Features | Experience of the Divinity of Bhagavan by Devotees | Group IV | Mr. S. Rajagopalan

Mr. S. Rajagopalan,
A10, 6th Street, 1st Sector, K.K.Nagar,
Chennai - 600 078

Tel: 044-2474 5010, Mobile: 94444-66282

Mr. S. Rajagopalan (59), retired Operational Manager from the Government DATA Centre, Government of Tamilnadu, Chennai, relates his experiences of the Divinity of Bhagavan in his own words.

'My life had a lucky turn in 1983, though I had not fully realised it at that time, when my daughter, Radha, got admission in Sri Sathya Sai Primary School at Prasanthi Nilayam. According to my information at that time, she was one of the 100 short-listed for admission on merit while the seats available were around 35. Unable to further shortlist the candidates, the Head Mistress submitted the list to Bhagavan for selection. One of the 35 students ticked by Bhagavan was my daughter!

Incidentally, she was the only girl to get the chance from Chennai. At that time, I used to criticise people that had gone to attend meetings of Bhagavan when He came to Chennai. Gradually I began attending bhajans whenever I went to Puttaparthi to see our daughter, treating Bhagavan as a saint.

This was not all. In 1989-90, Bhagavan gave my life yet another lucky turn, in fact, a luckier one. I had a dream in which I was in the top rung of a jam-packed stadium while Bhagavan was in the lowest rung walking on a platform along the gallery. There was a big gap between us. But Bhagavan suddenly began to climb the steps, came straight to me and blessed me by placing His hand on my head. He also tapped me on my shoulder. The dream ended. I told my wife about it.

As I was thinking of that dream, I developed a yearning to go to Bhagavan and have His blessings as in the dream. I discussed it with my wife. September 9 happens to be our wedding anniversary. My wife and I decided to go to Whitefield and have darshan of Bhagavan. On my part, I was keen to test if the dream would come true. I prayed to Bhagavan to clear my mind, perhaps, by re-enactment of my dream in some form or other. My tenant, a devotee of Bhagavan, suggested that each of us carry a tray with chocolates, betel-nut, cloves, etc usually taken by students and others to be blessed by Bhagavan on occasions such as birthdays or wedding anniversaries.

She brought us chocolates from military canteen herself. I was struck by the name of that chocolate - 'Try Me' as if Bhagavan was accosting us to try divine encounter once. One of those in-charge of seating at Whitefield allowed me to be in the front row. When I went to the front line with my tray, someone was sitting there. He refused to give place to me in spite of the sevadal entreating him to oblige. I felt contented to sit behind him. During darshan Swami came to us. I began praying to Him to prove to me the truth of the dream by making it happen.

Swami came near to our place, but left without blessing me. Some devotee sitting close to me who had seen the tray in my hand suggested removing the buds on the top of the cloves. I did accordingly. Only after I had done so, did Swami come to me. He came to me just as He had come to me in my dream. He placed His hand on my head and blessed me, that too, as He had done in the dream. He patted me on my shoulder - just as He had done in the dream. He literally made my dream come true. Swami blessed the tray I was carrying, took a clove and put it in His mouth. He took a handful of chocolates and threw around. He took akshatas and sprinkled on all around. I prayed to Him for padanamaskar. He said 'chesuko (do)' and I had padanamaskar. 'Here is God in person' I thought, 'He came in my dream and blessed. He made me relive my dream in life, according to my prayer'.

In 1995, on September 9 (incidentally, my marriage anniversary day), we started Sri Sathya Sai Samithi at Porur. After a year, all the Samithi members wanted that I should be the convener. I have continued to serve the Samithi and Sai since 1996 to date.

In 2002, I was going to office. Just as I was turning the corner, switching on from my left to right, just near my office, a motorcyclist came very fast and dashed against me. I fell down crying Sai Ram and thought that it was the end. But when I got up, I was all right except for only a few bruises owing to Bhagavan's grace. Meanwhile, police came and booked a case and seized my vehicle. I went to the Police Station and confessed that I was in the wrong. 'You would have been out' the Inspector said, 'had He not saved you. Thank God for His compassion'. So saying, he held his hand up pointing to a big photograph of Bhagavan! I was surprised to see His photograph in a Police Station, of all the places! To confirm that it was He who had saved me in the accident, and who had got my vehicle released without a case, Swami dramatically arranged this surprising end to the episode by the Inspector pointing to His photograph.

My daughter was married in 2003. She delivered a daughter in the USA on December 24, 2004. My wife and I went there to be of help during the delivery time. But it was wintertime there. I could not bear that icy weather and wanted to return to India leaving my wife there to help my daughter. No one supported me and all of them began pleading to me to be there for a few more weeks. I did not relent even though my daughter pleaded with tears, and got my ticket confirmed. I reached the airport and boarded the flight on January 10, 2005. The flight did not take off. After sometime, they announced that the flight was cancelled because of a snag. I returned to my daughter's house. I then decided to postpone my return and stay on, at no extra expense. 'I had prayed to Swami to stop you from going now', my daughter told me 'and He brought you back'.'

-- Mr. S. Rajagopalan.

(As narrated to Mr. B. Parvatala Rao at Prasanthi Nilayam on 01.11.2005)