The Divine Vision (June 1974)-Sri N. Purnachandra Rao, B. A.

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THE DIVINE VISION (June 1974)

(A DEVOTEE'S EXPERIENCE.)

—Sri N. Purnachandra Rao, B. A.

It so happened unexpectedly during the year 1955 that I followed a friend of

mine to SHRI SAI BABA'S TEMPLE at Bhimavaram, West Godavari District on a

Thursday. Till then I was not aware of the worship of ShriSaiBaba. During my

first darshan at Sanctuary of the said temple the Murty of Sai Baba

attracted me most and since then I used to adore Sai Baba daily at my house

and also visit his temple on almost every Thursday till I left the said

place in the year 1959.

My faith in Sai Baba developed gradually and I adore him daily wherever I

am. During the year 1964 Sai Baba blessed me with a male child. It was my

longing to visit Sai Baba's temple at Shirdi but as it is situated at a far

off place 1 could not fulfil my desire. On one occasion during the early

period of 1967 an offer came to me to visit Poona and stay there for eight

weeks. Then I felt very happy to avail of this opportunity to visit Shirdi

from Poona during holidays.

But due to some inexplicable reasons this programme was cancelled. Again

during October, 1967 I was suddenly called on to proceed to Poona, to stay

there for eight weeks, During this period, I was having some family worries

due to shifting of my family to a strange place to which place I was

transferred and I had to leave my family members alone, if I were to go over

to Poona. I could not decide whether to proceed to Poona leaving my children

alone at a strange place for a period of 2 months or apply for leave thereby

losing the opportunity of visiting Poona.

There was no time left to think over and decide and I had to either proceed

to Poona within 24 hours i.e., the very next day or to apply for leave.

Throughout the day I was worrying mentally as I did not like to lose the

opportunity to proceed to Poona so that I could visit Shirdi and at the same

time I could not venture to leave my family members alone as there were no

adult male members in my family to look after the needs of my family members

during the period of my absence. On the night of that critical day, I could

not have sound sleep on account of mental worry due to my indecision in the

matter. At midnight during sleep I had suddenly seen a vision of Shirdi Sai

Baba surrounded by great brilliance of white light the intensity of which

was beyond my power of expression. I trust that this brilliance cannot be

described and explained by any person with an exception of some great

spiritual masters. In the midst of this white, brilliant, divine and

powerful light I have seen Murty of Shri Sai Baba in pure white form from

head to foot with living eyes looking towards me. I could not withstand with

the divine vision as I did not have much experience on any previous occasion

and I suddenly woke up from sleep with shock and fear. Taking rest for five

minutes, I again went to bed. Again within half an hour I had seen the same

divine vision and again I woke up with nervous tension as I was not able to

withstand the brilliance of this vision. In the morning I thought over the

matter coolly, and my conscience prompted me that Shri Sai Baba desired me

to avail the opportunity of deputation to Poona so that I could visit Shirdi

also from Poona and have the darshan of Shri Sai Baba for which I was

longing since a long time.

Leaving all my family worries to the care of Shri Sai Baba, I left for Poona

the very next day. During my stay at Poona on one occasion, 3 consecutive

public holidays occurred and I proceeded to Shirdi. There is a problem of

language in interior places of Maharashtra State as most of the people talk

either Hindi or Marathi. But without any difficulty at any stage I performed

journey to Shirdi more happily than expected due to the kind blessings of

Shri Sai Baba. In this connection, I furnish below detailed particulars of

my journey to Shirdi so as to explain myself more clearly how Shri Sai Baba

helps his devotees. When I was waiting for a Government Transport Bus at

Poona Bus Stand at 2 A. M. to go to Shirdi, a stranger who was tall and

stout in Stature with a beard pursued me like anything, offering a lift in

his car upto Ahmadnagar for a fare equivalent to Bus Fare. I was hesitant

and fearing to get into a stranger's car as he could speak only Hindi and

Marathi and did not know English and offered to provide lift to only one

person as the entire balance of space in the car had to be utilised to stock

News Paper Bundles. I know Hindi but cannot express fluently. Even though I

avoided to give him any answer, when he enquired with me in Hindi the place

to which I had to go after enquiring with the other nearby passengers

waiting there he again came to me expressing in Hindi that he was confident

that I had to go to Shirdi and assured me that there would be no harm in

getting into his car. He had practically compelled me to get into his car.

Most unwillingly, I got into his car as I did not know whether to believe

his version or not. After I got into his car he had taken me to Ahmadnagar

in a very short time. The journey was very pleasant He had also shown me Bus

Stand at Ahmadnagar to continue my journey to Shirdi. At Ahmadnagar I could

easily secure accomodation in Government Transport Bus to go to Shirdi.

After I got into Bus at Ahmadnagar I was enquiring with 'my co-passengers

wherever Bus stopped at different stages whether Shirdi arrived, due to my

anxiety that I might miss the stage of stoppage of Shirdi and thus face some

trouble and difficulty in travel. At that time one gentleman came to me and

after inquiring with me he told me not to worry and that he was the

Inspecting Officer of the Bus and assured me that he would get down along

with me at Shirdi and show me the temple of Shri Sai Baba. After I arrived

at Shirdi this gentleman had taken me to the temple of Shri Sai Baba and

also explained to me the other important particulars of the place. I thanked

him for his help and took leave of him at the temple.

When I entered the temple of Shri Sai Baba I was thunder struck to notice

that this was the same image of Shirdi Sai Baba which I had seen earlier in

a dream, as explained above, surrounded by inexplicable divine brilliance.

Here I desire to make myself more clear. Formerly I visited temples of Shri

Sai Baba situated at Bhimavaram and Eluru in West Godavari District. In both

these temples, the image of the Shri Sai Baba is of different colours i.e.

white beard safforn clothes and red complexion. I was therefore not aware of

adoration of image of Shri Sai Baba in pure white form. After seeing the

image of Shri Sai Baba at Shirdi I recollected and satisfied myself that

Shri Sai Baba was kind enough to grant me his divine darshan, which I could

not withstand.

Ever since this occurrence, my belief in Shri Sai Baba became thousand fold

and I pray him daily and eagerly wait to receive "OODI PRASADA'' by post

every month.

 

 

(Source Shri Sai Leela June 1974)