When God Appears in Human Form

I recently read the book written by Mr. Narayana Iyengar on Shri Radhakrishna Swamiji. Swamiji narrates several incidents where god appeared in a human form to help him. This incident immediately reminded me of an occasion when god appeared in human form. I was returning from work in New Delhi. The work hours ended by 6:00 p.m and i returned home to Gurgaon one hour away by a car pool. On that day i had to stay on a little later, missing the car pool. I was very confident of returning home by using the not-so-well connected bus system. The nearest bus station was half an hour away. Autorickshaws are a rarity in Delhi in the peak office hours, atleast near my work place. Most autodrivers chose their passengers according to their whims and fancies and no organized system was in place. After waiting for 15 minutes,two women from the adjacent office building suggested we take a taxi to get dropped off at out destinations. I asked to be dropped off at the INA market area from where buses where available as ascertained by one of my carpool colleagues. I had not tried this bus station and was willing to experiment. I got dropped off at the bus stop. After almost two hours of waiting there was no bus in sight. The one bus that did arrive stopped for no more than a split second and rolled away much to my anguish. It was almost 8:30 p.m and i began to panic. Gurgaon was another 1 hour away. Delhi was known for its anti-social elements. I thought of calling a cab but discovered i had not carried my cell phone that day. Cab companies refused to take my request without a cell number they could contact. I was not sure what to do. I thought of borrowing someone's cell phone and making a call, but none of the shop keepers where willing to help. At this point i turned to Swamiji and Baba and appealed to them for help. It was close to 9:00 p.m and i was stranded. I grew desperate with pictures of spending an entire night out looming large. As i sent the prayer, a boy walked by and hearing my desperate request for help to a shop keeper, offered to help. He gladly gave his cell phone and offered to stay till the cab arrived. I called the cab and it arrived only after 30 minutes. This boy however stayed near me, talking to his friends. He mentioned that he lived only five minutes away and was agreeable to wait until the cab arrived. I needed him to be there since the cab driver would call the cell phone to confirm his arrival. After a time that seemed forever, the cab arrived at 9:30 p.m. The boy not only waited, but reassured me and left only after i had got into the cab. I thanked him profusely for his timely help that made a big difference to me. I reached home by 10:30 p.m and breathed a sigh of relief. As i got into bed, it struck me that the boy must have been god himself. He arrived within minutes of sending my prayer to god for help and most of all spent close to 45 minutes waiting for the cab with me. He did mention he was 21, had just graduated from a commerce program and working in a company. He was human no doubt but his arrival in my hour of need was only an act of god. I thought over and over again about the incident and felt even more surely that god himself had come down in a human form to help. I also took a pledge to assist others in need of help whenever and wherever i could as thanksgiving.

The peda

During my student days, i happened to visit Mylapore in Chennai. This area has numerous temples and it was a habit to visit atleast three temples namely the Sai Baba temple, the Srinivasa temple and the Kapaleeshwarar temple. Mylapore was also home to the shopping strips around the Kapaleeshwarar temple. I had a habit of talking to god from childhood and wherever i went, i would silently chat with god to keep me company. I also tested god ever so often to understand if he/she truly existed or it was a figment of my imagination. On one such day when i was in a testing mood, i told Baba that he should give me a peda if he really was around and listening to me. I was accompanied by a friend and as we walked around, the friend suggested that we enter the sweet shop nearby. I accompanied her gladly. She bought several sweets and then finally handed over a peda to me. I was surprised. Did she hear my mental request to Baba? How did she know that i had asked for a peda? I thanked her and most importantly thanked Baba.He proved to me that he had heard me and responded as well.