813. Captivating Charm

As part of his duties, a junior engineer took up a minor irrigation work in a hamlet in his jurisdiction called Mulasoor. The work would widen the catchment area and improve the irrigation facilities of the village. A resourceful local farmer was good enough to occupy about sixty acres of purambok lands and had been cultivating them for a long time. This new irrigation work would submerge ‘his lands' and he would lose the advantages of his encroachment. It was 1953. The pay of the engineer at that time was Rs. 185/- and that of the Deputy Collector Rs. 230/-. The farmer presented himself to the engineer and offered him Rs. 10,000/- to persuade him to drop the intended work. It was refused. He called on the RDO who was an IAS officer, offered him the same amount and told him of his unsuccessful attempt with the engineer. Again he was refused. The RDO invited the engineer to tea to congratulate him on his loyalty to service.

The engineer had a captivating smile. While he was a student, a professor of his used to adore his broad smile and once asked him if he would smile again. The smile had an innate sweetness of a naturally charming personality. Anyone who came to know him would like to cultivate his friendship. He was a lecturer in the Engineering College. The Director of Technical Education took a fancy to him and soon he became his confident. The one thing he could not do was to ask for a favour. He could not bring himself to ask. It is a psychic quality. Employees getting married would consider it a fortunate circumstance if the head of the department attended their wedding. It depended on the level of their job. Those in the lower ranks after the wedding went to the boss for blessings. Times are changing and attitudes too are changing. This engineer conducted his daughter's wedding while he was an Executive Engineer. His Chief Engineer told him of his generous condescension of having decided to attend the wedding.

At the wedding, this Chief Engineer witnessed another Chief Engineer entering. One more came very soon. In all, four Chief Engineers attended the wedding. His own Chief who was proud of his condescension asked, "What is happening? How are all these people coming?" The subordinate replied, "Sir, I worked under them." Next, a leading industrialist who was the Chairman of the Madras Institute of Engineers came to the function.  The Chief Engineer no longer raised any question. He could not follow what was happening. The young engineer who was then an EE had an inner spiritual opening. He used to be blessed by The Mother on his birthdays and the birthdays of his other family members. His psychic was on the surface. He rarely spoke. He smiled broadly more than expressing himself through speech. The psychic being is the evolving soul. It is Quiet, sweet and calm. It dominates calmly, compels attention. He was naturally endowed with that gift. Devotees of The Mother often find their psychic emerging on the surface and changing the course of their lives into what Mother calls the Sunlit path. No more austerities in yoga.