The
Wave of the Hand
Even as a
child, Baba had the miraculous power of getting
things from "nowhere". He surprised His
playmates by taking peppermints and sweets from
empty bags. In spite of His requests to keep
this a secret, the news spread among the elders,
and when they inquired how He got them, Baba
remained silent. Later, when pressed by His
friends, He said that a certain angel obeyed His
slightest wish. This was, of course, to ward off
further queries, because the villagers were
satisfied by such an answer. They began to
admire Him as a specially blessed boy, to be
watched with care and treated with respect. Even
at school Baba helped many classmates with a
piece of rubber or pencil which He materialized
by a Wave of the Hand. When any of them
complained of an illness or pain, Baba "got"
green leaves "from the Himalayas", as He told
the boys, and made them chew them and swallow
the juice. Some elders called it magic and even
characterized it as black magic, warning the
children that they should not have anything to
do with Satyanarayana.
It was only
after the Announcement that Baba regularly
"took" Vibhuti
and began giving it for a variety of purposes to
all who came to Him. Baba has often spoken of
the significance of this
Vibhuti.
Since it is materialized out of nothing and
since the Ash is specifically associated with
Siva, it is reverentially known by devotees as
Kailasa Vibhuti,
the sacred Ash of Siva who resides on Mount
Kailasa. It is named
Vibhuti
since it endows one with prosperity;
Bhasma
- "ashes" because it burns away all sins;
Bhasitam
- "brightened" because it increases one's
spiritual splendor;
Ksharam
- "destruction" since it removes danger; and
Raksha
- "protector" for it is an armor against the
machinations of evil spirits. This is how the
Vibhuti
is praised
in the Brihad
Jabala
Upanishad,
one of the ancient spiritual texts. Baba says
Vibhuti
is also a constant reminder of the evanescence
of the body which, ultimately, is reduced in
cremation to a potful of ash!
[Watch
Baba distributing
Vibhuti]
Thousands of
devotees and visitors have witnessed the miracle
of the Vibhuti.
It is indeed an inexplicable, ultra-scientific
wonder! It is produced so casually, informally,
gracefully, quietly, and so naturally that one
might well miss the significance of the
blessing. The right palm of Baba's Hand is held
down on a slight angle - a wave or two, scarcely
noticeable ; the fingers close to arrest the
fall of the Vibhuti
which has already materialized. The wonder
product is handed to the recipient, as a token
of Baba's blessings, and applied to the
forehead. At an average rate of a
minimum
of one pound per day, the quantity of
Vibhuti
thus produced "out of the elements" by His Will
must now have reached the astounding figure of
over five tons !
Every idea has
an inherent tendency to manifold itself in
physical form. It all depends on the will,
whether it is human or divine. Baba wills; it is
done!
The
Vibhuti
may also
be placed on the tongue, mixed with water and
drunk as a specific against illness. It may be
carried as a talisman. A devotee from South
America had written that every night she went to
bed with a packet of Vibhuti in her palm.
Invariably she dreamed that her palms were
resting at the feet of
Lord
Krishna.
It is difficult to enumerate all the curative
and alleviatory purposes to which recipients put
the Vibhuti
which
Baba produces by a Wave of the Hand.
The
Vibhuti
He gives is also of innumerable kinds, suited to
the purposes for which created. Sometimes it is
in the shape of a hard cube, or often powder,
fine, grainy or flaky. It may be fragrant or
pungent, salty, sweet or tasteless, white or
blackish, or of any of the intermediate shades.
Sometimes, when He waves His Hand, it
materializes - container and all! When a person
left for England for higher studies, Baba gave
him Vibhuti
in a silver container with the additional
blessing, "This will never become exhausted!"
His Will, thousands of miles away, can replenish
the Ash in a container by a pre-dated expression
of His desire. When the
Vibhuti
is to be taken as a medicine for a long period,
as during pregnancy, Baba asks the person to
bring a receptacle, and by a light tap on
the surface, the vessel becomes full of
Vibhuti.
