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Posted on : Oct 8, 2011

BABA'S FANTASTIC FLUTE

- A tribute to the elevating life of late Dr. Victor 'Krishna' Kanu

Part 2

Talking to the Spirits to Heal the Sick

Eventually Victor and his wife Genevieve decided to go to the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain. This organisation was about communicating with the dead and transferring messages from them to the living. To put it simply, the 'medium' would talk to the dead father or mother or any other ancestor and find solutions for people's problems. Victor soon rose in this organisation to become its President in London. He was now healing people.

“I was very good at it,” Victor recalled, “I would touch people and they would get well. So I began to pray: 'O God, please use me as Your instrument for Your glory and for the betterment of mankind.' At that time, I wanted to become a famous healer. We were connected to 22 churches in London and I wished to become successful in healing and preaching.

The Unforgettable 'Lion and Joy' Experience

It was during this time, one morning after he had said his prayers that Victor had an unusual experience.

“That day after I uttered the prayer, I saw the room filled with light. It was not electricity light; it was of a different kind. And I saw this coming through the door; it looked like smoke - very deep blue in colour. This smoke came into the room, moved in front of me, and then slowly took the shape of a lion – in fact it became a live lion!

“I was not scared but I was sitting there and watching all this with my eyes closed. And then right in front of me, suspended in the air was the word 'JOY'. This vision lasted for about three minutes; it was the first such experience in my life ever. I didn’t know what it was all about until two years later.”

The Mind-blowing First Vision of Sai

The incident happened in 1978 and when Victor saw Baba for the first time in 1980, everything became clear to him. And, it’s fascinating to learn how Baba was silently and mysteriously drawing him to His physical form during those two years.

“That year (1978) as president of the Spiritualist Association, I went to the Christmas Eve service. A play was narrated there by a woman priest, Ms. Rosa La Robles, who gave an account of the birth of Jesus, His wonderful works, and so on. And during her talk, she said: 'Do you know there is a young man living in India today who is doing exactly what Jesus did 2,000 years ago. His name is Sai Baba.' This was the first time I heard the name Sai Baba.

“My heart jumped. A man on earth doing the sort of things that Jesus did? I decided I needed to find out more about this man. But this was during the Christmas season and it was difficult to find more information because all the bookshops were closed. Finally I came across Sai Baba - Man of Miracles by Howard Murphet. When I turned its pages, I could not believe what I was reading. I would read this book during the weekends too; actually all of 1978, every weekend, I read this book, again and again.

	Dr. Kanu being blessed by Bhagawan after a speech in the Sai Kulwant Hall, July 2008

“And then, I got more books on Baba and learnt that if you prayed to Him, He would hear you and respond. So one night in February 1980, I prayed to Him directly; this was at about 11:00 p.m. I said: 'O Sai Baba! I don’t know You but from what I have read and been told, I have no doubt whatsoever that You are God Incarnate. My wife and I would like to be Your devotees. If You accept us, please give me a sign.' These were the exact words; I will never forget them.

“I prayed and went to bed. At 2:30 a.m., I woke up, perspiring and shivering. Sai Baba had come into our healing room and sat on the healing table. And when I turned around and saw Him, I was afraid, and I cried. I said: 'O God, help me. O Jesus! Help me. Sai Baba! Help me!' Then I woke up.

“In other words, from 11:00 p.m. - 2:30 a.m., in those few hours, Sai Baba, whom I had asked to accept us as His devotees, responded immediately. He had come in my dream. This was the first call and I accepted this as a sign straightaway.”

Even though Baba had been preparing Victor to come to Him for no one knows how many years, this was the first time He had given him a glimpse of His physical form. However it was not the first sign from the Avatar because three years prior to 1978, Victor had a series of dreams all of which at that time were ‘inexplicable’ to him. Victor spoke about this in a speech he delivered to the students of Baba's university in Prasanthi Nilayam in 2002.

