I don’t remember the exact year; it happened 10 or 13 years ago. I was studying Engineering in Bengaluru. One night, Sri Sainath appeared in my dream. Perhaps it was more a trance than a dream. Even today I can vividly recall Sri Sainath as He was in that dream..six feet tall, in a bright white kafni. It was SO white, I am unable to express it in words. I felt, even in the dark night I was seeing light. Sri Sai Baba said in Hindi, “tumharey ghar valon ne mera kabhi khyal nahi rakha. Bahut dhool jami hai mujh par. Tumhari mataa ko kaho ki ek gaagar bhar ke mujhe snan karao aur merey snan ka pani teerth samajh kar tumhare aangan mein dalo!” (Meaning – Your family has never taken care of Me. There is so much dust on Me. Tell your family to bathe Me with a full pot of water. And thereafter pour that consecrated water in your home and courtyard as holy water (holy teerth).
When I woke up in the morning, I was pondering how to pour one full pot of water as there is no Sai idol in my house and how come Baba said so. But as it was a command of Baba, I called my mother and told her about the dream. As soon as she heard it, she began shivering. I said, “as far as I know only one rupee coin size is there and why did Baba say a full pot of water?” She told me, “No, it’s there—an idol your grandparents brought so many years ago.
Ganesh Chaturthi was going on, so your father thought ‘this big Sai idol in the cupboard was so old and with so much dust on it.’ So, he decided to do immersion (visarjan) of that idol along with Sri Ganesha’s idol in the river, once the festival was over.
That very same day was the last day of Ganesha festival. So, he removed the idol from the cupboard and put it outside the window to leave by today itself.” When I heard this, I was completely thrilled.
My mother immediately informed my father. They brought back the idol inside the house and as per Baba’s command, performed abhisheka and from that day onward started worshipping that idol.
I am inexpressibly happy that Sainath didn’t leave us. Sai didn’t allow my father to throw the idol in the river. I was only an instrument in passing Sai’s message to my parents.