When he gathers his devotees on the sands, as at
Chitravathi or the river bed of Kaivalya at
Venkatagiri, or on the beach at Kovalam in
Kerala, or Kanyakumari in Tamil Nad, or on the
river Godavari, He digs into the sand playfully
with His Fingers. A huge cube of
Vibhuti
hiding
there, He rescues, powders and distributes to
all present. He may take the sand itself in both
His Hands and pour it onto a plate. That which
falls on the plate is not sand, but fine
fragrant Vibhuti.
Baba's entire
physical frame seems to be suffused with
Vibhuti.
When He is taken in a procession on
Vijayadasami,
the tenth day of the light-half of the month
Asvina,
and other festival days, thousands have clearly
seen fine Vibhuti
falling from His brow onto His eyelids and
cheeks. When He leaves the body and goes to save
His devotees. Vibhuti
often emanates from His face, mouth, thumbs,
toes or forehead. He merely raises His thumb and
makes a mark on one's forehead, and the
Vibhuti
is there for all to see.
There have
been instances in which devotees have dreamed
that Baba came to them and applied
Vibhuti
on their brows, and found on awakening that the
Ash was actually there! Some dreamed that Baba
put Vibhuti
on their tongues, and when they awakened, they
found Vibhuti
in their mouths! Baba signifies His Presence at
the residence of His devotees by scattering the
tell-tale Vibhuti
on the floor of the shrine where His picture is
kept. When Baba presents a Vision of Himself to
save someone from an impending calamity, He
invariably uses Vibhuti
to effect
a cure.
Once during a
Dasara
Festival a certain visitor from Telengana
received an urgent telegram from home, informing
him that his father-in-law had had a stroke and
that his condition had created anxiety. Baba
asked him not to worry. A similar wire came the
next day, and Baba agreed to his going alone,
leaving his wife to watch the festivities even
though she was the daughter of the stricken man
and the most needed at his bedside. When the
son-in-law left, He gave him
Vibhuti
to apply to the father-in-law's forehead. He had
materialized it by a Wave of the Hand. About
eight o'clock the next evening, Baba was
discussing the timings of the trains by which
the son-in-law was proceeding to the sick-bed.
Quite suddenly He sat up and said, "You have all
gone wrong. The train won't take him fast
enough. He will not reach the place before 9:00
p.m. Oh! "What a pity!" Then with a wink of the
eye, He "left" the body and was "gone." He was
"away" for about half an hour. When He
"returned," He was so happy that He had applied
the Vibhuti
Himself to
the sick man in Telangana. "Did you use the same
Vibhuti
that the son-in-law was carrying with him?" He
was asked. "Yes, you will know that when he
returns," He said. "Ask him, and he will say
that the packet was empty when he went to the
sick man." And so it was. On return, he related
the story of his discomfiture; how he was blamed
for being careless; how they rubbed their
fingers over the folded paper in order to
collect at least the tracings of the holy
Vibhuti;
and how they failed in that desperate
endeavor!
Pictures:
Consecration with Sacred Ash by Sai Baba of the
silver figure of Sai Baba of Shirdi.
Mr. N. Kasturi, the author, holds wooden pot
"Holding beholding Vibhuti
Wonder"
Baba sometimes
performs Consecration or ceremonial bath for the
silver figure of His "previous body" which is
kept at the temple. A small wooden pot,
artistically carved and painted, is filled with
Vibhuti
for this purpose. Holding it overturned above
the image, Baba puts His Hand into the vessel in
order to ensure an even flow of Sacred Ash. By
contact with His Hand, the flow of
Vibhuti
continues long after the quantity originally
produced is exhausted. Twirl after twirl brings
down fresh showers of
Vibhuti
from the receptacle until the image is emerged
in the fragrant powder, and the Ash mounts to
unexpected heights. Finally Baba puts the wooden
pot away, out of sheer physical exhaustion, so
to say!
Regarding the
Sacred Ash, another type of incident often
occurs, although it is not exactly an
illustration of the Wave of the Hand. Whenever a
sincere devotee passes away, Baba gives His
Darshan
at the last moment and enables the person to
enjoy eternal peace. On such occasions, symbolic
of death, destruction, and the end of the
temporary and the evanescent, there issues
Vibhuti
from the mouth of the person Baba blesses. On
Saturday, November 15, 1958, at 5:20 in the
afternoon, Baba was reading from a letter to
those around Him. Suddenly, with a shout
meaning, "Yes," He fell to the floor and was
practically lifeless. Ten minutes later He moved
a little and coughed three times, but they were
not coughs; they were three puffs which emanated
from His Mouth, bringing out quantities of
Vibhuti
to a distance of more than a foot and a half!
