Miracle on 76th Street
The day was fast approaching—November 20—Swami’s birthday celebration in New York. Among the many big things to take care of was this small one about making the entrance look beautiful and emanate an aura of Sai’s presence. We wanted people walking in to have an immediate sense of His message and His Love. One thought for everyone was to use the large bulletin board in the center of the entrance to communicate Swami’s message. Perhaps we could have the Bal Vikas children do a mural to cover the space. But we didn’t know how big the board was! No one had a measuring tape and with only three days to go and so many things to do, we doubted if anyone of us could come back to measure the space. The construction expert amongst us was asked to eye-ball an approximate estimate. She did; her guess was—18 feet long and 5 1/2 feet wide.
Two days later during the Bal Vikas class, we were equipped with a huge roll of white paper, paints, brushes etc. A parent offered to help us—he had some experience with large murals. “What size should I cut the paper?” he asked. “Approximately 18 feet by 5 1/2 feet” I said. “Do you want a measuring tape?” I asked. “No, I think I’ll be able to estimate the size” he said. With complete confidence he spread the paper on the floor and cut it at a certain point.
The mural turned out beautifully and that very night, it was taken to the school because we were setting up for the celebration the following day. As we started to put it up it struck me that if this mural did not fit the space it would be somewhat of a disaster; if too small, we would have no opportunity to do more artwork, and if too big we would not be able to cut it as it was an integrated piece of work. As this thought ran through my mind my only urge was to measure it against the board. It took three of us to hold it up against the board and lo and behold it was a perfect fit. Had we measured it with a tape we could not have done better because it could not be improved upon. We left the school that night feeling elated and joyful knowing that Swami had given us this ‘miracle’ as a small reminder of his Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Omnipotence.
~Deepa Awal
