Chapter 8
“You should not cry hereafter”

I got married quite early in age, when I was working in a Government department in the south. Due to low salary and limited scope for building up a future career, I resigned the job and mover to Bombay. All my brothers were settled there and I hoped that I would not have any problem there. But the one big problem of availability of accommodation in Bombay was completed overlooked by me,. The houses of my brothers were too small and could just accommodate me with great difficulty; there was no room for setting up a family. Nobody rents out house due to the fear that tenants would not vacate. Or they take a huge sum as one payment without receipt, which is known as pakidi. Or you should purchase your own flat, which I could not afford. As such I could not bring my wife to Bombay for the next three years.

After prolonged wait I could secure some living space on a nominal rent in a suburb called Goregoan. It was an asbestos roofed tenement built by the Government for the sake of hutment dwellers. The original allot tee, a Sikh, had died and his family had gone to their native place. I occupied the house and immediately y wife joined me. The locality was very bad and the inhabitants were slum dwellers. Somehow, my wife who is of very understanding nature adjusted to the situation and tried to bring about a happy home. We lived there for four years.

My income was very meager. It was only while we were in this house, that we got our first son (as I had narrated earlier).

My wife was at her native place in Kerala, during the days when I started hearing about the advent of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and had my first Darshan. I was in the happiest mood, now that I got inhaled the initial delights of the Living God and also benefited from His Grace by the birth of a boy. I felt eager to share so much with my wife on her arrival in Bombay with the child. But when she reached Bombay it became a different story. She entered the house with the child in hand and proceeded to the place where normally we kept the pictures of various gods and goddesses, to offer her Namaskarams.

She looked with curiosity at the photograph of Bhagavan Baba occupying a place with the other deities. She enquired about the identity of the man in the photo, who, to her looked like a “villain in the films”. She asked me to remove it from its place so that she could offer her Namaskar, to the other deities. I tried to put her wise about the various experiences of mine and that of my brother in regaining hearing capacity. I told her, of the belief in the devotees, that Bhagavan Baba is a reincarnation of God in this Kali Yuga. I also brought up before her the visionary pictures of my first Darshan of Swami, my prayers to Him and the evolving faith and devotion in me on Swami. I thought that I conv9inced her. But till she gained her chance of Darshan and experiences, it was not going to be that easy for her to accept Baba.

Since then, it continued to be days of arguments in the house, the object of controversy being Baba Himself. In the end she would start crying and even accusing Swami for all the sufferings in life. If He is really God, she would ask, ‘Why are we placed in abject poverty? Why are we forced to live in such a dirty locality? Why not He bless us at least with a house in our own name in a better place?” We had also suffered humiliation since the house we occupied was unauthorized and the inspecting authorities subjected us to considerable inconveniences. So the question from wife, though appeared simple and naïve, emerging from the heart, failed to elicit any proper and adequate response from me.

I tried to get her around, by telling that it was with the Blessings of Bhagavan Baba that we  got this child. He would definitely do something for us. I further advised her ‘not to cry hereafter’, but start praying to Him with full devotion. I had developed full faith in Baba and if she also developed such a faith, it would prove very beneficial.

I hope that she would adjust to this situation. It is Swami Himself who instills faith and confidence and it is he himself who takes further steps to fulfill the faith of an innocent devotee. I prayed to Him to give peace and solace to my wife and take her into His fold. Within a short period, Swami convinced us that He had heard our prayers.

Maharashtra Government were constructing and allotting dwellings for industrial workers and poorer sections in various places. I had long time back applied for an allotment in a colony built in the neighboring suburban city, Thane. There were about 200 single room flats offered by the housing board for which over a lakh applications for allotment had poured in. With the passage of tine, I had even forgotten about it. Within a couple of months of my wife’s return to Bombay with the child, I received by mail an intimation from the Housing Board that I had been allotted a house at Vartak Nagar, Thane. Yes, we got a nice little flat, of our own, in the second floor on a very meager rent, which was being subsidized by the Government. Those who got allotments as our neighbors were all excellent God loving people. My wife liked the place. She started developing faith in Swami and was eager to have His Darshan.

