A Blessing in Disguise
Between 1988 and 2011, Prof. U.S. Rao was the Dean of the Faculty of Business Management and was also the Director at the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning.
His love has no limit,
His grace no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men,
For out of His infinite riches in Sai,
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
The most important decision I took in my life was in 1987, when I decided to come to Prasanthi Nilayam and join the Institute of Higher Learning. Little did I know at that time that in about two years’ time, I and my wife would be involved in a serious accident on March 26, 1989 (Sunday), that would have left our children orphans. Bhagavan’s compassion alone must have brought us to Him at the most crucial time in our life. It is my experience that in the presence of Bhagavan one gains infinite treasures, and even gets a new lease of life. Life becomes more peaceful and happier once we turn toward Him.
Bhagavan is an ocean of compassion. He knows our past, present, and future. He showered a lot of grace and attention on me. Knowing, in His omnipresence, that [my] death was fast approaching, He gave me a few hints as He wanted to alert me. In 1988, during darshan [sight of a holy man] Bhagavan asked me once, “Are you ready?” Though I was puzzled I replied, “Yes Swami.” He then asked, “For what?” As I did not know I replied, “I don’t know.” Bhagavan smiled and said “Yes. You should be ready for everything in life.”
Then in September 1988, when Bhagavan was in Brindavan, a few of us (staff members) went to see Him on a Sunday. That evening Bhagavan paid a lot of attention to us, and said to others, “My staff from Parthi have come to see Me.” He made us sit around Him in the interview room and spent an hour or more sharing with us several surrender stories, such as saving Draupadi in the Kaurava court, Gajendra Moksham [the prayer of the elephant Gajendra to Vishnu for protection], and other instances of salvation. He indicated the importance of total surrender. Immediately after that He said, “Go back quickly before it is dark, hurry now!” We rushed to collect all the members of the party and went off in a van back to Parthi, blissfully unaware of what Bhagavan foresaw in the future for us.
Bhagavan appeared in a dream to my wife many months prior to the accident. In that dream, Bhagavan had two patches with no hair on His head, which He showed her. She said, “Why worry, Swami, you have so much hair. It can be easily covered.” Surprisingly after the accident, my wife had exactly the same two patches on her head because of two skin grafting operations. Probably the dream also meant that He had taken the impact and suffering on Himself, so that she could withstand and survive that fatal accident.
Bhagavan in His infinite compassion decided to save us, as is evident by the events that happened in February 1989. On the 8th of February, Bhagavan gave a wonderful bright yellow silk saree to my wife (symbolizing auspiciousness) and called us for an interview on the 9th of February—our 20th marriage anniversary day. In the interview, He profusely blessed us with long happy life, and to my wife He said, “Deergha Sumangali Bhava“, meaning ‘may your husband live very long.’
During March 1989, the circumstances so developed that I had to go to Brindavan to seek Bhagavan’s guidance and approval on official matters concerning the department. As Bhagavan was at Brindavan, my wife also joined me on this trip on the 26th of March, 1989, when the serious accident took place.
On the 25th night, one of my colleagues, while meditating, heard a message that he will be seeing us for the last time. He came to us to hand over a letter to Bhagavan but did not say anything, not wanting to upset us when we were planning to leave for Brindavan.
On the same night, another colleague who was to come with us had very bad dreams wherein he was in the midst of skulls, skeletons, and blood. He saw himself carrying dead bodies. His wife, on hearing about the dream, insisted on accompanying him. As there was no place in our van, they got into the next van, following ours. Exactly as he dreamt, his van reached the accident site within a few minutes of the accident, and he played a major role in carrying the injured persons to the hospital in their van. It was as if Bhagavan had ordained him to follow us in the next van and save us on His behalf.
On 26th of March, 1989, early in the morning, we and our friends started from Prasanthi Nilayam to Brindavan in a Matador van [a minivan]. Having crossed Bagepalli, we were on the way to Chikballapur. The van was going very fast, the breeze was cool, and all of us just dozed a little. As soon as my wife closed her eyes, she clearly saw Bhagavan’s face and was thrilled by the vision. This happened thrice. She was just ready to share the joy when there was a loud thud. The van catapulted three times and landed on the ground with its wheels up. A lorry had hit the side of the van behind the driver’s cabin. The impact was so severe that the back door of the van opened with a jerk and threw out some of our colleagues onto the road. The driver lost balance and jumped out of the vehicle in panic.
I received severe injuries on my head and jaw and had a black eye. Later I was told that a few ribs had also broken. Out of shock I had amnesia, and I started speaking disjointedly. My wife suffered severe head injury and the skin on her head was torn badly.
