Miracles (His visiting cards)

[Ashok]

A dacoit is forgiven and a sadhak's prayer is answered

Bhagavan was giving his evening darshan when two people, one a Chambal dacoit and another a practicing sadhaka were sitting together for darshan. When Bhagavan came towards them, the dacoit got up and handed over a letter to Baba, who just saw the envelope and threw it back --at the sadhak. Similarly Baba took the sadhak’s letter and threw it at the dacoit.

As soon as Baba went into the interview room, the dacoit demanded the sadhaka to give back the letter. Sadhak refused saying “It is Bhagavan Baba’s prasad to me.” Later both started fighting and created chaos. The crowd intervened and convinced the dacoit to stop fighting. One of Baba’s old devotees took both the envelopes and opened them. In the envelope given to the dacoit (which was originally the sadhaka’s letter), there was a Rs.500/-- note. The other letter with the sadhaka (originally belonging to the dacoit) contained the same paper on which he had written his letter but it was empty with all previous matter erased.

Both sat the next day in darshan lines and Baba came to them and said -- BABA to the dacoit: “You had faith in me. You wrote all your sins on that sheet of paper and said if I accepted it, all your sins would be forgiven. The letter you gave me came back to you empty. That shows that I’ve forgiven your sins. Just like the letter is empty to be written a new, start your life afresh.”

BABA to the sadhak: “You had my darshan for 7 days. You have exhausted all your money here. In your letter, you asked for money to go back home. What I’ve given you is enough to reach you home and fill your stomach on the way.”

Both fell at Baba’s feet and returned home with Baba firmly affixed in their mind.

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Source: http://www.geocities.com/sai_ram108/mira3.htm

[Ashok]

A Lingam, Specially Delivered From the Amarnath Cave
By R. D. Awle

A couple of years ago Baba gave me a special gift, in a highly unusual way; I think you’ll agree the story lends weight to my assertion of Baba’s divinity.  A man named Rouf (pronounced “Roof”), who owns one of the shops near Baba's ashram, saw me on the street one day and told me he'd had a “Baba dream” about me, and that he had something to give me.  I was a bit put off, but several weeks later finally paid him a visit, and as we sipped sweet tea in his shop, he told me his story:

"Last summer I went on a pilgrimage to some holy places up North.  Hardwar, Rishikesh, Kashmir, and then the Amarnath Cave, in Himalayas.  It's closed eight months a year from snow, no way to get in.  And in this cave, you've heard of it?  There's this naturally formed Lingam, a huge one, made of ice.  [A Lingam is an elliptical symbol of the Supreme Being, used in the worship of Lord Shiva.]  Shiva and Parvati actually lived in this cave - it's one of the holiest shrines in India.  So I'm sitting outside this cave - and suddenly these two white birds... What are they called?  Doves.  Two doves flew out of the cave.  And as they flew over my head, one of them dropped something in my lap.  And in that moment, I heard, 'This is for Ram Das.'"   

"Wait,” I said incredulously.  “You heard that inside, from God?  Or from the bird?" 

"Yes, yes," he replied, with the affirmative Indian head wobble. "The bird." 

Rouf reached down and unwrapped a small package, and then held up the precious object: a radiant red Lingam.  "Ruby!" he said.  "A ruby Lingam."

"A Prema Lingam!” I replied, awed at the beautiful cosmic egg God had given.  (Prema means ‘Divine Love’.)

"Yes."  Rouf held it up to the light and smiled.  "But the problem was," he continued, "I didn't know who is this Ram Das.  I had forgot your name.  So I prayed for two weeks, every day, "Baba, who is this Lingam for?  Who is this Ram Das?"  Finally, one night Baba came in my dream.  He showed me you, and said, 'This is Ram Das.  Give it to him.'"

Rouf handed me the Lingam, which fit beautifully in the palm of my hand.  I was speechless - what a bizarre story!  Like something out of Tolkein, except the "Lord of the Rings" who had sent this was the supreme Lord of Love, incarnate in human form!  What an amazing leela - what a gift!

I held the sacred object to my chest for a while, drawing in its energy, and then said, "You know, Rouf, there's another interesting aspect to this.  In the book I'm working on, there's a ladder of concepts you can climb to reach the Truth.  Once you climb it, you then step off the ladder onto the Roof - the Supreme Reality, where no mind exists, where no concepts can ever reach.  So in my book, the word 'Roof' is equated with the Supreme Being.  And this gift has come to me from the 'Rouf'!”

God bless Rouf for passing the Lingam on to me, without the slightest hint of request for payment of any kind.  May he ever live up to his high name!

Clearly, Sai Baba stops at nothing to express His love for His devotees...  Is it not obvious, He is an incarnation of God?

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Source: http://www.saibaba-aclearview.com/contents2.html

[Ashok]

A Little Miracle

A devotee was feeling very troubled by all the horrible rumours that have been circulating in recent months about Sai Baba.  He felt that it was so sad that Divine energies were being denigrated by all the unproved stories being spread by the media.  He was wondering how to reply to them when a friend phoned him and relayed to him the following story.  The friend said that only last week the former vice chancellor of Sai Baba’s college was giving a talk to their Sai Baba group in Connecticut and he had related this story.

