Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
On Sunday, the 13th day of December, 1964, Baba was at Venkatagiri Town. He had reached the place a few days earlier in connection with a heavy schedule of discourses in the Chittoor and Nellore Districts, in Andhra Pradesh. But, Baba is not bound by the limitations of space and time. On that very day, about 8 a.m., "Baba surprisingly appeared in front of my house", says, U. Ram Mohan Rao, Superintendent of the Junior Technical School, Manjeri (28 miles south of Calicut on the West Coast, in the State of Kerala). As the crow flies, the distance between Manjeri and Venkatagiri will be more than 600 miles! But, distance is only a game that Baba plays to keep us, poor mortals, apart.
We shall listen to Ram Mohan Rao describing this visit. "I and my wife were indoors with our daughter. The maid told us that a Sadhu had come. We went out to see who it was and we were surprised to see Sri Sathya Sai Baba! Baba said, Hari Om, Santhih Santhih Santhih"; we prostrated ourselves at His Feet. We led Baba into the office room, but, on the way, He saw our Puja room where His photo was hung, along with several holy pictures. He said He would sit in the Puja room itself. He told us that he had come to us that day, being very pleased with the Bhakthi of Sailaja, my daughter. He asked me to send word to devotees, if any were available, for Bhajan and Pravachan." "He sent word to his neighbours and people collected immediately", says Ramesh Rao, his cousin. He sang "Nandamukunda Sayinath", "Om Bhagavan", "Jayaram Jayaram", along with the Bhakthas. After Bhajan, He talked to me in Tamil, to my wife in Canarese and to the others in the mixed dialect of Tamil-Malayalam. He Blessed us by the gift of a Sankhamala and placed His own photograph on it. He told me that my father had decided on a rite to propitiate the Snake-God (Sarpasamskaram) at Bangalore on 25th February, Thursday ('My day' He added), but he told me that he need not perform it, since He had ahead wiped off the calamity it was intended to avert and the sacrilege it was designed to atone.
He took some light refreshment. Then, told the persons around Him that all will be anxiously awaiting Him at Kalahasti. So, He took leave of us and asking us not to follow Him, went through the gate. He disappeared in a few seconds. We all felt happy at this unexpected Darsan and were struck by the 'disappearing miracle', within the twinkling of an eye.
Nor was this all. There are a few more paragraphs in the letter, which I am quoting: "24th December, Thursday, was a holiday; we felt lonely since our Sailaja was away at Mangalore. So we went out in the afternoon to visit some friends and returned home at 6.30 P.M. We were shocked to see the lights burning within the house. My wife asked me whether I had forgotten to switch off all the lights. I first examined the lock of the main door and, finding it intact, went round the house to see whether the other doors were bolted from within. They were o.k. Then, both of us came to the front door, opened the lock and walked in. We found everything intact; all the lights were on. We saw Baba sitting in our Prayer Room! We prostrated ourselves at His feet. He asked us (in Kannada) whether we were afraid! We replied that we were very lucky and that we felt very happy! Baba said that He had come because we were lonely and sad. 'Let us sing Bhajans. If Sailaja were here, she would have liked to sing', He said. He sang a few Bhajans, He took food and later, we discussed some general topics together. Then, Baba retired for the night.
Early next morning, Baba had His Bath; he had coffee with us and then, discoursed on Bhakthi and the Basic Truth of Nature. All of a sudden, we saw a rosary of Rudraksha beads in His Hand; He put it on my neck with His Blessing, with the direction that I should wear it during my Sandhya rites. After those rites, I was to place it on Baba's photograph. We had breakfast together. The Puja room was decorated specially with garlands and flowers. Bhajan began. Meanwhile, devotees came to know that Baba had come; so they too assembled for Bhajan. Baba discoursed on Bhakthi in the Tamil-Malayalam dialect. He granted every one the coveted interview.
At 12 noon, Baba himself waved the Sacred light of Mangalarathi and distributed Prasadam, to every one present. The quarter kilogram of dates that I had, sufficed for 150 persons! We had our lunch with Baba. He rested for a couple of hours and we had 'tea' at 4.30 p.m. Then He told us that several devotees were eagerly waiting Him at Kalahasti. He blessed us again, when we fell at His Feet. At 5. p.m., He went out on the road through the gate and suddenly disappeared. What a wonderful miracle! We could not believe our own eyes!
vibhuti all over me. The vibhuti came pouring out of his hand in a never-ending flow. With the vibhuti bath I suddenly felt a surge of strength all through my body. I was completely baffled by the appearance of Baba in the room, and thought I was dreaming or hallucinating. I therefore said, ‘Baba are you really here or am I dreaming?’ He said, ‘I am here all right. What would you like me to do?’ I said, ‘Just put me on that couch over there next to the bed, so that I know I am not dreaming.’ He then lifted me up as though I was a feather and placed me on the couch. The drips in my arm remained intact, nothing was disturbed. Baba then left the same way as he had come.
it was found by my housekeeper the following day, under the cushion I had been sitting on. . . .
romise to visit their room and examine Radhakrishna later. An hour went by, then two and there was no sign of Baba. It was then that Radhamma and Vijaya gave up hope. Then, suddenly, Swami appeared in the doorway of their room, calm and smiling. The two women burst into tears, like Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, weeping before their Lord who, they thought, had come too late.
