Rajeev
A very uncalled incident involving my only son, aged five years, who accidentally hurt his fingers by putting them in mixer-grinder machine, brought us (me and my wife) to the lotus feet of 'Sai' for comfort and solace. We ran from pillar to post for solution to our son's ailment, but no avail. When we were weary of doctors, experts, advisors; a ray of hope came in the form of blessing by pujariji of Sai temple, which we visited by chance. He told us to shun worries and surrender to Sai. Surprisingly, we felt at peace in Sai's presence and relieved of burdens for no reasons whatsoever. Continuous visits to Sai strengthened the bond between us and Sai and we started treating Him as Guru. For a considerable time, we worshiped Sai as told by pujariji. Occasionally, he would mention that we should visit Shirdi, the divine place of Sai and see Sai truly manifest himself in every nook and corner of Shirdi. He added that only Sai's wish would permit us to visit Shirdi. We silently prayed to Sai to allow us to visit Shirdi. As a matter of fact, we never left home alone without a relative or friend to accompany us. Sai had other plans for us. A casual relationship with a friend materialized into a deeper bond when he showed us the path to Sai and Shirdi. He gave us Sai Satcharita book to read. Upon reading Sai Satcharita, we got to know Sai better and cleared doubts about certain misconceptions. Suddenly, our friend asked us to accompany him to Shirdi. He made all the arrangements for travel, stay and places. We reached Shirdi and had darshan at Sai Samadhi mandir, attended evening aarti. It was a like a dream come true.
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Next day, when we went to mandir, we had wished that we should stand close to Sai as possible. To our surprise, we were allowed to stand near Samadhi and pujariji took my son touched his forehead with Sai's feet and gave my son and me a rose flower each that was kept on the Samadhi. Till date, I have kept it around my neck as prasad of Sai. We never dreamed of it and yet it happened in reality. We stayed in Shirdi for two days, visited all the places where Sai went. Our friend had been coming to Shirdi since his childhood so he knew all the places thoroughly and he showed us everything and explained us everything in detail as mentioned in Sai Satcharita. We came home satisfied yet yearning to go again. Such is the impact of Sai. Once you know Him, embrace Him and you tend to remain closer to Him. That is human nature, when we have nothing we want something and we get something, we demand more and more. But praise to Sai, he transforms our worldly desires into longing for Sai. Thereafter, we faced so many hurdles but surrendered to Sai believing that everything happens, happens for good and approved by Sai. My mother-in-law expired, we plunged in grief, Sai helped us to recover from that immense grief. We lost our guarding angel on earth. Three months from death of my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law committed suicide and her parents implicated all the members of our family in dowry-related case. We were dumb-struck, as we have not perceived this situation. Again, Sai came to our rescue. With the help of my brother-in-law, police officials were able to convince that my wife and I had nothing to do with it and moreover we had gone outskirts of town to visit relatives. Complaint was registered but with mild charges and against my brother and parents only. It was a tough case but we pleaded with Sai for rescue of our parents. Sai answered our prayers and within three months, we were able to secure permanent bail for parents.
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We had promised to visit Shirdi once our parents were out of confinement. Again my friend expressed his desire to visit Shirdi and he contacts me, as he knew that I had visited Shirdi and I would know details about Shirdi. We made plans and were able to visit Shirdi. We had darshan at Sai mandir and marveled at the miracles of Sai who had given us repeated opportunity to fulfill our vows. We prayed that misery of our parents should end, hoping that trial pending court would end in our favor and sorrow of separation from our brother would vanish. But fate struck again and my mother expired. We were surprised then we knew that what we wished, Sai had granted that. Perhaps the misery of my mother would have ended with her life only otherwise she would have led a life of cripple for rest of period. Sai had granted her peaceful and uneventful life however short it may be. I sincerely believe that my mother rests in peace under the realm of Sai's protection and is at peace from worldly worries. Again we vowed to visit Shirdi if our three wishes namely, our own home, father's health and bail of brother. These wishes are very complicated and not easy to achieve and we had no hope also. Surprisingly, all these wishes got fulfilled one by one on their time and all the above wishes were completed to the utmost satisfaction and contentment. We were able to move into our own house as we had dreamed and health of my father improved as news of bail acceptance of my brother came. Now my brother is residing with my father and my father has promised to move with us in due course of time. As promised, we are waiting for Sai's approval to visit Shirdi and I am posting this article with much faith and deliberation that Sai will be granting us another chance of visiting Shirdi.
ALLAH MALIK!
Sai baba let your holy lotus feet be our sole refuge.OMSAIRAM