Features | Experience of the Divinity of Bhagavan by Devotees | Group VI | Ms. Tina Thomas

Ms. Tina Thomas, II M.A.,
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning,
Anantapur Campus.

Ms. Tina Thomas, a student of the second year M.A. of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Anantapur Campus narrates her experiences of the Divinity of Bhagavan in her own words.

'When I look back at the twenty one years of my life, I feel Bhagavan/s divine presence in it. My maternal grandfather was the first Sai devotee in our family. His four children were sent to Bhagavan's Institutions for higher studies. My mother, being a former student of Anantapur College, always encouraged me to inculcate human values. Although I had heard of Swami from my mother, I neither had any experience of Him, not had I seen Him. Call it the divine will or fate, my mother could not return to Prasanthi Nilayam or have Bhagavan's darshan, for twenty seven long years. But, throughout my life, the presence of an unknown guardian angel has clearly been felt, as all my problems would melt away by themselves, my endeavours would always meet with success, and I would receive unexpected happiness. I only knew of the word 'luck' to describe this fortune. I did not know that it was actually divine grace.

At the age of twenty, unable to cope with certain family problems, I decided to leave home, and study elsewhere. When the question of a residential college came up, the first name that struck my mother's mind was that of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Anantapur Campus. Thus, I became a member of the Sai family. I saw Bhagavan for the first time and, after experiencing His immense grace and love, knew for certain that this was my destination.

On January 14, 2005 was the valedictory function of the Annual Sports and Cultural Meet at Prasanthi Nilayam. Unexpectedly, my mother arrived at Prasanthi Nilayam on the 13th of January to do security service. The same evening, I was informed that I was chosen to speak in the Divine Presence on the 14th. The next day, as soon as my name was called out, Bhagavan looked towards me, and gestured to me to go to the podium. He smiled graciously, and blessed me. When I went back to Him after my speech, He again smiled very sweetly and said 'baaga cheppavu (you spoke well).' I took padanamaskar and came back to my seat, clinging to the roses that He had blessed and returned to me. Tears welled up in my eyes. I could see His benign smile from a distance.

When I met my mother after the function, she said that she could not stop her tears all the while she was seeing me beside the Lord, because she was reminiscing her student days with Bhagavan. This was, perhaps, a loving gift from the Lord to my mother. Even today, as I look at those flowers, I see my Divine Father's eye looking affectionately at His ignorant daughter, who had come late to Him, yet succeeded in finding His love.

Bhagavan's love is so immense that He fulfils our needs without even being asked. I remember an incident relating to a Muslim woman in Kerala. She was brought up by her mother, as her father had passed away long ago. The mother was very affectionate, and it was a very painful blow to the daughter, when the mother, too, passed away. Unable to reconcile herself to this bitter reality, she came to Prasanthi Nilayam for Bhagavan's darshan. The Id-ul-fitr celebrations were going on, and she realized that that year her mother wouldn't be there to give her the usual Id gift - an envelope with Rs two hundred. As Swami came into the hall, she was wonderstruck as she saw her mother there, instead of Bhagavan. She couldn't believe her eyes as Swami halted before her, stretched forward an envelope and asked her to open it. Inside it, she found two crisp hundred rupee notes! Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked up at Bhagavan's smiling face and saw her mother there. This is the all-knowing, all-pervading love of the Lord.

The experience of a former student of the Anantapur Campus proves, beyond doubt, that Bhagavan's love is boundless. This student belonged to the 1990-91 batch, and had myopia requiring high-powered lenses. One morning, while she was wearing her lenses, one of them fell off her hands and was lost. Her friends and roommates searched the whole place in vain. It was suspected that a sudden strong breeze had blown it out through the window near which she was standing. She wept bitterly, for it was not only a costly pair of lenses but also because she was nearly blind without it. In despair, she went to the auditorium. While she was seated in the hall attending the lectures, Swami came on to the stage, and raised His Hands in blessing. From His raised palm, a ray of light emanated, and came streaming into her eye. To her utter amazement, she found that the missing lens was replaced in her eye. She could see clearly! What can be hidden from the Divine Eyes? Even desires that are unexpressed and unspoken are fulfilled by the Divine Father.'

-- Ms. Tina Thomas

(As extracted from the souvenir Ananta Prematarangini published by the Anantapur Campus of the SSSIHL on the occasion of the 80th Birthday of Bhagavan)