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Swami had taken a few devotees along with him to Shirdi

   It was 1993. Swami had taken a few devotees along with him to Shirdi and I was one of the fortunate. Though I considered Swami as my living mother Chothanikkara Devi, I was highly devoted to Shirdi Baba who had a special place in my heart. My faith and devotion to Baba was rock solid well before I came to know of Swami. I prayed intensely to Baba that He should bless my daughter so that she get married to a suitable boy, be well settled and happy. I prayed that when my wish gets fulfilled, I would come again to Shirdi and perform Satyanarayana pooja as an offering. We returned to Bombay. After a fortnight, Swami was at home for Devi Pooja. After the pooja got over on Thursday, many devotees gathered around him. He started speaking on faith towards God. He said that if a man has absolute and total faith in God, then though he may face many hardships in his life, by the grace of God, he will definitely be saved from them and even if calamities were to happen, they would not have any great ill effect on him and his life will proceed smoothly. He further said that there were many among us who go on saying that they have complete faith in him and have surrendered themselves totally to him. He then added that there was a devotee who he had taken to Shirdi and that devotee not trusting Swami to solve her problems, prayed to Baba to shower His blessings on her daughter to get married to a suitable boy and on fulfillment of her wish she would go to Shirdi and perform Satyanarayana pooja. When I heard him say this, I was totally taken aback and wondered how Swami knew each and every word of my prayer to Baba. I felt ashamed at my foolish act and went straight to him and with tears in my eyes prostrated at his feet and asked him to pardon my ignorance. Everyone gathered there watched the whole scene with wonder. That day was the most significant in my life. I realized that God can take any form and all the forms are of the same Almighty. I realized that Swami though an ordinary mortal in appearance, is the living Divine Mother Aadi Parashakthi. She manifests in each and everything as the nucleus, the source of vital energy in every living object. There is only one Almighty with many manifestations so no matter to which form one prays, it will ultimately be heard by the one absolute God. This incident proved to me that Swami is omniscient and knows each and every act of everyone who is associated with him. Because of his simplicity and modesty, we get deceived and fall prey to such inglorious acts. It was a great lesson for me. After two years, by Devi's grace my daughter got married to a very suitable boy in the divine presence of Swami. Later I had a chance to go to Shirdi with Swami again and this time I gave the necessary amount for Satyanarayana pooja in the name of Swami Bagavathi. I ardently prayed to the Almighty to bless me to do the right thing every time.

   Another episode occurred which proved again beyond doubt that Swami is omniscient and knows each and every activity of our day to day life. Usually, I spend an hour daily at home for my prayers and offer milk and some fruit as an offering to God. It so happened that there were no fruits at all at home for three days in succession. I was so busy evaluating exam answer books that I could hardly get any time to go out and get fruits. I requested my husband to fetch some fruits. Though he went out several times, he kept forgetting to run the errand. By the third day, I was furious at him and there were lots of heated arguments between us on the issue. He started telling me that God does not ask for bananas or any other fruit and that milk was sufficient. He told me not to fuss over trivial issues. I felt great by hurt at his attitude but kept quiet and continued my usual prayers. That day, Swami had come to Chembur and we were to go and meet him in the evening. I told my husband that I would buy some bananas on our way back home. We could go see Swami only late in the evening since we had some unexpected guests at home. We paid our obeisance to Swami, who was busy in narrating some interesting episodes to the devotees gathered around him. We started listening to him and every one of us got so immersed in his words that we lost track of time. It was nearly nine thirty when Swami asked all of us to leave. We waited for him to finish his dinner since my husband wanted to discuss some matter with him about which Swami had asked him about. Only we and another devotee, Vinod Bhaskar were there apart from the members of the house. When we were ready to leave, Swami asked Vinod to take the bunch of bananas lying on the table and hand them over to me. He then told me to take them home. My husband and I were looking at each other with amazement. Normally, Swami never gives anyone fruit. The residents of the house give fruits to others as Swami's prasadam. Swami's unusual gesture of asking Vinod to give us the bananas especially on that day, gave us a real jolt and we both immediately prostrated before him. While returning, when our friend Vinod was commenting about Swami's strange action, I became emotional and related the happenings at home. We marvelled at Swami's ability to know all that is happening and his profound concern for his devotees.

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