Five minutes later, Baba got up, and without any
sign of exhaustion or confusion, resumed the
previous conversation. He was asked to reveal
where He had been, and replied, "I have been to
the city of Dehra Dun. The mother of Krishna,
the doctor, who comes here frequently, passed
away at 5:30 p.m. Krishna was there at the
bedside. She had placed her fingers on her pulse
and announced to all, 'This is my last breath.'
They are singing songs of God in that room. She
had a peaceful death. I gave her Darshan at her
last moment."
On Monday,
when the postman came to Prasanthi Nilayam, he
had with him a letter from Krishna to Baba.
Krishna wrote, "My mother drew her last breath
on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. We were chanting during
her last hours, which was her wish. She was
remembering you constantly!" What a miracle
this! Baba anticipated the moment of death,
answered the prayers of a panting soul,
described at the Nilayam
1500 miles away the happenings in the Dehra
Dun room within minutes; even the emanation of
Vibhuti,
symbolic of the destruction of the evanescent
material of the physical body when the soul is
freed from bondage!
The
Vibhuti is but the continuation in this
incarnation of the Udi
or Ash
which Sai Baba of Shirdi gave as His boon to
those who went to Him. Sai Baba of Shirdi used
to take the ash from the hearth fed perpetually
with fuel, so that He could have live cinders
for the Udi,
says Sathya Sai Baba.
Baba
materializes whatever He wills by a Wave of His
Hand. He says that what He produces is already
in "Sai Stores," and that His "workmen" are so
quick, they manufacture in the fraction of a
moment even the most complicated artistry He
thinks of and deliver it into His Hand!
Once Baba
materialized a gold medal to be given to an
accomplished violinist whose recital was just
concluding. Baba showed the medal to those
around Him. Even as they were admiring its size,
beauty and shine, He said, "Oh, the name has to
be inscribed," and He closed His Palm. Opening
it immediately, He showed the medal to all. They
were amazed at the miracle. The inscription,
"Presented by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to
Vidwan T. Chowdian," was deeply engraved thereon
in English, complete with the day and the date.
Showing the medal to us, Baba said, "See how
quick are my workmen!"
Baba blesses
artists who perform at the
Nilayam
during festivals and other occasions with gifts
such as rings, necklaces, medals, and brooches.
With the Wave of His Hand, there is a special
appropriateness in the gifts. Nadaswaram Vidwan,
a piper, was given a ring with an inset picture
of Siva. It was found that his ancestors
for many generations had been temple musicians,
that his family had been given certain lands in
perpetuity in return for their services, and
that the form of the Lord worshiped in that
temple was Siva.
The Siva on the ring was a replica of the
icon in his Village!
"I shall give
you a Ganesa
figurine; take it home and worship it," He told
a visitor. It was an image of Ganesa, the
God who removes obstacles, in the standing
posture. "You have this form of
Ganesa
in your
shrine room, is it not?" Baba asked as He handed
it to him. The man answered, "Yes, it
is".
It is not
proper for the recipients to weigh or evaluate
the gifts. for they are not of the earth at all.
Once a musician who received a necklace studded
with precious stones started on his way home to
discuss its value and decide its worth. It was
lost mysteriously; it simply was not around his
neck! Chastened by the experience, he returned
immediately to Prasanthi Nilayam. Chiding him
gently, Baba "took" before his eyes the
self-same necklace and presented it again to
him.
Things that
Baba gives can never be lost. A devotee, while
returning to Hyderabad from Puttaparthi,
discovered her luggage had been stolen at night,
somewhere near Mahbubnagar. She reported this to
the railway police. Two days later she was
called upon to identify her belongings, for the
thief had been apprehended and the luggage
recovered. Imagine her surprise when she found
every article intact except the rosary Baba had
materialized and given her! She sent a message
to Baba by wire. Baba replied that the rosary
had come to His possession, because it could not
be stolen! Who can describe her joy at getting
the same rosary a second time from Baba's
Hands!
