Devotee's Experience - Contributed by Anil Tickoo

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Devotee's Experience - Contributed by Anil Tickoo

 

Sai Ram

 

On 7th January 2007, my wife, daughter and I reached

Shirdi to have darshan of the Sadguru Sainath. Our

tickets for returning from Shirdi to Delhi were booked

on Jhelum Express on 8th January 2007 and we were to

depart from Kopergaon Railway Station at 22:35 hrs.

After spending the entire day at Shirdi we attended

the evening Aarti at Dwarkamai (Masjid) and sought

permission from Baba for our journey to Delhi.

 

We left Shirdi in an autorickshaw at 21:00 hrs so as

to reach Kopergaon from where we had to board the

train for traveling to Delhi. The distance between

Shirdi and Kopergaon is around 20 kms and most of the

journey is traversed on the state highway, which is

connected to other major towns located in and around

Shirdi. It was dark and the only light was from

oncoming vehicles traveling at very high speed. The

January evening chill made the journey tough for our

daughter and we wrapped her in a shawl in order to

provide her some comfort and warmth. The windows of

the Rickshaw were open and there was no covering /

sheet to thwart the cool breeze coming through the

windows.

 

Before we left the hotel and proceeded to Kopergaon, I

gave the train tickets and some cash to my wife to

keep in her purse. The bag also contained my wife's

identity card, some documents, a diary and other

miscellaneous items. After traveling around 12 kms

from Shirdi, suddenly my wife tried to reach for her

purse to get cough syrup for our daughter. To her

surprise she could not find the purse in the

autorickshaw.

 

I told her she might have left it at the hotel counter

but she was sure that she had carried it along while

moving into the auto. We requested the autorickshaw

driver to halt so that we could search for the purse.

He stopped the auto and our frantic search started but

we could not locate the purse. There was total

darkness and silence and I used the searchlight of my

mobile phone to look for the purse in the corners of

the auto but met with no success. We requested the

autorickshaw driver to return to Shirdi in the hope of

finding it somewhere on the way, though I knew this

was ‘wishful thinking.' I realized that we would not

be able to retrieve a small purse on the stretch of 12

kms that we had already covered from Shirdi towards

Koperagon.

 

The train arrival time was approaching and we were in

a fix regarding what to do, as the tickets were in the

bag. We kept requesting the driver to move as fast as

he could towards Shirdi in the remote hope of

retrieving the purse but he saw no merit in driving

aimlessly. My wife kept pestering him to drive a few

more kilometers as we had already covered 4-5 kms

towards Shirdi.

 

After realizing that it is next to impossible to get

the bag on the highway where vehicles are plying

without interruption, I remembered my Sadguru and

prayed Him. I prayed to Baba that we cannot not leave

Shirdi with such unpleasant memories in our mind.

Within minutes of remembering Sai, I could see a small

object lying in the middle of the road and from the

distance I presumed that it could be the purse.

 

I requested the driver, who by now was not willing to

travel any further, to drive slowly as we approached

the object. Meanwhile a heavy truck was approaching

from the opposite side and with the help of its

headlights I was stunned to find that the black object

lying on the road was indeed my wife's purse. I

alighted from the Rickshaw and pulled the purse inside

and heaved a sigh of relief and thanked Baba for HIS

merciful deed. There was no damage done to any items

kept inside the purse except a minor cut to it's

exterior surface.

 

We started the journey to Koperagaon with only 15-20

minutes left before the scheduled departure of the

train. It appeared that we might not be able to make

it in time though the rickshaw driver was trying his

best to reach the station. On reaching the station we

heard the announcement that the train was running late

by half an hour. What a miracle!

 

Finally we boarded the train with sweet memories and

our hearts filled with love and gratitude for Sadguru

Saibaba.

 

BOW TO SHRI SAI, PEACE BE TO ALL

 

Anil Tickoo

 

 

 

 

 

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