In many Sathya Sai Discourses, we hear Him saying, “Life is a drama, enact it”. But how can one call life a drama? If we think deeply, the answer suggests itself to us, that the Lord has planned every detail of the world before He brought it into existence. What does God plan? He plans out everything: every act of man, his birth, his parents and his life itself.
It was in August 1977, when one evening I heard an announcement. It was a special announcement made by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. It said that all the citizens of Sri Lanka were forbidden to come out of their houses until further notice.
It started out as a happy day for me because my father came home early from work. I was in the seventh class that time and being the youngest in the house, my father used to play a lot with me. My mother brought a lot of vegetables, bread and other food items. I was shocked to see such huge quantities of vegetables. Who could eat so much! But it was necessary because the shops might be closed for another week. All the food articles were stuffed in the refrigerator.
That much was really necessary because my uncle and his family had also come to our house to spend their holidays, the previous day. We were nine in all - father, mother, two elder brothers, I, uncle, aunt and two small cousins.
I was busy playing with my brothers and uncle. My father asked us to end our play at 7.30 p.m. “Why?” I queried. My father had received information from the neighbors that hooligans from some other place were breaking into houses and even burning people alive. The Sinhalese neighbors were good enough to give us this information. The big fight had actually started in a small village and it spread like wild fire.
The gangs were moving from house to house leaving only those houses they felt were empty. So, my father quietly asked us to have an early dinner and go to bed. His responsibility of protecting our lives grew from five to nine, and included small children. Somehow my father and uncle kept awake and made us lie down, but would it have been possible for us to get sleep at such a time? No, none of us slept. We were all lying down and whispering in very low voices. My mother was saying that in the event of anything untoward happening, we might have to jump over the seven foot wall and hide in the back yard of the neighboring house.
Even though I smile now thinking of how funny it would have been for us to scale the wall, we were dead serious then. It is really difficult for a student of seventh class to jump over the seven foot wall. But I was confident of climbing over the wall through a sense of sheer bravado because any moment gangsters could come, break open and enter our house. If they decided to torch the house, the furniture and curtains would be the first to catch fire. After that it would be a matter of time before everything would be reduced to ashes.
All of a sudden, we heard a voice. My elder brother got up and tip-toed out of the bedroom to see what was happening. In a few seconds we heard a louder shout. Just then my father and uncle were coming in from outside the house. Father asked brother to go to bed and he entered the prayer room. After a while he came and lay beside me as I was small and afraid. What had happened?
There is a small passage opposite our house leading to a big ground. A group of the hooligans had come through that passage and were hiding behind some bushes. My father could see that they had petrol barrels. He went outside to take a closer look at them. Suddenly, they espied my father and shouted at him ordering him to go inside the house. Yes, our worst fear was confirmed. They wanted to burn the house.
By then it was too late for us to escape from the house by jumping over the compound wall because we might be seen by the thugs. We were trapped inside the house. It was then my father entered the prayer room and placed the responsibilities of saving our lives at the Lotus Feet of Sai.
Though it seemed late for him to seek Divine help, God had a solution to our problem. Has not Baba said, “There is no crisis in the world that God cannot solve”? What that fervent appeal achieved is nothing short of a miracle. Within a few seconds we could hear the splash of raindrops from heaven. Yes, it rained - something that had not happened in five months! Meanwhile about forty Sinhalese who sympathized with us mustered themselves together in front of our house. Seeing this show of support and strength, perhaps the gangsters felt that it would be nearly impossible for them to burn our house. In any case, they disappeared into the darkness of night.
The next day a special order was issued by the President of Sri Lanka to the effect that the whole area where he contested for election should be well protected. Fortunately we too were in that zone, and were safe. I would not have been alive at this moment to relate this miracle of Divine protection had not Sai showered His grace that day.
A minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month and even a year can be late enough to make a fatal difference for humans, but for God it is never too late. Even at the last minute, if we surrender, He protects us. Space and time do not impose limits on Him.
- Atul Selvanathan
Alumnus, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning
Source: Sai Nandana 1995 (70th Birthday)
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