My first introduction to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba was through my mother-in-law who was a devotee of Bhagawan. One day during Darshan, Swami spoke to her and told her to bring her daughter and also the son-in-law to Prasanthi Nilayam. I knew nothing about Swami, but at the insistence of my wife and my mother-in-law, I went to Prasanthi Nilayam. I was then working as an auditor with the Accountant General’s office in Hyderabad and was posted to Macherla for auditing the Nagarjun Sagar Dam. In my first Darshan Swami came to me directly and told me not to worry and that I will pass the Auditor’s exam for promotion. This was a difficult exam conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, for promotion of the employees. I was surprised as I had exhausted all my four attempts and there was no chance for me to appear once again, let alone passing the exam. So I simply ignored what Swami had said. But then when I went to my office a circular came to me, which said that those who had previously passed all their subjects and yet got less than 60 % marks would be given one more chance to appear for the examination. I was taken aback. Sure enough, like Swami said, I appeared for the exam and passed. Then this feeling filled me that Swami knew everything about me and that He will help and protect me always. 

Gradually I started getting involved in Sai activities and would come for Darshan as frequently as possible. In the year 1968, I was in Hyderabad. Shivam had not yet been constructed and Swami had just returned from his visit to Africa and was staying at the house of a devotee. Swami was staying on the first floor and we all had gathered on the ground floor. Swami came to the balcony and looking at us from above asked, “Who all wish to be a part of My sevadal?” Dasara festival was approaching in a few days and Swami wanted us to serve the devotees during that time. We were around 10 of us and all raised our hands. Swami then came down and pinned on each of our shirts a badge of Sevadal. That was one of the most memorable moments of my life. I still have the sevadal badge with me, carefully preserved. Then Swami addressing us said, “If you do not commit any sin in the remainder of your life, you will not have a re-birth.” 

During those days in Puttaparthi one remote area would be used by the devotees for their morning ablutions. I was in Puttaparthi along with some of my devotee brothers. One day Swami called our group and told us, “Tomorrow morning go to the place, which people are using for their morning ablutions and clean it. It will take a few days, but start tomorrow.”

This was an opportunity we as sevadal were always waiting for. The next morning we all gathered and got the required equipment like buckets, spades, brooms etc and started the work. As the work involved clearing a dirty area, we did not take bath and wore some worn-out clothes, which we then could have discarded had they become dirty. After working for around three hours, we were returning when we saw Swami in the balcony of His residence looking at us from above. The moment Swami saw us, he promptly came down and briskly walking towards us hugged each one of us. We were all flabbergasted. We were covered in dirt and sweat. Moreover, we had not taken bath and were not even wearing clean clothes, but Swami did not care, He gave us all a tight hug. He then moved back, His eyes had a question for all of us. He then said softly, “So the job I give you is a dirty job, so you did not take a bath or wear clean clothes?” When the complete import of the question hit us, we realized what a blunder we had committed. Swami had given us a job. The Lord of the creation had given us a job and with our tiny minds, we had decided that it was a dirty job so we went wearing unclean clothes and without a bath. What a blunder it was!  Then Swami added, “Whenever you do Swami’s work remember, you must take a bath, wear clean clothes and put vibhuti and then perform the seva, understood?”  We meekly nodded. Swami’s seva is not just some work, let alone dirty work, it is worship. 

In 1968 one day I developed fever, which would not go away. I visited a large Government Hospital in Hyderabad and after many tests, the doctors were still inconclusive about my illness and told me to get admitted. After my admission, they again performed many tests, but still, the doctors could not diagnose the reason for my fever. There was one doctor Dr. T Hemchandra who was a dermatologist in the hospital and who was a Sai Devotee. Swami appeared in his dream and told him to tell me that the fever was due to Swami working out my karma and there was nothing to be worried about.  I stayed in the hospital for 15 days and was discharged with 'diagnosed fever'. The fever later went away on its own.  

I had joined the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram, Puttaparthi, in early 1992, a few months after the inauguration of the hospital. During that time, hundreds of boxes had arrived at the hospital with various things inside. Some had medicines, some had equipment, some other books etc. Swami one day called Dr. A.N. Safaya, the first director of the hospital and asked him to entrust me the job of sorting out the material inside the boxes. So I went about my job in right earnest. The job involved checking the contents of each box thoroughly and marking the specific department the contents belonged to and placing it away separately so that the department concerned could pick it up. The whole job took around a month. At the end of the month Swami, during Darshan, asked Dr. Safaya if the sorting of the contents of the boxes was over. Dr.Safaya, told Swami it was done. “Inka Kaledu (not done yet in Telugu),” Swami said and went away. I was there and I thought something must have  gone wrong with the sorting process. It was a huge process, but I started again.  There was a big box with medical books on top. While checking the bottom part I felt there was something else other than books. So I removed all the books and to my surprise, I found several boxes, which had equipment meant for the Cardiology Catheterisation lab of the hospital. Promptly that equipment was dispatched to the Cathlab. Then when Dr. Safaya reported the matter to Swami the same day, Swami nodded and said, “Yes now it is done”. This incident I mentioned because we need to realize that Swami knows everything. And not just that, He is also watching over every step of ours.    

My job in the hospital involved visiting the city of Hyderabad frequently for getting custom clearances for the equipment we were buying. Those days the nearest railway station was at Dharmavaram, around 40 kilometers from the hospital. One day I went to the Dharmavaram railway station and sat in the train in the evening. I then slept off. When I woke up next morning I realized that I was still at Dharmavaram. I was told that a train had derailed on the outskirts of Dharmavaram and so the train I was in had not even started! Those days even landline telephones were rare. Dr. Safaya became a little apprehensive about my whereabouts. He enquired whether any message had come from me to my wife. She also had no information. Then Dr. Safaya called the customs office at Hyderabad. They said I had not reached the office. He even called my friend's place where I was supposed to stay in Hyderabad. Seeing no other way to get information about me, Dr. Safaya informed Swami that I was untraceable since the day before. “Nothing to worry”, Swami said, “ He is still in Dharmavaram, a train derailed so his train got stuck,” our all-knowing Swami informed Dr Safaya. 

My daughter was studying at the Anantapur Campus of Swami's College. She went for an inter-university sports meet in Kurnool preceding the Christmas holidays. After the sports event, my daughter boarded a bus to Hyderabad from Kurnool. Her teacher who got her on the bus sent us a telegram so that we could pick her up from the Bus Stand in the night at Hyderabad (again there were no cell phones or landlines). The telegram never reached us. Also I was away on official business and there was a curfew in Hyderabad due to communal tensions. My daughter was completely unaware of the whole situation. When the bus reached Jadcherla, which is about 50 km from Hyderabad, many passengers from the bus alighted. There were only a few passengers left on the bus and my daughter was the only woman passenger. Before the bus started from Jadcherla, an old woman got into the bus. The old woman explained the situation in Hyderabad to my daughter but asked her not to worry. After getting down from the bus in Hyderabad, the old woman accompanied my daughter to our house. They reached our house late in the night, the old woman slept in our house and left the next morning when the curfew was relaxed for a few hours. My wife served her upma in the night and coffee in the morning. Later when the situation became normal, we wanted to meet her again and thank her for her kind help. But to our surprise, we could not locate the address she had given us.  It was then that we realized that the old woman was none other than Swami Himself who made sure that my daughter reached home safely late at night amidst all the chaos. 

In all the years I have spent in Swami’s fold, one thing, which I have realized is that as devotees we just need to surrender our lives to Him and He takes care of us better than we can ever imagine.

Jai Sai Ram