THAT ACCIDENT....! (June 1986)

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THAT ACCIDENT....! (June 1986)

It was the last week of February 1984. I had had the strangest feeling that

something would happen to me.

 

I was 61yrs. I should have been superanuated, instead I was working hard to

meet both ends with a daughter yet to be married. I have had a chequered

career for 41 years and yet my basic salary had yet to cross the mark of Rs.

800/- per month.

 

On the 3rd March 1984, I woke up as usual at 4 a.m. and dashed off a few

letters quietly to several Sai-bandhus in 'Postal Sai Satsang' circuit. I

attended to other chores as on any other day and left for my office at 8-15

a.m. The whole of that morning, I was brooding over the passage in the 'Sai

Satcharita' about always depending on Shirdi Sai Baba.

 

In the afternoon, as I was returning to the office at 10, Give Row,

Calcutta-1 after the recess, I was hit from behind by the left giant wheel

of a jeep Suddenly there was a piercing noise like someone had cast away a

piece of wood into the saw. Instinctively I jerked away and fell down on a

parked car on the left side. The oddest, deepest silence instantly seemed to

fill me, despite the excruciating pain and the inability to stand on my

feet. My mind at once raced to Sai.

 

It was as if I had picked up a telephone, and at the other end was Shirdi

Sai Himself. It was just He and I. I heard myself reaching out: "You

promised me" I prayed, "that if I believed in You you'd take care of me."

 

In the next instant, I took a look at my left leg. It was enough to make me

gasp. Shirdi Sai had saved me from the jaws of death for the third time and

from being crippled too.

 

If I were to fall on the right side, I would have been crushed to pulp, I

did not faint. I did not scream. I could see people running towards me.

Suddenly then the Psalm's last verse flashed in my mind as though God

whispered it to me in reassurance: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow

me all the days of my life...."

 

The Doctor who was attending on me knew just what to do. He felt my leg and

said that there was no fracture. What a relief, for at my age as fractures

won't heal that easily. It was like I'd turned my whole self over to Shirdi

Sai, and if there was any pain, Sainath was feeling it for me. I'd had the

feeling that everything was going to turn out all right.

 

During the treatment, Sai-half talked with me as never before. My wife and

myself had never prayed together and had never really shared our Sai

feelings with each other. We had some really neat talks while she and I were

alone in that room and we drew very close.

 

By now I realized that what had happened to me was the unknown thing I had

merely sensed. But there were still some things about it I did'nt fully

understand, things that would become clearer as the days went on. One was

that I was getting so much attention. Sai-bandhus of Calcutta were concerned

and calling on me incessantly. And the letters and cards I received — from

Sai Brothers and Sai Sisters all over the country- Everyday I'd get more

sai-mail. In addition, I received remittances from many Sai-bandhus all

unsolicitedly.

 

As I tried to answer the letters from Sai-bandhus, frankly admitting how I'd

felt Sai's presence and how He had taken care of me, I felt I was being

given a rare opportunity to share my faith with many Sai-bandhus.

 

I made some discoveries too. I learned that there are times when you have to

depend totally on other people. Right after the accident, I'd had to rely on

someone and now while my left leg was held immobilised, I saw the things I

could not do for myself, simple things like taking bath, changing clothes,

etc. At those times especially I needed my Sai-half's help, something she

was eager to give but I was rejecting it in the past. It was a humbling

experience that brought my wife and me that much closer.

 

I learned something about love, too. My whole family and I were loved so

much. The love was expressed in so many ways; all the nice things people

said and wrote to me; the prayers offered; the remittances from Sai-bandhus;

the wise counsel I got from Sai-brothers; the attention from the Doctor. I'd

never felt so loved.

 

I learned something about faith too. My accidents taught me to believe in

myself also. We can be Sai-devotees for a long time and say, we have faith,

but until we actually believe in our faith, depend on it and see it work, it

does'nt do a whole lot of good. It's like having all this power that never

gets used.

 

Shirdi Sai did'nt want the accident to happen to me, and He certainly did

not make it happen. He helped me in so many, many ways.... by letting me

fall on the left side on a parked car instead of letting fall on the right

only to be crushed to pulp. It was Sai who took Motherly care of me.

The Doctor told me that it would take months before I could sit

cross-legged. Someone said that I'd get back 75% of the use of left leg. I

said he was being too conservative. "I intend to get full use of it back". I

told Sai "You hooked everything back up. So I'm going to use it all."

Shirdi Sai set me right soon. I could sit cross-legged soon enough. I listen

to Lord Sainath and depend on Him for direction. Paramahansa Yogananda

rightly said: "Trust more in God. Believe that He who created you will

maintain you".

 

Sai-bandhus I talked to about my accident and the things that happened to me

sometimes say: "Well, Nathenji, that's wonderful, but if you could have that

day back, would you really want to go through it again?"

 

"If I could do it again exactly like it happened, with the same experience"

I say, "Yes, I'd do it all over again".

 

And I mean it. Because, you see, the things Shirdi Sai did for me were just

too good to miss!

 

T.A. Ram Nathen

Sarangabad 743 319, West Bengal.

 

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

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