BELIEVE IT OR NOT (September 1983)

[Guest guest]

At 7.15 a.m. we got the tickets for Abhishek. Now the question arose,

where to keep our air bag, have bath and change. All the hotels and sarais

were fully packed. We had to leave Shirdi by 1 p.m. for Bombay. Again I

thought of Shri Sai. “When we have come over here, why don’t You give us

shelter ?” My goodness, it may be unbelievable to you, no joke, but it is

true. A south Indian couple gestured us from the balcony of the sarai to

come over upstairs. We went up. They allowed us to share their room; but

we asked them to permit us to remain in the Verandah. Then we took bath

and changed and were prepared for Abhishek. Our guide also brought a tray

of miscellaneous articles and a bed sheet of flowers and other garlands for

Shri Sai. We took it and went near the temple for Abhishek.

 

Here too, being late, we missed the ticket numbers. I asked the Santriji,

wearing a red head gown with a particular type of cap. “To look at Him and

see that Shri Baba is called us to get in.” A surprise again. Santriji

allowed both of us to get in for Abhishek.

There was an arti. After arti, persons attending the abhishek were asked

to put on the garlands on Shri Sai and on the Samadhi. For your

information, I may state that one devotee brought a big garland from

Bangalore. It was really a rare flower for us at least. Rather it was

our first time to see such a flower. He put that garland on Shri Sai Baba.

The phool-malas which were put on Shri Sai, were again taken off and the

pandit attending and receiving the garlands, threw them to the devotees who

had come there for His darshan.

 

I had a feeling that I must get that particular garland which I have

described above. I did not tell it to anyone. Will you believe me, the

santriji asked the pundit to get that garland along with some other garlands

and give it to this sahib i.e. me. Really speaking, I was stunned to know

the ways of Shri Sai. We got the prasad.

After visiting all the places at Shirdi and making some purchases we went to

stand in a queue to buy tickets for lunch. We also got tickets for Satya

Narayan prasad. We enjoyed the lunch. It was a big hall where I can

presume that at a time, some two thousand men can take food sitting on

benches besides table. There they provide food in the stainless steel

dishes.

After taking lunch, we came down to our bus which was parked in the three

start hotel compound. We decorated the bus with all the garlands and there

was a very sweet smell in the whole bus. No passenger turned up till then.

For your information let me tell you that I put that particular garland, in

my air bag. Thereafter we roamed here and there. We talked to villagers

and went to see their fields.

 

At 2 p.m. all passengers came. They were over-joyed with our decoration

and sweet smell of the flowers. The bus moved. We were shown other

religious places on the way. We stopped there. We had tea, snacks etc.

It was sunset. The head light of the bus was dim, hence it was running at

slow speed. However, we reached Bombay at 11.45 p.m. at 12.15 a.m. we

reached home. Everybody was waiting for us. We divided into the dining

table and while eating we related the incident to all at home. The

children of my brother-in-law asked us to open the air bag. They found

that particular garland in it. There was ‘jhapta jhapti’ among bachha log

and my goodness, the flowers were scattered all over the house. So this

was an end of our visit and it is true incident, believe it or not. No body

knows the ways of Shri Sai. Really speaking I don’t know the ABC of

worship or pujapath. The fact is that if you have faith in Him, we can

see Him and talk to Him even, like this innocent jat (i.e. me)

 

B. Advani

Jodhpur, (Rajasthan)

 

 

(The experiences of Devotees as published in Shri Sai Leela Magazine, can

be

read at www.saileelas.org/magazines/SAILEELA/exp.htm