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The function went off very well

   On the next day, after paying his obeisance to Swami, Deepak's father went out in the early morning and came back again with a disappointed look. The reason was that the cook who was known to them had not come back from his Sabarimalai trip and they wanted to invite many of their friends and colleagues for the function. Finding that the cook was not available, they were worried as to how to proceed with the function. Seeing their anxiety, I went up and spoke to Swami. He told me to take all the items that we had brought with us downstairs and hand over to them. When they saw the full set of items, they were at a loss of words. They were not aware that most of our luggage was filled with items for the engagement ceremony since they were of the opinion that the boxes were to go to Chennai with Swami. They were curious and asked us how we had come so well prepared in advance when nothing was certain about the engagement. We explained to them that we were simply following Swami's command. We further related Swami's predictions to us in the train and how his words had become reality. They were all extremely delighted and Deepak's father went out to invite his friends for the evening function.

   As per Swami's advice, the function started at four with the chanting of Lakshmi ashtothram followed by Bagavathi ashtothram. My husband and I did kumkumam archanai for Devi under the guidance of Swami who assumed the role of priest. The function went off very well and the people who attended the function were all amazed at Swami's obvious divinity. They got an opportunity to speak to Swami and received his blessings. It was a memorable day!

   After the function, Swami and my husband were to leave for Chennai at two in the morning and Latha and myself were to leave for Bombay at thirty past ten in the morning. Deepak, his father and Latha went to leave Swami and my husband at Durg station. Once at the station, Swami asked them to go home right away considering how early it was. On the next morning, we were busy packing our things when we found out that our train to Bombay was delayed by five hours. After finishing lunch, while we were talking there was a phone call from my husband from Warangal railway station to Deepak saying that they had left Swami's bag by mistake on the platform in Durg station and requested him to proceed immediately to the station and lodge a police complaint there. He further added that there was some money apart from Swami's passport, credit card and other idols materialized by him in the bag. When Deepak informed him about our train delay, he asked us also to go at once to the station.

   After hearing of this, we were terribly worried. The whole atmosphere suddenly turned gloomy as we wondered why such a thing happened, when everything had gone on so well until then. Deepak felt that we should wait for his father to return home since his father knew the people very well at the station. While he was contemplating thus, the phone rang. It was from the police in Durg railway station. The police officer said that they had a red coloured leather carry bag in their possession which was handed over to them by some person. They asked us to come at once with all the necessary proof of identification. I told Deepak that I had Swami's photos so we rushed to the station without a moment's delay. Once there, we showed the police officer Swami's photos and filled him in on the details and contents of the bag. Convinced by the identification, he asked me to sign the register and handed us the bag with all the items. We were all extremely delighted to get the bag back with all its contents intact. On getting back home, we called Bombay and Chennai devotees asking them to inform Swami that the bag had been found. Just then, a stranger by name Kaushik Sharma, a resident of Bhilai dropped in. He said that he had gone to the station to leave his sister the previous night and he was sitting near Swami on the bench and had been eavesdropping on the conversation between Swami and my husband. He had noticed that they forgot to pick up the bag. He picked it up but could not locate them in the train. He had guessed that Swami was a holy man and when he opened the bag, he saw a sheet which contained Deepak's parents' names and address and our names and address at Bombay. It was in fact, the formal letter of assurance written at the time of the engagement function detailing all the particulars of both families. After looking at the contents, he was certain that Swami was a Godman and so handed over the bag with the contents to the police. He came to see us in person to find out whether we received the bag from the police. We expressed our gratitude for his help and service rendered.

   As soon as Swami and my husband reached Chennai they got the message about the bag. My husband was overwhelmed with joy because till then he was terribly upset about losing Swami's bag, inspite of Swami assuring him that they would definitely get it back. The unbelievable aspect in this whole episode was that the entire place in Madhya Pradesh including Durg was well known for dacoits, pickpockets and robberies. Even if one loses a rupee, one cannot even dream of getting it back. In such a notorious place, if one has to get back such a valuable bag containing cash and other items, it can only be God's miracle. The whole episode was most unbelievable and memorable.

   It was the year 1990 when yet another thrilling incident occurred that revealed the great compassion of Swami towards his devotees. We were staying in Chembur at that time for the sake of the children's education, though we owned a house at Vashi in New Bombay. At that time , I had some Rahu dosham (evil effects due to a snake) and in fact Swami had given me a silver nagam and asked me to perform abhishekam to the nagam with milk on Tuesdays and Fridays as a remedial measure. He had advised us to move to our own house only after two years. He also instructed us that when we first enter the house, we should take the silver snake with us and keep it in the prayer room. Three months later, our neighbour approached us and requested us to rent the house to his very close friend. We had never rented the house out of fear of losing the house. Our neighbour kept pressurizing us almost daily and we finally consulted Swami on the issue. Swami wanted us to find out the name of the person who wanted to occupy our house. The individual's name was Naganathan (meaning snake god). When we told Swami the name, he immediately asked us to rent the house to him without demanding any deposit and accept any reasonable rent that he could afford for a period of one year. Actually, my Rahu dosham had another year and a half to completion. Swami's insisting on us to keep the snake idol when we move to our house and the tenant's name being Naganathan, made us wonder about the connection. Not only that, Mr. Naganathan extended his stay for another six months and he never gave us any sort of trouble in vacating the house. This was notable since in Bombay it was highly risky to rent out a house to an outsider and it was rare to get the house back from the tenant at short notice with no problems.

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