Being a career policeman, I was posted all over the state of Andhra Pradesh. My first recollection of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba was when I was posted in the town of Kadiri, which is hardly 30 kms from Puttaparthi. This was in the year 1973. During Shiva Ratri and then during Swami’s Birthday celebrations, hordes of people from Tirupathi and adjoining areas would get down at the Kadiri railway station and proceed to Puttaparthi. Seeing the multitude of population visiting Puttaparthi, I would always feel that maybe I should also visit Swami once. But it remained a desire as such. In fact, when during Shiva Ratri of 1974 I had booked my ticket to visit Puttaparthi, on the day I was to start, I got high fever and could not even move out of my bed. After Shiva Ratri, the fever abated. It was a surprise for me, but much later I realized that it was all Swami’s Leela and that then my time to see Swami had not come.

From Kadiri I was transferred to several towns, one being Guntur. It was in Guntur that I started visiting the Swami’s Temple there. I participated in Bhajans and service activities of the Sai Organisation whenever I could. Much later I was transferred to Vijaywada, the year was 1992.

It was during my stint in Vijaywada that I one day decided that I had to have Swami’s Darshan. There was no occasion or festival at that point of time. I just felt that I had to visit Puttaparthi. I booked myself in the train and reached Puttaparthi.

By Swami’s Grace I got the first line in the Darshan. I saw Swami walking up to me, but then He passed by me and created Vibhuti and gave it to a boy sitting next to me. The boy was kind enough to give me a little of his Vibhuti. That was my first interaction with Swami.

From then onwards I started visiting Puttaparthi regularly. One little incident I remember, which happened when we visited Swami in Whitefield, Bangalore. That time my little granddaughter was with me and was asking where we all were going. I told her that we are going to see Swami. For which she asked “What will happen if we see Swami,” I could not explain to the little girl the importance of Swami’s Darshan. But she persisted. After every few minutes she would ask, “Thatha (Grandfather) what would happen if we have Swami’s Darshan? Eventually I lost patience and told her. “Swami is going to come to you and give you toffees.” That calmed her down.

We went to Sai Ramesh Hall and Swami came gave Darshan to all and then went on His way. I was worried what to tell my granddaughter afterwards. As expected immediately after Darshan she was on to me. “Thatha, you said Swami will give me toffees, He did not. Thatha, you told me Swami will give me toffees, He did not.” As I had picked her up in my arms, her constant nagging next to my ear was irritating me to no end. I was trying to figure out what to say, when from nowhere a devotee approached us, patted her cheek, and gave her a fistful of toffees and went away. I was beside myself with surprise and on the other hand my granddaughter was perfectly placated.

It had become a routine with me to visit Puttaparthi at every available opportunity. If not any other time of the year I would definitely be in Puttaparthi on Shiva Ratri day. I would also take a few days off from my work and come for Seva to Prasanthi Nilayam. On some occasions I performed Seva in the Ashram while on few occasions I got an opportunity to perform Seva at the SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram.

By late 1990s I was settled in Vijayawada, and it was Swami’s Leela that my house happened to be right next to the main Temple of Swami in the city. My children had all grown up, were married and my youngest son and my daughter-in-law had their jobs in Vijayawada and were therefore staying with us.

One day in the morning, my daughter-in-law suddenly collapsed. We rushed her to the nearby hospital. Looking at the urgency of the situation, they admitted her and performed some tests.  

The next day the senior doctor came to us and told us the news that nobody was prepared for. He said that she had cancer, and it was in the last stage and that she had just a month or two to live! We were shocked! My son and daughter-in-law had two little kids and her loss would have been catastrophic for the family. Gathering my wits, I told the doctors that we would take her back to our home. The doctors agreed, but also asked me to confirm the diagnosis from a higher centre in Hyderabad. We sent all the samples to Hyderabad and the Hyderabad hospital confirmed the findings of the doctors in Vijayawada. We had only one thing left to do - pray to Swami for His Grace. Day and night I would pray to Swami to heal her.

In the Sai Temple in Vijayawada, they had installed a Shiva Lingam that had been created by Swami and given to the Sai Temple. In the mornings, Abhishekam would be done to the Lingam. Everyday morning, I would visit the temple and get the Abhishekam water and give it to my daughter-in-law to drink. After one month when we again visited the same hospital for a check-up, after the tests results arrived, the doctors looked puzzled. They finally said, “… we don’t know how, but there is no trace of cancer in her!”. Swami had cured her of cancer. 

Sometime later, I retired and with the earnings of my career was trying to build a small house in our native place. But for one reason or the other, the work was getting stuck, and I could do little about it. During a visit to Puttaparthi, Swami was giving a discourse and my monkey mind was lost in the thoughts about the construction of the house. I felt a sudden jolt and focused back to listening to Swami’s discourse. At that time Swami in a sentence said, “Puttaparthi is your home.” I felt Swami was trying to tell me something about the construction of my house, but I was unable to completely understand what he was trying to convey.

After many years of settling down in Puttaparthi I now realise the complete meaning of Swami’s words. He was trying to tell me that there was no point in constructing the house elsewhere when I was going to stay in Puttaparthi only. “Puttaparthi is your home”. Suffice to say, eventually, with a lot of difficulty, we did complete the construction of the house in our native town. Within a few days of the completion, I arrived in Puttaparthi and settled down here.

It is said it is rare to get a human birth, rarer still is to have devotion to God and I say that even rarer is to be a devotee of Swami. So let us all thank Swami for bringing all into His fold.

Jai Sai Ram.

JAI SAI RAM