BABA'S THREE QUESTIONS...

An old merchant from Kuppam arrived late one evening by car with his family. As soon as Baba saw him, He asked, "How deep is the well?" I thought the inquiry was about a well he was digging in his field, but his son told me a very thrilling story.

V.R was suffering from acute stomach pain for over ten days and the doctor in attendance left him one dark January night about 10PM. Every one went to bed and all was quiet. An hour later, it was noticed that V.R was not in his bed! Minutes passed, he did not return. A feeble voice was heard from the distance, "Amma! Amma!". The sons ran helter skelter and discovered that the voice emanated from the well! It was 50 yards away from the house, 10 feet across , with water 25 feet deep, an irrigation well , with a wall all around, slabs criss - crossing the depth, with a pumping set worked by an electrically operated engine. The old man had fallen into it!

It was pitch dark, but, with the help of a torch it was found that the old man was most miraculously standing erect close to the wall with no apparent foothold, more than half his body immersed in the water. He was praying aloud to Sathya Sai, his only succour. Shuddering and shivering, one of the sons got down the well and tied a rope round the waist of the old man; others went about frantically calling for help, but they could collect only two timid individuals. Then, as luck would have it, or rather as Baba willed, the Sub-inspector of Police (whoever could have expected him of all people to pass that way?) butted in to find out the reason for their commotion. He helped in the rescue, by letting down a sofa for the old man and slowly lifting him up.

The doctor, who was called in, was stunned because there was not a single scratch or cut on the body; the patient was perfectly normal and unconcerned and was reciting Baba's Name. He looked as if he had just returned from a bath in the Chithravathi! How could he have stood erect, clinging to the side of the well, with 25feet of water beneath him? That was the wonder, the wonder of all who could not grasp that the escape was Providential, nay, Sathyasaidential, to be more exact.

A family came from Nellore and stood facing the portico of the Prasanthi Nilayam. Baba appeared before long and He asked them, "Where is the dog that took your son up the Hill?" I thought the question referred to some pet dog which was faithful and intelligent and I asked them whether my surmise was correct. No; it was not. It seems his son left the house one night with out notice, a week previously. Since he was not in the best of health, either physically or mentally, the parents were naturally very worried; they telegraphed to Baba; they searched all likely and unlikely places. In the morning, someone came and gave them a clue…. he might have gone to Tirupathi. So, they hastened to that place and drove up the Hill and arrived at the Temple, to discover the boy there! He had climbed the steps in spite of his ill health, because, as he said a lovely little dog had inspired him and guided his steps. Its seems that dog appeared suddenly from nowhere just after the first few steps; it would climb seven or eight steps and sit looking affectionately towards the boy, encouraging him to do likewise, urging him on, and intimating to him that it was all so easy. Without knowing how, the boy had followed the dog, talking to it and inspired by it, never doubting its intentions or its authenticity as guide. A few yards from the Gopuram of Sri Venkatachalapathi Temple, the dog melted away. That was the story the son related to the astounded parents on the Hill and at Puttaparthi to me, when I asked him about the dog, that was mentioned by Baba, as soon as they came.

An officer who had to tour uninhabited tracts and jungles for at least a few months every year as part of his official duties came to Puttaparthi; he was looking up the verandah on the first floor of the Nilayam, to get a glimpse of Baba. Presently, Baba appeared and recognising him, asked, "Did you get the lorry I sent?" I thought the man was a businessman who had dispatched a lorry to Puttaparthi and was expecting it back. But the man had a different story to tell!

He said that the question revealed to him that the arrival of a lorry, along a god forsaken jungle road to pick him up from his sick bed and convey him to the nearest doctor, 40 miles away, was the act of Baba and the saving of his life by that doctor's timely ministration was a Satyasaidential act of mercy. It seems he had developed a septic wound while in camp and that he had fallen into delirium on account of the fever. It was raining terribly and thunder roared overhead. He prayed to all the Gods he knew, including Baba, but, found no ray of hope, for he was on the very center of no man's land. Then, suddenly, he heard the noise of a passing lorry. Yes. The driver had lost his way and was nosing his way about the jungle tracks. His servants ran after it shouted desperately, and caught it, by the side of a deep nullah, where it had perforce to stop. That lorry saved his life.

And, now, he knew that Baba had sent it!

(ARTICLE WRITTEN BY LATE PROF.KASTURI, SANATHANA SARATHI APRIL 1961 ISSUE)