The Perfect Guardian
By Ms. Arunima Pant
Ms Arunima studied in the Anantapur campus of Bhagavan’s University from 1982 to 1990, and later served as a Lecturer in the same college for sixteen years till 2006. Presently, she is a Devotional Coordinator at the South Center, Miami, Florida (USA).
Swami is the greatest healer who treads this earth. He can heal with His look or touch, a mere brush of His robe, and also when He ignores you. He often says, “My love flows out to everyone for I see everyone as Myself. If a person reciprocates My love from the depth and purity of his heart, My love and his, in unison, cures the affliction. Where there is no reciprocation, there is no cure."
|
|
The Strength of Unflinching Faith
This is an incident that happened to my uncle a couple of years back. He had developed some problem with his kidney and was suffering from severe pain in his lower abdomen. He consulted the local doctors in his home town. Unable to diagnose him correctly, they suggested that he go to some experienced urologist. My uncle is an active member of the Seva Dal and also a great devotee of Bhagavan. After hearing what the local doctor said, he immediately decided to come to Prashanti Nilayam and get himself checked in the Super Specialty Hospital.
I was working as a lecturer in the Sri Sathya Sai University, Anantapur Campus, at that time. I too went along with my uncle and aunt to the Super Specialty Hospital for his first check up. After the preliminary tests were done, he was asked to see the concerned urologist. As the doctor looked through my uncle’s reports, he became quite serious and thoughtful. Finally, after a while he disclosed that my uncle had a malignant tumor in his kidney and it was in the third stage! The doctor also insisted that the tumor had to be operated immediately; otherwise it would lead to more serious problems leaving even thinner chances for his survival. On hearing what the doctor said, I was extremely shocked! But to my utter surprise, I found that my uncle was absolutely unperturbed about what he had heard from the doctor. We brought him back home. He merely said that now that his days were numbered, he would like to do more and more service at the Sai Center once he went back home.
After two days, my uncle underwent the surgery and the doctor told him to come back within a month’s time to check up on his condition depending on which, they would be able to tell him about the chances of his survival. |
“The Lord Has Come”
Next month, once again he came for the check up. He looked quite hale and hearty and one could hardly guess that he was a cancer patient. The day before he was supposed to be admitted to the hospital, he bought a small 10″ by 10″ laminated photograph of Swami and hung it on the wall of his room. It was a beautiful bust photograph of Bhagavan with a smiling face, and in the evening I got a nice garland made for the same. As we had few flowers, it was a blend of white flowers and tulsi leaves. When I put the garland on Swami’s photo, it was so short that it was touching Swami’s chin. Though I was not very happy to keep the garland, still I let it be.
Next day, early in the morning I heard my aunt knocking at my room door. As I opened the door I found her very excited as she called me to her room. What I saw amazed me. The garland on Swami’s picture which was so short the previous night had grown more than four times its size without any gap between the flowers and was swaying with the fan breeze! I could not believe my own eyes! I told my uncle that it was a good indication that Swami had shown concern regarding his health. After sometime, I went for Swami’s Darshan still thinking about the whole incident.
We love to hear and enjoy such experiences of other people but when it happens to us we become a doubting Thomas. Such was the case with me. Somehow I was not able to believe the miracle. I had a book titled “The Lord Has Come” written by Ms. Kalyani Sundararajan, which was a birthday gift from my father. I had carried this book that day for darshan. As I sat for darshan I narrated the incident to one of my colleagues sitting in front of me.
On hearing this, she too narrated a similar incident which took place in her house in Delhi. She, in fact, assured me that I should not be worrying as Swami had blessed my uncle with a “long life”, symbolized by the long garland. Believing in her words, though not fully convinced yet, I stopped the conversation and opened the book that I had with me and started reading.
I opened a page at random and something caught my eye there in that page. By an amazing coincidence, it was an incident written by a devotee in whose house the garland had grown and coiled itself on the altar like a snake, which was an indication that Swami had visited her house as promised! I was so surprised and happy that I immediately prayed to Swami to pardon me for having such doubts in my mind.
A Beautiful Dream and a New Life
My uncle was once again hospitalized on that day. He had a beautiful dream in the night. In his dream, Swami came close to his bed and hit him very hard on his lower abdomen thrice and vanished! As he was taken for operation the next day, the doctors found that the place from where the tumor was removed was fully dried and there was no sign of any cancer!
He was discharged from the hospital the following day. He looked quite hale and hearty as if he never had any problem with his health. He took the garland back to his home and even after he reached home it continued growing for one full month. Later when he measured the garland it had grown 13 feet long! Swami had really blessed him with a new life, a long life. My uncle is still an active member of the Seva Dal and visits Prashanti Nilayam every year. |
|
|
The fact that our lives revolve around Swami is itself the greatest miracle. All we have to do is forget all knowledge, leave all preoccupations behind, forget everything and surrender ourselves completely at His Lotus Feet as He is the only caretaker of our lives. Swami says, "It is not in struggling that the process precedes. It is in surrendering that the victory is won."
Dear Reader, did this article inspire you in any way? Would you like to share you feelings with us? If so, please write to us at h2h@radiosai.org mentioning your name and country. Thank you for your time.
