Chapter 7
Vision at Thrayambaka

There are some devotees who had experienced His Grace, much before they had come into the fold of Sai. They came to know of this, much later on being revealed by Swami Himself, or through by some other methods. One of the Ashtothara Archana mantras of Bhagavan Baba mentions as "Kaalaatheethaya Namaha". It means that 'I worship the one who is beyond the 'Kala' i.e. time'. He is bound by time and space; He is eternal and omnipresent. Without our being even aware of it, for reasons best known to Him only, He extends His Grace to you. He is so loving and merciful and His divine loves binds you for ever with the Divinity.

I too, had such an experience, which is unforgettable. This happened even before I came to know of the Advent of Sai, the second coming. Till then, I knew Sai of Shiridi only. It was the beginning of the year 1965, when I visited Shiridi with my wife for the first time. I felt truly blessed and experienced peace after worshipping at the Samadhi.

From there we proceeded to a nearby pilgrim center, Nashik which is on the banks of river Godavari. The other side of the bank is called "PANCHAVADI'. Our scriptures say that Lord Sri Rama stayed here with His consort Sita and brother Lakshmana during their sojourn to the forest. Sri Rama had paid oblations to His departed father King Dasaratha at the banks of Godavari at Panchavadi.

It was from this place that Ravana had taken away mother Sita. It is a great pilgrim center. We had holy bath in Godavari river and visited various places of interest near there. We were staying at Shankara Mutt. Somebody from the Mutt informed that this Holy Godavari River is originating from a placed called "Thrayambaka" which was about 25 kilo meters away from Nashik, and suggested that we should visit this Holy place also. He explained that Adi Shankara Himself had installed a powerful Jyothir Linga in a temple there, and the Deity is called Lord Thrayambakeswara. It means that it embodiment of all the three amsaas of divinity viz., Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, in a single piece of Lingam. We accepted his suggestion and visited the place.

We reached Thrayambakam at the fag end of the day and the sun was about to set. It was a small village and there was not much crowd, only about a dozen or so pilgrims inside the temple. We entered the sanctum of the temple and was looking inside the place where the deity is installed. I could find the base of the lingam but no lingam was in the usual shape there. We could only see a cavity. Water was continuously oozing out of the cavity and the pundits were cleaning very often with cloth. It was amazing that no lingam was found, even though it was claimed that Adi Shankara had installed it. While I was thus standing there in utter confusion of mind, an elderly man called me from behind. He looked very pious with tuft in his head and wearing a neat white Dhothi like a pundit; but looked very serene. He talked to us in Tamil, which is our language. Initially he enquired wherefrom we had come etc. Later on, he took interest in us and explained about the importance of the Holy place in detail. When I enquired where is the Holy Lingam, he told us that there is not one but three small lingams placed in the sides of the cavity of the base, which is not visible from outside. The three lingams represent Brahma, Vishnu, and Lord Shiva, exactly as was explained to us at Panchavadi Shankara Mutt. In those primitive old days, Adi Shankara had traveled all the way from a remote village in Kerala to this place where Holy River Godavari originates and installed this Jyothi lingam. I wondered how this was possible without any means of transport. Moreover, He has installed 8 such lingams in various parts of India within his short span of 32 years. We heard all these from this pious man and in the end, we prostrated before him. He blessed us that by next year we should come again with a newborn child. He then moved away.

Within a few minutes, we searched for him and went up to the nearest bus stop and he could not be seen. We wished to have his contact address in Bombay so that we could meet him again when we return. But he had just vanished.

Here, I wish to mention one other factor. Since I could not get accommodation in Bombay, I had left my wife at our village in Kerala and she was forced to stay there for over three years. Ultimately by Grace of God we got a temporary accommodation and settled our family in a Bombay Suburb named 'Goregoan'. However, for the next three years we did not have the pleasure of having a child. Due to some medical grounds the doctors had said she might not conceive again. This is the situation when we visited, Shiridi, Nashik and Thrayambakam.

Shortly after our return to Bombay my wife conceived and we got a baby boy. The boy was born at her native place in Kerala, which had earlier been described in detail. Soon after her arrival with the child, we went to our Gurui, Dhyani Maharaj Sri Madhusudhan Dasji who was in the residence of His disciple Dr. Pathak at Prarthana Samaj. He took the child in his hands and fondled him. While giving back the child, he mentioned that we had got the child due to the Grace of Sai whom we had started worshipping recently. "You need not worry about the boy since Sai will Himself look after the child, protect him, guide him and help him in all his endeavour in his life". Then we knew that the pious man whom we met at the sanctum of Thrayambakam must be Sai Himself, whom we did not know during those days.

I had already enjoyed the bliss of Darshan of Bhagavan Baba for the first time, had an extraordinary experience. Yet, I asked a foolish question to our Guruji. "Guruji, excuse me, but who is this Sai Baba? Is he a magician, a saint, or what else? He is reportedly showing lot f miracles and are they all genuine?" Guruji admonished me and cautioned me not to utter such words. "Sai is Poorna Avatar and you should worship Him for all the rest of your life. In fact, it is He who had sent you to me!" I apologized for my bad thoughts and enquiry and prayed to Bhagavan Baba also, to forgive me.

From that day onwards, all these years, it is only Sai and Sai only in my life and every breath of mine also vibrates with the name of Sai. I try to be very very alert not to forget Him not even for a moment. He on His part continued to look after me, guide me and hold me close to Him ever after!

Author's statement in:
http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/SaiGroup-BombaySrinivasan/message/1

Many of you may be aware that I had authored a book with the title "Sri Sathya Sai Hrudaya Nivasi (Indweller of Hearts). This book had seen the third reprint, and is being sold in Bhagavan's Bookstall at Prashanthi Nilayam. Many of you would have purchased and many would not have got chance to go to Parthi and get the book. After the third edition, this may not go to print again. As such I wish to bring the contents of this book to each and every one of you.

Starting from today I shall post one chapter every week or if possible twice a week, depending upon the response I get from you all. I would request you to kindly read it and then re-circulate it to your other friends in the Sai Family.

The text could be transferred to your hard disk, and if possible print outs taken out.

Utilize the contents, as much as you like.

With Lots of Love and regards
Bombay Srinivasan