Jai Sai Ram ,
Happy Baba’s day
We all know that Baba showers His love and blessing on his children in many ways .Devotees get a special feeling when they get Baba’s blessing in His karma bhoomi Shirdi .To get Baba’s blessing one must have whole hearted devotion and true faith . The experience below is shared by one such devotee who got specail love in Shirdi .Jai Sai Ram .
My Humble pranams at the lotus feet of our beloved Sai baba ,
Thank you for providing Sai devotees a platform for sharing our experiences. If you think that my experience is too long , pls feel free to shorten it.Pls do not mention my name as i would like to remain anonymous.Thank you and Jai Sai Ram .
I had been a Sathya Sai baba devotee since my school and college days and used to attend the bhajans though we had photos of Shirdi baba and used to regularly worship and light lamps.After my marriage , by babas grace my husband too became a staunch devotee of baba and would go to veda classes and recite them at home regularly. Just a year back , I received a huge photo of Shirdi Baba from my father which was given to him by his colleague who was leaving the country .
After a few days I decided to read the Sai Sathcharitra after which i think , changed the remaining course of my life .I would know like to list out my experiences as i think that it would be much easier for me and the readers to understand:
(1) I had just finished the parayana of Satcharita and as it was the first day of an Akhanda bhajan in the Sai center , i had gone to the center with my husband and my two sons .We listened to some bhajans and had prasad and as my 2 and half year old son was feeling restless i had taken him out of the hall and was waiting at the car park for my husband .
It was night 11’0clock , I saw a sikh family hurrying towards me , a man , his wife and an old lady .The wife suddenly smiled towards me and handed me a book and quickly stepped into the nearby parked car and sped off .
Assuming that it must be a notice or circular for monetary help and as i was carrying my son i folded the booklet and kept inside my bag without looking .When i got into the car i just opened the booklet and to my surprise I saw that it was the Sai Nav Vrat katha book .I took this as a sign from baba that I had to do it and by Baba’s grace i was able to complete it .
(2)I had been trying for a change in job and attended many interviews though nothing was successful so far .I had prayed to baba that if i get a better job before July I would come to Shirdi but as i did not get any i decided not to travel to india.I then had a dream in which i saw myself walking through queue lanes and looking through a room in which Baba’s huge idol was kept.
I realised that this must be Baba calling me and decided to go to Shirdi .
(3)Now for my Shirdi experience , which is still so unbelievable for me.I had been regularly reading many babas sites incliding this one and was strongly believing that I may not get a chance to touch babas samadhi .
I used to watch baba’s live darshan everyday and see how the metal bars were put and people were unable to touch babas samadhi , and how some lucky people were able to touch and kiss baba samadhi !!!!I told my husband i would love to be in Shirdi on a Thursday , but as it is always a huge rush we may not be able to get a good darshan so lets go on a tuesday or wednesday,but baba decided otherwise and we landed on mumbai airpot on a wednesday morning at 10,o clock.
My friend was supposed to come and pick us up and we were supposed to leave in a car to Shirdi with my friend and her family .It was raining heavily in mumbai and the airport and the roads were flooded and we were stranded at the airport till 3,o clock.
My sons were finding it boring and i was on the verge of tears as to why baba you bring us all the way and make us wait .We finally left for Shirdi at 3,0clock and with regular breaks in between reached Shirdi at 9:00pm .I was so tired and just wanted to take rest, as the driver was passing through the entrance , my husband said why dont we go for a darshan and then check into the hotel , i was too tired and i said why dont u go alone and i would take the boys to bed .
We saw some people walking towards the inside and we were sure that the temple was closed , my husband insisted and finally we all started walking towards the enterance , as we were not familiar with any entrance or gates , we just kept following some people through empty lanes and empty queues.
Imagine my surprise when we found ourselves in the samadhi hall , in front of babas huge idol.The seva dals were sitting down peacefully and people were walking and touching and kissing babsa’s samadhi .Tears rolled down my cheeks as i realised that baba made me go through so much for this one darshan.
My husband and my sons touched and we kissed the samadhi to our hearts content and we prayed that from that moment our whole lives were placed at his holy feet and nothing would happen without his will.
After the darshan as we were walking down the steps in a daze , we saw people walking fast and some running , as we enquired they said they were going for the night arathi .We too hurried along and now found ourselves in a huge hall .We sat down where we could get a clear view of Baba and sat through the whole arathi .
As I was listening to the arathi , I thought what must be the goodness i did in my past life that Baba found my family precious enough to give us a good darshan and make us listen to his arathi , I thanked him with all my heart.
(3)Next day morning as it was a Thursday I was sure of the rush for the darshan but still insisted on carrying a huge garland of roses for baba.As i reached in front of Baba I was being pushed by devotees from all sides , an old seva dal looked at me and smiled , i handed over the the garland to him , he put it over the samadhi , as i bend down to pick a flower through the iron bars , he yanked my shoulder and handed me a rose from babas samadhi .
Everytime I think about my Shirdi trip I am overwhelmed with love and affection for my baba and feel humbled by his mighty protection and grace . I would also like to add that sometimes when thing dont happen our way , we feel that baba is ignoring us , the truth is that he is testing us , so keep praying and definitely baba will help us .
Kindly forgive me if the post is too lengthy , as i just could not stop myself from writing.