DEVOTEE'S EXPERIENCE - By Rajeev Dar, Delhi

[Guest guest]

DEVOTEE'S EXPERIENCE

 

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...â€

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