FROM PUTTAPARTHI...UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES !!

October 1, 2008

Bhagavan had given me (RAJA REDDY) the opportunity to sing bhajans. I was leading bhajans for decades, right from 1958 until 1983. That is, up to my 60th year.

When I was 60 years old, one day, as usual, I started a bhajan. All the students were singing with fresh and blooming voices. Naturally, Bhagavan wanted to give them more chances and I was also getting superannuated! So one fine morning as I was sitting there to sing a bhajan, all of a sudden the mike was taken away from me. Being with Him for so many years, I 'knew' of Swami's ways and could get the hint. So I didn't react at all.

Then, after the bhajans were over and aarti was performed, Swami just looked at me; it was just a glance, but very deep. Believe it or not, for about 2-3 days, I was just floating in bliss. Just a look, nothing else!

Swami used to go in a 'trance', meaning, He used to, so to say, leave His body whenever there was any danger to any devotee, anywhere. What used to happen is that His body would become almost like a 'rigor mortis' – almost death-like. And it would fall like a stick.

So, as attendants, we had to take care of His body by not allowing Him to fall or get hurt. On one of these instances, I was not very well acquainted with this process of His 'trance' and while He was 'gone' from His body, He went on pulling His hair and had quite a handful of His hair in His hand. Then He asked for water, which I readily gave. Next, He swallowed the hair and washed it down with water!

Later, when He returned to normal consciousness, He asked me, " Did I swallow any hair? " I said, " Yes, Baba. " Just then, He opened a button and what happened next was something unimaginable. The hair, which was wet, which He had swallowed, was coming out from underneath His heart! That was something mind-boggling!!!

My wife's cousin, Mr. Suresh who is a sincere devotee of Bhagavan, probably in his 30s, suddenly developed cancer in the thigh. He was young and had 2 small kids, a boy and a girl. He went to Dharmakshetra (Mumbai) to have Baba's Darshan and Baba saw him and said, " Yes, cancer cancelled! " Mind you, that was a very dangerous type of cancer and he had been given only 6 months by the doctors!!!

He's hale and healthy even after decades! He has a job in a German Company in Pune, India, and he is on the move, globe trotting 15 days in a month. His son and daughter are well placed too.

Just before our marriage, when my wife was in Puttaparthi, she had a dream. She dreamt that Shirdi Baba came in her dream early in the morning and gave her a rosary - japamala. She was enjoying the dream, but the whole episode ended abruptly when she was woken up by someone saying, " Come on! Wake up! Baba has called us for an interview! "

So, then she had to hurry to Baba's Presence. After some time, she was called in. When BABA saw her He said, " How are you? " And then immediately materialized a rosary for her! Finally He said, " So the dream has become true!!! "

Ultimately, SWAMI wants everybody to benefit from His Avatar. He has come for us and He doesn't require anything. He is Bliss personified!

http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_05/01NOV07/14-h2h_special.htm

Mr Raja Reddy was one of the most privileged who came to Bhagavan as a teenager and continued to stay in the Divine Presence enjoying His blissful divine proximity for nearly 3 decades! A sincere spiritual aspirant right from his childhood, the story of His encounters with 'The Eternal' is most fascinating. (See photos)