A Cardiac Surgeon’s Encounter with Divinity

The following article is based on a talk given by Dr. Choudary Voleti at the San Diego Center in April 2000. This is the second of a two-part series.

I want to share some experiences I had in the Super Specialty Hospital at Puttaparthi.

On one visit, I arrived, and some people told me that Swami was waiting for me. Then they directed me to a patient and said I should have a look at him. When I saw his angiogram (a kind of road map of the heart), I told Swami that the man needed an operation. I didn’t know the background or anything else about him. Swami said, “All right. Thursday morning will be a good day for the operation.” Then He told me He would come to the hospital that evening to see the patient. Up until three years ago, Swami visited the hospital at least once a week, but He has stopped doing that. One reason is that when He goes there, everyone stops working in order to see Swami—a rare event for them. Another reason is that now the hospital has become routine and doesn’t need His constant inspiration. Nowadays, whenever the slightest rumor goes around that Swami is coming to the hospital, everyone gets very excited. In this case, I decided to tell only the director that Swami had said he would come to the hospital that evening. At ten o’clock that morning, He arrived at the hospital. It was very beautiful to see.

I realized that the man He had come to see was a very rare individual indeed. He and his wife run an orphanage for handicapped children in Africa. In the country where they live, deformed children are often abandoned. The couple picks up abandoned children from the streets and takes them to an orphanage where they are given shelter, food, and schooling. The children begin living a life of dignity. This man had been doing this for the last 30 years.

A significant event occurred in his life three years ago during one of his visits to Brindavan (ashram in Whitefield). One of the highlights at Brindavan is that Swami takes the students and a few other people to His residence in the evening. He sits in the chair, with the devotees around Him, and talks about various things. In one of those sessions, this devotee I am talking about, fell down in a faint. Technically, one could say he died because a cardiologist who was there said his heart beat stopped. Swami put water in the man’s mouth, and he woke up. Swami told him that nothing had happened; he had just fainted and was going to be fine. But when we saw the angiogram three years later, we realized what had happened. The man had suffered a cardiac arrest. There was no question about it.

This man visits Swami every three or four months. On this particular visit, when he told Swami he was going back to Africa, Swami said, “No Don’t go. Stay here.” A week later, someone advised him to go for a check-up to the hospital. In his early fifties, this man looks healthy. He is a vegetarian, has never smoked and exercises regularly. But when the doctors did the angiogram, they could tell he had severe blockages in the arteries that had been present for a while. Such a condition can be life-threatening, and surgery was advised.

The day for the surgery arrived. Swami often tells us what day is good for an operation. In some cases, he even tells doctors what time of day is good. On Thursday morning, at darshan Swami came to me and said, “What are you doing here?” “We want to have darshan and then operate around nine-thirty,” I replied. “No. Go right now and do the surgery.” I got up immediately and the rest of the team followed me. By 7:45, the patient was in the operating room. I asked him how he was doing. He told me he had been having chest pain all night. He’d never had it before. I asked if he had called for a doctor. “No,” he replied. “I was praying to Swami.” With the kind of blockages, he had, chest pains indicate that a heart attack is imminent—one that could easily prove fatal. I suddenly realized why Swami had told us not to wait. We performed the operation and the patient did very well. That afternoon, just before darshan, Swami asked me, “Yes?” I said, “Swami if l had waited till 9:30, the patient would have died.” Swami turned to the students and repeated what I had said to Him. Then he turned to me saying that the patient would be just fine.

Today this devotee is in excellent physical condition. I see him sometimes when I go to see Swami. His life revolves around one thing-Swami. I once asked him what he was thinking of just before he went to sleep with the anesthesia. He said, “Sai Ram.” Then I asked him what he was thinking of when we took the breathing tube out. He replied, “Sai Ram.”

The second man I want to tell you about was also a heart patient. A fascinating thing about him is that until two years ago, he didn’t have anything to do with Swami, though he was a very devoted person. Rather than thinking of Swami, he thought of God. He is a man of 57 or 58. When he retired, he went to Swami and said, “I want to spend the rest of my life working for You.” But Swami said, “No. First you’ve got to get fixed.” The man didn’t understand because he was very healthy except for a small discharge from his ear. He assumed Swami meant that his ear must be fixed. The condition he had-an infection behind the ear called mastoiditis—is quite benign, but sometimes it requires an operation to correct it. At the hospital a doctor said, “As long as you’re here, we should run some tests.”

They put him on a routine treadmill test, and within three minutes, he had failed the test. The man was confused, since he felt healthy except for a little discharge from his ear, yet doctors were telling him that something was radically wrong with his heart. Swami said, “No problem. Go stay in the hospital.” By the time we got there, the patient was in the hospital. We performed the angiogram and found that he needed surgery. When we told Swami, He said, “You do the operation; Wednesday is a good day. But don’t tell his wife or son; I will tell them.” Then He added that he would come the following morning to see the patient. He came exactly when He said He would and spent a lot of time with the man and gave him vibhuti (holy ash). “See how lucky you are,” He said. These three doctors are from America, just for you.” And for the first time, I heard Swami say something most fundamental. He said to the patient, “It’s your prapthi (loosely translated to mean–it’s your good fortune) and it is my duty.”