A devotee, C.
N. Padma, writes, "It was twelve years ago. One
evening Baba took all those who were at the old
temple to the sands of the river. After the
chanting He called me, and while consoling me
about my personal problems, He materialized a
rosary and handed it to me. He had already given
me one, and I kept it at my home in a silver
box. When He gave me another, I was alarmed that
my situation may have worsened, since He felt I
needed additional protection. So I asked Him,
'Why, Baba, why a second rosary for me?' He
said, 'This is the one I gave you last! You left
it at home in that silver box; it was 'stolen'
yesterday. Here, keep this safe!' It was true.
When I went home, I found the house broken into
and the Silver box gone."
There was the
incident of Srimati Sakamma's diamond ring. Some
years ago she had hurried to Puttaparthi for the
Dasara
Festival. In the confusion of packing, she
misplaced a seven-stone diamond ring.
Discovering its absence too late for any search
to be made, she informed Baba about it. Baba
simply made fun of the whole affair, cracked a
joke or two, and heartily laughed at her loss.
Months later Baba was visiting her
coffee-seed-curing factory. Sitting in the
kitchen of a small house behind it, and while
sipping coffee, He said, "Oh, Sakamma, you
want that diamond ring, don't you? Well, here it
is!" With those words, He patted the wall, and
lo, the ring was there in that Hand! That Hand
is certainly Divine!
Sometimes that
Hand is dipped in water, and the water becomes
gasoline on which a car can be driven for miles.
Once while motoring to Bangalore, the gasoline
tank became empty near Chicballapur. Baba sent
one of the men in the party to a water tank by
the side of the road. He returned with mere H2O!
Baba dipped His Finger into the can and stirred
it a bit. The contents were emptied into the gas
tank. The car was driven merrily along mile
after mile, the engine not recognizing any
difference at all. On another occasion when the
diesel oil supply ran short for the dynamo which
produced electric power for illumination during
festivals, and when it was too late to send
anyone for diesel oil twenty miles away, He
dipped His Hand in water, and diesel oil was
there!
Another
miracle of the same nature was performed at
Horsley Hills where a few devotees spent several
wondrous days in His august company. Every
morning Baba went into the jungle to a
flat-topped boulder upon which He sat and
discoursed. One day, as He walked there, He
picked up a piece of rock of a peculiar
geological formation; it looked more like a
closely packed bundle of dry macaroni. He had
the stone in front of Him while discoursing.
When He concluded, He said, "I shall sweeten
your tongues a bit." He took the stone in His
Hand. Amazingly, it had become a lump of
sugar-candy, a closely packed bundle of dry
macaroni-like sugar-candy. It was as if every
molecule of that stone had been transformed by
His Will into a molecule of sugar. No one has
ever seen sugar crystallizing in long
thread-like bits! But this was not chemistry!
This was Divine Alchemistry!!
Srimati
Sakamma once broke her eyeglasses at Puttaparthi
and was having great difficulty. Baba
materialized a pair of the same prescription for
her.
It was
Sri
Krishna's
birthday festival, a day which is considered
specially auspicious. Baba was with devotees at
Madras who were making elaborate preparations.
The hall was decorated and invitations were sent
to nearby friends. Baba came and sat on a
special seat, temporarily erected at one end of
the hall, near the shrine during the worship.
Just before the close, He stood up, and everyone
rose with Him. He lifted both Hands above His
Head. The throng of devotees was expectantly
watching His Hands, for they had not seen Him in
that pose during a festival. It appeared rather
strange, but before they had time to wonder, He
was holding in His Hands a huge glass bowl
beautifully designed with birds spreading their
wings. Baba placed the heavy bowl near the
shrine on the platform. "Special sweets from
Brindavan, the birthplace of
Krishna,"
He announced. In that bowl were forty-three
different varieties of sweets!
