'I'm fortunate to celebrate birthday with Sai Baba'

July 11, 2009

'I'm fortunate to celebrate birthday with Sai Baba' 11 Jul 2009, "The Times of India" News; by Pradeep Vijayakar, TNN

MUMBAI: For those who know Sunil Gavaskar, it didn't come as a surprise that he celebrated his 60th birthday at Satya Sai Baba's ashram at Puttaparthi on Friday. He hasn't spoken much about Baba in public but, last year, when he was conferred the honorary doctorate by DY Patil University, he declared: "All this is because of Baba. I know he is around all the time."

A Gavaskar confidante explained that the Little Master revered Baba because he got inspiration from him to do the right things and keep away from the wrong things, to anticipate the grey areas and steer clear of them, meet the right people and go in the right direction.

A news report from Puttaparti quoted Gavaskar saying,"I am extremely fortunate and happy that I celebrated by birthday here at Puttaparthi at Baba's Ashram."

Gavaskar also said he missed his fans on the occasion and thanked all of them for their greetings and good wishes. "What attracted me to Puttaparti today was the presence of Baba and his teachings of peace and love," he added.

Gavaskar once wrote, "Since the day my mother got the vision of Bhagavan, my family has been a Sai devotee. Like any middle class family, we too believe in God. We have a small Mandir where idols of various Hindu gods are kept and prayers are offered daily. However, in 1970, things changed suddenly. My mother was in the kitchen and there she saw a vision of Swami on the wall.

Gavaskar related an incident about the Vibhuti (sacred ash)."We were in Australia and in one of the tour matches, I slipped and tore a thigh muscle. The local state team's physiotherapist examined me and announced that it would take about three weeks of therapy and one more week of training before I would be able to play again.

"With the first Test due to start in just over a week's time, this was a huge blow. As soon as this news reached my family, they sent me packets of Swami's Vibhuti. These arrived just three days before the D-day. Despite regular physiotherapy, the improvement had been marginal. However, after I started applying Vibhuti, there was marked improvement. On the morning of the match, as I stepped onto the ground for my fitness test, I realised that the stiffness was gone. I went on to play the Test."

http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/All-this-is-because-of-Sai-Baba/articleshow/4764703.cmsNo virus found in this outgoing messageChecked by PC Tools AntiVirus (5.0.1.1 - 10.100.158).http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/