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IX.
The Power of Prayer
"I got
your two telegrams"
How Baba answered the prayer of
Sri S. N. Singh
Sri S. N. Singh, a successful businessman,
is an ardent devotee of Bhagawan. He has had many thrilling
experiences with Baba, which have strengthened and solidified
his faith in Him. Here is one instance of Baba infusing life
and strength into Sri Singh’s mother in answer to his
fervent prayers, narrated by Smt. Shakuntala Balu in her book,
“Living Divinity”:
It happened in 1975 to his eighty-nine year
old mother. In the first week of May, her kidneys and ankles
were very swollen. Medical experts in Calcutta had attended
on her, but none of them could do much to help her.
The swollen leg was nine inches wider than
the other one, she could hardly eat and, for the last six
weeks, she had existed on two teaspoons of barley water a
day. Sri Singh was devoted to his mother who had brought him
up singlehandedly as his father had died when he was only
four years old.
During this desolate period, Sri Singh heard
that Sri Sathya Sai Baba was to be in Bombay and he wanted
very much to go there and see Him. Two days before his intended
departure, his mother went into a coma. He sent a telegram
to Professor Gokak (a close devotee of Baba) expressing his
regrets and his inability to travel to Bombay.
That night, Sri Singh felt that worldly success,
wealth and all its accoutrements were singularly useless,
for they could give no succour to his sick and dying mother.
At midnight, he left his mother's bedside
and, before going to bed, prayed to Sri Sathya Sai Baba: "Swami,
take her away if that is your will. But, please do not make
her suffer. Give her perfect health and a good appetite till
the very last and give her these for two or three more months.
Then, take her to your lotus feet.” A tear escaped down
his cheek. He cannot remember how he finally fell asleep.
Next morning, the nurse came running to his
wife, excitedly saying that her mother-in-law was sitting
up in bed and asking for khichri (a dish of rice and lentil).
Mrs.Singh went to her mother - in - law and said, 'how can
you possibly want
'khichri? For the last six weeks you've been on liquids only!"
The old lady-smiled and said that Sri Sathya
Sai Baba had come to her in the night with a rope in His hand
(such as is used for swings) which He swung about playfully
and had said, "eat well and get well. . .. I will take
you, when the time comes." Then He had vanished.
She said that as soon as she woke up that
morning, she felt absolutely well and quite hungry, so she
asked the nurse to fetch some khichri. The mother's condition
improved so suddenly that the doctors were taken aback. There
was no more need to keep her on a liquid diet. She ate well,
very nourishing and even rich food. She could even relish
all her favourite foods like makki roti (cornflour bread)!
Although the doctors continued to be mystified,
the family was very relleved and happy. Though the old lady
had not realized the extent of Sri Sathya Sai Baba's omnipresence
and omniscience, Sri Singh attributed her remarkable recovery
entirely to Him.
Later, when Sri Singh was in Puttaparthi,
Sri Sathya Sai Baba said to him, "I got your
two telegrams."
Sri Singh said, "Swami, I sent only
one, to Professor Gokak, about not being able to go to Bombay."
"What about the second telegram
from your heart?" He asked, touching Sri Singh's
chest.
Sri Singh was overwhelmed. Yes, it was true,
Sri Sathya Sai Baba had heard even that silent and tearful
nocturnal prayer he had addressed to Him about his mother's
suffering!
Reference: "Living
Divinity” by Shakuntala Balu.
Page: 231-232. Published by S. B. Publications, Bangalore,
1983.
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