Our family was a devotee of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba from my childhood. Those days Shirdi was not as crowded as it is now. On many occasions, I would sit close to the statue of Shirdi Sai Baba and perform abhishekam. That devotion later transformed into the devotion to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Bhagawan Baba brought me into His fold and filled my life with His love and grace.

I had my medical practice in the small village of Maroli in South Gujarat, where I would provide free medical care to the poor and the needy (which I still have). I am speaking of the 1990s. Those days I had heard about the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi, started by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and that the hospital was providing free cardiac surgeries to all. I used to ask some of my poor patients who had heart problems to visit the hospital for advanced treatment. This happened for quite some time and one day one of my patients who had visited the hospital and had undergone heart surgery returned to me and gifted me a photo of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba giving Abhaya with both hands raised. This photo is still with me. That was the first time I had Swami’s Darshan.

I was pining to have a physical Darshan of Bhagawan Baba, but for various reasons, I did not get an opportunity to visit Puttaparthi. The opportunity finally came in the year 2002. I was on a visit to Bengaluru to attend a conference and I told one of my friends that, physically being so close to Puttaparthi I must have Darshan of Swami. I was told then that, Swami was in Kodaikanal. I felt disappointed. But one more person whom I met later told me that Swami had arrived at the Brindavan Ashram in Bengaluru the previous day and I could have His Darshan. I was on cloud nine and profusely thanked Swami for His Grace. 

The conference was going on, but I had to take Swami’s Darshan. The next day I decided to visit the Brindavan Ashram. I got up at 4.00 a.m. took a bath came down to the hotel and found that there was no transport available. My location was almost 15 km from Brindavan Ashram. But I did not give up hope. I told myself, whatever happens, I must have Swami’s Darshan today. I decided that if I did not get any transportation, I would walk to the Ashram and I started walking. After I had walked for around 2 km suddenly one auto rickshaw came and stopped beside me. The driver put his head out and asked, “Do you want to go to Brindavan Ashram,” I was amazed.  “Yes, of course,” I said and sat in the auto. And look at the beauty of the whole thing I just reached at the correct time when Swami was coming for Darshan. To this day I believe that the auto was sent by Swami Himself. Swami always says ‘Take one step towards Me and I will take a 100 towards you.’

I feel Swami was testing my determination to reach His Ashram, so He waited till I walked 2 km and when He was satisfied that my determination was unwavering, He sent the auto for me to put me out of the hardship.

As I sat for Darshan, the Darshan music came on. For the first time, I saw Swami walking down the path. I saw a bright halo all around Him. And felt as if He was gliding and not walking. For some unknown reason, I was feeling exhilarated. I checked with people around me whether they were seeing what I was seeing, but they did not. As Swami came near, I felt as if some primordial bond between Bhagawan and me was revived. After the conference was over, I again had one more Darshan. This time also I saw the same halo around Swami, that I saw on the previous occasion.

Then in 2005, I came as a Sevadal for the first time to Puttaparthi with my wife.

I was initially posted at the R1 block and was later shifted to the SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram reception. Here, one of my responsibilities was to perform Abhishekam to Ganesha in the hospital dome early in the morning. I would complete the duty and sleep late and was supposed to get up at 2:30 a.m. and I had no alarm clock. Those days we did not have cell phones. I saw Swami’s photos all around then I told Swami, “Swami if You want Ganesha to have the Abhishekam in the morning, please wake me up at 2:30 am”. And please believe me when I say that, every day I get up at sharp 2:30 a.m. not a second less or a second more. Swami hears everything you say, and He will do what you want if you ask sincerely. He is our best friend. The seva was over and on the last day of seva, I had Darshan of Swami. That day Swami gave a discourse and I heard Him speak for the first time.

Then in 2006, for the first time, I came as a seva doctor for Cardiac Screening to SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram. The job would generally get over by afternoon and I went straight for Darshan. I was told to sit on the veranda, and I sat there. It was around 2:30 pm, it was pretty hot and there was nobody in the Sai Kulwant Hall apart from a doctor from the Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital. He called me and made me sit near him. And he asked, “Do you think Swami will come for you, at 2:30 pm?”. I looked at Swami’s residence and prayed, “Swami this will be the first time I will be seeing You from such close quarters, there is nobody here, Swami please come and bless me.” Trust me, within a minute Swami entered the Kulwant Hall and within a few minutes He was in front of me. He was looking at me and I was looking straight at Him. Swami was waving His hand. I wanted to say something, but at that moment it was as if I had lost my speech. I could not speak. But I knew Swami could hear my thoughts. So in my thoughts, I asked Swami, “Swami, people say that You are a Poornavatara, I want to see the Sankha and Chakra on your soles. Sitting in His chair, Swami raised His feet towards me, and I had the best Darshan of the Sankha on one sole and the Chakra on the other. I wondered whether I was seeing things or if was it for real. For a moment I took my eyes off the feet and then again looked back, the Sankha and Chakra were still there. Then Swami went into the interview room. It was the most memorable moment of my entire life.

Now let me share an incident, which happened when I was in seva in Puttaparthi. We have seen it so many times that when we take up Swami’s seva He makes sure that all our problems are taken care of. This everybody has seen and experienced.  So once when I was performing medical seva at SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram, we came to know that one massive cyclone was heading towards the area where I lived. Later we came to know that the cyclone passed right over my home in Gujarat.

So when the cyclone was about to hit and there were strong winds, my mother as a matter of precaution went up to the top floor of our home to close the windows. At that moment lightning crashed through the tiled roof of the house and was on the way to hit my mother when she shouted, “SAIRAM”.  She saw the lightning come towards her body and the moment she uttered, “SAIRAM” it turned 90 degrees and went through the open window and hit a mango tree outside. The mango tree crashed down in three pieces. This is our Swami. The entire creation is in His control. To protect His devotees, He can even change the laws of nature, if required.

These are some of the leelas of Swami that happened to me, which I am sharing with all of you here. These leelas were happening when Swami was in His physical body and are happening even today. Only that we should have faith that He is with us all the time.