Leela-114
Baba's Grace eases Challenging Times
Mrs. Vandana Kamath was living in Bangaluru in a rented
premise with her family. They were going through several financial problems.
They were not aware of Baba; but by Baba’s grace the daughter-in-law of the
owner of the house gave her a Shri Sai Satcharita and said that Baba will
take care of them.
One fine day, the owner of the house asked them to vacate the house. They
were in a predicament; because they had no money to shift to a new rented
house. It so happened that they got a chance to visit Shirdi during this
period. On returning from Shirdi, Mrs. Vandana met a family friend to whom
she narrated her situation.
This friend suggested they buy a house. On looking back she thinks, the
situation was impossible; because her friend was asking her to buy a house,
when they didn’t have enough to pay the rent of the house ! But then, as
ordained by dear Sai, this same friend gave them Rs. 75,000 for a site
available close to Baba’s Mandir. The family was jubilant; but
unfortunately, the cost of the plot was in lakhs; so they again did not have
sufficient fund.
In the meanwhile, Mrs. Vandana’s father-in-law passed away and they got Rs.
one lakh from his will. They immediately made some arrangement and purchased
the plot.
By this time the entire family started worshipping Baba. After purchasing
the plot, they laid the foundation; but due to financial constraints they
could not begin the construction for over a year. At this point of time Mrs.
Vandana remembered a chapter from the Shri Sai Satcharita where a black dog
was fed with curd rice by a devotee and his wish was fulfilled. So, she
prayed to Baba that she would feed a black dog with curd rice for seven
Thursdays and He should bless her in completing the construction of the
house.
On the first Thursday she kept a plate of curd rice in front of the house
and was waiting for a black dog. After some time a black dog with some white
patches approached the plate, she was confused, whether this was the dog to
be fed as he was not fully black. Strangely the dog would go near the plate,
smell the food and go back, this continued for 10-15 minutes and the dog
went away without eating the rice. Mrs. Vandana waited for a very long time
and felt very disappointed.
After a while the same dog came along with another black dog. This black dog
came and hurriedly ate the curd rice and left a little for the dog with
white patches to eat, both the dogs ate happily and went away. Seeing this
Mrs. Vandana had complete faith that Baba will help in constructing the
house. And truly, despite their financial hurdles, with Baba’s blessings,
they constructed the house within five months after this incident.
Since then, Mrs. Vandana and her family’s faith grew and they have dedicated
their life to Baba. They have formed a group named ‘Sai Smaran’ and for the
last 11 years, every Sunday, they conduct Sai Bhajans in different devotees’
houses in Bangaluru. Besides this, once a year they go to Shirdi with the
entire group (varying from 150-300 devotees), conduct Bhajans and have a
Palki procession.
Today, they have constructed three more floors, out of it one is dedicated
to Baba, where His idol and photographs are worshipped every day. Every
Thursday they have Bhajans, and on occasions like Ram Navami, Guru Poornima,
Vijayadashmi, etc. hundreds of devotees’ are drenched in spiritual gaiety.
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Bow to Shirdi Sai Baba -- Peace be to all.