A braveheart’s faith: Reader speak

The incident below was shared by Kanmani Pushparajan who lives in Malaysia and longs to visit Shirdi. An undergraduate student, she is an ardent believer of Baba and places utmost faith in him. Presenting the happening in Kanmani’s own words:

 

 

There are many incidents that happened to show the presence of Baba in my life. The one that strikes me is this incident which occurred around three years back.

At that time, I was undergoing a tough , struggling between my studies and my dad’s poor health.  The only shoulder for me to lean and cry was that of Baba. At that point, I longed for a necklace with Baba’s  pendant as it would help me feel that Baba is really close to me. I needed that reassurance to stay strong. One day, I came to know that a special pooja will be performed on Full Moon day at Shirdi Sai Baba centre that I used to visit regularly. I was asked to pay a small amount of money to join the prayer ( to purchase the kalasha) but it was difficult for me then as I was unemployed at that time.  The credit goes to my dad who readily grants me anything if it is for Baba and therefore he provided me with the requisite sum of money.

The sum collected was to be used to perform pooja on the Full Moon day, placing a Kalasha (a coconut placed on top of a milk pot decorated with mango leaves). A fascinating aspect was that a souvenir would be placed inside each of the milk pot, in front of participating devotees with a surprise gift. I was very excited (literally counting the days) to both join the pooja and see the surprise gift I would receive from Baba. 

Unfortunately on the day of the Pooja, my dad was admitted to the hospital and I was unable to attend it. I was totally heartbroken and extremely sad on two counts. My father was seriously ill and my heavenly father, my Sai Baba had also not given me darshan.  The person in charge of the pooja had clarified that if the one who had paid for the kalash could not attend the prayers, the Kalasha purchased would go to another devotee.

After a few months, I visited the Baba’s temple, as usual.  Just to satisfy my curiosity, I asked the priest about my Kalasha. As stated earlier, he told me that it had been given to another devotee. I merely nodded my head I checked my feelings telling myself to be patient as it wasn’t the correct time to receive the gift from Baba).

After some thinking, the priest told me to wait for a few moments. He went to a nearby shelf and picked up something from there. My heart began to beat fast. (I was not able to see what it was as he closed his fist). He then went towards Baba’s idol and placed the unknown gift on Baba’s lap, prayed and called me towards him. I bowed at Baba’s feet and prayed to my benefactor. The priest picked up the tiny packet which was a small plastic sachet and gave it to me. He told me that it was Baba’s gift for me from the Poornima Pooja (full moon day) that I had missed.

 I thanked Baba a million times and excitedly opened the plastic sachet hurriedly. Can you guess what Baba had gifted me?

It was the very thing that I had so wanted during my very difficult time, when the journey of life had become a challenge for a youngster like me and when the going was so rough that I would often quietly cry, hoping for something good to happen. Yes, it was something that brought Baba close to me, just like I had hoped and prayed. It was a SILVER CHAIN! Slung from the chain was a pendant with  SAI BABA’S IMAGE on BOTH SIDES! My dream wish had come true. My heavenly father had heard and answered m prayers. My joy knew no bounds and my eyes filled with tears of gratitude looked at Baba’s idol. He was looking at me too! Lovingly!  Thank you Baba! Thank you, Sai! OM SAI RAM!!!