AHF

How a spiritual connection with a mentor helped a young girl through the toughest phase of her life – Sangeeta Maheshwari & her mentee Adrija

Not too long ago, we got a notification on our mentor group about a girl in a dire situation. Adrija had recently lost the only person in her life who supported her – her mother. After her mother passed away, Adrija’s father turned violent and abusive, before he abandoned her altogether.

It took Adrija all her courage to cut contact with him – but that essentially meant that she was alone in the world at the age of seventeen. She was harassed by her neighbours, harshly judged for being a girl who lived alone, and questioned for her decision to stand up to her father. Her mental health was in pieces and needless to say, her studies suffered. But little did she know, good things were coming her way.

Adrija voiced her concerns to a teacher and told her that she was afraid she wouldn’t even pass her board exams. Her teacher was the one who put her in touch with us.

Our mentor Sangeeta Maheshwari is a deeply spiritual person, and her own life’s work is centred around this understanding of spirituality. ‘Sometimes the universe sends you a signal. You immediately feel a connection with someone that goes beyond our understanding of the three dimensional world’ she says.

And this is exactly what she believes happened when she heard about Adrija. She immediately stepped up to take full responsibility of Adrija’s education – as well as support her as a person. ‘Adrija is such a positive, beautiful soul. What she went through is not easy, but she is such a remarkably strong, sensible, stable young lady, and I’m grateful that the universe chose me to help her come out of her difficult challenges,’ Sangeeta says.

Adrija in turn, cannot keep the smile out of her face when she talks about Sangeeta. ‘I was at a point where I was exhausted from having to explain the details of my circumstances. What I received from Sangeeta ma’am goes much beyond material and financial support. I received complete empathy. I did not have to explain the hows and whys of my actions. She truly cares about me – not just about helping me come out of this difficult situation, but also about how I am actually doing.’ Today, she turns to Sangeeta for mental support as well as regular teenage advice like what she should study and which stream she should pursue!