Shri Sai Baba's Divine Grace

[Guest guest]

Shri Sai Baba's Divine Grace

 

(Major rail mishap averted)

 

From my experience of Baba I am convinced beyond doubt that He is in

constant touch with His devotees, guiding them properly and protecting them

with His unseen supernatural powers beyond the realm of time and space. The

ecstasy of joy, felt by the devotee, as a token of gratitude, cannot be

explained by words but has only to be felt at a personal level between Baba

and the individual soul. Due to our ignorance, we lay out plans, which will

be scrutinized by Him carefully and most of the time they are completely

altered by Him to the utmost benefit of the devotees. Here are the details

of my experience during my recent visit to Shirdi after an interval of

nearly a decade.

 

Soon after I learnt that the annual meeting of the contributors to Shri Sai

Leela would be held on 9th and 10th Feb 1980, I decided to attend the same

with great pleasure. The expected formal invitation from Shri Kakreji was

also received in time. My doctor son expressed his desire to accompany me

and accordingly made the required arrangements for the journey. A few days

later I suffered from a severe attack of cold and cough which persisted

beyond a week. The doctor, who examined me, told me that I am having an

unresolved pneumonic patch in the lung and as such I should not leave the

station for at least a month. Naturally I was much disappointed but

reconciled myself to surrender to the will of Baba without inertest. After

suitable treatment, by the grace of Baba, the pneumonic patch cleared up

completely within four weeks, and I recovered my health fully.

 

Then we thought of visiting Shirdi in the month of March 1980, but suddenly

my son took ill with acute abdominal pain, which caused us lot of anxiety.

The surgeon, who examined him, told us that he suspected appendicitis and

hinted that an operation might become necessary at any time and as such he

advised us against any kind of journey to a distant place. We were very much

perturbed. We prayed to Baba with intense devotion to solve our new problem.

Again the intended trip to Shirdi had to be postponed. It was His will. With

dietetic restrictions and treatment, for nearly four weeks my son became

completely alright. This time I consulted a senior most surgeon and a

collogue of mine examined my son and give his advice. After a thorough

examination, he told us that my son was completely cured and that there was

no sign of appendicitis. In addition he permitted us to undertake the

journey to Shirdi without any mental reservations. What a joy to hear the

same. Who else other than Shri Sai Sadguru could have achieved such a

miracle and showered His blessings on us.

 

Finally we decided to undertake the long postponed trip to Shirdi, during

the second week of April 1980 and made the necessary arrangements. My

daughter is also an ardent devotee of Baba. It seems that in her last trip

to Shirdi, with her husband and two children, she could not have a

satisfactory darshan of Baba as she was having fever soon after reaching the

place. Hence we invited her to come with us; but she expressed her inability

to do so on account of many family problems. So myself, my son,

daughter-in-law and a grand-daughter programmed to go. Another pious lady, a

distant relation of mine, wanted to come with us. The railway reservations

were all completed, including the preparations required for the journey; but

just before our departure on the 11 th instant the lady, who wanted to come

with us, dropped out on account of some sudden family problems. Instead of

her my daughter joined us at the last minute. Baba's ways are beyond our

imagination.

 

The journey from Madras to Daund was pleasant though the day was

quite hot. From Daund, we took a train to Kopergaon at about 11 a.m.

At Visapur a large number of agriculturists, nearly 300 persons, boarded the

train on account of which it was delayed by nearly one hour. I learnt that

they were undergoing imprisonment for the past 10 days and that they were

released on that day. They were (Satyagrahis) shouting slogans loudly

throughout the journey. The train was going fairly fast when it took a turn

to the left, I noticed that the whole train was leaning precariously to the

left side probably due to the sinking down of the left side of the track.

Suddenly break was applied and the train came to a grinding halt. It seems

that it was running on an unused loop line instead of the main line and the

engine stopped within a few yards of the dead end. Then slowly the train

backed up to the station and resumed onward journey on the main line.

Readers can well imagine if Shri Sai had not come to our rescue at the

proper time, a major train disaster would have tragically ended the lives of

many innocent people including our whole family. We expressed our sincere

gratitude to Sadguru Baba by an intensely devotional prayer.

 

We spent two full days at Shirdi, participating in Aratis, pujas and

meditation at the feet of our guarding angel and returned to Madras safely

with a feeling of complete satisfaction and a sense of unexplained joy for

having achieved something by the divine grace of Baba.

 

Dr. A. R. Govinda Rao

Madras

 

Source Shri Sai Leela Magazine Aug 1980)