One day Baba
crossed the Chitravathi River in two jeeps
filled with devotees and drove into the reserve
forest. When the jeep failed to climb the road,
Baba walked with the party for about six miles
along the upper reaches of the river. At last
they came to a beautiful area, right in the
midst of the forest. There were steep rocky
banks on three sides, a large flat slab of rock
to sit upon, and the river gurgled merrily
along. All partook of the food they
brought and drank tea prepared by some
enterprising young men. Baba "made" a big piece
of sugar-candy to sweeten their mouths. Then He
waved His Hand, and all present opened their
eyes wide to a miracle. He manifested a packet
of photographs of Himself and proceeded to give
one to each. There were exactly sixteen photos
and sixteen men! Occasionally He has manifested
larger packets for larger parties, and always
the numbers agree!
Another
incident that illustrates the divine in Baba
happened at Cape Comorin in 1958. Sitting on the
beach with a small group of devotees, Baba asked
a person who had earlier in the day purchased
and perused a book on the pilgrim center, what
the book said about the local temple. He related
the story of a diamond which once upon a time
adomed the nose-stud of the Goddess in the
temple. The diamond shone so brightly that
pirates could see it from the sea! He described
the pirates' greed and how they carried off the
diamond during a raid. Baba asked, "Do you want
to see it? It is just a matter of minutes and I
can send it back before its absence is noticed."
He patted the sand in front of Him - there
appeared a huge diamond in His Hand! It was
shown to everyone present, then just disappeared
from the Hand to which it had come! Every
miracle of His is done so unostentatiously, with
a smile of surprise lighting up His Face as the
object materializes.
A devotee had
a rupee note which he had kept because it
contained the autograph of a friend. One day,
through sheer carelessness, he mixed it up with
his other rupees and inadvertently spent it in
Bangalore. The discovery of his loss made him
morose. A week later, when Baba learned about
this, He said, "Don't worry; it has not reached
Bombay. I can see where it lies. I shall get it
for you." The Hand waved; the rupee note, the
same one, was handed over to the young man at
Puttaparthi.
Baba bas
materialized copies of the
Gita
and given them to devotees. When He made a copy
for an old nearsighted devotee, He said, "See,
it is printed specially for your sake in big
bold letters," and it was! Giving a visitor, a
professor who was a doctor of science, a copy of
the Gita
"from the sands," He said, "You do not know the
Devanagari
script, and so it is in Telugu. Take it." He
has given for daily worship emblems of
Siva and images of
Lord
Krishna,
also images of other forms of God worshipped in
Hindu homes. He also produces crucifixes and
plates with mystic markings, all iconologically
and artistically perfect, and all made by a Wave
of the Hand!
He gives
photographs of Himself - alone or with Sai Baba
of Shirdi - or of the chosen Deity of devotees.
Some of these photographs are very unique. There
was once materialized a photograph of
Sri
Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa
with four Sai Baba of Shirdi pictures on a
square in the region of his heart and Sri Sathya
Sai Baba in the center of that form! Once Baba
gave a devotee a pair of silver sandals which
materialized miraculously on His
Feet.
Baba takes
delight in recommending to inquirers that they
chant the Name and meditate on the Form of the
Lord which most appeals to them. He has come not
to supplant or destroy but to implement and
fulfill.
One evening on
the river sands a visitor was wearing a badge
bearing a representation of a saintly couple,
Kusuma
and Haranath.
Baba gave a short account of their lives and
said they spread the message of holy chanting.
Even as He was speaking, He "took" from the
sands a lovely silver icon,
Kusuma
and Haranath,
standing on a coiled serpent under its spread
hood! There was a dot of actual saffron on the
brow of Kusuma.
On another occasion He gave a devotee who
worshiped Him as Siva,
a large colored shell with the word
Siva-sayi
carved on it! Baba also expresses His love and
wisdom by encouraging everyone to march bravely
along the path he has chosen for
himself.
Sandalwood
images, silver icons, silver sandals, ivory
figures, idols in the sacred alloy of five
metals, emblems of Siva
in blood-red stone, green or blue topaz or
sapphire have all been created and given. He has
also given gem-set rings and lockets of
different varieties as the need or mood of the
moment dictates. Very often when he sees a
devotee wearing a gem-set ring, he laughs at him
for bearing the burden of a stone without asking
for wages! Taking such a ring in His Hand, He
strokes it with His Palm. The gem vanishes, and
left in its place is a portrait of Sai Baba of
Shirdi, Sri Sathya Sai Baba, or both. Or it may
be Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, or any of the other
Forms of God.
