|| Hari Om ||
I finished my SSC in 1979. From there on started a new chapter in my life. I stayed at Solapur with my uncle till I finished by HSC. My uncle got me a placement at an Agro Service Centre. Eventually, I started by own shop selling seeds and fertilizers called ‘Shree Swami Samarth Krushi Kendra’ at Barshi in Bairag.
2001 was initially good. I even got elected as member to the Zilla Parishad from Bairag. I bought a piece of land and even constructed a three storeyed building. I was a firm follower of Shree Swami Samarth in those times and continue to be.
However, times changed and I started going through a bad phase. I was in debt. I had to leave my hometown and sell off my father’s land in the village to repay the debts.
While I was going through these troubled times, a cousin from Mumbai visited Vadali along with his family. He mentioned to me about Sadguru Shree Aniruddha Bapu and asked me to visit Mumbai for Bapu’s darshan. My mind was full of doubts. How can I regard Bapu as my God? Why was I suffering so much inspite of being a devout of Swami? Will Bapu be able to rid me of my miseries?
The day final dawned. My relatives called me up from Mumbai and I left my village just to “check out once” what the whole deal was. It was a Thursday and therefore I attended the pravachan in the evening. I don’t know why but tears kept rolling down my cheeks. I experienced a sense of calm within me. I had a strong feeling that my woes were over and that my life would be back on track.
I left Mumbai and reached Pune around 1 am. I did not know where to stay for the night. My relatives in Pune stayed quite far from the station. The autos were asking for Rs 200-300 for a trip which I couldn’t afford. I therefore decided to spend the night at the railway station. However, I was worried that I would be driven away by the policemen as they did not allow people to sleep on the stations at night. I finally made up my mind, kept Bapu’s photograph and upasanapustika, on my chest and fell asleep.
I woke up around 6 am only to find a policeman walking towards me. I stood up with a start because of which Bapu’s photograph and the upasanapustika fell down. Looking at the photograph, the policeman immediately asked me who the man in the photo was. I explained to him whatever I knew about Bapu.
To which, the policeman said that he had seen the man sit beside me the entire night. The man had a chain in his hand and kept signalling to him asking him not to come closer.
I couldn’t believe my ears that Sadguru Bapu sat beside me all night all so that I could get a good night’s sleep! But the policeman kept repeating the same words. I resolved from that onwards that till my last breath I will be indebted to Sadguru Bapu and will serve Him with complete faith and devotion.
I started offering prayers regularly and the world around me started changing. I developed firm faith at the feet of Sadguru Bapu, Nandaai and Suchitdada. My family too started upasana regularly with me.
Some time later, I got an opportunity to start a fertilizer shop in Vadali. Before taking a final decision, I decided to seek Bapu’s darshan and therefore went for the pravachan. During the pravachan, Bapu said, “You have a farm, a pair of bullocks and a plough… Just attach the plough to the bullocks and start… I am waiting to do the rest.” That was my cue. It dawned upon me that Bapu had given me the right direction. I had a place, tables and chairs and even a valid license to operate a business. All that needed to be done was to raise capital and start off. Bapu turned the wheel of fortune and a friend of mine loaned me Rs 20,000. My life stabilized and I was back on track. As of date, my business is running very well and have settled in life. I was alerted in time and brought on the ‘bhaktimarg’.
Once I placed myself at the feet of Bapu, several such incidents occurred. In January 2009, I was on my way from Shirpur to Vadali. My motorbike met with an accident. I dashed against a girl who got hit by my tyre. My motorbike skid and I was swept a few metres away. To my surprise, the girl was not hurt at all. I also had only minor scratches. My motorbike was not damaged at all. How could all this have been possible without the grace of Bapu!
Later on, Bapu gave us all a weapon in the form of the Ram Naam Book. In April 2009, I was getting some construction work done in my shop. A 30 feet wide and 12 feet tall wall was being constructed. There was some space left behind the wall and therefore about 8-10 workers were filling it up with cement and sand. At that time, I was sitting in my office writing the Ram Naam Book. Suddenly, it came to my mind to go and see the progress of the work. I got up from my place and started walking towards the construction site only to see the newly constructed wall on the verge of crumbling down. The workers working beneath had absolutely no clue of the impending disaster. I quickly screamed and drew their attention asking them to move away immediately. The workers hurriedly evacuated the spot. Within less than a minute, the entire wall came crumbling down like a pack of cards. Fortunately, there was no loss of life or even injury and all the workers were safe. What would have happened if I had not managed to alert the workers? I would have been responsible for the death of 8-10 innocents!
It was indeed Bapu’s grace which prompted me to suddenly think of visiting the construction site while I was writing the Ram Naam Book. Bapu averted a disaster and saved the life of the workers and me from ruin.
We practice all of the upasanas prescribed by Bapu and perform paduka puja, sacchidanand mahotsav, shree vardhaman vratadhiraj regularly. Bapu imparts us strength through these. I only pray at the feet of Bapu that I should be at His feet always, till I breathe my last!
|| Hari Om ||
