Leela-138
Experience of Darshan
On 7th of May 1973, I reached Shirdi with my son,
aged 14 years. Expecting heavy rush due to vacation, I had written in advance to
the Sansthan asking for reservation of a particular room for us. Although, the
letter had not yet been passed on to the accommodation
Incharge, he offered me the same room, I wanted. He was also kind enough to
invite us both for lunch that day at about 2 P'M. However, for
some reasons, it was little after 3 P.M. that he came to call us for lunch at
the Bhojan Griha. By then, my son had gone to sleep hungry. I had
earlier asked him to go and eat something but he did not agree. Now, when we
both asked him to get up for meals, he refused to eat
anything in anger. Knowing his nature and habit of eating earlier, I left him
and went for lunch with that Sansthan Officer. My son got up at
about 4 P.M. and said angrily " I would not go to Samadhi Mandir. I will not bow
before Baba. I do not want to stay here. I will go back to
Bombay even if I have to go alone. " I knew all this outburst was due to hunger
and anger and so kept quiet.
A little while later, he got up and went out to eat
something. Instead of eating in the hotel, he brought four " Dosas " and asked
me
also to have one. To please him I did. He could eat only two. The one left
un-touched, he gave to a beggar.
We were in the room on ground floor touching the road
inside Sansthan compound and parallel to Accommodation Office. Guru
Padika Sthan. There is an L shaped passage between the tv rows of rooms. The
entrance is from longer leg of L. The shorter leg has the bath rooms and is
closed at the other end. Thus anybody going in or coming out must be seen by us
if the door o| our room is open.
I After eating the " Dosas " my son went to wash the
plate the open tap fixed in the line of bath rooms. Suddenly he rushed back to
the room and said that someone looking just like Baba was standing in the
passage outside the bathrooms with a stick in his hand and that he
got frightened. He talked to me all this standing on the threshold of the room,
keeping the door open. I was sitting in such a position that any
body coming in or going out must be visible to me. I got up immediately and went
with him I to the bathrooms' side and found none there. I feel it was Shri SAI
HIMSELF who gave him darshan. I did not see any one going out of the passage.
How could someone vanish like that, in
thin air. None dressed like that was staying in the other rooms.!
On questioning, my son told me that Kafni was torn on one arm and lower ends of
it were frayed badly. He was pointing with the stick
(satka) towards the Samadhi Mandir.
Then, afterwards at about 6 P.M. my son quietly
accompanied me to Samadhi Mandir, Dhwarkamai and Chawri and everywhere he
bowed to Baba, as I did. During rest of the seven days stay he was extremely
happy and made many friends.
Source : Saileela Magazine