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)