The vice chancellor said that recently he was sitting on Sai Baba’s veranda in the ashram in Puttaparthi next to a very important Indian politician.  Sai Baba came by and called the politician by name and asked him to come into his private interview room.  The man went inside and came out ten minutes later sobbing.  Then the sobbing turned into deep uncontrolled crying.  Sai Baba came by and said to the man “What’s wrong?”.  Then Sai Baba waved his hand and made some vibhuti (sacred ash) and gave it to the man who took it and ate it.  A short time afterwards when the man had regained his composure he turned to the vice chancellor and said “Because you have witnessed all of this, I will explain it to you.”

The politician explained that his wife had been very sick and she had told him that she wanted to go to see Sai Baba for one last look, for the very last time.  However the politician had been very busy and while he was away his wife died.  All this had happened ten days previously and the man was now coming to see Sai Baba after cremating his wife.  When Sai Baba came into the interview room, the man said, Sai Baba had scolded him and had reminded him what a wonderful wife he had had, of how she took care of his every need,  cooked his food,  looked after the house, even to laying out his clothes etc.  But when she had made her one last request to be taken to see Sai Baba, he had been too busy.  Sai Baba then said “I went to her and I comforted her, and now she is with me. Here I will let you see her now.”  At that moment the man’s wife emerged from inside Sai Baba and stood as a live being in front of him, no longer appearing thin and sickly.  She smiled and took his hand and said “Do not be sad, do not grieve for me, I am happy, happy.”  Then the man’s wife merged again inside Sai Baba.

I tell you this beautiful story, because it seemed to come as an answer, just when I was thinking how best to answer the question concerning all the bad rumours about Sai Baba that were circulating.  It seemed to me that this was what I would call a synchronous wink from the Lord to help me have an answer to all these questions.  I think the story speaks volumes.


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Source: http://www.ramalacentre.com/newsletter09_00_02.htm

[Ashok]

'Another Leela of Baba'
By Indra Devi

That particular year (1969) I had not planned to go for Baba's birthday as I was due to visit India a little later. All the same one evening, after meditation, looking at his picture, I found myself saying: 'Bhagavan, take me to Puttaparthi for Your birthday.' Two years later, I received a phone call from Chuck Wein, a young man who used to come to our Sai Baba Centre in Los Angeles. He was calling from the Warner Brothers Motion Picture Studio.

'Mataji, can you go to India tomorrow? Warner Brothers will pay your passage if you will go to ask Sai Baba's permission to make a documentary film on His life...' Somehow, I wasn't even surprised and answered very calmly, 'Tomorrow is Sunday and all the offices are closed, but I can leave on Tuesday.'

'Who is paying for my ticket?' I asked the Air India manager in Los Angeles.

'Warner Brothers,' he replied.

I arrived just in time for the celebrations which began early in the morning when Bhagavan hoisted the Prashanthi Nilayam flag on the roof of the temple. He then declared that He was Shiva-Shakti incarnated in human form, in order to lead men towards God. He exhorted people to cleanse and purify their hearts - to make Discrimination (Viveka) their flag post, unfurl the flag of Love on in and let it flutter joyfully in the wind of Grace. He also said that He is born in each of us as Love.

'Only that day, when love is born in you, can it be my Birthday.'

At eleven o'clock Swami went from the temple to the auditorium in procession. His mother, Easwaramma, started the ceremony by first garlanding the Sai, then anointing His head with a flower dipped into a cup of fragrant oil. She was followed by several others chosen by Baba from among His old devotees. The procession then moved, headed by the temple elephant Sai Gita.
The day before I was ready to return home, Bhagavan called me in to give His blessing. At parting he produced, with the familiar circling motion of His hand, a beautiful golden medallion of the Goddess Lakshmi.

'I don't want anything, Bhagavan,' I pleaded.

'This is not for you... for the protection of the house - no more fires.'

I did not know at that moment how badly we would need His protection a few months later when we were about to loose the ranch.

After returning from India, I went to the Warner Brothers Studio, but not a soul there had ever heard of Sai Baba let alone my trip to Him!

'Another leela of Baba?' wondered Dick Bock when I told him about it.
Indra Devi - Canada
America's foremost yoga authority - taught Sai Yoga under guidance of Sri Sasthya Sai Baba. A close associate of Baba; personally witnessed many wonderful miracles of Bhagawan.

[Ashok]

Apparitions
By R. D. Awle

Over the years, many people have reported that Sai Baba has appeared before them in various places around the globe in a living form - yet He has ‘physically’ left India only once.  One example is Connie Shaw, the American author and lecturer, who states in her book Wake Up Laughing that Baba has appeared in her home in Colorado over fifty times!  At one point He appeared in the middle of the night, waking her from sleep with a tap on the shoulder, to request that she take over the presidency of a local Sai Center.  Since the center was mainly comprised of Indians and she felt it would be inappropriate for a Westerner to lead them, she refused His request.  The next night He came again, and again she refused.  When He appeared for the third consecutive night she finally relented and agreed to lead the center.  When she reluctantly told the president of the Center about the apparitions, he confessed that on the same three nights Baba had appeared in his home as well, requesting that he resign so Connie could take his place!

Another example is James Sinclair, an American businessman who had never heard of Sai Baba, and who saw, on two occasions, an orange-robed man with an afro appearing and disappearing in his house in the USA.  Inquiring at a spiritual book store if any living Master fit the description, he was shown a photo of Sai Baba, whom he instantly recognized as the man in his home.  When Sinclair finally made it to Baba’s ashram, the first thing Baba said to him was, “I came to you twice!”

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Source: http://www.saibaba-aclearview.com/contents2.html