I am sharing my experience about how lovely and great it is to be a devotee of Shree Sai Baba.

In the first week of September 2018, I went to char dham along with my parents, family and friends. While going to Yamunotri, we all were quite excited.  We were a party of twelve people. We decided to take a doli and a horse ride as it is very far and the mountain trail was quite dangerous. My dad was talking to the person who offered the ride.  Suddenly I suggested that we all could just walk, but none of them agreed.

However, one of our family friends, an uncle and his son, another aunt and my sister agreed to go walking. Five of us made the decision to walk and and told everyone. My parents were not happy with it. This is because I am usually not someone who is physically active and the high mountain trail would be tedious for me. But I was very sure about myself and I wanted to walk no matter what.

So five of us started walking and we all were on our way to have Darshan. After 2 km while walking I met all of them who were on doli and on horse ride and they told me not to walk and take a horse ride. But I refused and continued walking. The people who were walking with me were ahead and I was quite behind and I was walking all alone and was chanting “Jai Matadi” & “Om Sai”. I requested Baba to be with me. I often repeated this request while walking. The beautiful nature enticed me to take a halt after some time. I decided to look around and enjoy the beautiful nature.

I was in the middle of mountains with a river passing with a heavy sound. The water looked pristine white and crystal clear. The route was quite dangerous to walk. At most of the places only one person could walk and it was also muddy and slippery at many a places. The landslides which are common in this region had not helped the matters. I became nervous when a thought occurred to me, “what if I fall from this height into a deep gorge (khai) and no one will even be able to find me and death would be a certainty”.

A few moments later I saw a healthy black furry dog standing beside me. Since I am usually scared of dogs, I naturally got scared seeing it and looked up into the skies and prayed to Baba to be with me. The dog kept staring at me. It was as if he was asking me to follow him. The dog started walking and I followed behind him.

The route was literally deserted with no-one in sight for long distances. It appeared as if it was just me and the dog on the journey. Whenever I would take a breather, the dog would wait patiently for me. The dog would frequently look behind and I felt that the kind creature was taking care of me in the mountains.

There came the portion of the trail where there was no railing to take support of while walking. The route was very dangerous and I was dead scared to move an inch further. The dog could sense that I was scared. It came near me and stood on my right side. It moved its head as if it was telling me to move left while he walked closer to the side from which one could slip and fall down. This dangerous patch lasted about a hundred meters.

My eyes welled up with tears. The dog continued to walk with me. We crossed the first mountain. My sister and my cousin brother were waiting for me on the bridge connecting to the second mountain. They saw me from very far how that dog was walking with me and was being my companion and guide. Before this event I used to be scared of dogs; however, after this I fell in love with dogs. I couldn’t resist to pet him as it was so fluffy and handsome.

I was very happy to meet my sister and I started telling here the journey which I shared with the dog. While I was engrossed in telling her the story, the dog disappeared. I tried to look in all directions and could not figure out where did it go.

My sister told me that Baba used to love dogs and then it hit me as if it was no other than Sai-Baba who was walking with me. My frantic chanting had made Him appear in the form of the dog. He was with me when there was no one else and I was terrified and nervous about being alone on that dangerous route. He reassured me through His presence in the form of the dog and ensure my safety. I had goosebumps while realizing this and I felt extremely happy by the grace which He showered upon me.

The three and a half hour of climbing up, darshan of about half an hour and two hours of climbing down all on my foot on that mountainous trail with mountain on one side and a deep gorge on the other side. And I did not even realize that I had a fracture in my leg and was able to meet this challenge.

Let us sing glory of Baba. May Baba bless everyone. Love you Baba. You are always with me.
OM SAI , SHREE SAI , JAI JAI SAI.