The Chinmaya Vishwa Sammelan scheduled in December 2021 was planned to be the largest global gathering of the Chinmaya family, spiritual aspirants and followers of the Chinmaya Mission to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Chinmaya Movement. Started by Swami Chinmayananda to spread the knowledge of Advaita Vedanta, the motto of Chinmaya Mission has been of ‘Spreading maximum happiness to the maximum number of people for the maximum period of time.’ What started, as a one-man crusade, has become a massive global organization, comprising a wide range of spiritual, cultural, educational & social activities.
Preparations for the mega-event bringing together >1000 delegates in Mumbai, India from across the globe had been in full swing almost a year in advance and it was around mid-2021 that a key member of the organizing team, Swami Siddhananda came across some religious artefacts manufactured by us through a commonly known follower of the Chinmaya Mission and thus, became acquainted of our Mumbai-based family business of manufacturing decorative idols & religious artefacts. As ardent followers of the Chinmaya Mission ourselves, we were keen to be part of this critical milestone of the journey of the Chinmaya Movement.
Having got in touch with us over calls/mails from the US, Swami Siddhananda had informed us of his intent to view the full range of our artefacts once he’d be in India for the last 2 months prior to the event, in preparation of the final execution of the Vishwa Sammelan. Eventually over a few rounds of correspondence, it was decided that he’d be making a visit to our office cum showroom located at Crawford Market in Mumbai on 6th November 2020, with the intent of judging our items for an exclusive exhibition at the week-long event, enabling spiritual aspirants & followers to be able to purchase our range of items at wholesale prices combined with a few bespoke items which would be manufactured as mementos for the grand event.
It was with this context that all items including some very premium idols were kept ready in our office for the visit & viewing on 6th November. However, on early morning of the 6th itself, an emergency 5am call from a neighbor at the office building brought the news of a fire having broken out overnight, engulfing a fairly significant part of the building in which our office was located. With the status of our specific office units not being clear, Swamiji was requested to re-schedule his visit until the situation was sorted and status of salvage was determined.
The urgent visit to the office units on the second floor of the building using make-shift staircases revealed the fire had gutted the adjacent office units and just about touched the doors of both of our office units, making the doors charred with black marks on the outside, but fortunately, the flames had not entered inside the premises.
Whilst Swamiji’s visit to the office had been curtailed by the fire breaking out, the presence of the angelic idols inside and the aura of the upcoming majestic event for which they’d been kept in a state of readiness, had as though been a ‘divine’ hand, protecting the inside of the office unit.
With all idols covered in acrylic showcasing, the flames coming close to them would have rendered the entire stock un-salvage-able and readiness for the event would have been challenging given the limited time available for a re-do of any sort. It was supreme grace that the meeting was possible to be re-scheduled to the next day at our home, with some of the key items being packed into cartons and transported for the viewing at home, during which Swamiji confirmed a stall for exhibiting all our items at the event along with few more orders of significant volume for bespoke items to be manufactured as mementos.
But the true impact of the accident and its heavenly reclamation was only testified when the event took place in end-December 2021 – attracting massive crowds from across India & the globe, the enquiries at the stall would start from as early as 8am in the morning and continue until the shut-down time, late into the evening.
A week of such colossal response had been unseen by us and the holy gift that had come our way in the form of protecting our office units and all the stocks inside only unfolded to us in its full glory by observing the divine faces of all the followers & spiritual seekers who were feeling blessed picking up the idols & mementos from our stall as a remembrance of their pilgrimage to the Chinmaya Vishwa Sammelan.
“Faith is to believe what you do not see, the reward of which is that you see what you believed” affirms a quote by Swami Chinamayananda – Miracles do occur, we only need have faith!