My name is Anoop Kumar Singh and I am a native of the city of Ayodhya in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. I am the third of the eight children. I have four brothers and three sisters. I would like to narrate how Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba gave me a new life twice over through the doctors of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi.

It was around the year 2003. Those days my father was working as a health inspector in Ayodhya Municipality. As we had a large family the burden of the whole family was on his shoulders. Those days he would get around Rs. 15000 a month as salary and it was a bit difficult for him to manage the family. As my father was working in a semi-govt set-up sometimes even the salary would not get credited to him on time. This would cause a lot of difficulty. But by putting in extra effort my father was eventually able to take care of the family needs.

One day while I was returning home from school — I was in 8th standard then – I started feeling ill and there was some blood in my saliva.  Looking at my condition the members of my family got extremely scared. My father took me to the District Hospital and there a specialist told my father that I had a heart problem, which was causing the problem.

Sometime later my father took me to a big hospital in the city of Lucknow. There the doctors performed all kinds of tests on me and eventually a doctor met us and told my father that my situation was bad and that I had just six months to live and a surgery had to be performed as soon as possible. Listening to this my parents and my family were terrified. Not knowing what to do we returned home.

During this period of anxiety and uncertainty, one person in my father’s office told him about the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi. He had accompanied one of his relatives to that hospital and therefore he knew everything about the hospital.

It was the first time that we came to know about Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. We also came to know that the SSSIHMS, Puttaparthi was a big hospital started by Bhagawan Baba, which provided the best treatment totally free of charge to all. It was difficult for us to believe that even heart surgeries were being done totally free of charge for all in that hospital.

In late 2004 I came to the hospital along with my father, brother and my father’s friend (who had guided us). We first went and had Bhagawan Baba’s Darshan and then visited the hospital. The hospital looked like a beautiful temple, my heart was filled with happiness just at the sight of it.

We stood in the line and got a token for the Cardiology department and my treatment process began. What struck me most was the impeccable discipline with which all the things were being managed in the hospital. All would wait for their turn. There was no backdoor entry for anybody. These things impressed me because in other hospitals we had not seen such discipline.

After the checkup the doctors told us that there was no need for an urgent operation and that we could return later for surgery. We were surprised when we heard this because outside we were told that an urgent surgery was required. But surgeons said that it was not the case. I was supposed to undergo the surgery which is called the Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) closure surgery and also the repair of the Aortic Valve.  

We returned in early 2006 to the hospital and doctors after checking me told me and my family that I could get admitted for surgery.

It was in the ward that from other patients and their relatives I heard various stories of Bhagawan Baba and also the unmatched selfless service being done by Him. This convinced me that Bhagawan Baba was God in human form, because of whom many persons had got a new life.

I was slightly apprehensive about my surgery. But when I heard story after story of how patients had received new lives, my fear of surgery just evaporated. I then started nagging the sisters and surgeons as to when my surgery would be performed. They would smile and tell me, the moment your turn comes it will be done.

In Baba’s hospital all staff take care of the patients as their own family members. Everyday we would get a new dress to wear and new bed covers. We are also given nutritious food to eat. And  medicines from time to time. As mentioned earlier everything is given totally free of charge to all.

Soon my operation was performed and I recovered in a few days and before I was discharged I was counselled along with my parents about how to take care after going home and then we returned.

Before the surgery I used to be extremely concerned about my health but after surgery I started feeling healthy and my fears about my health disappeared. I got a new life due to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. But the story does not end here.

Every year we used to come for a checkup and during one of those visits I was told that the Aortic Valve needed to be replaced.  During that period around my father retired from his job and there were other family matters that had to be settled at home. So finally I visited the hospital in 2013.

I was admitted and a Aortic Vavle Replacement operation was performed and the moment my eyes opened after the surgery I knew it was the second time Bhagawan Baba had given me a new life. The first thing I wanted to do after leaving the hospital was to have Baba’s Darshan. Baba had left His physical body by then, but for me He was ever alive. So I went straight to Baba’s Ashram and had the Samadhi Darshan.

One thing I would like to mention here and this I have felt during each of my visits to Puttaparthi. Whenever I visit Puttaparthi there is this feeling of calm, which envelops me, which I have never experienced at any other place.

Being healthy and fit I got married in 2018 and in 2020 I was blessed with a son. Currently I am working as an Operations Executive in a Highway company and leading a fulfilling life with my wife and my kid. Not a day passes without me remembering Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. This life I am leading is His gift to me. And this gift He gave me twice over. Had Baba not called me to Him my life would have ended long long ago. Because of Bhagawan Baba multitudes like me have got a new lives. 

If Baba were to appear in front of me one day, I would ask Him to give me His Darshan in every birth of mine. I learnt from Baba the Sanskrit phrase, “Samasta Loka Sukhino Bhavantu” and whenever I see anybody in trouble I repeat this Sanskrit phrase, so that Baba may bless him or her and take care of their troubles.

Bhagawan Baba may have left His physical body, but He is alive in our hearts. Every time I visit the hospital I go to the Ashram and have Darshan of Baba’s Samadhi. After getting treatment done at Baba’s hospital I have told many people about this hospital and many of them have visited the hospital and after their treatment have returned healthy and happy. So in my own little way I am also taking Baba’s message forward and this gives me immense satisfaction.

Jai Sai Ram.