Features | Experience of the Divinity of Bhagavan by Devotees | Group III | Mrs. M. Janakamma

Mrs. M. Janaki
D-6, Sai Swagath Apartments
Chitravathi Road,
Puttaparthi – 515134

Mrs. Janaki (65), a housewife, relates a few of her experiences of the Divinity of Bhagavan in her own words.

‘In 1986 we went to Nuzvid. It is our in-laws’ place. I used to have a desire to have bhajan in our house. It was a long-standing desire. Somehow, it could not be done. At Nuzvid, I went to some one’s house to do bhajan.

‘We have some problem’, the house owners told me, ‘we cannot do deeparadhana (kindling the lamp). So you please do it for us’. I was only too happy to oblige. Thus Swami fulfilled my desire to some extent. While doing bhajan in their house, I prayed, ‘Swami! If my eldest son, M.V.A. Balakrishna gets settled in some gainful vocation, I will conduct bhajan in our house’. On the third day after the bhajan, we happened to take a shop for lease and entrust it to our son for maintenance. His marriage also was consummated by Swami’s grace soon. So we went to the bhajanmandali and registered for a date and offered to hold it in our house. When we went to find out the position later, they said, ‘your turn comes ten days before the date you have asked for. Are you willing?’ We took it and held the bhajan in our house. That was jyothi-bhajan also.

One day I was in Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samithi, Sitaramapuram doing bhajan. Whenever I opened my eyes, I used to see the big photograph of Bhagavan. Whenever I closed my eyes, I used to see my grandchild, Swetha. I was perplexed. Afterwards, I realized that Swami was asking me to develop more attachment to the Divine than to the children.

I used to feel fragrance now and then. I had no idea then about why I was feeling it. My children also used to confirm the fragrance. I used to have a feeling that some one was standing at my head side when I went to bed. Simultaneously I used to experience fine fragrance.

In 1992, Swami came in my dream as a boy in white dress. When I mentioned to some elderly devotees at the mandir at Vijayawada about my experiencing fine fragrance, they said, ‘you are lucky. It means Swami is there with you’.

Under the auspices of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samithi, an eye camp is being held at Vijayawada every year. The mahila sevadal of the postal colony where we reside was doing service at one such camp by turns. We used to take tea and serve it to the patients. We used to help lady patients to be taken to bathroom and do other odd jobs there.

One day when I was taking tea to the camp from my house, my son gave me a lift on his motorcycle. ‘You are helping in this manner in Swami’s work’, I told him, and ‘some good turn will come to you’. I was serving tea in the camp. When I was offering the glass of tea to one lady patient, suddenly the glass was thrown off my hand, as if someone had struck it. I was very sorry, but the patient, though not affected much, was making fuss above that. I returned later to my house saddened by the incident.

When I came home, my granddaughter, Swetha was saying to her mother, ‘tell grandmother, mom!’ ‘Please settle down a bit’, my daughter-in-law said, ‘I will tell you all’. I was wondering what all it was about. Later, she told me about it. Swetha went to the house opposite to ours to play with children of her age, there. ‘Why did you come?’ someone asked her. She, perhaps, felt hurt and returned at once in great haste crossing the street without pausing to watch the traffic. A car was coming at high speed in the lane. When the driver saw the girl shooting out of a house like a bullet, he applied sudden brake though he had no hope that the girl would be saved. By Swami’s grace, the car stopped miraculously, almost at a gap of half-an-inch from the girl. All those seeing the scene thought that the girl was finished. But she came out unscathed though shocked. When I asked my daughter-in-law when this incident occurred, she told me. It took place exactly at the time when the tea glass was struck off my hand mysteriously in the eye camp that afternoon.

Swami pushed off the girl from falling under the car by striking off symbolically the glass of tea from my hand exactly at the very moment, and saved my grandchild. My son did a little seva by dropping me at the camp, but Swami repaid him for that little service with the precious life of his daughter. What a grace!

My son Haragopal worked for some time in a private company. At that time he was jobless. I was doing Aumkaram, Suprabhatam, etc in Brahmimuhurtham one day. I saw Swami walking up and down in the hall. He suddenly said, ‘let him join there’. ’Whom are you asking to join? And, where?’ I asked. He said, ‘He went yesterday there. Let Him join there’. I did not understand. When I was mentioning this to my daughter-in-law, my son Haragopal overheard it. ‘Yesterday I went to the Company where I had worked earlier to meet a friend. The Proprietor saw me and asked me to join in my old job again’, he said.

Thus, as told by Swami, he rejoined that Company.’

-- Mrs. M. Janaki.

(As narrated to Mr. B. Parvatala Rao at Prasanthi Nilayam on 28.04.2005)