Sai Purifies and Prepares Kanu for His work

“In 1975 I had a dream; this was after I had returned from the pub. In London, it was fashionable during those days - I suppose it still is - for gentleman to assemble in the pubs after dinner and have a good drink; it is almost a ritual to go to the parlour and share a cigar with your colleagues. So I did that one day and returned home. When I woke up the following morning, I saw myself fully dressed with shoes, coat, tie et al as I was the previous day. I then realised I must have been drunk that night but let me tell you it was in that inebrious state that I had a dream.

“Two angels came for me and the three of us were in the air; I was in the middle. We did not speak to each other at all; the sky was deep blue and calm, and we were going to a place I knew not. But as we approached our destination we began to descend just like an aeroplane does. And finally we passed through an arch before entering a village. On the right hand corner of this arch stood another angel with a bunch of flowers; he gave me this bunch and said 'Welcome'.

“So we went through this narrow road. On the left hand side was a high wall, and the angels left me at the main gate of this wall, and then disappeared. And there I found people from all the nations of the world including my ancestors who spoke to me in my language. There was healing and preaching, and discussion about spiritual matters going on there.

“I then woke up and saw myself fully dressed. But from that moment onwards, something happened to me. I loathed the idea of alcohol. I disliked going to the pub to drink or smoke. I could not explain the reason; I just stopped all of this suddenly in 1975. At that time I knew nothing about Sathya Sai Baba, not even about India.”

So Baba through His angels had brought Victor to Prasanthi Nilayam and begun to transform his heart long before he had even heard His name. Five years later, as Victor entered the ashram through the Gopuram gate his memory immediately flashed back to the dream; he could clearly identify the location where the angels had left him.

After the vivid dream experience of 1978, his desire to see Baba only intensified. Finally he did make his first visit to India in 1980. And, how this materialised is another fascinating tale.

The Puzzling Manifestation of Money for the India Trip

“Ever since I had this dream of Baba, I was searching and looking for people who knew about Him. Fortunately there was a Sai Center which was a 15-minute walk away from my home. I went there and met Kirit Patel, the leader of this center. That year (1980), Kirit organized a trip to India to see Sathya Sai Baba. I said my wife and I would like to join the group and he put our names down. Actually we had no money for the fare.”

When Kirit Patel knew about Victor's financial predicament, he offered to reserve the tickets for the Kanu couple. But Victor refused. Kirit suggested that Victor could pay him back later but that too was not acceptable to Victor. Soon after, something interesting happened.

Out of the blue, an Englishman who was not even a friend and was least aware of Victor's journey sent the money for the two fares. Victor narrated this, saying:

“So the money came via the post. There were actually two letters that the postman dropped through the door that day. One was from this man; when I opened it, I found this cheque. I ran upstairs with great joy to my wife. I said: 'Look, we got money. We got money to go to India!' It was 500 pounds.

“The second letter was from my mother. She was in Sierra Leone crying for help saying that there was drought in the land, and that I should send her money. Two letters! One containing 500 pounds in cash, and the other from my mother asking for money. I turned to my wife and said: 'Genevieve, I think this man – Baba – is testing me.

"I could easily send this money to my mother, but it would be wrong; this is a test. He would take care of my mother.'

Sai Reveals the 'Blue Mystery'

“So, this was how we used the money to come to Puttaparthi and I saw Him for the first time. In fact three months before our departure from London, He again came in my dream; He was in His red robe but His face was blue. And I was very worried; I thought He was ill. So I started asking the devotees what this meant.

" When I queried, Kirit Patel said: 'Oh! well, Krishna was blue.' And he showed me a photograph of Krishna on the wall.

“When we finally came to Whitefield (in Bangalore), on August 14, 1980, Bhagawan performed a spiritual marriage of my wife and I, and while thanking Him, He said: 'Oh, you thought you would not come, and then I sent you a cheque.'

"I said: 'Yes, Swami, But Your face was blue! And I was very worried.'

"He then looked at me and said: 'Ah! Blue! Deep! Mysterious!'”

This was his wonderful experience in Brindavan in 1980.