She had to have 120 stitches on her head at Whitefield Hospital. She bit her tongue and was gulping large quantities of blood. Blood was also oozing from her head in a stream, and all her clothes were wet with blood. But through Bhagavan’s grace, and His appearing just before the accident, she was very calm and serene. Thinking her end was near, she prayed to Bhagavan to take care of me and children. She did not experience any pain whatsoever either at that time or later during the next one and a half months, undergoing operations and recovering from accident injuries.
Our colleague who came in the van behind our van was our savior. As ordained by Bhagavan, he reached the site of accident within minutes and quickly took charge of the situation. He started organizing all the necessary arrangements for transporting us to the nearest first aid hospital at Chikballapur. Bhagavan was immediately informed and He, like a sweet mother, got timely medical assistance in Bangalore Hospitals and in our own Hospital at Whitefield and personally supervised all arrangements.
Within minutes of the arrival of the injured passengers in the vehicle at Whitefield hospital, Bhagavan came to the hospital and consoled everyone, created and poured vibhuti [holy ash] on them. He personally poured cold water and coffee in my wife’s mouth. He soothed her by saying, “l will take care of everything, just lie down and relax. I will send for a car now and bring Rao to Whitefield.” His concern, love, and compassion at that moment are just unforgettable. My wife later told me that at that moment she felt it was worth going through many more accidents if one could experience so much of Bhagavan’s love.
On hearing about the accident, our University’s Vice-Chancellor and Registrar rushed from Prasanthi Nilayam to Brindavan. Bhagavan straight away took them to the hospital in Bangalore to see me and the other seriously injured patients. Due to amnesia, I don’t remember any of the incidents in the hospital at Bangalore. I was told that Bhagavan poured out so much love, caressed my injured ribs, and created vibhuti and put it in my mouth. He mentioned to me by my bedside, “See Rao, the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar have come from Prasanthi Nilayam to meet you.” At that time, I opened my eyes without knowing what was happening. He rubbed vibhuti on my arm. I had a faint glimpse of the caring Lord standing by my bedside with a loving face and compassionate eyes.
On the 28th of March 1989, I was brought to Whitefield hospital. To my wife’s dismay, I just could not remember many things. I did recognize her, but would go on repeating “Where is Whitefield? What does Brindavan look like? Which day is this?” and so on. Bhagavan visited us on the 30th of March (Thursday), and spent some exclusive 20 minutes sitting on a small steel chair with only both of us on either side, telling us the details of the accident.
Unfortunately, those blissful moments are very hazy in my memory as I was still experiencing amnesia. Bhagavan felt that I should go in for further tests. Mrs. Rao prayed, “Swami, nothing but Your grace matters, and we don’t want any tests done. Your word that all will be well is itself the cure.” After some persuasion, Bhagavan finally said, “OK I am telling you, absolutely nothing will be wrong with him. He will be perfectly all right.” To add to our joy, He cancelled my visit to Bangalore hospital for further tests.
On His next visit He came silently into the room, taking us by surprise, and poured coconut water into my mouth with so much love. It would not be an exaggeration to say that we were blissfully happy during those days, soaking in Bhagavan’s love and care so much so that we did not inform our own parents, brothers, and sisters about the accident. The Divine mother’s love, care, and affection far exceeded the love and affection we experienced from our own parents during all our life. To try and express the totality and depth of divine love will be futile, but I will still cite a few examples to illustrate the same.
Almost every day, Bhagavan would send a big bag containing fruits, biscuits, electrolyte powder, and other healing staples with detailed instructions for us. Since our trip to Brindavan was planned for a day or two, we did not have any clothes with us, so Bhagavan sent a tailor to take my measurements in the hospital and by the same afternoon He sent many pairs of clothing.
Another day Bhagavan Himself brought a plastic bag containing soaps, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and a huge towel. To top it all, Bhagavan said, “Rao look what I have brought for you.” Saying so He took out a pair of sunglasses and said, “For you to wear when you come for darshan.” He felt that, with my black, swollen, bulging eye, I might not like to be seen outside and the sunglasses would help me.
He personally sent messages to the Principals of both Anantapur College and the Primary School at Prasanthi Nilayam and asked them to inform my daughters who were studying there that we were all right and that we are under His care and that they should not be worried, and to study for their examinations well. He arranged for them to be brought by car on the afternoon of their last examination and made them stay in Brindavan till their grandparents came and took charge. The entire expenses of the treatment were completely borne by Bhagavan. We did not spend even a single rupee under His care. We were literally being carried away in the flood of His love and we spent every day in so much joy, that it was really a blessing in disguise.
My wife’s words still keep ringing in my ears, “If we can receive such love and concern from Swami, we can go through many more such accidents.” Yes, it is very true.
Source: Sai Vandana 1990 (65th Birthday Offering)
