Experiences With Lord Sai – Sai Devotee Sounderrajan

I am Sounderrajan from Singapore. At the outset, I would like to thank Hetal Ji for rendering such yeomen services through this forum to Sai devotees spread across the globe. Kindly do not publish my mail id. My mail is quite lengthy. Please feel free to edit it. I have been a devotee of Lord Shirdi Sai for over 25 years. Sai’s greatest miracle in my life was the birth of my son for which I am indebted to HIM in my present birth and all the forthcoming births.

I am really at a loss for words to describe about Shirdi Sai’s benevolence, which is unfathomable. Quite a lot of incidents in my life made me look up to The Divine Father and exclaim “You are indeed a savior for humanity”. I would like to mention a few of them here. Sai is one with all Gods and saints: It is a well known fact that Sai is one with all the Gods and saints. I had an unforgettable experience with Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathy Swamigal(MahaPeriyava) in Kanchipuram around 24 years back. He is regarded as a spiritual luminary on par with Shri RamaKrishna Paramahamsa or Ramana Maharishi. On my way back from Shirdi Sai temple in Mylapore (my all-time favourite shrine)-Chennai, I decided to have Darshan of MahaPeriyava in Kanchi. Amidst Vedic chanting, I was seated on the floor, right at the last row of the audience. Suddenly MahaPeriyava sent word through one of the devotees wanted to talk to me. I was literally transfixed, when he asked me to take a seat at the raised podium just beside HIM. All the learned pundits were seated on the floor!! This kind of Anugraham (request) from such a great saint took me by surprise and transported me to a different world for a while. Till date I do not know why HE did that. But it struck me later that I had a locket of Shirdi Sai in my pocket. I am very sure that He was in spiritual communion with our incomparable SadGuru. I have to reiterate that I am worthless/certainly not fit enough to receive such profound blessings from HIM. Other miracles: A few years back I lost my ATM card along with the pin number written on a piece of paper. After two days, I realised that an amount of Singapore dollars 1000/- was withdrawn from my account. A thought just flashed across that Bhagwan Shirdi Sai would probably do the needful to salvage me from the crisis. Much to my surprise I received a call from one of the bank officers after a week or so, that the amount was deposited back to my account. Well, this is a miracle which is beyond human rationale. As a matter of thanksgiving I visited Shirdi. Likewise I got through my engineering exams years back with the grace of SAI, despite my terrible performance. After all HE is the cosmic examiner auditing our thoughts and faith and knows what is to be done when. Nothing is impossible for Lord SAI. The day prior to Oracle Certification Professional exam, I opened the Sai Satcharitra randomly in a very tensed mood only to read about SAI comforting a student (Tendulkar) that he would secure a pass notwithstanding the astrological predictions working against him. It was indeed a tremendous source of relief and I was confident that HE would guide me through the exam. True to HIS reputation of being 'Apathbandhava' He made me get through with the exact pass mark. I got choked with emotion. Sai’s direction is cast in stone, which can never be changed. Recently, I had lost one of the certificates and spent quite a lot of money in this respect. The situation got sorted out the very next day after I completed Sai Satcharitra. Prior to this incident, Sai had given a very clear indication that I would go through hell for 8 days. It did happen. My trip to Ahobilam: Last Dec, I had been to Ahobilam to have Darshan of Lord Narasimha. The eventful trip went off well with the blessings of Lord. Kadhiri is the place where Lord Narasimha is supposed to have granted moksha to Prahlada. This place is located on the way to Ahobilam. Before I left for Kadhiri (enroute to Ahobilam), I was reminded of the anecdote from Sai Satcharitra, where Shirdi Bhagawan tells Shama that HE would reach Kasi ahead of him. But then, I reconciled myself to reality, considering the fact that it could be a farfetched dream to have Darshan of Lord Sai in an extremely orthodox Vaishnavite shrine. Lord Sai, the spiritual CEO is known for achieving the impossible. Lo Behold! When I stepped into Kadhiri Shrine, I simply had goose bumps, when I saw Shirdi Sai’s original photo. I was literally lost in contemplation of the infinite for a while. Likewise, I saw Shirdi Sai’s photo right in front of Ahobilam Shrine as well. Sri PadaVallabha Charitramudham: With Lord Shirdi Baba’s grace, I managed to complete the parayanam of the above-mentioned book, purchased from Pithapuram-India. This book clearly outlines the roadmap of Dattatreya incarnations(Shri Pada Vallabha, Narasimha Saraswathi, Manikya Prabhu, Akkalkot Maharaj and Shirdi Sai) and is absolutely mind-boggling, to say the least . It would certainly require an exalted soul, even to make an attempt on understanding the Leelas of first incarnation of Datta. HE was an authority on Vedas and all the scriptures by the age of seven. The purpose of HIS advent was to guide MahaYogis and Sadhus in their spiritual journey. The content is literally ambrosial for devotees to partake as much as they could, depending on their karmic merits. This book certainly is on par with cherished divine literature like Gita, Bhagavadham, Guru Charitra, Sai Satcharitra, which are earmarked for the salvation of humanity. Some of the excerpts are as below. I do hope the Lord would forgive me for trying to interpret with my extremely limited/impoverished intellect. The people of the village in Pithapur get shocked by the spectacular Leelas of Sri Pada and requested Shri Shankaracharya to authenticate HIS spiritual identity. The small child who’s none other than Lord Krishna tells them with a nonchalance of spiritual emperor that HE would grant Darshan as Chandramoulishwara to Shri Shankaracharya!! Likewise, HE grants Darshan as Lord Narasimha with HIS holy consort Chenchu Lakshmi to one of HIS ardent devotees. While there are parallels with Sai Samarth’s Leelas, Sri Pada talks about all the ethereal spiritual lokas which can only be deciphered by yogis with ample spiritual quotient. There are many numbers of instances which really bear the stamp of authority of this incarnation. When Sri Pada visits Chitrakoot, HE grants Darshan to Lord Hanuman in the form of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana. The divine conversation between Lord Hanuman and Sri Pada is far too profound for ordinary mortals to even have a bird’s eye-view of spiritual world. When Sri Pada requests Hanuman to take birth in Kaliyuga once, Hanuman seeks the advice of Lord Datta in all humility, as to which form HE should incarnate in. Datta instructs HIM to take birth as Shirdi Sai with those eternal words “Allah Malik”. Apparently “Al” stands for the power of Shakthi or so in Arabic. Hanuman immediately accepts the divine dictum and requests Datta to grant HIM a Vaishnavite Guru. Lord Datta promises Lord Hanuman that HE would have Venkusa as HIS guru. In order to make Sai as poorna avatar, Lord Brahma formalises the merger of Hanuman’s identity with Dattatreya’s in the presence of all the sages. If such incarnations have praised Sai, it showcases Lord Shirdi Sai’s stature clearly which is beyond human comprehension and is absolutely unmatched by all standards. This reminds me of the words from the legendary Shri Narasimha Swami that Lord Shirdi Sai should not be compared with any other saint!! I humbly request all the Sai devotees to read the above-mentioned book , as it has interesting info about Datta avatars(Sri Pada, Narasimha Saraswathi, Akkalkot Swami, Manikya Prabhu, Shirdi Sai) and other realized souls like Vallalar Swami, Raghavendra Swami, Gajanan Maharaj, Gadge Maharaj, Lahiri Mahasaya. SRIPADA SRIVALLABHA MAHA SAMSTHANAM
Venugopalaswamy Temple Street,
PITHAPURAM - 533 450, E.G.Dist. A.P., India
Phone - (08869) 250300
Fax - (08869) 250900 URL:www.sripadasrivallabha.org I do pray that SAI would have the entire humanity in HIS fold, so that the world would be a wonderful place to live in. With prayers at the feet of Lord Sai.
© Devotees Experiences with Shirdi Sai Baba