At Venkatagiri
there is a sheet of postage stamps which
underwent this miraculous transformation many
years ago. Seeing the sheet with the earthly
emperor, Baba said in fun, "Why do you have a
set of such things?" Even as He was making the
remark, His Hand gently passed over the paper,
and as He lifted it, every figure miraculously
changed; the illustration and the price
vanished; the picture of Baba was imprinted on
every stamp, and the inscription was "Sri Sathya
Sai." If He gets the idea of initiating an
aspirant with a sacred
mantra,
He just rolls a piece of paper, handy at the
moment, into a sharp pointed needle-like
instrument. In a second it is transformed into
silver or ivory, with the added decoration of
the image of the Deity invoked by the
mantra.
He
proceeds to write on the tongue of the aspirant
the mystic syllables and then presents the
instrument to the person to be kept as a
reminder of the Grace of the
Guru!
His Hands have
another miraculous power, to increase and
multiply whatever He wants by mere contact. For
instance, Baba multiplies food when the quantity
is insufficient for the people present. He
wills; He contacts; the vessel becomes full. One
such scene was on Vijayadasami Day in 1950,
which is the last day of
Dasara.
From the town of Anathapur several devotees had
brought with them two baskets of freshly plucked
Tulsi leaves. They were sitting around the
baskets, making long thick garlands with the
leaves. Baba passed that way when their work was
almost finished and the containers almost empty.
He asked the group, half in fun and half in
earnest, "Exhausted? Are you game for another
two baskets of Tulsi?" They jumped at the idea.
He bent down and placed His Hands within each
basket. When He stood erect, the baskets were
miraculously filled to overflowing with fresh
green Tulsi leaves!
It becomes
clear why Baba Himself serves sweets and other
items on occasions when thousands visit and are
fed at Prasanthi
Nilayam.
He gives food plentifully, and there is always
an abundance. Plenty is the hallmark of
that Hand.
While on
processions, Baba, seated on the flower-bedecked
palanquin, takes in His Hand the petals of
flowers from the garlands offered Him and throws
them over the heads of the devotees. What falls
on the ground below? Peppermints, one time;
coins, another time; portraits of Sai Baba of
Shirdi or Sathya Sai Baba, or of both,
another time. One cannot predict what or
when! Such is the mystery of that Hand. A number
of devotees still possess the articles they
collected on November twenty-third, 1950, during
the procession from the Old Temple to Prasanthi
Nilayam, inaugurated that day. These articles
remain unsullied and bright for
generations, since they are as substantial as
other material objects.
The monk
Amritananda related that he was suffering from
chronic asthma, an illness which Baba diagnosed
was caused and aggravated by incorrect practice
of Hatha
Yoga.
During the months he remained at Puttaparthi,
the drugs Baba gave him kept away the spasms and
the Swami was practically freed from the dread
affliction. Referring to these drugs, the Swami
said, "The first two days He gave me Ash which
He 'took' by a Wave of the Hand. 0n the third
day there came into His Hand a golden-colored
heavy powder which He put into my mouth. Then He
turned to the four quarters, and with each Wave
of the Hand, He 'manifested' quantities of a
copper-colored powder which He applied to my
back and chest. Afterwards He 'took' Ash and
poured it into my hand, asking me to swallow a
little when the spasm occurred. Another day He
'took' tender, soft, hairy roots of a plant and
asked me to chew and swallow
them.
On another day He gave me a midget version of
banana which I had never seen before in India,
Ceylon, Malaya, or in the Himalayas. He gave me
a date fruit without seed! He 'took' a handful
of leaves which He squeezed. He collected the
juice in a vessel He materialized, then
commanded me to drink it.
"Another time
He waved His Hand, and I saw a bundle of
greenish leaves. He passed them to me with a
twinkle in His eyes and asked me to eat all of
them. I was shocked to find that the underneath
of the leaves had small sharp thorns. When I
looked at Him imploringly, thinking, 'do you
really want me to eat all this, thorns
included?' He melted a little and stretched out
His Hand, saying, 'Give them back to me.' I
placed the leaves in His Hand; He gave them
again to me. There was not a single thorn! Not
even a vestage or indication that the plant was
of such species. Gleefully, I ate it all. A few
days later He called me into His room, and when
He waved His Hand, a sizeable quantity of green
leaves again appeared. 'A very good specific,'
He said, 'coming straight from the Himalayas.'
