Devotee's Experience - Contributed to SBOI-Group
Sai Ram
On 7th January 2007, my wife, daughter
and I reached
Shirdi to have darshan of the Sadguru Sainath. Our
tickets for returning from Shirdi to Delhi were booked
on Jhelum Express on 8th January 2007 and we were to
depart from Kopergaon Railway Station at 22:35 hrs.
After spending the entire day at Shirdi we attended
the evening Aarti at Dwarkamai (Masjid) and sought
permission from Baba for our journey to Delhi.
We left Shirdi in an auto rickshaw at 21:00 hrs so as
to reach Kopergaon from where we had to board thetrain for
travelling to Delhi. The distance between
Shirdi and Kopergaon is around 20 kms and most of the
journey is traversed on the state highway, which isconnected to other major towns located in and around
Shirdi. It was dark and the only light was from
oncoming vehicles travelling at very high speed. The
January evening chill made the journey tough for our
daughter and we wrapped her in a shawl in order to provide her some comfort and warmth. The windows of
the Rickshaw were open and there was no covering /
sheet to thwart the cool breeze coming through the
windows.
Before we left the hotel and proceeded to Kopergaon, I
gave the train tickets and some cash to my wife to
keep in her purse. The bag also contained
my wife's
identity card, some documents, a diary and other
miscellaneous items. After travelling around 12 kms
from Shirdi, suddenly my wife tried to reach for her
purse to get cough syrup for our daughter. To her
surprise she could not find the purse in the
autorickshaw.
Download the above picture wallpaper in size 800x600 - 1024x768 or
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The
face of Baba in the above picture is taken from a Portrait (below) of Sai Baba by Jaykar on which Sai Baba
commented " This Picture will live after me"
presently displayed inside Dwarkamai - Shirdi
SAI
BABA'S PORTRAIT IN FRONT OF
DHUNI MAA
This portrait is an oil painting by
the famous painter Shyamrao Jaykar. Moreshwar
Pradhan had brought Jayakar to Shirdi and requested
him to make two portaits of Baba. After Jaykar met
Baba he on his own accord made more than two
paintings, at Baba's bidding, when Baba said 'Aur
Banao Jyada Banao, main gulli Gulli mein rahnewalla
hoon'. This painting was received by the Sansthan,
and after Baba's Mahasamadhi, was installed in the
very place where Baba sat.
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I told her she might have left it at the hotel counter
but she was sure that she had carried it along while
moving into the auto. We requested the auto rickshaw
driver to halt so that we could search for the purse.
He stopped the auto and our frantic search started but
we could not locate the purse. There was total
darkness and silence and I used the searchlight of my
mobile phone to look for the purse in the corners of
the auto but met with no success. We requested the
auto rickshaw driver to return to Shirdi in the hope of
finding it somewhere on the way, though I knew this
was `wishful thinking.' I realized that we would not
be able to retrieve a small purse on the stretch of 12
kms that we had already covered from Shirdi towards
Koperagon.
 The train arrival time was approaching and we were in
a fix regarding what to do, as the tickets were in thebag. We kept requesting the driver to move as fast as
he could towards Shirdi in the remote hope of
retrieving the purse but he saw no merit in driving
aimlessly. My wife kept pestering him to drive a few
more kilometres as we had already covered 4-5 kms
towards Shirdi.
After realizing that it is next to impossible to get
the bag on the highway where vehicles are plying
without interruption, I remembered my Sadguru and
prayed Him. I prayed to Baba that we cannot not leave
Shirdi with such unpleasant memories in our mind.
Within minutes of remembering Sai, I could see a small
object lying in the middle of the road and from the
distance I presumed that it could be the purse.
I requested the driver, who by now was not willing to
travel any further, to drive slowly as we approached
the object. Meanwhile a heavy truck was approaching
from the opposite side and with the help of its
headlights I was stunned to find that the black object
lying on the road was indeed my wife's purse. I
alighted from the Rickshaw and pulled the purse inside
and heaved a sigh of relief and thanked Baba for HIS
merciful deed. There was no damage done to any items
kept inside the purse except a minor cut to it's
exterior surface.
We started the journey to Kopergaon with only 15-20
minutes left before the scheduled departure of the
train. It appeared that we might not be able to make
it in time though the rickshaw driver was trying his
best to reach the station. On reaching the station we
heard the announcement that the train was running late
by half an hour. What a miracle!
Finally we boarded the train with sweet memories and
our hearts filled with love and gratitude for Sadguru
Saibaba.
BOW TO SHRI SAI, PEACE BE TO ALL
Anil Tickoo
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