"I
am here"
On
the evening of the eight of September, 1958,
Baba addressed a vast gathering of the people of
Nuzid and the surrounding villages in the
spacious grounds of the Elamarru Palace. He
began by saying that men have lost the path and
are traversing the devious by-ways that take
them away from the goal. Man alone, He said, has
the capacity to recognize the right road and
retrace his steps, constantly correcting
himself. He must use this capacity of
self-contemplation on the Godhead, and know that
there is peace and happiness in the Higher Life.
He mentioned that sorrow and unrest can all be
traced to want of intellectual courage. Suddenly
His words were cut short. He fell back in His
chair and became stiff and motionless. He had
"gone" out of His Body to convey the consoling
message, "I am here," to one in dire distress!
It was 7:25. There was an eerie stillness in the
air. The audience was breathless. The ticking of
the clock in front of Him could be heard in the
deep silence. Five minutes later He "came back,"
and resuming the address, said, "This is My
Duty! Wherever I am, whatever I may be doing
when the distressed devotee calls, I have to go
and give him succor." Then He continued for over
an hour on the master-disciple relationship, on
the body as the temple of the Lord, and the
disciplines necessary to sublimate the passions
of man.
Another
similar incident occurred on the twenty-fourth
of November, 1958. It was the Swing Festival at
Puttaparthi, part of the birthday celebrations
of Bhagavan
Sri Sathya
Sai Baba. The swing at the eastern end of the
Hall was beautifully decorated with flowers. At
the earnest pleading of devotees, Baba seated
Himself on it. Prayer songs were sung. There
were also music and addresses on religious
subjects given by several devotees. All at once
Baba "heard a call" fell back on the pillows and
became "unconscious" of the happenings at
Puttaparthi. He had become aware of a dropsy
patient at Hyderabad City, as He said later, a
devotee's father who had suddenly suffered a
heart attack and was being lifted into an
ambulance. Baba gave him a Vision of Himself and
the curative Ash, and "came back" to the Swing
Hall. He was "away" only two and a half minutes.
As He said at Nuzid, He had to go; His Duty, as
He called it, beckoned Him. How can one describe
the Infinite Mercy of the Lord! His Infinite
Powers!
During these
years this mercy has been evinced in many forms,
but the most dramatic is the "extra corporeal
journey" which He undertakes. As early as 1940,
when He was almost fourteen years old, He
aroused the consternation of everyone by "going
out" without warning. On the first historic
occasion it was mistaken to be the sting of a
scorpion and the consequent
"unconsciousness."
It is seldom
that He discloses the place to which He has gone
or mentions the people who receive His Grace,
but the incidents which He or others have
revealed are so numerous that one can attest
these "journeys" have taken Him to such far
flung places as the Assam Frontier, the Kashmir
Front, the Swiss Valley, the Nallamalai Forest,
the seashore of Bombay, and many other places in
India and beyond. The body of Baba can sometimes
be seen making gestures and movements such as
dragging, pulling, lifting, bandaging, and
extracting. Later He explains them as gestures
of His actual saving of someone from being
drowned, burned, run over, crushed, or jammed.
Once He said He had been to the town of Bolarum
at the same time that He was talking to a group
of devotees at Muthukur on the terrace of a
house. He had "gone" there because a jeep had
overturned, and a devotee was pinned underneath.
Baba ran to him with the message, "Why fear,
when I am here?" He extricated the devotee, and
said after He "returned" that He had remained by
the devotee's side until "a passenger bus
arrived and transported him to a
hospital."
During the
Razakar troubles and thieving in Hyderabad, when
the life of a devotee was in imminent peril,
Baba "went" to his rescue. He went through the
motions only of beating some people near Him on
the Nilayam terrace, which He explained later
was indicative of the actual treatment He
administered to thieves with hundredfold effect
at Hyderabad where they had run in sudden
panic!
On another
occasion, a villager named Bhimaiah, who had
quarreled with his brother about the sharing of
produce, came to Puttaparthi, hoping to remain
there on the charity of the pilgrims. Baba
chastised him for being a burden on others, for
with a little more patience and love, he could
be happy with his brother in his own village. He
assured him that His Grace would be with him
wherever he was, and told him to return.
