Features | Experience of the Divinity of Bhagavan by Devotees | Group II | Mr. Aitaraju Rama Rao,

Mr. Aitaraju Rama Rao,
Landlord,
Vallabhi,
Khammam District,

Mr. Aitaraju Rama Rao (80), freedom fighter, relates his experience of the Divinity of Bhagavan in his own words.

'I had been to Hyderabad for treatment about 13, 14 years ago as I was not feeling well. After getting treatment for about a week, I improved considerably.

One day my second son, Dr. A.V. Manohar Rao came to me, when I was in Hyderabad, with two of my brothers-in-law and said, 'Sri Sathya Sai Baba came to Hyderabad. There is Darshan and bhajan in Sivam. Let us go and have Darshan.'

'I am not well completely', I replied, 'you all go'.

But when they insisted, we all went to Sivam engaging a taxi. Swami came, gave Darshan, and bhajan was also held. As there was terrible rush, we allowed all others to leave and then came out. By that time, there was no taxi or auto available, not even a rickshaw. We began to walk hoping to get some conveyance on the way. The sun was already unbearably hot. I could not walk in the sun even for a few yards. My son and brothers-in-law were regretting that they had insisted on my coming and exposed me to the strain of walking in hot sun.

'Don't worry', I told them, 'let us pray to Bhagavan. He will find a way out'. I did not complete my words when a car quietly came along without anyone of us observing and stopped by our side. It was a new car and the driver was wearing a white uniform. There was no one inside.

'Please get in', the driver told us politely but without any preliminaries.

'Which way are you going?' my son asked him, 'and how much should we pay?'

'First get in', the driver said, 'it is hot outside. We can discuss all that later'.

We were five. It was an ambassador car, which can take five plus the driver. So we got in and were comfortably seated. We then started discussing about Baba's grace in getting us a comfortable conveyance and forgot to let the driver know where we had to go. Within minutes the car stopped. When we looked out to see why it stopped, we noticed that we were right before my son's house. We all got down. We could not understand how he knew our house. He was a total stranger to all of us. Nor did we see that car earlier. The driver went a little forward to turn the vehicle back as the lane was a dead-end. My son took out some money offering it to the driver, but the driver drove fast without stopping to take the money offered. He only looked at us with a smile and waved his hand as a gesture of good-bye. We do not know till now who he was or why he offered us a lift and how he could bring us home so fast and so correctly without guidance. None of us have any doubt that he was none other than Bhagavan Baba who came to help us in need.'

-- Mr. Aitaraju Rama Rao.

(Taken from the souvenir of Sri Venugopalaswami Temple, Vallabhi, Khammam District, 1991.)