“Should I create something in order to show you a miracle?”
Siddhanth Chandrashekar was a student in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam Campus, from 2006-2010. Currently, he is a scientist at GE Global Research, Bangalore.
We are always thrilled when we witness a miracle of Bhagavan or for that matter even hear about it. That is why whenever we talk about Bhagavan, the first thing that very often comes to our mind are His miracles. Miracles reveal His omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence and thrill us, fascinate us, and leave us amazed. These ‘visiting cards’ of His have been drawing so many people to Prasanthi Nilayam from all parts of the world. In fact, how we came to Bhagavan is quite miraculous [in itself]. Let me narrate to you how my father came into Bhagavan’s fold or rather how Bhagavan got him into His fold.
It was way back in the year 1987 when my father came to know that there was a person by name Sathya Sai Baba. He knew nothing more and he never bothered to know anything more. One day, he was returning home in the train as usual after the day’s work. A stranger sitting opposite my father for no apparent reason suddenly took out a photo of Bhagavan and gave it to my father. My father did not understand but nevertheless he took the photograph. He asked my father, “Why don’t you attend bhajans [devotional singing]?” My father was taken aback because he had never attended any bhajans till then. The man told my father that there was a doctor in my father’s locality who was a devotee of Swami and advised my father to go there. When my father’s destination arrived, this man who was supposed to go further down got down with my father.
Even though he was a chronic asthma patient himself (as he mentioned to my father) he took the trouble of taking my father to the doctor’s place and introduced him to the doctor. My father didn’t understand what exactly happened and he took it lightly. The following Sunday my father did not go for the bhajans. But the next Sunday, my father, out of curiosity, went for the bhajans. At first, he felt it quite strange that one person was leading, and everybody else was repeating, but nevertheless he liked it. From that day he started attending the bhajans regularly and developed more and more interest in Swami and soon became an ardent devotee of Bhagavan. The whole incident is so mysterious and miraculous even though it looks very normal. The slow transformation and the difference in the outlook were greatly influenced by Swami’s impact. After all everything is His will.
Speaking of miracles, I am reminded of what Bhagavan once said to Dr. Osis, who had come to meet Bhagavan and to investigate into His miracles. Bhagavan said, “I do not perform miracles to procure certificates from anybody. So it is not possible for Me to do anything just for the purpose of your investigations. I perform the so-called ‘miracles’ only to show My love, protect My devotees in distress, and to reveal the extra-ordinary powers of the Supreme.” Many a time, we have seen our Lord creating material objects and presenting them to His devotees for their protection. But it does not necessarily mean that creation is necessary for protection. Let me tell you the experience of my mother in which the Lord proved to be her Savior in dire need. The experience shows how Bhagavan responds to every little prayer that emanates from a pure heart.
My mother is a chronic asthma patient. It so happened that my grandmother, who stayed with us, wanted to meet a few relatives and was very adamant in visiting those relatives’ house. Now, she was dependent on my mother to take her to the their house. But it was impossible for my mother to take her out because it would be quite a long journey; my mother already had a slight wheezing problem and overexertion would make it severe. My mother had no choice but to take her. So my mother went and prayed in front of Bhagavan’s photo and totally surrendered at His feet. When she left home, she had slight wheezing that to her surprise stopped as she got down the stairs. She took my grandmother, left her in her relatives’ place and returned home after three hours. and believe it or not, for those three hours she had no wheezing at all!
There are so many people around the world who seek the Lord’s help in their dire needs and He readily responds. His is a 24-hour ‘Help-Desk’; you can call up anytime and He is there to respond in a flash. Bhagavan moves among us, talks to us, and laughs with us in such a humanly manner that we tend to forget that He is the Supreme One. But sometimes in order to reveal His supreme power, the Lord performs miracles, which stun the people who watch them and even those who hear of them.
In those good old days, Swami used to go to the banks of River Chitravati with His devotees. One day, Swami was seated on the riverbed with His devotees. The sun had set and the full moon in the sky had filled it with its cool radiance. Swami looked at it for some time and asked if the moon looked like His face? As He moved His fingers on the Earth, an extraordinary phenomenon took place in the sky. A halo appeared around the moon like Swami’s hair! That was not all. The pointed fingers of Swami wrote something on the dark dome. Then there appeared on that heavenly hairdo, a Shankha and a Chakra (Lord Vishnu’s conch and disc) streaked in lightning. With a further wave of His hand, the conch of lightning dived into Swami’s hand itself and converted itself into a conch shell as found on earth. Swami then poured amrit [nectar] from it into the mouths of more than hundred devotees. All the devotees who watched the whole scene were stunned.
All these miracles are very fascinating, but Bhagavan performs them with a purpose and not for our entertainment or to please us. Once a group of college students had come from Bangalore to Puttaparthi to have the Lord’s darshan [seeing Him]. They all were pleading with Swami to take them to the hilltop near the [River] Chitravati with the hope that Swami would perform miracles by materializing different objects from the Kalpavriksha [the wish-fulfilling tree]. Prof. Kasturi was also there and joined in the plea. Swami was determinedly silent for a while. A little later He said sharply, “Do I require that particular tree? Any tree will do, will it not?”
They were filled with the hope that Swami would give them objects from some tree. But no, instead He continued, “Why do you imagine that I want a tree? Is not the sand bed good enough?” They now thought that Swami would give them something from the riverbed as it was off-season, and the flow of water was reduced to a trickle in the river. Soon they were disillusioned, for He continued, “Why do I need the sand of the riverbed? Will not any sand do?” At that time building construction was in progress in Prasanthi Nilayam, and noticing a sand pile nearby Prof. Kasturi suggested to Swami that they could sit on that sand pile itself.
Swami retorted, “Do you think that creation out of sand alone is a miracle? Is sand so essential?” They were stumped and did not know what to say. Prof. Kasturi just then recalled that Swami had created objects from a wave of His hand. Meanwhile Swami continued, “Should I create something in order to show you a miracle. Is not your existence itself a miracle of Mine?” He then walked away leaving them stunned with the revelation that He is none other than the Supreme Creator Himself. Only mere creations are not revelation of Bhagavan’s Godhood; there is something deeper and that is His boundless love. His love is not only confined to Prasanthi Nilayam but envelopes His entire creation. That is why what we have to really try and understand and experience is His greatest miracle, His miracle of transformation.
Today the world has reached such a miserable state that love has dried up in the hearts of man. His mind is totally corrupt with ego, and selfishness is ruling over him. Man is killing himself and that is why the Lord has to come to transform the whole world. Transformation is His mission, and with His love He has been tirelessly transforming us every moment from bad to good, from good to better, and from better to best, and He will continue to do so till this world becomes the best place to live in.
Oh Lord! Please bless us with Your grace and strength so that we may form ourselves into what You want us to be and thus experience Your greatest miracle.
Source: Sai Nandana 2005 (80th Birthday)
