Swamiji's biography ' Apostle of Love' records an instance of a clock that came alive to remind a devotee to offer Naivedya. Swamiji was out of station and had asked one of his devotees to offer Naivedya to Sai Baba and Shrinivasa idols in his cottage at 8:00 p.m everyday. On one of the days, the devotee forgot to offer Naivedya when the alarm clock that had stopped running jumped from the almirah and stood before the devotee. The clock then sounded the alarm at 8:00 p.m and reminded the devotee that the Naivedya had been forgotten. When Swamiji returned to his Kutir, the devotee narrated the incident with great awe and disbelief. Swamiji told him that the appointment with god should never be missed and all objects in his room had life. Therefore the clock had managed to jump down from the shelf and reminded the devotee of his obligation. This clock can still be seen in Swamiji's room in the Sai Mandir at Thyagaraya Nagar.
I had a similar experience under a different circumstance. I was employed in New Delhi in 2003 and had taken up an apartment with another girl. After 6 months the girl left and i could not find another suitable house mate. I found it pretty hard staying alone since i had never stayed by myself. I also had some health issues that made me quite worried. On one of those days when worry got the better of me, i sat in my apartment all alone and lost in my worries. I was so unhappy. I also sat thinking that i am all alone and there was no one around for me. Just as this thought passed my mind, i suddenly heard the alarm clock sound loud. It was 7 p.m and the alarm clock pulled me out of my thoughts. The alarm clock had not worked for the last 6 months and i was extremely astonished to hear the alarm clock ring after all these months. I got up and opened the shelf to check if the alarm was indeed ringing. The alarm clock sat next to my small puja shrine. The arms of the clock were still stuck in their place but the ringing sound alone had come alive. What a strange incident, i thought! How can a disfunctional alarm clock come alive. Then it occurred to me that Baba was communicating that i was not alone and he was with me through this miracle of the dead alarm clock's resurrection. I prayed to Baba and with that all my gloomy thoughts took to their heels. Since then, i never feel alone since i always know that Swamiji, Sai Baba and Shrinivasa are alive and watching me in an inviscible form.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Lost in Los Angeles
My husband and i were on a holiday to the West Coast of United States last year. We visited the Grand canyon, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Los Angeles was the home of my cousin and we were visiting them for the first time. My cousin took us out to some of the local attractions. The Venice beach was a popular tourist spot and quite close to my cousin's house. We decided to visit the beach on our own. Since we had a GPS there was no problem finding our way back to their home, we thought. We parked our car at a parking bay across the beach and walked to view the beautiful coastline. The beach was framed in a brilliant landscape of distant blue mountains and a curving coastline. The beach had also been planned to include play areas for children, skating rinks and shops. A live music band was also playing. We kept walking for almost 2 hours. By evening 7:30 we decided to return and to our dismay we could not remember the starting location. All the streets looked identical too. The two of us gave up searching after twenty minutes and decided to ask someone for directions. I prayed almost instantly to Swamiji and Sai baba to help us find our way back.
LA was known for its mafia and it was growing dark and bereft of people. We walked around and my husband saw a middle aged woman standing outside her apartment with a dog. We explained that we were lost and sought directions from her since she was a resident of the area. We could have called my cousin but i did not want her to panic and rush down. The GPS had been left in the car and that was precisely why we could not locate ourselves. We had become so dependent on the GPS that we had failed to make our own observations on the location and landmarks.
The lady was British and had settled in USA. She recognized our inability to identify the place where we had parked our car. She immediately offered to drive us around until we could identify our parking spot. She brought out her car and asked my husband to occupy the front seat. Her dog and i took the back seats. We drove around for the next 20 minutes unable to locate our parking spot. I thought hard and suddenly the image of boats parked near the car flashed across my mind. I had made a mental note of this landmark even as we walked out from our car. I clearly remembered this landmark and described the location to the lady. She thought for a moment and said she thought she knew the place. What a relief it was to hear her say that. She drove us to a spot almost 2 kms away from where we had met her. As she turned into one of the side streets, i saw the canal and the boats floating on the water. Yes! we had found our parking spot. The lady waited until we confirmed that our car was indeed parked in the bay and only then left for the night waving us good bye.I was amazed by the fact that a stranger had bothered to make this extraordinary effort to help us find our way. I gave her a warm hug and thanked her profusely for her act of kindness. I also thanked Swamiji for sending this samaritan in a timely manner. With a guru and god like Swamiji and Sai Baba with us, we can never get lost. They will pull us out from the depths of danger and restore us to safety every time. Praise be unto my Sadguru Sri Saipadananda Radhakrishna Swamiji and Satchitananda Samartha Sadguru Sainath Maharaj.
LA was known for its mafia and it was growing dark and bereft of people. We walked around and my husband saw a middle aged woman standing outside her apartment with a dog. We explained that we were lost and sought directions from her since she was a resident of the area. We could have called my cousin but i did not want her to panic and rush down. The GPS had been left in the car and that was precisely why we could not locate ourselves. We had become so dependent on the GPS that we had failed to make our own observations on the location and landmarks.
The lady was British and had settled in USA. She recognized our inability to identify the place where we had parked our car. She immediately offered to drive us around until we could identify our parking spot. She brought out her car and asked my husband to occupy the front seat. Her dog and i took the back seats. We drove around for the next 20 minutes unable to locate our parking spot. I thought hard and suddenly the image of boats parked near the car flashed across my mind. I had made a mental note of this landmark even as we walked out from our car. I clearly remembered this landmark and described the location to the lady. She thought for a moment and said she thought she knew the place. What a relief it was to hear her say that. She drove us to a spot almost 2 kms away from where we had met her. As she turned into one of the side streets, i saw the canal and the boats floating on the water. Yes! we had found our parking spot. The lady waited until we confirmed that our car was indeed parked in the bay and only then left for the night waving us good bye.I was amazed by the fact that a stranger had bothered to make this extraordinary effort to help us find our way. I gave her a warm hug and thanked her profusely for her act of kindness. I also thanked Swamiji for sending this samaritan in a timely manner. With a guru and god like Swamiji and Sai Baba with us, we can never get lost. They will pull us out from the depths of danger and restore us to safety every time. Praise be unto my Sadguru Sri Saipadananda Radhakrishna Swamiji and Satchitananda Samartha Sadguru Sainath Maharaj.
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