Bhimaiah took this sadly to heart, as though
Baba had driven him out. In despair he threw
himself across a railroad track on a dark night,
hoping that the wheels of an advancing train
would end his misery. But Baba's Grace was and
is all-pervading. He "hurried" to Bhimaiah on
the railway line and pushed him aside just in
time. Those with Baba at Puttaparthi could see
from His gestures that He was Pushing something
heavy. Baba "came to" with an exclamation about
Bhimaiah who had so foolishly misinterpreted His
advice! Bhimaiah felt, as he later explained,
that Baba clasped his hand and dragged him down
the slope of the mound on which he lay. Tearful
with repentance, he returned immediately to Baba
at Puttaparthi before rejoining his brother.
Even now when devotees ask Bhimaiah why he put
Baba to the bother of a "trans-corporeal
journey" by his foolhardiness, he hangs his head
in shame and pleads that they not pursue a
matter so painful to him.
Baba often
"leaves" the body, goes to a devotee's side
during the last moments of his earthly career,
and gives Darshan,
the joy of seeing Him in person. One evening He
"left" to give this joy to a person whose name
He announced immediately after He "came back" to
His Body. When He was asked, "So this event
happened at Maddanur?" He contradicted and said.
"No, no, the death was on the road. The person
was being taken to another place. Death was
caused by heart failure." Later the bereaved
husband revealed in a letter that because of
lack of oxygen apparatus at the local hospital,
his sick wife had to be taken in a taxi to a
town twenty miles away. She passed away in the
taxi, with the words, "Sai, Sai" on her
lips.
At Horsley
Hills, while proceeding to the dining hall one
night, Baba seemed on the verge of a "journey"
but murmured to Himself, "There is still a
little time" and walked to His table. During the
dinner, He "left" to give Darshan
to a dying man!
Sometime ago,
while on one of these journeys of mercy, He
repeated, "Water, water" a number of times, and
was brought a glass of water which was held to
His Lips. He did not notice it at all. When told
that He had asked for it, He smiled and said,
"If I ask for water to be given a dying man
somewhere, you bring water here! Is it not so?"
Strange are the ways of God! That is why perhaps
Baba says often, "Do not waste your time and
energy trying to find explanations for My deeds.
Understand yourself and your own nature first.
That will give the clue even to
Me".
Baba need not
"transcend" His physical Body in order to appear
elsewhere or apply relief. Sometimes He just
pauses while sitting, then "comes to" in a few
seconds. Meanwhile, the journey and the
communication of Grace are
accomplished!
One day, while
in the midst of a story about one of the
Ministers of Manu Chakravarti, Baba "left" His
Body for about ten seconds, and upon "coming
back" resumed the story! Only a few of the more
attentive listeners noticed anything out of the
ordinary. Moments later a man entered Baba's
room, and He asked him, "Did you get the
telegram?" It seems he did. "What does it say?
Prasad has high fever, does he not?" asked Baba.
The man had not opened it yet. The envelope
containing the message was passed to Baba. He
tore it open. It stated that Prasad had fever
and that his temperature was 104 degrees. Baba
said, "Don't worry at all; I have been there
just now; the boy is out of danger". Prasad,
they were told, was at the house of the man who
had come into Baba's room; Prasad was 250 miles
away!
Baba saves,
guards, directs, dictates, even while talking,
singing, or moving about. Once in His room at
Prasanthi
Nilayam,
while a group of devotees was engaged in cutting
cloth into three-yard lengths for distribution
to the poor, Baba suddenly asked,
"Parthasarathi! You think I am here now with
you, with a pair of scissors, cutting this
cloth, do you not? Do you know, I have been to
Madras just now, to see your Kusa? The little
fellow developed diphtheria and your brother has
taken him to the hospital. Don't worry, my dear
fellow, I have given him my Vision and curative
Ash; he will be all right soon". All were
astonished at the announcement. Parthasarathi
fell at Baba's Feet. He was overwhelmed by this
evidence of Baba's Power and
Grace.
With His
characteristic sense of humor, Baba speaks of
these incidents as "My visiting card!" He is
announcing that He is the Lord Himself, the same
Lord who comes instantaneously to the rescue of
many devotees, the same Lord who presents
Himself before those who call out for Him. In
His Grace He presents His "visiting card" even
to fleeting visitors who come to Puttaparthi
because of curiosity.
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