Though heart operations are routine, none of them is easy. In general, patients from Southeast Asia are even more difficult to operate upon because of their small stature and thinner arteries. The first thing Swami asked me was, “How is his blood sugar?” “It’s better today, Swami, because he’s being treated,” He told me to go ahead with the surgery on Wednesday morning. By Swami’s grace, though it took a long time, 6 the surgery went well. Afterward, I got padnamaskar (touching the feet of a holy man) and told Swami that the patient was doing fine. He announced to the whole verandah, “Look. Successful operation. Perfect operation.” Then he came to me and said, “Swami is very, very happy.” l cried with joy at having pleased the Lord.

The next morning, Swami asked me how the patient was doing. “He’s doing quite well,” l replied. “We took the breathing tube out. He’s going to sit outside in a chair and he’s even going to eat his favorite breakfast, idli and sambar.” That’s one of the best breakfasts because there is very little fat.

After the operation, there is always some bleeding around the heart. On Thursday, the day after surgery, the patient had blood clots in the heart area; there was no question about it: we could see it in the X-rays. In addition, the tube around the heart area, inserted to drain the blood, was taken out by mistake. I was quite upset. I prayed to Swami: “You say you are the Lord. You say this was a perfect operation, but today this man is not normal. Tomorrow morning, I want to see a normal chest X-ray.”

The next day the X-ray was normal. The patient was up and about. On Friday evening, I told Swami, “He walked 200 feet.” Swami went around announcing, “Two days after the five-hour operation, he walked 200 feet!”

Saturday morning was Shivarathri. Swami came straight to me and said, “Bring the patient here at six o’clock.” “What patient, Swami?” I asked. “The one you operated on. I’ll send my car.” After this conversation, I began to look for people in the ashram to help me bring the patient to Swami. First, we went to check the patient; he was fine. When I came back to the guest house, I was told that one of the senior volunteers was looking for me. When I found him, he said that Swami wanted to know if I could give a 100% guarantee that the patient would be all right when he came to the ashram. I said, “Swami is God. Why are you asking me?” Suddenly, I knew what I had to say. I said, “Yes, go tell Swami, l’l1 give Him 100% guarantee the patient is going to be fine”. This is one of the ways He tests. It happened to me once before this. There was a very sick patient. He came to me and said, “Do you Want to operate on the patient?” There was a slight hesitation, just a fleeting thought, and then I said, “Swami with your blessings I’ll operate on him.”

So, l went back and asked the patient what was going on and why Swami wanted him to come to the ashram for Shivarathri. He said he woke up at 4 a.m. praying loudly to have Swami’s darshan on Shivarathri. I said “Yes, Swami heard it in the ashram.” Everything worked like clockwork. It was so perfectly arranged. The first speaker was just finishing when we walked in with the patient. We put him in the chair. The second person was ready to speak but Swami stopped him. I don’t know how He knew. He turned around and walked toward us. I told Swami the patient was doing very well but since it was very hot, I didn’t think he should stay more than five minutes. Swami gave him His full attention. That is what He does if you have faith.

The surgery was Wednesday. Swami came to me Thursday afternoon and asked to see the patient. Then He said, maybe He would go the next morning at nine. I did not think he would leave the bhajan, but l said, “Whatever You wish Swami.” Three minutes later He came outside and one of the boys with Him went running like an arrow to bring the car. I realized He was not going to wait until tomorrow. The car came and l sat in the back with Swami. As I sat in the car next to Him, I noticed His arm rest, His foot rest and an extraordinary fragrance. ln the two minutes it took us to get to the gate of the ashram, people stood twenty to thirty deep waiting for Him. I asked, “Swami, how did these people know?” “Oh, this is faster than TV,” He said.

I had never seen so many happy faces, so many colors, or so many nationalities. Everybody was laughing and smiling. After a few minutes in the car I became so emotional that I started crying. When we arrived at the hospital, we went straight to the unit. Swami saw the patient who was ecstatic. When we came back to the car, Swami went to the other side and l sat on the side where Swami had sat before. That unnerved me. As we drove, Swami talked about all kinds of things. Then l heard an elephant’s roar. Sai Geetha was standing outside on the road, lifting up her trunk and roaring with happiness. As the car came to a stop, she let out another deafening roar. Swami explained she had been with Him since she was five weeks old and she was now fifty years old.

Looking at the crowd that had gathered around us, I said, “Swami, look at these people. They are so happy.” He said, “With a child, the mother smiles, and everybody smiles. You should always smile. There is so much beauty in a smile.”

By the time we got back, I was overwhelmed and found it difficult to absorb the experience.

l was also afraid that this was going to go to my head. Whatever doubt I might have had about Swami was gone. As soon as the car came to a stop, I fell at His feet. It was an incredible experience.

Source: “Sai Cure,” Sanathana Sarathi, August I998

At an informal gathering, one of the people asked Baba, “Swami, what is the secret of the cure that many afflicted persons experience in Your presence?” Baba said simply and instantly, “It is My experience that I am one with every sentient thing, every human being. My love flows to everyone as Myself. If a Person reciprocates My love from the depth and purity of his heart. My love and his meet in unison and he is cured of his affliction. Where there is no reciprocation, there is no cure.”

~Baba