HE TOOK IT UPON HIMSELF
.
The Annual Sports and Cultural Festival of the Institute
is celebrated with great fanfare on 11th of January every
year. Sports Day, 1999, was however, quite different. No one
knew about it at that time; the revelation came only a few
days later. That year, for quite some time prior to the great
day, Baba had been advising students to avoid hazardous events.
But in their enthusiasm to put up a grand show before their
beloved Swami and His guests, the students had planned a few
dare-devil items, as they do every year.
Came
the morning of 11th January, and everything seemed to go off
well. But on 14th January, at the gathering in the Sai Kulwant
Hall for the usual Prize Distribution, students and devotees
were stunned to hear from Mr. Narasimha Murthy, Warden, Brindavan
Campus, that Bhagavan had taken upon Himself a grievous injury
in order to protect the students. Later in His Discourse,
Swami revealed some of the details:
Till this moment nobody is aware of
what exactly happened on the morning of 11th January.
.
That morning as I entered the Stadium, I spotted two lorries.
Immediately I could visualise the danger lurking in the corner.
I saw the lorries with huge scaffoldings placed over them.
The boys planned to perform a few acrobatic feats on them.
I knew that one of the rods was not fitted properly and was
about to give in. If that were to happen, the boys would suffer
major head and spinal injury. I willed that the boys should
be saved and decided to take it upon Myself.
.
A senior devotee was driving the chariot
with all sincerity and devotion [Swami had made a formal entry
into the Stadium in a jeep decorated as a chariot]. He stopped
the vehicle in accordance with My command. Just as I was about
to speak to the Vice Chancellor, he accidentally lifted his
foot from the clutch. That resulted in a violent jerk and
I fell down in the chariot. As a result, I suffered injuries
on the head, hand and spinal column. What the boys had to
face, I took upon Myself.
A mass of humanity was seated in the
galleries but I took care that no one noticed My injuries.
Seeing Me fall down, the Vice Chancellor was worried; he was
wondering whether Swami would be able to get up. I knew that
any further delay would cause anxiety in the minds of devotees.
So, ignoring the pain, I immediately got up and started blessing
the devotees by raising My hands. The pain was excruciating
and the cut on My hands was deep, like a gash produced by
a knife. My fall should have resulted in the sleeve of My
robe getting torn but it did not; that ought to give you a
glimpse of Divine Power - the injury had to be kept a secret.
I found Myself in an awkward situation.
I had to walk up to the dais without My injuries being noticed.
So I willed that no one should notice My injuries. I walked
up to the dais and took My seat. But in the meanwhile, the
dhothi below My robe was getting drenched in blood. Concerned
that the devotees may get to know of this, I quietly made
My way to the bathroom. The towels available there were hardly
sufficient to absorb the blood that was coming out. I did
not want to leave blood-stained towels in the bathroom. Therefore,
though the pain was excruciating, I washed the towels with
soap, squeezed the water out of them, and put them up for
drying.
. Some of the boys there were curious to know
why I went to the bathroom repeatedly. I told them, "Why
are you concerned? It is none of your business." Usually,
Swami visits the bathroom only twice a day, once in the morning
and once in the evening but since there was heavy bleeding,
there was a need to go five or six times to the bathroom during
a short duration.
In the meantime, two students came
and made the usual prayer that Swami hoist the Institute flag.
When I got down from the chair, I felt as though I had received
an electric shock. I smiled at My own Leela. It seemed as
if I could not stand steadily. I immediately resolved that
I should not give thought to bodily feelings and walked forward
with firm steps and smilingly, to hoist the flag. After this,
I lit the lamp and returned to My seat. I found that I could
not sit comfortably in any posture. Once more I told Myself,
"Feeling discomfort implies body attachment. If I advise
others to give up body consciousness, then I too should do
so!"
During the events, I had to walk up
to the playground five or six times to be with the students
and pose for photographs with them. I was able to do this
because I detached Myself from the body.
. Is it possible
for a human being to conceal such a major injury from the
public for so long a time, all the time being directly under
their gaze? No! Yet, I sat there for five long hours, through
the entire programme. No one knew about this till I reached
the Mandir
I am narrating all this so that students
and devotees may comprehend the nature of Divinity. Anyone
in My predicament could not have sat in a chair for five hours.
.
Likewise, I take upon Myself untold
sufferings of students and devotees at various points of time,
in order to protect them.
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