Devotee's Experience - Contributed by Rajeev : my Lord , my Master, my God, my Friend and my Confidante - By Rajeev Dar, Delhi

[Guest guest]

Devotee's Experience - Contributed by Rajeev Dar,

Delhi

 

my Lord and my Master, my God, my Friend and my

Confidante

 

Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi, my Lord and Master, my God,

my Friend and my Confidante. What can I write about

him when I exist because of his Kripa?

 

The year was 1999 and we had just moved into Delhi. My

wife Anu developed a large tumour on her back. We

consulted many doctors. The unanimous decision was

that an operation was needed and a Biopsy will be

required to decide malignancy. Malignant is a

malignant word. We got really scared. My wife has been

always been scared of the scalpel. She lost her father

at the very young age of 11 years and ever since has

regarded Shirdi Sai has her father. So she kept

putting off the operation on one pretext or the other,

saying - Baba will cure me, etc. The growth meanwhile

became the size of a fist and was painful to touch.

 

One day during the Morning Prayer I asked Baba to

spare Anu the operation and said that I would donate

the money saved by not having to undergo the operation

as building material for Baba's temple in Sadhaura (a

small hamlet near Jagadhari) where some construction

was required. Doctors had given us an estimate of Rs.

12 to 15 thousand). Why Sadhaura is another story -

some other time.

 

A week passed and then suddenly a doctor friend of

mine whom we had been consulting telephoned me that

his elder brother - a renowned surgeon from Lucknow

was going to be in town to operate upon his

sister-in-law and maybe we would like to seek his

opinion in the matter. When we reached the hospital on

the designated day the surgeon from Lucknow was

operating in the O.T. Soon he came out and my friend

told him about Anu's problem. The surgeon told Anu to

step into the O.T. so that he could examine her. I

waited outside and after 20 minutes or so Anu walked

out and told me that she had been operated upon - a

sample taken for Biopsy and sent to the lab and we

were free to go home! Anu was of course in pain and

completely bewildered. When I enquired about the

charges, I was told there was no charge because

friends do not charge each other! We just could not

believe it.

 

In Delhi where a doctor could charge you even if you

asked him the directions to his clinic an operation

had been performed without charge! This was a gesture

unheard of. We were completely dumbstruck by Baba's

Leela. The right way to get rid of the tumour

apparently was an operation, whether Anu liked it or

not. Keeping Anu's fears in mind however the operation

had been carried out without any fuss, almost as you

would pull out a child's loose tooth by diverting the

child's attention while saying, let me see... let me

see…..and then khat ...it comes out. To top it all no

charge because the money thus saved would have better

use in a temple situated 200 kms away. This was Sai

leela and its fantastic execution to the minutest

detail. But then these are small things for my Sarkar,

$ainath of Shirdi. And this was not the end. There was

more to follow!!

 

I remembered my prayer and my promise and pledged to

complete it soonest. In fact I even called up Shri

Navneet Sharma the caretaker and Panditji of Baba's

mandir at Sadhaura and promised him that I will be

soon organizing some construction material for the

temple. Incidentally this is a small temple standing

on pillars in the middle of a pond and some of the

structures needed reinforcement and hence the need for

cement, iron girders etc.

 

Time passed and I got busy and kept postponing the

promised visit to Sadhaura. After about 6 months as

good luck would have it my friend Sanjeev Gupta was

going to Shirdi and on the spur of the moment he asked

me to join him. So without any program or reservation,

off I went see my Sarkar. Summons from the Chief, I

thought. We reached Shirdi very comfortably and had

nice Darshan. Next day Sanjeev told me about a fine

temple of Baba near Kopargaon constructed by Shri

Chavan Baba who was himself spiritually a very

realized person and was known to our Shri Satpathyji.

The meeting with Chavan Baba also known as Dhondi Baba

was very eventful. Dhondi Baba seemed to know all

about us without our even opening our mouths. We were

humbled and moved. Dhondi Baba then suddenly looked at

me and said " Rajeev Sahib ek aadmi Dilli se aya tha;

usney bola tha ki wo cement aur sariya bhejega. Maloom

nathi baad mein nahi aaya " (Rajeev Sahib, one fellow

from Delhi had promised 'to send cement and iron

girders; did not show up after that). I listened to

him, made some sympathetic noises; touched his feet

took prasad and came back to Shirdi. While attending

the shej aarti the same night, suddenly what Dhondi

Baba, had said came to my mind " Dilli se ek aadmi aaya

tha... " and I realized the importance of that sentence

and realized that woh admi mein hi hun. I felt like a

worm, but at the same time I also felt elated that

Baba had spoken to me and had gently reminded to do as

I had promised. It was again a confirmation (if ever

needed) of how forgiving and kind my Sadguru is. After

the aarti I shared this with Sanjeev Gupta, my friend

who was with me. He too was flabbergasted and gave me

his quota of gallis.

 

Duly chastened, I returned to Delhi and the day after

made a plan to go to Sadhaura. Sanjeev, wanting to see

the culmination of this Sai leela, joined me.

 

It is a four-hour drive to Sadhaura from Delhi and we

reached around 11 am.

 

Together with Shri Navneet Sharmaji we proceeded to

the hardware shop. I had carried with me Rs. 15000/-

as per my promise with Baba. We bought bricks, cement,

iron girders, and paid for everything - a total of Rs.

14,850!

 

We decided then to spend time in the mandir while the

goods came in. I had paid for the goods and now felt

relieved. Of the fifteen thousand, only Rs. 150 was

left. I was happy that my estimate had been right and

that we had not run short of money. Just then a

bullock cart walla, who had brought sand came to us

and said that he had not been paid. Sanjeev and I

looked at each other and even though we could guess

the answer. I asked him " how much? " " Rs. 150, sahib "

of course was the answer!! My Sadguru had even done my

accounting for me.

 

Sanjeev and I were stunned. So was Shri Navneetji.

There was complete silence accompanied by tears of

gratitude.

 

Slowly we started back for Delhi with our hearts

filled in love and gratitude for Baba Sai the Param

Sadguru.

 

Rajeev Dar, Delhi