DEVOTEE EXPERIENCE By Sunita Rakheja, Mason, Ohio, USA

April 1, 2009

DEVOTEE EXPERIENCE I live in Cincinnati with my husband Mahesh Rakheja and my kids Naman and Namisha. We are originally from New Delhi, India and we moved here in Jan. 2001. Myhusband got H1S Visa and got a job here in Cincinnati as a Computer System Analyst. Both my husband and I are Sai Baba devotees. I am Sai Baba devotee since 19 or 20 years of age. I used to go to Sai Baba Temple in Lodhi Road, New Delhi but that time I was not very serious about Sai Bakti. But when we came to USA in 2001 there were some family and financial disturbance between me and my husband and I really wanted some help to overcome this problem and it was only Sai Baba who helped me.I seriously

started worshiping Sai Baba. I promised Baba I would read Sai Sacharitra in 7 days. That was the first time I seriously read the book. Before this whenever I try to read the book I could not read it. Sometimes my eyes were reading the book but my mindwas somewhere else. It was Thursday when I started reading Sai Sacharitra with all my devotion to Baba. For the first few days I could read only a few chapters. I realized that I had 51 chapters to finish in seven days. That meant that I needed to read 7 chapters in a day to finish the book in time. But for the first few days I was not able to do so and wasworried about completing the reading of the book in the given time. On Sunday morning around 6 am I was sleeping and I feel some body was around me and holding my hand to wake me up and telling me to finish the book as I had 4 days left. Suddenly I opened my eyes and there was nobody. But that feeling was still there. I took a shower and

sat in front of Baba's statue and started reading my book. I forgot everything and just read the book. With the grace of Baba I finished my book in seven days. Thatwas my first experience and since then, in my house, every morning and evening we do Baba's puja and Aarti.On Thursday I light Baba's joat and from 6.30 am till the next day as long as the ghee is there. Baba stays in my house, even if I am not home and go for work.The light burns till evening and when we come home I put more ghee in it. Only Baba can keep the joat alive the whole day. After that one day on Thursday I got an envelope through the mail. When I opened it, it was Baba's picture with Udi in it. I do not know who sent it to me. Baba came to my house in the form of His picture that day. With the grace of Baba we bought a new housein Mason and moved from an apartment to a house in November 2004. In 2005 my

husband's office started processing his green card. He got his labor clearance and when they filed for the next step suddenly the US immigration office stopped taking applications for Indians and our work got stuck in the middle. I was doing puja andtalking to Baba and asking Him to please help us. I made a sankalp (promise) to Baba sometime in mid of September 2005 that if you help us to get the green card I will stop eating rice (because I love rice and it was very difficult decision not to eat rice) andwhen ever I get my green card I will come to Shirdi and will offer you and feed you rice first and then only I will eat rice. In June 2006 my husband sent all his Visa extension papers to US visa office because our visa was expiring on

23 November 2006. Six months before the visa expires we have to send the visa extension paper and normally the papers comes with the extension in 3-4months , and it was December and we thought may be because of the holiday season every body in USA is on vacation so the officers are fewer and our visa extension work is getting delayed (but our visa expired in 23 Nov. 2006). In January 2007 my husband contacted the Lawyer and asked him to contact the visa office and find out what was happening to the visa. The lawyer did not send theletter to find out the status till February 2007. The visa people replied that our case was stuck for some security reason and they did not know how much time it would take. We were worried because we had bought a new house and if we did not get the visa we would

have to sell the house. My son was in 11th grade and if for some reason we had to go back to India then how would he do his 12th grade? We were very worried, because asit is when you are settled in India and came to USA you start building your home again from scratch. After settling down here if you suddenly learn that you have to go back to India and start all over again,it seems very difficult. The lawyer told us that after the visa expired you can work only for 240 days and after that you can wait for your visa but cannot work.It was a difficult situation and I was crying in front of Baba all the time and praying to Baba to do something. Problems were coming one after the other.

