Good olden days

Smt. G. Sujatha Devi – India

I had darshan of the Swamy [Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba] for the first time in the year 1954 in the company of my husband, Sri Govindu Ramachandra Rao, to whom I was married just then. We travelled from Hyderabad to Dharmavaram by train and from there by bus to Bukkapatnam, enroute to Puttaparthi, as there was no direct bus connection then from Dharmavaram as at present. From Bukkapatnam our journey had to be continued by the only bullock cart available in the village. It was night fall and raining when we reached Bukkapatnam.

Being strangers we did not know of any place to go. We took shelter from the rain in the covered space in front of a shop that was closed. It was pitch dark. There was no movement of persons. There was absolute silence. Then we were startled to hear a voice, “Why are you standing in the rain? Hot, Hot ‘Senagalu’ (Bengal Gram) are available there”.

Pleasantly shocked, we looked around but could not see any person. My husband the proceeded a little ahead. In fact a person was selling ‘hot, hot’ groundnuts and ‘senagalu’. Wondering at this unexpected but very welcome situation, we bought these, ate them and spent the night in the verandah (of a house) offered to us. We got into the single bullock cart (of the village) in the morning and reached Puttaparthi.

The journey to Puttaparthi by the bullock cart took one and half hours, part of being through the Chitravati river. In those days Puttaparthi was accessible from Bukkapatnam, and the single bullock cart in the village owned by a maternal uncle of Swamy was the only method of transport.

This was our first trip to Puttaparthi. Bhajan was in progress in the “Paata Mandiram” (Old Temple). Swami was present there. We had our first glimpse of Him while circumambulating the temple.

Swamy did not look at us but looking elsewhere, He said, “Were the ‘Senagalu’ tasty?” It did not immediately occur to us that Swamy was actually reminding us the meal we ate the previous night at Bukkapatnam! It struck us later that Swami was reminding us about ‘Senagalu’. During the Darshan, He spoke to us very affectionately. Thus started our first experience with the Swami.

About the miracles performed by Swami in those days, some times Swami used to take us to the ‘Kalpa Vriksha’, the Tamarind tree on the banks of Chitravati river, make us sit around Him, ask us to hold the tamarind leaves of the tree in our closed fists.

Lo and behold! The sweets wished for by us were in our open palms! The sweets were not materialized by Him in his hands; instead the leaves in our palms got transformed into sweets! He would keep the petals of some flower in the hands of women and ask them to wish for flower they liked; the flower wished for was there in their palms immediately!

Swami would gesticulate by His empty hands as though throwing something at us. When we tried to catch hold of it, we got either an apple of an orange! It is similar to the present practice of Swami showering ‘Akshatas’ (sacred rice used for blessing) on all.

About Prema Sai, once before commencement of Bhajan, the women-folk were gossiping and one of them said that some thought that the Baba was playing dramas, and there was another Baba at Shirdi who was endowed with many supernatural powers. Suddenly the passing voice of Swami was heard announcing that ‘Another Baba also would be appearing”. Later He presented to my mother a locket which contains the pictures of all the three Babas. This is still preserved in my mother’s house.

He once told us that Shirdi Baba was not a fakir; He was born in a Brahmin family and nurtured by Muslim fakirs.

The miracles of Swami are infinite and can be talked about endlessly.

Smt. G. Sujatha Devi – India
Andhra Pradesh, India. Housewife. A longtime devotee of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba