Often have I heard devotees asking why, Swami entered their lives at a certain point. It is said that the time should be ripe for that. Yes, of course, but as my story will signify, that it is also when we require the help of the lord the most, that he stands there with His outstretched hand to help us. He is like the mother, who allows her kids to play in front of her without interfering, but the moment she sees that while playing they may hurt themselves, she rushes to pick them up and take them to safety. And Swami is a love of thousand mothers.

I belong to the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. From the childhood I was a good student. I had topped in my school in the senior secondary school. I wished, like my parents, to take up medicine. I wanted to go to the best medical collage which was available. So I got admitted  on the merit in one of the best medical schools of Chennai (then Madras). This was a completely new culture for me , far removed from by home town. I got into a company of friends which had negative impact on me as a person and specifically on my studies. As Swami would often say “Tell me your company, I would tell you what you are”. In my friends’ bad company I started neglecting my studies and as a consequence, in one of the practical examinations I failed. Never in my life had I ever failed in any academic pursuit. So this was a jolt which woke me up from my slumber. I had to appear for the supplementary examination, which was in six months time.

During one of those days, I chanced upon a Tamil magazine. This magazine had weekly article about Swami’s childhood by the renowned writer Ra Ganapathy. These articles were later serialized into the book in Tamil “SWAMY”.

These articles on Swami I could not put down. Something in me got triggered. Soon I was waiting for the next issue. I read the article in the next issue and then next and the next. I was mesmerised by what I would read about Swami. While reading I would feel that I somehow knew Sai Baba very well. He was not a person somewhere far, but close to my heart. Without even once seeing him, Swami had become my best friend.

A few days later I appeared for the practical exam again. As an assurance for me I took a cutting of Swami’s photo and kept it in my pocket as my savior.  It was an experiment where we had to check the nervous system of a specimen. I did everything right, but when tested, nothing happened. I tried again. Again nothing. Then I prayed to Swami fervently and said, Swami I have done what I could, I cannot do anything more than this. By this time the examiner had arrived at my table. I showed the specimen to him. He tested, and everything worked perfectly. I said Jai Sai Ram.

I remember an extraordinary experience, I had during those days. I was sleeping in my room. It was neither a vision nor a dream. It was a like a  lived experience. While sleeping I remember being detached from my body and coming out and in front of me Swami was standing. I bowed and said “Saieeshwara”.  The tone of the utterance of the word was one of submission, of the final realization of the fact that Swami was my God. And it was also one of reaffirmation of the primordial connection I had with Swami. I was in a thoughtless state then as the thought creeped into me that I was out of my body, I went back into my body as salt would dissolve into water. I felt totally fearless and felt a strange kind of happiness in my heart after the experience.

 I completed my medicine course with specialisation in ophthalmology and joined the Government Medical College, Thirunalveli, my home town.

After getting a good job in a medical college, my parents’s next mission was, of course, to get me married. I had no real opinion about marriage, in that way I was neutral. So when my parents told me that they had already fixed a match for me, I was fine with that. The only thought, I had in my mind was that I wanted my future wife to be a Swami devotee or if not at least belonged to a family who knew about Swami.

So we visited the in-laws house and the moment we entered, I saw two large photos of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba adorning their walls. I could not have asked for anything else.  It was all His doing.

I married and started a family and was living comfortably, I had a doting daughter, a loving wife and good job and my own house, I could not have asked for anything else. We were active members of the Sai Samiti. I was shouldering the responsibility of the Service Coordinator of our Sai Samiti.

Then one day, this was in 1994, that I heard that, Swami was starting the department of Ophthalmology at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi. I also saw an ad in a newspaper regarding the same.

I immediately made up my mind to join Swami’s hospital. I could not think of a better opportunity to be a part of Swami’s mission.

There was some resistance from my parents as they thought that I was well settled with a home and good job and suddenly shifting to Puttaparthi would not be such a good idea. I tried to convince them, but in some corner the doubts remained. Initially my wife was neutral, but she was also gradually started having doubts about what the future would hold for us as a family. Tirunelveli was our hometown, while Puttaparthi was an unfamiliar terrain. Yet, I knew if I let go of this opportunity then another one may not come our way. We were getting tired of this to and fro arguments. So one night at 9.00 pm, my wife prayed to Swami fervently and challenged Him “Swami if you are God, then within a week settle this.”

Lo and behold early next morning, at 3.00 am my father called me  and informed me that he had changed his mind and that he believed that it was best for me to join Swami's hospital. Soon after I came for an interview and got the job. It was a smooth transition for my family also. My daughter got a seat in Swami’s school and everything was beautiful.

Working in Swami’s hospital was a dream comes true for me. People ask me how it feels to be a part of Swami’s mission. It is an exhilarating ride. And more and more we work in Swami’s  Hospital, more and more this feeling grows that we are just instruments and it is Swami only who  treats the patients. Two incidents I would like to narrate now.

 An Odisha Patient

One patient from Odisha underwent a complicated glaucoma filtering surgery. We wanted him to stay back in the hospital for a few more days  for his complete recovery. But in a hurry he left soon after the surgery against medical advice as some pressing issue needed his attention back home. When I requested him to stay back, he retorted, “Sai is the surgeon,”. This is the line which is written in big letters on the entrance door of our operation theatre. I told him that at least he should show his eye in the local medical college, when he went back home. I was worried that his leaving against medical advice  would cause some complication to the eye. He left after signing the paper where he took full responsibility for his actions. A year later he returned and I was surprised that his eye was in perfect condition. His son then told me the whole story. He said that after leaving the hospital his father went straight for Swami’s Darshan. He got the 3rd row and when the Darshan began, Swami went past him and then suddenly turned and looked back at his father straight in the eye for a few seconds. He then went home and went to the medical college hospital. His eye was checked there and it was found that his eye was in perfect condition. Swami’s students would always say that the veranda of the Darshan hall was their University, likewise He had turned the Darshan Hall into a hospital.

Another incident I remember was of a high ranking bank officer who was from Chennai. He had many health problems and allergies. Actually we were worried that he would end up with some complications after the cataract surgery was performed. He was taken into the OT and the surgery went off smoothly and also the recovery was perfect. It was later that he told me that while in the theatre he saw Swami standing right next to the operating table and then Swami told me to start the surgery. Surgery with Swami’s Grace went off smoothly. Next day when I met him in the ward, he told me that Swami came in his dream and told him that the surgery went on well.

This story reaffirms the fact that we are Swami’s mere instruments and He is the one performing and taking care of the patients.

To conclude I wish to quote a passage

Mukam Karoti Vachalam

Pangum Lamghayate Girim

Yat Kripa Tamaham Vande Paramanda Madhavam

JAI SAI RAM