I know your every thought, word and action! I am watching over you!’- Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. It was the first night of Navaratri (Durga Pooja) celebrations at our local Sai Centre. The Hindu priest, who was conducting the prayers in Sanskrit, now and then stopped to explain the meaning of the prayers to the devout assembly of people, mostly women. He emphasized on the need for devotees to be of service to others, specially the old, the infirm, the sick and the poor, as a precursor to prayers during the period of fast, to win the heart of the Divine Mother, Durga and to receive Her Blessings and Grace. One of the simplest ways of doing ‘seva’, he candidly explained, was ‘to help a ‘Dadi’ to cross the road’. ‘Dadi’ is a Hindi word meaning either a grandmother or an old woman.
I am an astute listener at ‘satsang’, avid to learn more about religion, spirituality, saints, gods and goddess. Amazingly on that night, when I heard the sermon of the priest, an amusing thought came to my mind and I turned to my pet friend, who was sitting cross-legged next to me. I whispered in her ear- ‘Dadi is at the steering wheel!’ Appreciative of the joke, she giggled like a little girl. Both of us are fortunate grandmother but, very young at heart; moreover, we both drive our private car. The next morning I drove to town to buy vegetables. At one point in time, I left the car in the parking bay and crossed the road to the market place. Later, when I was returning to my car with two heavy bagful of vegs, I stopped at the pedestrian crossing; I looked left, then right and left again. The road was clear but the little man at the robot was still wearing his red suit. Instead of proceeding on my way, I hesitated and decided to wait for him to change to green. All of a sudden, an unknown lady came from behind me in a rush. She got hold of my right elbow. She pushed and virtually dragged me across the road. Taken by surprise, my only reaction was to walk aided by her to the other side of the road. She then let go of my elbow and said- ‘These days motorists are very reckless. Pedestrians are frightened to cross the road!’ I hardly had time to utter a word, she had disappeared! I only caught a glimpse of her red attire. Deep in my heart, I knew it was none other than my Sweet SAI. What a lesson in humility to learn from Our Loving Sai Durga Mother! Everyone, young mothers and grandmothers, is blessed by Her Boundless Mercy and constantly protected by Her, always and in all ways. Sai is watching over all of us! At the Lotus Feet of Sai Anita Bacha
