The first time I heard about Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba was when I was studying Cardiac Technology in a reputed college in Bangalore. I had two batchmates who were ardent devotees of Bhagawan Baba and I would see them pray to Swami's photo everyday and also put vibhuti on their forehead. I was not much impressed with Swami then and I would make that clear to my batchmates also. I would also not take vibhuti when it was offered to me. One of those days one of these batchmates told me that I may not like Swami, but if Swami wished , I would myself go to Puttaparthi. A prophetic assertion. 

I completed my course in cardiac technology and got a job in the same hospital as a cardiac technologist. Cardiac technologists are people who assist cardiologists in their cardiac procedures and also perform ECGs, Echo cardiograms and various other tests  for patients. It was during this time that I heard from one of the biomedical engineers who had visited our hospital for maintenance about Bhagawan Baba starting a high-end totally free hospital in Puttaparthi. He told me that they were going to have a bi-plane cath lab. I was surprised as it was then an advanced cath lab with few centres in India having that facility. 

Few days later my landlord called me for lunch. His little daughter then showed me a cutting about the upcoming Swami's hospital in Puttaparthi. And she also started asking me what my qualifications were and started writing them down. Without thinking much about it I told what my qualifications were and what job I was then performing. 

A few months passed and one day when I visited my hospital all my colleagues started congratulating me. I felt whether they had somehow come to know about my marriage, without even me knowing about it. Then my boss called me to his room and handed over an unopened envelop to me. When I opened it, it was an appointment for a job of Cardiac Technologist in Swami's Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi. My head reeled. I had got a job for which I had not even applied for. Later I came to know that my landlord's daughter had put all my details in a letter and posted them to Swami's hospital. And as for how my colleagues came to know what was in the envelop, they had put it against a strong light and read the whole letter without opening it. 

I was incredulous about my working at SSSIHMS, Puttaparthi, but my Swami devotee batchmates were over the moon when they heard about my appointment. They told that it was an a opportunity of lifetimes and I should not let go of it.  They told me that at least I should visit Puttaparthi and if I did not like it I could always return. 

So with a lot of coaxing and cajoling I finally made my way to Puttaparthi pretty sure that it was just for the sake of it.  The day I reached I met Dr A N Safaya in East Prasanthi, who was to be the first Director of the hospital. From him I came to know that I was going to meet Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba Himself in the evening.. 

I sat for Darshan in the evening and Swami glided past me. Then a few moments after He had entered the interview room I was called in. Swami was sitting on His throne and I sat at His feet. "Bangalore Kada, Manchidi".  " You are from Bangalore right, Good," Swami said and blessed me. After that interaction with Swami in my heart somehow I knew that I was going to stay and work in Puttparthi only. But my mind was still not convinced. I think Swami knew how to convince me and He did it in his own way. I had heard about the new cath lab and was pining to see it, so I visited the hospital saw that it was being installed. And whom do it find there, the same engineer who had initially told me about the bi-plane cath lab in Puttaparthi, when I was in Bangalore. He was thrilled to see me, he told me I had made the right decision of joining here because it was going to be best decision of my life. 

I think that sealed it finally for me. I had just come for a visit, totally assured that I was going to go back. Well now I have spent 31 years in the hospital and never ever in these 31 years ever felt like going anywhere else, that is Swami's Grace. 

On the day of the inauguration, it was my great good fortune that Swami was standing right next to me as we were performing the first angiogram in the hospital. In the initial days, Swami would visit the hospital almost every day and speak to us. With love overflowing, He would ask us how we were doing, whether we had had our food, whether we were liking the place. These may seem like ordinary words, but when spoken by Swami they would take us to a different level of bliss. 

Once you come in to Swami's fold you are able to see His Grace working from much closer quarters. Some such experiences I would like to narrate now.

After many years of working at the hospital, I got married and had then later had a son. As my native place was pretty far I bought a car so that I could visit my home town with my family. On my first visit I was driving down the village roads beyond the town of Kadiri, suddenly I realised that there was a blind curve ahead. I floored the brake pedal but it was too late. The car leapt in the air and landed in a ditch on its side and after several somersaults came to a stop. We were stuck in the car and the local villagers rushed to pull us out of the wreck. They broke open the doors and pulled us out and all this time they were looking at each other in disbelief and whispering something. I asked them what the matter was. They finally told me that everyone who had fallen into the ditch had died and we were the first ones to survive, especailly when our vechicle had been reduced to a pulp. It was then that I stared at our car in total surprise, it had literally become an iron pulp and here were we three standing on our feet without a single bruise. 

" Just a few days ago a small truck ferrying 10 people fell into the ditch and all of them died on the spot,"  they said. " When we were coming to pull you out we were discussing among ourselves that we will only be seeing dead bodies and here you three are without a single scratch. We do not know whom you believe in, but He has saved your lives," they said. 

We then told them that we were from Puttaparthi and were devotees of Bhagawan Baba. " Oh ok then it is Swami who has saved your lives," they said collectively. 

 Now look at some miracles Swami perfomed with our hospital patients to which I was a direct witness. 

There was a devotee who had come for Swami's Darshan. Swami came to him and asked him to get up. He got up thinking he might have the opportunity of having an interview with Swami. But Swami asked him to visit our hospital and get his heart checked up. He looked around whether it was he Swami was referring to. And realising there was no one else, he quietly visited our hospital. I met him in the Out Patient Department and asked him what was wrong. He said he had no sysmtoms but he was visiting, because Swami asked  him to do so. So we performed an ECG followed by an Echocardiography and an angiogram and sure enough we found there were life threatening blockages in his coronary arteries and he had to be operated immediately. So we referred him to the Cardiac Surgery department where he underwent a bypass surgery and recovered perfectly. He then went back to Puttaparthi bowed to Swami with tears in his eyes. 

On another occasion, we had a patient from Anantapur whose condition of the heart was extremely bad. He had gone to many hospitals and all of them told that nothing could be done. Then he heard about Swami's hospital and came with great faith that Swami will take care of him. Here when we checked him, we came to the same conclusion that nothing much could be done. We prescribed some medicines and, which we would usually do, but he was of the firm belief that Swami is going to take care of him. He came back after two years and we were surprised that he looked hale and hearty. He still had the same problem, but he was able to do all his work without any problem. He then told us that he had a shop in Anantapur town and in that shop he had put a huge photo of Swami and whenever he was not dealing with customers, he would be just be staring at Swami's photo.  It was this sadhana of his, which had saved his life.

A similar, but slightly different case I will narrate now. Another patient came to us in a similar condition. But our doctors felt that we should try to take him up for an angiogram and if possible may be put a stent. It was a tough procedure and we kept  our Cardiac Surgery department on standby in case he required a cardiac surgery . Our cardiologists tried hard.  There were three lesions and our  cardilogists were able to put two stents for the two lesions and managed to dilate the third lesion. After recovery the patient told us that he was told in all the hospitals he had visited that nothing could be done and his next heart attack would be his last. But here in Swami's hospital, it was purely Swami's Grace that we could give him a new life. He lived till a ripe old age.

All the incidents that I narrated here show that it is Swami's Grace which takes care of everybody only that He expects us to perform our work sincerely.The more I stay in Puttaparthi the more I realise that we are just instruments in his hand, be it within the hospital or outside of it. It is He who is the all pervasive Parabrahma.

 Jai Sai Ram