Keeping half of them, He placed the other half
in my hand, saying, 'Come on! Chew and swallow.'
They were terribly bitter, and I had to draw on
all my ascetic strength to perform the task
allotted me. Oh, how I prayed in my heart that
He would stop with that and not force me to eat
the horrible half portion He had kept in
reserve! But He showed no kindness and gave me
the balance of the leaves, commanding, 'Finish
this also.' Reinforcing myself with all my
courage, I placed in my mouth the second
installment. Could one believe - by longer
contact with His Divine Hand the second half had
become inexpressibly sweet, sweeter than sugar
cane or honey! He laughed at my joy and relief,
and I came to know that the ways of the Lord are
truly inscrutable." This genuine report is from
an aged renunciate, who was long with
Ramana
Maharshi
and who was learned in
Veda
and Vedanta.
Whenever Baba
elects to give patients a medicine or curative
drug, He waves His Hand and procures pills,
powders, bottles of mixtures, ointments, syrups,
oils, or fruits. Sometimes out of sheer fun, He
might throw a fruit toward one, and when the
happy recipient actually catches the gift,
another species of fruit might arrive in his
hand! He might make a gesture of throwing
without anything seemingly in His Hand. The
person to whom the throw is directed must be
wary, for a fruit is on its way! When someone
was seized with a sneezing bout, He called him
to His side and "took" some sweets which He gave
him to swallow. When another was suffering from
fever for quite a long time, Baba, nearing the
bedside, waved His Hand and "took" something
which He deliberately placed in the hand of the
patient who sat up reverentially to receive it.
It was a big bumble bee which flew away, along
with the fever!
When a devotee
asked for permission to leave Puttaparthi early
so that he might attend a convocation to
receive a diploma, Baba said, "I shall
give it to you now here!" and waved His Hand. A
miniature diploma, exactly reproducing all the
details of the actual one awaiting him at
Madras, was in His Hand!
A Mysore
devotee had arranged for family worship of Baba
at Puttaparthi on the day of the festival of
Gowri
in
1961. He searched the village and also
Bukkapatnam for all the auspicious articles the
worship required. He was able to secure
everything except black beads. Baba came for the
worship, and the overjoyed couple was immersed
in the worship of His Feet. They did not notice
a large black ant running over the heap of
flowers around His Feet. He saw it, lifted
it up gently, and held it between His Fingers.
"What, are you offering worship with ants
instead of flowers?" He asked in fun. He handed
the ant to the mistress of the family; she held
out her palm to receive it, but what she
received was not a black ant. Instead, through
His Grace, from that Hand were given two black
beads!
Another
astounding example of the divinity of that Hand
occurred one evening when Baba casually
approached a half-open window in His room. He
noticed an electric table lamp on the sill. No
one was aware of His intentions. Those present
saw Baba wave His Hand. When they rushed near to
see what was emanating, He showed them His Palm
in which rested a color film portrait of
Himself! Evidently, He willed for something
transparent to be a part of the lamp shade. He
held it up to the light. Some remarked that the
background of the picture could have been a
little more prominent; some said that the hair
was a little awry; one remarked that the face
was not freshly shaven! He silenced all such
comments by declaring, "My dear fellows, you
don't see, it is my photo, just as I am now,
with this dress, this background, this half-open
window, this door, this door curtain, this
switch." As they watched, the wonder grew! It
was as if in the millionth of a second, someone
had come with a camera, focused it, and snapped
a color film photograph, developed, washed and
dried it, and delivered it into the Hands of
Baba!
One
evening at Prasanthi
Nilayam,
while talking about the kinship between man and
other animals, and about the various theories of
the origin of man, Baba said that the human
animal is more related to tree dwelling apes
than to the ground dwelling varieties. He spoke
of a tailless, hairless, tree dwelling Simian.
When an interested listener, a professor of
anthropology, could not quite grasp the type,
Baba waved His Hand, and there was a small model
of the Simian to which He had referred. The
miniature, a work of art and scientific
accuracy, is with Him now.
