, “Why are you throwing stones at the nuns?” Hearing this, the strangers became furious, picked up big pieces of rocks in their hands and came down to the road. They started throwing stones. Reciting the Mantra “Om Bhikshu” the nuns moved swiftly. The strangers followed them up to 1km. and pelted stones towards them. The stones were rough and sharp but luckily none of them hit the nuns. They were chanting the Mantra and thought that due to the effect of it they had been saved.
The nuns stopped there and looked back and found that those strangers were repeating the same action. The nuns thought for a moment and said, “It would be better to talk to them straightforward.” The nuns asked them, “Why are you throwing stones at us? We never did anything wrong to you. What do you want?”
On hearing the voice of the nuns, a young man came running towards them and tried to touch the shoulder of a nun. At first the nun was frightened but soon she composed herself and faced the situation boldly. He was not able to touch the shoulder of the nun and fell down as if someone had pushed him away. The young man was very angry. He took a stone lying beside him and threw it at the nuns. The nuns started chanting the Mantra at the top of their voice and covered their eyes with their hands. As the stone came towards them, they caught it bravely. They moved forward chanting the Mantra. For a while they followed the nuns and continued to throw stones at them but they were all strewn around the nuns without hitting them. Thus they were able to save themselves. They felt strange boldness and it seemed as if some invisible power was protecting them. It was a miracle of the name (Swamiji) that the nuns were able to save themselves as well as their belongings. They reached Mangole Dak- Banglow safely and narrated the whole story to the persons who had already reached there. Hearing about the incident they became furious. The nuns cooled them down and discussed about their next destination and started for Kesarpura in the evening.
At night the nuns addressed the villagers. They explained the advantages of Anuvrat to many families and also described the incident that happened in the morning. The people considered the nuns lucky to cross the valley safely because only few people were able to come so safe. They narrated three such heart- breaking incidents to the nuns. The nuns expressed, “Today we were saved because of the power of respected Gurudeva otherwise it is beyond our imagination and anything would have happened. As a result of this powerful Mantra, ‘Om Bhikshu,” we have been able to face this horrible situation.”
