Sparrows of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba

Sai Baba often said that-let His man (Devotee) be at any distance, a thousand koss away from Him, he will be drawn to Shirdi like a sparrow, with a thread tied to its feet. Many Sai devotees have their own beautiful experience of this journey. Today I want to share with you how our family was brought into the world of Sai Baba.

It was 7 years back, exactly on July 4th weekend of 2008 that we had moved to our new house. Everything was going great. We were expecting our baby in a few months and both my wife and I were employed with a great firm. We were enjoying life at the fullest and never bothered to save for a rainy day. In October, our son was born and it was really a great time from the personal front. But things had started getting shaky on the professional front with the economic recession of 2008. As luck might have it, I lost my job in January. It was soon followed by another job loss for my wife.

We both were appalled with the turn of events. Our life was literally turned upside down – with a new home and a newborn, we were clueless on how to proceed. Meanwhile I got a job from one of the consulting firms whose logo had the words “SAI”. This should have been my first clue, but I was blind with rage and never took notice. The only question I had at the beginning of 2009 was “Why me, why us?”

It was a turbulent time and projects were hard to come by. My friend had bought Sai Sat Charitra to be sent to someone else. Instead, she sent it to me, with a note asking me to read the book end to end every week for 9 weeks. She Said – “Don’t stress out, do what you do normally, eat what you normally eat – just read the book”. When all things looked completely bleak, I picked up SaiSat Charita – and within the 2nd week of parayanam I was on a project.

Still, I was not a complete believer yet.

When I went to Austin for my project, I had no idea where I would stay. Not saving for a rainy day affected my capacity to go all out with a hotel for any extended period of time. I submitted myself to Baba completely at this point. It so happened that one of my colleagues who hailed from Kerala was willing to accommodate me in his house for a small rent. Now, for many it was just a coincidence, but for me it was Baba who made it happen that I was on a location and project with a person who had a huge single family house all by himself and was willing to take on a relatively unknown person in.

Meanwhile, I had to rent out my new home and the family was coming over to stay with me. Having taken an enormous pay cut – with the household income falling to 1/3rd of what we were originally making, we wanted to find something really within a shoestring budget in the new city. I said to myself – “Baba, $700 seems to be what I can afford, but I can’t afford to take a year lease – what should I do”. Miracle of miracles, one of the people whom I had contacted for a sub-lease emailed me that she would pick up one month’s rent effectively making it $700.00 per month without me ever bring it up.

The parayanam was still going strong, and by now the life was completely changed upside down – in a very positive way. 9 weeks in Austin was complete bliss. We were lucky to be able to visit Baba’s temple every Thursday for Bhajans. The associations we made during that time were equally memorable.

Baba’s grace showered on us and we were back in home with in a very short time of 3 months. The year of 2009 was the time when Baba carried me and my entire family under his caring arms. We were blessed with everything that a person could wish for happiness, joy and most importantly peace of mind.

The only question I had at the end of 2009 again was same “Why me, why us?” – but with a world of difference in what the question meant.

I realize now that the answer was always the same – “A sparrow being drawn into the world of Sai Baba. HE is the thread puller and events in your life are just part of a master plan already at works”

There are so many other incidents in our life that I can describe ONLY as HIS divine grace and miracle. I will detail some of them in a subsequent blog. – Om Sai Ram!

Shri Satchidananda Sadhguru Sainath Maharaj ki Jai! Om Sai Ram!!