The Divine Surgeon

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba came into our lives during the latter half of 1978 when we were transferred to Raub, Pahang, Malaysia. Prior to that, although hailing from a Hindu religious family, much controversy and corruption of religious ethics, coupled with fanaticism of a certain ideology, shattered whatever belief and devotion I had for Hinduism.

Light came after a short period of darkness when in Raub we were ‘introduced’ to Bhagavan Baba in His own way. Love sprouted spontaneously for Bhagavan and my family was put in the right direction and devotion. Things began to fall in the right perspective, and our lives have become smooth and peaceful under the guidance of the Divine Guru.

Bhagavan’s miracles were many and amongst others the latest is when Bhagavan became a surgeon to correct a bone deformity of my youngest child—Roshan.

Roshan, a boy of 8 years, is the youngest of my three children. This boy was born with a bowing deformity on both legs, but more pronounced in the left. It never struck us that the boy, who was walking by throwing his left foot across the right in the form of a ‘T’, needed treatment until one day on July 10th, 1981, he was referred to the Orthopedic Consultant in the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital. The consultant, who was from India, on examining the boy opined that he was having a rare bone deformity that could only be corrected by surgery. The con­sultant fixed an operation date, but on our plea he arranged for a second X‑ray. He had a good look at a set of X‑ray pictures taken prior to seeing him.

With heavy hearts we returned home thinking to ourselves the pain and agony the child would be undergoing if surgery was to be performed. We were more worried about the outcome of it. What would happen if something were to go wrong? Thoughts of the consultant’s words that the leg bones must be “reset” sent cold waves down our spines. We prayed to Bhagavan Baba for help.

My wife, who easily breaks down due to motherly affection, was expressing her sorrow and simultaneously endeavoring to conceal it. As the father, I was trying to put up a bold front. However, both of us had one common stand. Leave it to Bhagavan Baba and apply His BLESSED VIBHUTI on both his legs before he goes to bed. My wife did it continuously for three days.

On the fourth day, as usual the boy was having tuition from his mother at home. Suddenly he complained of severe twisting pains in both his legs, but more pronounced in the left. The pain, according to him, was felt right up to his hips. The mother doubted the words of the boy, as he was known for his tricks to avoid his lessons. He would seize the slightest pretext to run away. But continuous pain inhibited the boy from learning further and he went to bed in tears. The whole matter was left at that stage, and I was not made known of it either.

The next day, when I was having my lunch my son happened to pass by, and something caught my eyes. It appeared that there was some change in the style of his walking. Without making him aware, I asked him to walk to a certain point in the house and what did I see? The boy walked perfectly normally. There was not the ‘T’ formation when he walked. I called my wife and even without informing her about my experience re­quested her to observe the walk. We could not believe our eyes. We asked the boy to run a short distance on the road opposite our house. It was done. The Divine Surgeon, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, had done it. What shall we say? How shall we express ourselves over this MIRACLE?

On 9‑12‑81, we had an appointment with Dato Dr. Sivanantham, Head of the Institute of Orthopedics and Traumato­logy, General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, as the previous consultant had returned to India. We went into the doctor’s room loaded with a fresh set of X‑rays taken on that very day. We informed the doctor that we are Sai Baba devotees and told him of Baba’s miracle that had taken place. We requested his professional opinion even though we needed no further proof. The X‑rays were seen, the boy’s legs were thoroughly examined, and a brief silence preceded before the doctor commented that the legs were perfect. In his own words ‘I wish the doctor (from India) was here to witness this’. We requested Dr. Sivanantham for a statement of his professional findings, which he kindly consented to give. I reproduce below, with his permission, the report he gave to us:

‘Roshan, an eight-year-old Indian male, was seen in the Orthopedic Clinic on 2^nd September 1981 with a complaint of bowing deformity of his left leg since the time of his birth. He is handicapped by this deformity in his games in school and was shunned by his classmates as he could not run fast. He was seen on the 7^th of October 1981 by a Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon in my Institute who confirmed that the boy had a medial torsion deformity of both tibiae (leg bones) more pronounced on the left than on the right. Patient was advised to undergo surgical treatment, but the parents wanted time to think over it before giving the consent for surgery.

‘Patient was seen again by me on the 9th of December 1981, and to my surprise I could not detect any deformity in both the legs. X‑rays of the legs did not show any deformity in the bones.

‘It is a well-known fact that deformity in children can get corrected spontaneously, but this process takes many years. In this particular case the deformity has corrected itself within two months. According to the parents the boy complained of twisting pain in the legs for a few days and suddenly one fine morning they noticed him to be walking and running normally without any deformity in the legs. I cannot explain it in any other way except by saying that this is a miracle that is to be seen to be believed’.

How can we thank Bhagavan Baba for this? We only pray that Bhagavan Baba gives us strength to follow all HIS teach­ings and be worthy of HIS LOTUS FEET

—K. Karthikeyan, Raub, Malaysia

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, August 1982