The Guess Came True
“Where had You been, Swami?” we asked Him, when He sat up and leaned back on the wall. He answered with a smile, as if He was not at all tired or exhausted after the 20-minute absence from the body. “Oh! I had been to Dehradun [a town in northern India]!”
We were astonished! We asked Him what was the urgency for the visit, what was the calamity that had to be averted, who was the bhakta [devotee] involved etc. He said that it was not a ‘calamity’ this time, but it was a dying person to whom He had to give His darshan [sight of a holy person], at the time of death. “That was why you saw vibhuti [sacred ash] issue from My mouth. When I give darshan to a dying person that happens. Remember this.”
We searched our memories for the name and address of the Dehradun devotee, but we could not recall anybody’s name. Then Baba Himself volunteered the information. He said, “Don’t you remember Dr. Krishna, the lady medical officer from Vellore [a town in South India], who comes here often? It was her mother who passed away ten minutes ago, at Dehradun.” As it happens, He was speaking to three of us in His room at the Prasanthi Nilayam at Puttaparthi on 15th November 1958, at 5:40 p.m.
At 5:20 p.m. that day, while Baba was reading aloud a letter, He suddenly shouted, “Ha!” as if He was answering some one calling Him from afar, and He fell on the floor as if He had thrown His body and left it in a hurry on a journey! There were two others in the room beside myself and we watched over Him helplessly, praying to Him, for what could we do other than that? At 5:30, Baba coughed three times and there gushed from His mouth the sacred vibhuti. We wondered what it could mean. Ten minutes later, He came back and sat up. It was then that we ventured to ask Him, “Where had You been Swami?”
We knew Dr. Krishna and had seen her at Puttaparthi and at Delhi, when Baba visited the doctor’s home. When Baba was at Rishikesh, the mother had come down to the place and she even had the unique satisfaction of worshipping Baba. So we were glad that the mother was privileged to have had the darshan of the Lord during her last moments.
Baba told us, in answer to our questions, that Dr. Krishna was at her beside at Dehradun, that she was actually there at the time He left, holding the pulse, and that it was a quiet and a happy death. He said that all the nearest and dearest were around the bed. “She was a very pious lady and she got the death she deserved,” He said. “They are doing bhajan in that room! The atmosphere is so pure and holy,” He announced. Surely, we thought, that was why Baba blessed the soul.
We were all, indeed, lucky that we could witness this manifestation of the divine mystery, for as Baba has often said, “Only the Lord can discern the exact moment of the liberation of a soul.”
The 15th of November was a Saturday. On Tuesday, the 18th, the post brought an inland letter from Dehradun, which Baba gave me to read, and when it was opened, it was from Dr. Krishna herself! She had posted it on Sunday with extra stamps, and it had come fast and flying to Baba’s hands.
“My mother drew her last breath,” it said, “at 5:30 p.m. yesterday.” Dr. Krishna had also written that they were doing bhajan in the room for some time and that her mother was praying to Baba during her last moments. She concluded her letter thus, “I guess she had Your darshan.”
She guessed 1500 miles away! And we were told by Baba at Prasanthi Nilayam that her guess had come true!
~Late Prof. Kasturiji
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Jan. 1960
