Sri Sathya Sai Baba our miraculous God

She has had several dreams in which Sri Sathya Sai Baba has appeared in various attires. She has often said, "There is no one like him. He is so mod!" And so, there he was, giving her "mod" visions of himself ...

"It is true. I have not imagined anything, never! My God, some of the clothes he wore were so trendy, like tights and bell bottoms. If I described all of them, you would think me crazy but, honestly, it's true. Some of the things he wore were unique, so fashionable that any designer would have loved to copy them." Gnanasodhy is an earnest woman who has unshakable faith in Sri Sathya Sai Baba as an Avatara, and she feels that everything that happens in life is his doing.

Her husband, Dr. P. Gunasingam, was sceptical when he first went to see Sri Sathya Sai Baba which he did through mere curiosity. He was prepared to think the worst and yet he thought, "Give me just one unmistakable sign of your divinity, Baba, and I will surrender to you." When Sri Sathya Sai Baba emerged from his bungalow, Gunaasingam was transfixed: he saw a halo around Sri Sathya Sai Baba's head. It was light gold though the day was not sunny. The halo was bright and beautiful and it came straight to Gunasingam. He felt purified by the luminous beam which immediately established the connection between him and Sri Sathya Sai Baba. From that moment, Gunasingam accepted "all happenings as the divine will of Baba."

"Of course, Baba is in everything. He watches over everything we do," said Dr. Gunasingam. He attends to all his medical wards everyday only after addressing a mental prayer to Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He believes steadfastly that a few cases of childbirth which should have been fatal proved not to be so due solely to his prayers to Sri Sathya SaiBaba.

Dr. Gunasingam is active in the Bal Vikas organization and has a team of fifteen Sai workers in Jamshedpur who undertake fabrication and machinery work. They put up office buildings, bicycle stands and the like. He spoke of a Sai experience which got his team out of a tight spot and saved him about Rs.30,OOO. - (approximately £1360.00). They had accepted a job to construct a bicycle stand and had made 16mm foundation base plates for it. It was to be a fairly large structure with several columns and "we got everything ready to fit. When we arrived at the site on the eve of the deadline date, we found that the engineer had changed the specification to 19mm bolts. We were frantic with worry, for with the change, we couldn't possibly be ready the next day and this could very well result in the cancellation of the order." In effect, it meant making the holes wider, cutting the base plates and drilling the extra 3mm. It was not the thought of the added cost for the gas and drilling that was daunting, but how they were going to drill the holes in time to meet the deadline next morning.

There was no way of organizing the work at night. Dr. Gunasingam prayed to Sri Sathya Sai Baba "for a solution before the workers report for duty in the morning." "Baba," he prayed, "please tell us how to do the fitting with this 3mm difference," and then he added, "Baba, this is your work. Whatever you want, please do." Then he went to sleep.

In the morning, Dr. Gunasingam was anxious to reach the site early to explain the problem to his workers, but he was delayed. When he did reach it, however, he was amazed. He saw that more than half the columns were ready and in place. His workers had seen the bolts and plates and, not seeing any technical difference, had set to work installing them. How had the 19mm bolts slotted into the 16mm bores? As the work went on, Dr. Gunasingam measured and checked and rechecked. The bolts were bigger, but the fit was nonetheless perfect. He looked at the photograph of Sri Sathya Sai Baba hanging at the site and thanked him from the heart.

"This is just one example. There are several others in which, after doing our best, we still faced insurmountable obstacles. Whenever we've prayed to him, he has always come to our rescue," said Dr. Gunasingam.

A recent such experience was at Telco where the Sai Seva (Service) team had been asked to assist in clearing a blocked sewage unit which no one else had been able to do. It was a job given to them as a sort of challenge since they had proved very efficient in handling other problematic jobs. Dr. Gunasingam and his team set to work at the main unit, but without results. The bio-filter inside was stuck and could not be made to budge an inch despite everything they tried. The people who had given Dr. Gunasingam's team the work were beginning to lose confidence in their ability. Again, at that troublesome stage, Dr. Gunasingam prayed to Sri Sathya Sai Baba as both human and mechanical efforts had failed. As always, they had placed a photograph of Sri Sathya Sai Baba at the site. Dr. Gunasingam sat near it and prayed, "Bhagavan, please open this for us. Otherwise your Sai Service Unit could get an unsatisfactory reputation." Then he went back to the jammed bio-filter to give it one last push, and it gave away at the merest touch. The Telco people were completely bowled over.
 

"Consider all your acts as worship. Duty is God. Work is worship."

- Sathya Sai Baba

Garuda A mythical bird half-man-half-bird -on which Lord Visnu moves. It is the vehicle of Lord Visnu. Shri Garuda is one of the powers of Lord Visnu himself. Huge in size, and brighter than pure gold, its Teja (lusture) crosses the Sun. Extremely heroic and brave in nature and a staunch enemy of evils and snakes (representing evil). Also, he is destroyer of poison. Garuda Sadhana gives the power to cure venom and poisonous effect.

According to Puranic stories, he was born of Sage Kashyapa and Vinata, one of the daughters of Daksha Prajapati and is of Kaashyap gotra. He has a white face, a beak-like long nose, red wings, and a huge body with a golden hue. His lustre was so brilliant that soon after his birth, the demi-gods mistook him for Agni (fire) and began worshipping him.

Garuda had a son named Sampati, and his wife was Unnati. Another wife of Kashyapa, Kadru, who was the mother of the serpent race, was Vinata's great rival. Once the two wives had a dispute over the color of the horse of Indra- the, Uchchaishrava, that was obtained during the churning of the ocean (samudra-manthana). Vinata lost the bet and as per the conditions, she was made a slave of Kadru. She could regain her freedom only if Garuda could obtain the nectar (Amrit). Garuda succeeded in stealing it from heaven but not without a fight with Indra, its preserver. In one side were all the Gods with Indra and Garuda was on one side. It was said that he almost won over all the Gods before being severly harmed and in the process Indra's Vajra (thunder-bolt weapon) was destroyed. Indra recovered the nectar afterwards, after Garuda freed his mother.

Garuda's son Jatayu once tried to fly up to the Sun in the sky. This burnt his wings and he fell down. Also, he tried to resist Raavana during the abduction of Sitaa and got fatal injuries. In this condition, he awaited his death till giving Raama the details of Sita's abduction by Ravana and her whereabouts. His last rites were performed by Rama. Jatayu had been a friend of Rama's father, Dasharatha.

Garuda, after getting permission and acceptance from Shri Visnu, after the war, wrote one of the first Puraanas, teh Garuda puraana. This is in the form of instructions to Garuda by Vishnu and deals with a variety of science and principles, including the secret of creation of the Universe.

Garuda Mantra: Om PA Kshim Svaaha

Garuda Mantra for destroying poison: Om hreem hrauum hreem hreem bhirundayai svaahaa

Garuda Gaayatri: Om TatPurushaaya Vidmahe, SuvarnaPakshaaya Dheemahi, Tannoh Garudah Prachodayaat