Strange advice

I heard this story from one of my friends and thought it was interesting and worth sharing with like-minded people. 

One foreign traveler wanted to visit the hermitage of Buddhist monks in the Himalayas. He had heard about a Buddhist monk who remained with out sleep for several years and because of deep meditation, he did not need any sleep. This traveler was very excited to see this superhuman monk and took the trouble to travel a long distance, walking and riding on a donkey. 

Finally with the help of some other Tibetan helpers, he reached near the cave of this monk. Traveller sincerely thanked God for giving him an opportunity to meet such a spiritually evolved soul. An English speaking monk took him inside to meet the great monk and told the seeker to ask what ever he wanted to ask him. 

Then humbly our traveler-seeker told:

"Respected monk, please advise me how I can advance in my spiritual journey."

Monk said something in Tibetan language and the junior monk translated that to him;

" Please do not leave on Saturday" 

That is all that elevated soul told this curious seeker who came there from another country to seek his advice in progressing spiritually. This traveler was very disappointed and felt belittled and sad. This happened on a Friday  and he was planning to leave on Sunday morning. But after meeting the monk, he did not want to stay back there and wanted to start earlier on Saturday. But because of the logistic problems he could not make it on Saturday and as planned, Sunday morning they started their downward journey. After a few miles they learnt that the truck that left on Saturday had a terrible mishap and all 14 of them in that vehicle died. 

When the traveler heard this, he knew the meaning of what the monk told him. If he had traveled on Saturday with that group, definitely he would not have been able to advance in his spiritual journey in this life. Probably that was the only advice he needed at that time. As a serious seeker, he did understand the depth of that monk's advice. Then he started pondering over the whole incident and decided to stay back a few more days and get enlightened with more of his blessings. 

Who knows what is best for each one's spiritual progress and how and when blessings come to us?. Some times just an advice like this to postpone a trip might give somebody not only more time in this life but also give a different perspective of the whole situation. As knowledgeable people say, we never have to go in search of a Guru, when time comes, Guru in a physical form or in the form of a few words from a Mahathma or from any other sources like  books, incidents, visions, experiences etc. will appear before us. 

May Bhagavan bless us to progress in our spiritual journey!