Leela-101
How i became a Sai Devotee & his Leela's around my Family
by
Bhaskar
Jai Sai Ram. Compared to you all, I'm still a fledgling devotee and I haven't
had his darshan yet (maybe I should say my time is not ripe yet). But I can
share some of the experiences that my parents had and how I turned towards him.
This is not just one experience that I'd like to share. It’s a gist of multiple
leelas (selected among many).
I'm from Andhra Pradesh born to a Telugu Brahmin parents in the coastal city of
Kakinada. Both parents were state government employees. They are totally god
fearing and never were corrupt in any of their dealings. Accordingly as the
normal practice goes, they were always transferred to places where most of the
other people don't wish to go. My parents never flinched from these transfers.
Today they both are retired and in the waning years of their life but still
helping others as much as they can.
How I turned towards Sai:
During one of these transfers for my parents, in 1991 I got a chance to go
hostel and study at one of the residential colleges in Andhra Pradesh. There we
had a small temple next to our hostel and we all used to go there and offer our
prayers. There, the priest once told me that I should say the name Sai Ram
whenever I get a chance. This was the first time I can recollect I had turned
towards Sai. But I was never aware of any parayanam books or never interacted
with any Sai devotees at that time. I don't think I'm even aware of his leelas
at that time. I was still carrying over the values imbibed in me by my parents.
So I used to recite Aditya Hrudayam and Vishnu Sahasranamam without fail. Later
on at one point, I did have some very bad experiences in my life (1998 to 2004).
That time I really revolted against god and stopped praying to him. Later with
his grace my faith towards god got restored in 2004 ending. When I reached US in
2007, I had a roommate for a short while who is an ardent devotee of Sri Shirdi
Sai. It was he who brought back my life back towards his holiness Sai.
During all these years when I had my ups and downs in life my parents were
unflinching in their devotion towards Sai. My dad for me is unfathomable but I
can for sure say that my mother is all praises for Sri Shirdi Sai. I'll narrate
two leelas that my mother had seen happening and one from my side.
Leela 1:
My father the most uncorrupted person, all of a sudden has received a dream
transfer order to a very lucrative place also with a promotion as a Divisional
Engineer in APSEB. This is quite uncommon for a simple person like my father.
Only the politically and financially well connected people can get easy postings
here. It's Vijayawada Thermal Power Station, Kondapalli. There my father has
started his tenure as a Divisional Engineer and was doing his duties without
fail. Based upon seniority my father should have become a Superintending
Engineer quite some time ago. But we saw many people equally qualified (BE/BTech)
but much younger in age becoming an SE and above him. My dad always brushed
aside my words like this: “It's not for me; I don't even want to think about
this. I'm sure it won’t even come to me”. But first divine intervention came in
the form of a non gazzeted employee who was fond of my father. I'm sorry that I
cannot recollect this person's name. But about 1 year before my father's
retirement he started pestering my mother that my father does stand a chance of
becoming an SE. He only has to be vocal and file for his promotion. But my
father was unmoved. He simply rejected his words and never even tried it.
But my mother didn't give up. Just a few weeks/may be a week before his
retirement, she started Sri Shirdi Sai Parayanam and finished it by offering
kheer as a prasadam. After placing kheer container infront of him and while she
was putting in a pinch of sugar the bell sounded. We used to stay in the DE
quarters in the first floor. So when the bell rings, the person in the first
floor should come into the balcony and check who has sounded the bell. So my
mother went out to check who it was. I'll state what happened then in my
mother's words:
"There was a tall guy wearing dress exactly like Sri Shiridi Sai standing near
the door that leads to the first floor steps. He told me that he is coming from
Shiridi and is distributing prasadam and udi to all the people. After I had
taken the prasadam from him and climbed up the stairs, I don't recollect seeing
him again. But the moment I reached the living room from the balcony the phone
allocated by the office rang. It was the same non gazzeted employee calling from
the office. His voice was bubbling with happiness. He said amma saar ki SE gaa
promotion vachindi--- means Mother, sir is promoted to SE."
