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Diplomacy, Love and Spirituality

Ajit Jain in Toronto

Physical attraction might have sparked their interest in each other, but today the common journey of a former Indian envoy and his Venezuelan wife is all about spiritual fulfilment.

It was love at first sight when 61-year-old Virendra Singh, the former Indian ambassador to Venezuela, met Mora Abilahoud seven years ago. At 32 then, she was "young and very beautiful," he said.

Abilahoud was contracted as a Spanish teacher for Indian diplomats in Caracas. Singh was her student.

They had an 18-month courtship, during which they also made a trip to Havana, the Cuban capital, where Singh was subsequently moved as India's ambassador.

That was his last diplomatic posting. He has now retired to Rishikesh, at the foothills of the Himalayas in India, to spend the rest of his life with his Venezuelan wife.

"When I first saw her I liked her very much," Singh said. But he was conscious of the "gap" that existed between them.

"She was Roman Catholic, I was a Hindu. I was an Indian and she was Venezuelan. Those differences...created doubts, some questions as to whether it was advisable to enter a permanent relationship," he said.

Abilahoud was attracted to Singh because of his belief in god. "I found him very spiritual and that interested me because I believe deeply in god," she said.

Within two months of starting to learn Spanish, he began writing poetry in that language. "So I said to myself, he is a genius as only a genius can do that," she said.

Another thing that worked in their favour was a vivid dream Abilahoud had in which she saw herself visiting a Hindu temple when a woman instructed her to follow "this man."

Given their belief in god and his search for a companion - Singh was then in the midst of divorce proceedings with his former wife - they were convinced they were made for each other.

"She is a person whose body is Mediterranean because her parents came from Lebanon and Spain. Her mind is Latin because she was born and educated in Venezuela. But her soul is Indian, and perhaps it was a divine mistake that she was born in Latin America," said Singh of his wife's deeper commitment to spirituality.

The Singhs' main goal in life now is "self-realisation." The former diplomat aspires to attain enlightenment or cosmic consciousness...through pure consciousness."

Their spiritual bent has led Abilahoud to become an author, having translated the holy Hindu book Bhagwad Gita into Spanish.

She has also completed a manuscript on the 12-yearly "Kumbh Mela" and its spiritual significance after interviewing nine Hindu holy men, taking a dip in the holy Ganges "to get some immortality," and performing all other Hindu rituals.

Singh and Abilahoud have come to believe, despite their differences of faith and nationality, that "human beings are not different provided they look at each other through (the) mirror of pure consciousness."

"There is immortality in all of us," Abilahoud said. "Most people don't know that. They believe life is just working, possessing material things and having children. They don't know the world that is inside themselves."

Indo-Asian News Service

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