Features | Experience of the Divinity of Bhagavan by Devotees | Group VI | Mr. J. Sivasankara Rao

Mr. J. Sivasankara Rao,
3rd line, Premnagar,
Berhampur - 760 002
Orissa.

Tel: 0680-3090 4110

      Mr. J. Sivasankara Rao (40), a businessman, relates a few of his experiences of the Divinity of Bhagavan in his own words.

'My father, Mr. J. Kesava Rao learnt about Bhagavan through a contractor. He took all 16 members of our family to Prasanthi Nilayam in 1992. It was my first visit. Prior to that, I was hearing about Bhagavan. I was experiencing occasionally fine fragrance of sandal and vibhuti, and was seeing Bhagavan in my dreams.

My mother, Mrs. Yasoda, cleaned an oil can and filled it with water so that we could make use it during our journey. As the water was still smacking of some foul smell of oil, we were all against carrying that can with us. Nevertheless, my brother brought it. We had some tiffin we had carried with us in the train, and took water from the can. To our surprise, it smelt of fine perfume. It remained so till we completed our yatra and returned to our place. It continued to emit fine perfume even after, for some days. This miracle strengthened our faith in Bhagavan.

In 1995, I was in my shop when a fellow devotee, Mr. Bhaskara Rao came to me. He was running temperature. 'Why are you moving around with fever?' I asked him, 'you could have taken rest.' 'I don't know' he replied, 'I felt like coming here. I don't know why'

Just then some foul smell came as if something was burning. Mr. Rao rushed into the inner room. 'Your shop is on fire' he cried. We all rushed in. It appeared that the generator which was on had developed short circuit and caught fire. Mr. Rao ran to it and removed the plug risking the rising flames. He took a fire extinguisher kept in the shop, and extinguished the fire.

'Swami sent you here' I said thanking him, 'had you not been here, we would not have dared to do what you had done, and the entire shop would have been gutted.'

In 1997, the manufacturer of pipes at Visakhapatnam arranged there a conference of all dealers. I went in a car along with five others. We had lunch at Srikakulam and were on our way to Vizag. After a sumptuous lunch, all of us were dozing. Suddenly I saw the full form of Bhagavan before me. Then I woke up with a thud. Our car had a head-on collision with a truck coming in the opposite direction. I was sitting behind the driver. The window pane was shattered by the impact, and glass pieces rained on me. For a few moments I was still as if in a trance. My friends thought that I had died of shock. Owing to Swami's grace none of us was hurt. Though the body of the car was damaged to some extent, the engine was all right. We could continue our journey in the same car. I realized that Swami was there on the spot to save us when He blessed me with His darshan.

In 2005, I went to Icchapuram along with four of my friends in a Santro car to attend a meeting of Mr. Anil Kumar. I was driving the car. From there, we accompanied Mr. Anil Kumar to Palasa. It was a very hot day and the strain was telling. We had dinner there and began our return journey at 10:30 p.m. The car was going at 100 km per hour. Suddenly, I dozed as I could not control sleep because of tiredness. The person who sat in the front noticed my dozing and cried 'Sai Ram'. Others, too, joined in the chorus and cried 'Sai Ram' aloud.

I woke up with a jerk and saw that there was a wide trench about a few yards from the car. They were constructing a culvert and the iron rods were protruding from under. On my left was a steep down, while on my right was the cement road being laid afresh. It was about a foot high dividing the road into half lineally. It was for only a split second that I saw what lay in front of us, but it was enough to drive home the seriousness of our position to me. I shut my eyes listening to 'Sai Ram' of my colleagues awaiting just a catastrophe. Next second, I noticed our car going forward smoothly on the road beyond the trench. How did the car cross the trench? It was as if some one had lifted up our car as a child lifts a toy, and kept it safely on the other side of the trench, without hindering its run in the least.

After a kilometre or so, there was a roadside tea shop. We stopped there still unable to come out of the shock of our life time. We all tried to reason how the car had crossed the trench. There must have been a diversion we thought, but I did not notice it before I shut my eyes. Had the car passed through the diversion at that speed we would have felt serious jolt or lost control of the vehicle. We all concluded that what had happened could not be explained rationally. 'It was only the miracle of Sai to save us' - we concluded.

My wife died of heart attack in 1997. My parents insisted on my remarrying. I had to comply. My second wife came from a wealthy family. Soon we learnt that our mentalities were incompatible. It was a vexatious period dragging over two long years. In December 2002, I came to Prasanthi Nilayam and sat in the darshan line with a letter to Swami explaining my problem in detail. Swami took the letter. On my return, I found matters moving so fast on their own that the situation ended in a divorce to the relief of both of us owing to Swami's grace.'

-- Mr. J. Sivasankara Rao

   (As narrated to Mr. B. Parvatala Rao at Prasanthi Nilayam on 14.02.2006)