DEVOTEE EXPERIENCE - BY Sunitha USA

[Guest guest]

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. My

husband 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 mind

was 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 was

worried 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. That

was 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 house

in 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 and

talking 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) and

when 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 3-4

months , 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 the

letter 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 as

it 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 but

since 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 seemed

difficult 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 strong

feeling 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 he

could 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 my

temple 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 because

there 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 aur

mera vishwas Baba par atal hai.

 

Sunita Rakheja, Mason, Ohio, USA