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XI.
The One appears as Many
"Don't
Worry; The Instrument is With Me"
How Baba assumed multiple forms
to save a devotee
Swami Satchidananda, a distinguished monk
of Divine Life Society of Rishikesh, and a close disciple
of Swami Shivananda Saraswati, narrated this astounding incident
in the presence of Baba on the 29th of June 1957, on the occasion
of the Inauguration of the Tapovana (Meditation grove) in
Puttaparthi. This incident convinced Swami Satchidananda beyond
doubt about the divine nature of Bhagawan. Prof. Kasturi has
recorded this incident thus:
Swami Satchidananda was in Baba's room one
afternoon in the bungalow on Kodaikanal. Baba was reclining
on His bed. Suddenly, He stood up and shouted, "Don't
shoot", in Telugu and fell upon the bed, in
what is called a 'trance,' but is best described as 'going
on a transcorporeal journey.'
His body became stiff and remained in that
condition for about an hour. When He returned and took charge
of His physical frame, He looked at those around Him and wanted
a telegram sent urgently to an address at Bhopal! He dictated
the message and the address. It ran, "Don't worry; the
revolver is with Me, Baba."
Swami Satchidananda expressed a doubt whether
the postal authorities would accept the message for transmission,
for it spoke of revolvers, which come under the Arms Act.
Others too supported him and there was some argument on the
pros and cons.
Baba wanted that it should go quickly to
Bhopal and alternative words to bypass the rules were discussed.
Swami Satchidananda suggested the word, 'instrument,' for
'revolver' and Baba agreed that it would convey the meaning
intended, so far as the recipient was concerned. The wire
went quick, and fast, to Bhopal, a thousand miles away!
Every one was anxious to know what the nature
of the averted tragedy was, but Baba parried all attempts
to draw the information from Him. But, on the fourth day,
a letter arrived from Bhopal, which was read out to all, a
letter revealing that Baba was indeed the same Lord Vishnu
who had saved Gajendra and Prahlada, and the same Lord Krishna
who had come to the rescue of Draupadi!
The author of the letter, whose wife was
an ardent devotee of Bhagawan, had served in the Second World
War and was now occupying a high position in Government Service.
He was very much upset by the administrative rearrangements
following the Reorganisation of States, for persons far junior
in service were hoisted on top of him. He had no one nearby
to assuage or comfort or even to listen to his tale of woe.
His wife was away at her parents' village.
Disappointed by the unlucky turn in his career, he decided
to end his humiliation by means of a revolver. There was one
handy; he tried one shot, just to see whether his hand would
be steady for the fatal second; but before he could shoot
next... Baba had shouted, "Don't shoot!"
When suddenly, there was a loud bang at the
door! Baba had come! Not as Baba, of course, but as an old
college-mate accompanied (!) by his wife and a Chaprasi (porter),
with a trunk and a holdall, to make the picture complete in
every detail!
The officer ran into the bedroom, placed
the revolver on the bed, threw a sheet over it, hurried back
into the front hall, adjusted his lineaments to the new situation,
and opened the door!
There, lo and behold, were the three forms
of Bhagawan, ready to play their part. The college chum was
very boisterous and demonstrative; Baba had become by instantaneous
materialisation a friend, who had just the qualities that
would remove melancholy and who could give the officer, the
tonic that would cure him of despair.
He responded to the treatment and became
quite normal, very soon. He even smiled and laughed at the
jokes of his old friend, and as the conversation proceeded,
all thoughts of suicide melted away.
The lady too joined in the talk, but, when
they discovered that the mistress of the house was away, the
visitor put on an air of profound disappointment and said
that he would prefer to stay with another friend. In spite
of the appeals of the person whom he had saved, the friend
departed forty-five minutes after he materialised, with the
lady, the porter, the trunk and the holdall, thus drawing
down the curtain on the excellent dramatic performance!
After seeing them off, the officer hurried
into the bedroom; he was stunned to find that the revolver
was not there nor anywhere in the house! Who could have removed
it?
He locked his house and ran in hot haste
to the address to which the college-mate said he would be
going. He got his doubt confirmed; there was no one there;
the three visitors had melted into thin air, with the trunk
and the holdall!
Back home, he was turning over in his memory
the stunning events that had happened that day, when he was
startled by another knock at the door! It was the telegraph
messenger! The wire from Kodaikanal; "Don't worry;
the instrument is with me - Baba."
Swami Satchidananda said that this incident
is much stranger than the Parakayapravesam extolled in Puranas.
Parakayapravesam is entering into another body which is existing
at that time, but, this is Kayasrishti, the creation, at the
very moment of willing, of three bodies and making the bodies
act their roles of existing individuals, correct to the minutest
detail of voice and inflection, gait and gesture, idiom and
idiosyncrasy, and the recitation of incidents and anecdotes
relating to decades past when they were both students of the
same college!
This, concluded Swami Satchidananda, is possible
only for an Avatar.
Reference: “Sathyam Shivam Sundaram”,
Vol-I, by Prof. N Kasturi. Page:
102-105. Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications
Trust, Prasanthi Nilayam.
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