Divine Mischief

Bhagavan must have been in His early twenties when He decided to play with some young cricketers by manifesting His powers through the medium of a cricket ball.

A Raja (king) from the erstwhile Madras [Chennai] State was one of Bhagavan’s early devotees, and Bhagavan used to visit him at his royal residence. During one such stay, He watched the Raja’s sons, who had come for a holiday from their studies in England, playing cricket with some friends. Baba walked up to the boys, who were the same age as the young Baba, and told them He wanted to join the game.

Imagine what was going on in the minds of the boys, when this youngster in His long orange robe, who came from a distant small village, put this request to them. “It’s impossible,” they said. “For this game you have to wear a proper dress, which has all these padded things.” “Not necessary for Me,” said the young Swami. “I can play like this, no problem. Just give Me a bat and throw Me a ball.” Swami insisted on his participation.

Reluctantly the boys handed Baba a bat. They didn’t relish the idea of playing with this village Swami. “Our daddy is very fond of Him,” they thought. “Daddy will be very angry with us if He gets hurt in the game.” So they started to throw some soft balls at Baba, to which He did not respond. “Stop that nonsense,” He commanded. “Throw Me a real hard ball.”

One of the boys became angry enough and set out to provide a tough challenge. The bowler sent a ball at a tremendous speed. Surprise of surprises, Swami didn’t move to use the bat; no, He stood leaning on it until the ball stopped in mid-air about half a meter in front of the frail figure. All the boys came close to see the ball suspended in the air. With a smile, Swami feigned the move for a hard hit. He stopped, however, just half way above the ball. Then, with a gentle pat of the bat, He made the ball fall down heavily on to the wicket. The boys were aghast and wonderstruck. From that day, the Raja’s sons became very interested in Baba and ultimately became His devotees.

~Sai Mira
Source: Spiritual Impressions