Swami, after fulfilling a desire of my wife with a house, happened to visit Bombay again, within a short period after the earlier visit. This time the Darshan was arranged in the compound of a bungalow in the East side of Andheri. We had to travel a long way by different modes of transport to reach the place. When we ultimately   reached the place, it was too late. We were not aware of the timings of Darshan and the arrangements. We found that the compound was almost empty barring a few volunteer devotees. We came to know that Darshan was already over in the morning at about 8.00 AM., and there  would not be any Darshan in the evening since Swami was to attend another programme at King Circle, near Matunga. We felt disappointed. This time, it was my wife, who asked me to repose confidence in Baba! “Swami would definitely know that we had come and we were sure to get His Darshan!” Her newfound faith was not misplaced.

We were sitting under a tree in the compound. Swami suddenly made His appearance in the doorstep. Before I could thing anything, my wife jumped, and a trice, was near Swami. She kept the child on His Lotus Feet, and caught hold of the ‘charan’ (Lotus Feet). Placing her head on His Divine Feet, she was crying profusely. I joined her and offered Namaskar to Swami. Baba, in His infinite love and mercy, allowed her to weep for a while and then gently called out to her. When she looked up, Swami glanced at her loving and told her in Tamil, “You should not cry hereafter”  (Note: Readers may remember that these were the exact words which I had uttered earlier to my wife). With our attention on the wonderful charming face of Bhagavan, He smiled at us again, blessed us and moved inside the house.

We continued to stand there in a dazed condition, until the volunteers rushed to push us out. According to them, we should not have come after Darshan was over and caused inconvenience to Swami. Lest our newfound Bliss might be spoiled, we moved out of the compound with the child. This child is His gift and we felt happy to place him on is Lotus Feet. Now it is up to Him to take care of the child for the rest of his life. We felt confident then and there, that he would not let us down.

And we got proof of this. Very shortly, before the child was one year old, he had an attack of diphtheria. Till late on that fateful night, we were not aware of the seriousness of the disease. This new colony, had been developed in a far new location from the city, and was a good 6 kilometers away from Thane and there was no hospital or clinic in our vicinity. It was raining very heavily. The child was running high fever and he was unable to take any milk. He was not even able to swallow his saliva and it was continuously coming out of his mouth. We got panicky. There was a family from the south living in the colony and we took the child to their house not knowing what to do. We could only pray. It was late in the night and still raining. We had no money whatsoever with us. My wife was inside their house and I was standing in the verandah though getting wet in the rain.

When we really feel that we are helpless, the helping hand of Swami reaches out. I could not believe my own eyes. I found a scooter coming in front of the house and a man covered with a raincoat stepped down. He was a doctor from Thane City civil hospital. Indeed he was God sent, at the crucial time! I rushed to him and explained the situation saying that my child was unwell and it seemed that something was seriously wrong with him. The doctor immediately attended on my child, diagnosed it to be a case of diphtheria, and advised immediate hospitalization. It was a very serious case, needing constant medical attention. I explained to the doctor of my helpless situation without any money with me not even for hiring a vehicle at this hour, leave alone medical expenses. He looked at me straight on my face for a while. In fact we were totally strangers. He advised me not to worry any more. He administered some medicines, for temporary relief and said he would come back immediately as he had to go to the city to get the necessary medicines. He spent his own money for purchasing the injections and other medicines. He said he would stay the whole night with us since medicines had to be administered periodically and the progress of the child  had to monitored.

With loving care of the kind doctor, the child crossed the danger mark before dawn. The doctor took leave, promising to visit us again during the morning hours. He visited twice again the next day.

Our faith in Swami helped us in our helpless situation. We could only surrender and pray to Him. He had heard our prayers and sent a Doctor to us at the time of crisis, a doctor with a heart to spare his own money and time and who stayed throughout the night. This is the story of the child begotten by His Grace and protected by His mercy.

Our pilgrimage in the Divine Path had just begun. Years and years of sweet experiences of His Divine Love, were to follow and flow into our life!

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