Sai Baba’s Grace During Mahaparayan

Anonymous Devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba from US says: Sai Ram Poojaji, I humbly submit my Mahaparayan experience at the Lotus Feet of Our Beloved Sai. My journey on how I obtained the grace to do Mahaparayan is a story for another time, and perhaps better fits with the devotee experiences website. Our family been going through some tough times, but through Baba’s grace, I not only got the opportunity to do seva via Mahaparayan by being one of the captains in my group, but also the opportunity to do seva via AASM by being a monitor for one of the 1 hour slots. I’d like to share a couple of instances where I’ve felt Baba’s grace from being a part of the Mahaparayan family.

Instance 1: Recently, I signed up for a 10 km race for a good cause (to raise money for a children’s hospital and towards child health research). However, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to run the distance due to past knee issues, let alone run it quickly. The last race I ran was over 3 years ago when I had no injuries. Also, due to recent mental stress from some life troubles, I wasn’t in good shape at all, and I only trained for a couple of weeks before the race, that too not very rigorously.

I prayed to Baba asking Him to help me, since it was for a good cause, and asked that I be able to complete the race and not be in much pain afterwards. On the day of the race, my co-workers that were running with me left me far behind, but all through the race, I felt a presence helping me along. I didn’t have to stop too much except for the occasional water break, my breathing wasn’t too laboured (whereas when training I would sometimes feel like my heart was about to fall out of my chest), and I finished the race at maybe a slightly slower pace than I had 3 years ago! And I suffered no knee pain and only minimal soreness in the following days – for some this may seem very ordinary, but for me, knowing what condition my body is in, it’s truly a miracle.

Instance 2: Several years ago (probably over 10 years ago from now), my dad had given me some Vibhuti that came from Baba’s picture at a Sathya Sai orphanage in Karnataka. This Vibhuti has a distinct floral aroma, almost like nectar, not present in usual Vibhuti from other temples – it’s hard to describe, but maybe some devotees will know what I mean by this. My dad had folded the Vibhuti into a little piece of paper, which I put in a small ziplock bag that also contained a photo of Baba. The Vibhuti lay forgotten behind the photo (this unframed photo in its ziploc cover at least I placed in my puja altar) for many years through my travels abroad for higher studies and subsequent life events.

One day, sometime after I started the Satcharitra parayan, I remembered that I had this Vibhuti packet, but obviously after having been ignored so many years, there was no Vibhuti left in there, just the faintest smear with barely any fragrance at all. I felt terrible about it, so I brought the opened paper out and placed it in front of both Shirdi and Sathya Sai Baba pictures, and asked forgiveness for having forgotten the Vibhuti and wished it could come back somehow. Not surprisingly, nothing happened, and the paper remained as empty as ever.

After a few days, something (I guess Baba Himself put this thought in my head) told me not to throw the paper away but to drop it into a small dubba of Vibhuti that my father-in-law had once given us that contains a mix of Vibhutis from several temples. The next time I opened the dubba after this, the whole box radiated a powerful floral odor like the original Vibhuti in the paper. The fragrance was strong and unmistakeable, and this was definitely not the smell of the Vibhuti that existed already in the box. Besides, there was literally a faint smear of Baba’s Vibhuti on that paper, and certainly not enough to cause such a strong fragrance.

After that, on some days I felt like may be I imagined it. But even recently when I felt stressed due to which I felt a tight pressure in my chest, I took a bunch of the Vibhuti mix and applied it to my chest in the hope it would relieve the feeling (which it did by the next day), and then when I smelled my hand the same deeply floral nectar-like fragrance was there, so it was definitely real.

I just take it as a sign that Baba’s showing me that He is present with me, even if it feels like our troubles are not close to even ending. I hope with His grace, that our delicate faith is protected and we learn to have patience with time.

Sai Ram.

Anonymous

Baba is constantly with His devotees, not even for a single second we are left alone. Thank You Baba for the Udi which keeps making us feel Your presence very strongly and acts as our Bodyguard, Saviour, Guru, Doctor and what not! Love You Deva. Jai Jai Ho Sai…!


Pooja Garg

#Experience 353