Features | Experience of the Divinity of Bhagavan by Devotees | Group II | Mr. G. Ramdas

Mr. G. Ramdas,
General Hospital,
Prasanthi Nilayam - 515134
Tel: 08555-287256

Mr. G. Ramdas, a longstanding devotee of Bhagavan, relates one of his experiences of the Divinity of Bhagavan in his own words.

'This was in 1972. The first summer course was held at Brindavan, Whitefields. Swami selected the venue adjacent to His residence. In those days Brindavan was literally a large orchard. On instructions from Swami, we all worked hard to clear all weeds and wild growth, and erected there a makeshift thatched open shelter to hold classes.

While at work, one day we were discussing about cricket, as it was cricket season. During a short break, Swami came to us. In those days, Swami used to distribute prasadam and give padanamaskar daily to each one of those volunteers working there. On that day, Swami arranged to get a basket of kamala-phal (tangerine variety of oranges). He asked all of us to stand in a semi-circle. As if to tell us that He knew what we were talking about, He began throwing the fruit at each one of us as if He was bowling a cricket ball shouting, 'catch!' He was making a horizontal throw till my turn came. But, in my case, suddenly he scooped up the ball throwing it vertically. I was a cricket player. So I tried my best to catch the fruit by jumping forward, but, somehow, missed the catch. The fruit fell between Bhagavan and me.

As I bent down to pick it up, I was thinking that it was a bad omen to miss prasadam given by the Divine-hand. As I raised my head after picking up the fruit, I found Swami looking at me with His hand in a downward slant. He said softly, 'to allow anyone catch the fruit is in this hand and not in yours!' Later events pointed out that Swami had deliberately departed from horizontal throw to a vertical lift of the ball to make me miss the fruit, indicating to me on that day itself what I was going to face in the coming months in my personal life. With Bhagavan, each and every thing is deliberate and meaningful, and never a casual event or accident.

After that Swami gave a fruit to Sai Gita also. Sai Gita, the pet elephant of Swami, was brought there from Puttaparthi and was chained to a used tyre of a truck nearby. Usually elephants take with their trunk anything they eat and put it into their mouth using the trunk as a hand. That day, Sai Gita placed the fruit on the ground as we all were looking at it eagerly. It then raised its front leg and placed it on the fruit gently crushing it. When it lifted the leg, we expected to find the fruit crushed into pulp. On the other hand, the fruit was there in tact. Its outer cover was seen parted nicely at five places as if someone cut the peel with a knife, exposing the kernel nicely. Then the elephant took the kernel with its trunk carefully and placed it in its mouth nicely leaving the peels of the fruit on the ground. The gigantic creature carried out this whole operation so delicately that it pleased all onlookers immensely.

Swami then turned to us, waved His hand in a pointing gesture and said, 'Even she knows what is to be gulped and what not. But you guys do not know even that!'

-- Mr. G. Ramdas.

(As narrated to Mr. B. Parvalata Rao at Prasanthi Nilayam on 24.10.2004.)