That incidentally was the last day of my father's service with the state
government and by the time this call was received by my mother, my dad has
already taken the retirement and he has signed the papers. All of a sudden with
his grace, time started moving backwards. With appropriate very legal moves, the
people in very high levels of the APSEB have asked my dad to go to Kothagudem
thermal power plant and take charge as an SE. He held this post only for 1 day
(on the day of retirement and the next day to take charge and then retire as an
SE the next day). Materialist people may think "He was an ek din ka sultan" but
he got it when there was no hope of getting anything close by. When this leela
has happened, I'm not that lucky and I was away from home. My mother mentioned
this to me.
Leela 2:
My mother has an elder sister who remained a spinster throughout her life and
she worked as a government teacher in Chennai, Tamilnadu. When she has retired,
my mother asked her to come and stay with us. My father being very simple he
never denied my mother of any of these doings. So she came from Tamil Nadu and
her pension got stuck up in the bureaucracy there. With his grace, we are not
poor and hungry. But this not getting of pension was causing my maternal aunt
more tensions. So my mother decided to do the parayanam once more but this time
along with her sister. As usual after offering the kheer, the phone call came
from her now ex-colleague in that school that the pension is sanctioned and the
check is already deposited. Don't we call this a leela?
There are many more incidents but one thing I'd like to share (my most recent
experience with Sai).
Leela 3:
The maternal aunt in leela 2 as I mentioned is a spinster and was staying with
my parents. After my parents vacated the government quarters in VTPS, Kondapalli
and KTPS all three of them moved back to our home in Kakinada, AP. Starting in
2010 she started suffering a lot due to diabetes and heart enlargement etc. She
became extremely weak. My mother or servant maids had to take care of her. Once
during one phone call that I made from USA, she mentioned to me over the phone
like this. "For the first time another person has given me a bath. Looks like
time is nearing". Just a few days after saying this, on 10 July 2012 she was
sitting in the living room watching an old classical telugu movie on the TV. My
mother walked into the living room and asked her if she would like to relieve
herself. She consented and while walking from the living room to the bedroom
where there is an attached bathroom, all of a sudden she said with an enormous
amount of clarity "dear brother in law please hold my shoulder, I think I'm
unable to walk". That was for the first time she ever permitted any man of her
age group to ever touch her. My father rushed towards her side and held her hand
near the bicep region and she said "I'm feeling sleepy, let me lie down" and she
lost complete control and collapsed on the bed. My father it seems had seen the
life going out of her eyes. Then he held her feet and adjusted her on the bed
and slowly the news started trickling out. She stayed with my parents for more
than a decade she passed away on peacefully on July 10 2012 literally in my
parents hands. Now I'm in USA stuck up with visa problems and unable to travel
to India. It was still wee hours for me on July 10 2010 and when I received the
call from my father at that hour, immediately I had a bad feeling. They were
confirmed by my father's words. I always maintained that tough guy's posture for
my family and I had a tight feeling gripping my heart. When the phone call
arrived, I was sleeping on the floor with my laptop still running next to me. I
immediately typed sri Shirdi Sai into the google and you won't believe what I
saw. This is the leela that I had seen after hearing the bad news. The text that
appeared on the screen was "Don't feel sad for the people who have passed away.
Always understand that they are safe with me and I'll take care of them". There
are many quotes by Sai. I would have seen "Shraddha and saburi" or "feed the
hungry". But this quote explicitly appearing before my eyes when I received this
news is really a leela for me. In the following days when I heard through
relatives over the phone that my mother was secretly crying the bathrooms I
called her and told her of this experience. She at first was surprised and kept
on asking me if I had really seen this text on my laptop. When I did answer in
the affirmative, she is slowly absorbing the reality and also finding solace
that my aunt is now in Sai's protection.
The biggest leela that I'd like to mention is:
For quite some time I have been thinking of sharing some of my family
experiences but never did share them. But all of a sudden I see an email for Sai
trust asking us to share our leelas. And I immediately typing all these leelas
and sending them to you. Don't you all call it another leela?
Peace be onto all of you.
Jai Sai Ram.
Bow to Shirdi Sai Baba -- Peace be to all.