Sri Sathya Sai: Anatha Natha – By Dhiraj Sembhi

Each devotee has an interesting tale to narrate of how he was brought to the Lotus Feet. If we start collecting these experiences, we will have to use the earth as a paper, the oceans as ink and the mountains as a pen. Even this will not be sufficient to describe His glory.

My father and uncle were working in the British Merchant Navy and were on the same ship. In January 1971, they went to Canada. They had to move to Vancouver. In the evening, my father (who was a radio officer) gave clearance for the ship to move. But the ship never reached Vancouver. It was just 400 km away from the port, when it was caught in a furious storm which was raging at a speed of 65 km/hr. The engine room of the ship started flooding. My father sent an SOS message to the port, but did not receive any help. The last message received at the port was, “Engine room flooding, crew vacating the ship.” All this happened at 4 a.m. on January 9, 1971. The crew left the ship with the help of life boats and life belts. Help arrived from the port; helicopters and submarines rushed to the spot. A massive search operation was carried out for three days continuously, but they could not locate even one life boat.

Our family was plunged into grief when we came to know about the loss of our two near and dear ones at the same time. However, when the lifeboats of the members of our family were sinking in the deep ocean of grief, the Divine Savior arrived. He brought us to Puttaparthi and gave us solace to our hearts by His loving care and concern. He made us realise that He alone can save us; but the grief was boundless. None at home used to talk to each other; not even a single day would pass without shedding tears. But we always used to pray to Bhagavan that He should never leave us. The prayers were answered.

The Book - "Man of Mracles"
- By Howard Murphet

On Krishna Janmashtami day, when we children were making preparations to attend the night’s Akhand Bhajan, suddenly we smelt a strong fragrance. We looked around and found that there was not a single incense stick burning. In the evening, I had mentioned to my mother that Bhagavan never seemed to accept my fast (I was fasting at that time) as He never gave us any indication. A little later, I just happened to go to the Puja room and what I saw astonished me. All the pictures of the Lord were dripping with some watery substance, which I later came to know, was Amrit. The fragrance was very strong. Our eyes were filled with tears, but this time, with tears of joy. We did not want to leave the Puja room at all, but we had to go to attend the Akhand Bhajan. When we entered the Puja room again, just before leaving the house, to our great surprise, the whole scene had changed. All the pictures were covered with a thick layer of deep red colored Kumkum. None of us had ever seen such a thing before. We had read about it in Mr. Murphet’s book and that was all. So, we could not believe our eyes. That time we never thought and understood the reason behind it. We never told anyone about this. But the next day, there was a Bhajan in our house and everyone saw this miracle and they were all surprised because they also had never seen such a strange thing. Soon, many people started coming day and night - they used to do Bhajan. Sometimes appearances of grey ash or Prasad could be seen. We were caught in a tight routine.

Strangely enough, this tight routine of attending to people, listening to the Leelas of Bhagavan, and doing Bhajans worked wonders. We were forgetting about our grief and God became the center of our thinking. When the Lord felt perhaps that we could live without it, He stopped His play. The Kumkum which used to appear profusely now and then, and the Vibhuti which used to manifest on the pictures, stopped completely. When this Leela was over, we were capable of living in this world with the strength given by Him and by holding on to His Feet.

He guided us on each and every step and is still our guiding light. He gave us a new life - full of enthusiasm and joy. He proved that He is the Anath Nath. I cannot express my feeling of gratitude, for I have no words to express. I can offer only my most humble prayers to keep me always at His Lotus feet and to make me His worthy instrument.

- Dhiraj Sembhi
Alumnus, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning
Prasanthi Nilayam Campus
Currently, Quality Controller at Das Holding L.L.C., UAE

Source: Sai Nandana 1995 (70th Birthday Offering)