At
Thippegondanahalli, the lake near Bangalore,
some devotees had enjoyed a quiet morning with
Baba. After a long discussion on the doctrine of
rebirth and the nature of the soul, Baba
materialized a small silver screw-top vessel
full of amrita and distributed it to the group.
He then gave the container to a man and his wife
who were shortly leaving for England. When He
noticed the disappointment of the couple at
receiving only an empty vessel, He took it from
them, and without even the Wave of the Hand,
gave it back. It was full of the precious
nectar!
Afterwards the
party went to the reservoir which supplies water
to Bangalore. While the engineer was describing
the history of the project and pointing out the
two rivers which joined at the spot and the
pinnacle of the temple which had been sunk in
the lake created by the dam, Baba stood
listening at the water's edge. Suddenly He
dipped His Hand in the water and then held up
His Palm containing some of it. To everyone's
surprise, Baba's Palm held a lingam, shining in
the sun, with sandal paste and bilva leaf on it,
as if He had taken it from a shrine where
worship was being offered it! He turned to a
member of the group: "Take this and worship it
every day. You worship
Siva,
do you not?" Indeed the man was a member of the
sect which worshiped the form of Siva as
represented in the temple at the confluence of
the rivers.
When Baba
blesses His devotees and agrees to their
arranging the marriage of their children at
Prasanthi
Nilayam
in His immediate presence, He sometimes creates
a golden disc and gives it to the
bridegroom to be auspiciously tied around the
neck of the fortunate bride. A Wave of the Hand,
and the disc strung on a saffron-colored string
is there in a moment. Sometimes when the
ear-piercing ceremony is performed, Baba even
materializes a sharp pointed bent gold wire with
which the ear lobe is pierced and which serves
as an earring for the child. It is impossible to
enumerate all the capabilities of the Wave of
that Hand!
When Baba
decides to resort to surgery to cure an illness
or defect, He waves His Hand, and the
instruments needed are there in His
Palm.
Another
incident shows how the Wave of the Hand can
transmit this miraculous Divine Power - to
another person's hand. It happened some years
ago when Baba was in His teens. With a large
number of devotees He had gone across the river
to a garden near Saheb Tank. Food was prepared
and eaten. The party was returning to the
village as darkness was fast falling on the
river banks. Suddenly, while they were passing a
bush, Baba ahead of the others, something
streaked across the sands and coiled itself
around Baba's right foot! "A snake, a snake!"
arose the cry. A cobra bit Baba's right toe,
uncoiled itself in an instant, and fled like an
arrow along the sands. Baba said, "Let it go,"
but those who were angry at the cobra pursued
it, desiring to kill it. Baba shouted, "Go," in
a commanding tone, and the snake sped into the
darkness and was seen no more. Meanwhile the
effects of the bite were becoming apparent. Baba
appeared faint and fell to the ground. Some men
ran to the village to inform Pedda Venkapa Raju.
Another, who knew the address of a magician
residing a mile away, ran to get his help. Baba
made some gestures to one of the two devotees
trying to render first aid, to wave his hand.
The devotee did so, and felt a thrust inside his
palm. There emerged a talisman. Baba signaled to
him to apply it, together with the froth from
His Lips, to the wound. He did as ordered.
Within a matter of seconds a "well" Baba got up,
to the intense relief of every one, and began to
talk as though nothing had happened to break the
bliss of that happy day.
Just then, the
parents and others came running with a huge
armory of drugs, magic rites, roots, pieces of
gramophone records, bottles of specifics sold in
village fairs, and last but not least, the
celebrated magician who lived a mile away. Baba
jokingly greeted them all.
Baba later
explained He could have "taken" the talisman,
but since He never uses for His own benefit
anything He materializes out of His own Hand, He
had to convey His Grace to another
hand.
It has been
said about Sai Baba of Shirdi, "While the
devotees took leave, Baba gave Ash as
Prasad,
besmeared some of it on the foreheads of the
devotees, and placed His boon-conferring Hand on
their heads." Sri Sathya Sai Baba also does
this. His Hands confer the boons the devotees
deserve, and have the healing touch to wipe out
disease, ward off evil, and rewrite
destiny!
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