Shri Sai Baba's Divine Grace

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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 Sai Leela August 1980)