My husband is very particular about paying his bills and tax on time, but one day we got a letter from tax office that they need some information. My husband was very worried because we were stuck with our visa problem and then now there was another problem butsince we were clear in our minds we sent the details to tax office.It was Thursday and I put a little udi on the envelope and told Baba to help us in this matter and mailed it to the tax people. It was over a month and we were so worried. Days were passing and my husband had only a few months left for his job. How would we pay the mortgage and other bills, school fees, etc? We were trapped in so many problems. Finally we put our house on sale, but the market was so slow and it seemeddifficult to sell the house. The day we put the sign outside the house my daughter started crying and my son was sad too. I went in front of Baba and told him that if you are here in my house ,

if your aasan is sidh here then save this house. I had a very strongfeeling that Baba is here and will not let his children be in trouble for a long time. On Thursday 10th May I lit the joat in front of Baba in the morning and prayed Him to help us in this problem. That was the first day when Baba's joat was in my house for 15 days till 25th May. My faith in Baba was too high and whatever problem we were facing,deep inside I had a feeling that Baba is taking care of us. On Thursday, 31st May, I lit Baba's joat again and it was Puranmasi also. My husband and I always keep vrat on every Puranmasi. We got our tax refund. In June another miracle happened.The US immigration office declared that the people who have to file the paper for their green card final stage can apply. We were not expecting this before October and suddenly my husband's lawyer called and told us to send all the papers immediately so that hecould file for last

stage. We started working on that quickly and sent all the paper to the lawyer well in time. The day he submitted the papers to the US immigration office was a Thursday. We hoped that before the job was over we could get the EAD but the stress was still there. On July 6th 2007 it was a Friday, we were tense because my husband's job was till 23rd July. We were watching TV, the children were home and my husband said that since we would eat dinner late I should offer food to God. I took the food in a plate where mytemple is. When I offered the food to Baba, I saw Baba's mukut was not there on his head and was placed by his feet. I was scared because we always keep Baba's mukut on His head. So immediately I came out and asked my husband children if they had done this. They said no. We were so surprised to see that it was placed near Baba perfectly, as if He wanted to say that before sleeping we should put His mukut down every day. Since

then we started doing this. I had a strong feeling that we would be safe. One week before my husband's job was over, his boss told him that I think we should apply for the visa through another sister company so that he would get time to work. They started working on that.My husband and I went to Visa office and asked them what was the status of our green card and whether they have got the LIN no. or EAD approval.The person did not help much but just said that he can only give us LIN no. that means our green card is not in danger and is in process. My husband and all of us were so worried because there was only one week left. And the house was still not sold. On 23rd July my husband's boss said he was sorry that this was his last day and he could no longer work until he heard from the US immigration office.I went for some grocery shopping. When I came back I saw mail in the mail box and I took it out. It was an envelope from the US

immigration office. It was the EAD (work authorization) card. I cannot explain how I was feeling I was crying and thanking Baba. He saved my husband's job just in time. I called my husband in the afternoon to tell him that we have got the EAD and it is in my hand. There was no end to our happiness. I immediately scanned that EAD and mailed it to my husband's office so that his HR people could see it and allow him to continue working. And now my husband is still working and we took the sale sign down from our house becausethere is a saying:

"Jako rakhe Saieya mar sake na koi. bal na banka kar sake jo jag berry hoye.Jiske sir upper to Sai so dukh kaise pave." Baba ka aasan aaj bhi vaise hi sidh hai jaise pahle tha. Baba ki joat aaj bhi hamare ghar main vaise hi jagti hai Thursday ko jaise pahle jagti thi.Baba is here in my house, He always told to his bhagat that, agar koi mujhe dil se yaad karta hai to main saat samundar par bhi uski sahayata ke liye jata ho. We are still waiting for our green card to come by mail and I have still to complete my sankalp , and I know Baba will give me His blessing to go to Shirdi and do His sewa Main Shirdi jakar hi Baba ki sewa karke unko rice ka bhog laga kar hi rice khaoogi aurmera vishwas Baba par atal hai. Sunita Rakheja, Mason, Ohio, USA