I would like to add two from among the many remarkable miracles that I actually experienced as a token of Shri Sai Baba’s infinite love and protection. I somehow feel an urge to reveal these miracles here as a gesture of gratitude to my great guru.
Round about the year 1950, I started suffering from a peculiar ailment of the throat, a severe irritation and congestion which prevented me from indulging in my cherished hobby of singing. As a sincere student of vocal Hindustani classical music, I was apprehensive and miserable. In about 10 minutes, my voice would become hoarse, and I would have to put down my tanpura with a feeling of frustration. I consulted many doctors, both allopathic and homeopathic, but no one was able to give me the slightest relief. After six months of unremitting torture, I went to Shirdi. As I stood before Sai Baba samadhi, my heart and eyes suddenly welled up with tears, and in an impassioned outburst I poured out my protest to my Guru. Having thus relived my pent-up feelings, I came out of the Samadhi Mandir and went over to visit a friend of mine who at that time stayed in the precincts of the sansthan. My friend and I discussed and talked about several topics of interest, and in her pleasant company I almost forgot my misery and my recent outburst at the Samadhi. At about 7.30 p.m. I took leave of my friend to go to the room that had been allotted to me. It was one of those old rooms, on the ground floor, just behind the Guru Sthan. I opened the lock and entered the room which was absolutely vacant and unfurnished except for my bag and bedding which lay still unopened in a corner of the room. Thinking that I would make myself comfortable, I started removing my sari from my left shoulder by unfastening the pin that held it up. As I removed the folds I heard something rustling in the sari; and a small packet about two inches long made up in a white paper fell from my sari to the ground. For a moment I was perplexed and looked around me, wondering what had happened. But the door and windows of the room were shut, and there was no one there but me. I picked up the little packet. It was neatly folded as if by a compounder or a chemist and as I carefully unfolded it I discovered to my amazement that it contained 6 or 7 tiny white tablets such as are commonly used in Homeopathy. When I realized the significance of this, I draped my sari again and rushed out to my friend with the tablets in hand. My friend was devoted to Baba and had had experiences of Baba’s leelas. She said, “You understand, don’t you, that this is Baba’s prasad. What are you going to do about it?” I replied: “I am going to take all these tablets right now”, and I put these pellets in my mouth. Strangely enough, I did not then somehow connect this miracle with my urgent prayer for my throat. It was when I returned home and that all the congestion in my throat had entirely disappeared that I relaxed the magnitude of the miracle with which I had been blessed. The medicine, whatever it was, literally dropped like manna from heaven and healed me, perhaps, of some serious malady. My heart overflowed with gratitude.
A year or so later I experienced another incredible manifestation of Baba’s Grace. I was to go to Poona alone for some work. My husband could not come even to see me off because he was busy attending a meeting. Anyway, he had reserved a seat for me in one of those cubicles in a corridor train in the Deccan Queen. There was still half an hours time for the train to start. As I sat in my seat near the window, sipping tea, I soon noticed that a well-dressed middle-aged gentleman was pacing up and down the platform of the V.T. Station. Every time this man passed my window he looked at me with interest. I must explain here that I suffer from a curious lapse of memory in recognizing faces. I may be introduced to a person and then meet him or her several years later, I cannot recall it. Due to this defect, I was often misunderstood which made me miserable and ultra-sensitive. Seeing this gentleman looking at me with interest, I now felt that this perhaps was another of those persons I had met and did not recognize. I, therefore, smiled and wished him, whereupon the gentleman came rushing up to me and with great familiarity enquired where I was going and whether I was alone, etc. This put me off my guard and thinking that he was indeed an acquaintance whom I had failed to remember, I readily agreed to his suggestion that he should join me in my compartment. The gentleman rushed in with his suitcase, just as the train was about to start and sat opposite me. But we had hardly gone a 100 yards when the stranger started showing himself in his true colors. From his speech and deportment I discovered to my horror that he was not a gentleman, and that I had placed myself in a nasty situation. Suddenly I found that he had bolted the door of our compartment! With courage, however, I got up and unlocked the door. I dared not go out into the corridor because I had with me my suit-case a rare sari costing more than a thousand rupees, belonging to someone else. In this predicament, I sat down again and concentrated with all my heart on my Master and prayed to him to rescue me from this precarious situation. No sooner had I uttered this prayer mentally, a unique miracle manifested itself! As I turned my eyes to the door, I saw a porter standing there, looking at me quizzically. How can a porter have appeared just at that identical moment in my compartment and this too in a running train which had not stopped at any station! Was he indeed a real porter or was he a projection of my Master’s thought of protection for one who took refuge in him? Anyway I sprang up from my seat with alacrity, told the porter to remove my luggage and cleared out into the open corridor bogie. As I left the compartment I cast a glance at the miscreant and saw a look of utter disconcerted surprise on his face. As I occupied another seat, I tried to tip the porter, but looking at me with indulgence he refused to take the money. I took his hand and pressed a coin into it, whereat the Divine messenger quietly took it and went away. Now very strangely enough all this time I did not realize what a miracle I was experiencing. It was only a minute after the porter went away that I understood with a shock the significance of it all. I rushed up and down the whole corridor looking everywhere for my savior, but there was no sign of him. I got down at Poona thrilled and chastened.
Since both these miracles are extraordinary, I relate them in detail, without the slightest exaggeration. These miracles may seem incredible to skeptics, but it is not our concern to convince the non-believers. Faith is a gift, and it is only those who have the faith and vision who are able to achieve. Much of life’s secret beauty and fascination would be lost without the basic attitude of faith. To be responsive to the hidden powers and charm of mysticism is an enlightened approach. It confirms man’s humble realization of his very restricted knowledge and thus lays him open to lovely glimpses of the Eternal. Faith, therefor, is a conquest, as it renews our vision and redirects our energies silently towards the enigma of creation.
These and many miracles occurred in my life in the early years of my attachment to my Guru. Every time I experienced a miracle, I was drawn closer to my Master in wonderment and gratitude. But a stage came when the miracles stopped completely and abruptly. Sai Baba had achieved his purpose. Through this very human medium he roused me from apathy and won me over to God, as it were, and when he knew that I was securely transformed and loved him for his own sake, then Baba stopped these spontaneous expressions of his infinite compassion. The miracle is not an end, it is the means for securing the sadhaka’s interest in his own ultimate purpose and destiny. Thus, God and Gurus fulfill themselves in strange and varied ways.
A SAI DEVOTEE
Sai baba let your holy lotus feet be our sole refuge.OMSAIRAM
dipika duggal
Topic: DWARKAMAI's LEELAS(She is our Mother) (Read 434091 times)