My name is Nikita Giridhar. I am a fourth generation follower of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, currently based in Germany.  

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I would like to recount one of the points made in the Divine discourse of the World Youth Meet 2017 and narrate a personal experience with meditation.

 

In His first discourse for the World Youth Meet on the evening of November 18, 2017, Swami remarked -”You will hear about a multitude of experiences here. It is not possible for everyone to have the same experience. However, it is important to absorb the essence of every individual’s experience in order to cultivate unity, purity and divinity”. In keeping with this advice of Swami, I would like to share one of my personal experiences with the hope that it brightens and inspires our dear readers.

 

Sometime in mid-2015, I was living in Germany, in pursuit of training in scientific research. Similar to my previous years of staying alone in student dormitories in India, UK and Germany, I had gradually developed a ritual of how to connect with Swami daily - whether my Heart wanted to sing a Bhajan, recite a Mantra or just sit in ‘Sai-lence’. Swami always encourages to cultivate meditation through one’s breath as a 24-hour activity. However, one often feels the need to disengage the five senses and just focus on the breath. This can only be done for a few seconds, minutes or hours in a day depending on what stage of practice one is at.

                                                                                       

As a part of my daily activities, I was also in the habit of speaking on the phone to my family in India. Usually these calls were to ask if everyone had a good day and was taking good care of themselves. It was during one such call, my mother told me about a nasty cervical neck pain that my, then 17-year old brother had developed. He had been studying for his Class 12 examinations and like most students spent long hours at his study desk in the wrong posture.

 

Soon after speaking to my mother, I moved on to my next activity for the evening, which was to practice the techniques of light meditation as taught by imminent speakers such as Mrs. Phyllis Krystal and Dr. Srikanth Sola. However, during this session, my mind seemed to wander. It said – “Does your Swami even care that one girl sitting in front of His picture in Germany is trying to connect with Him?” I ignored the doubting thought and continued sending light to all the beings in all the worlds. However, today there was more light for my brother, who as explained by my mother, was in pain and probably asleep. The session concluded soon after. What I did not realise then is that every thought we think reaches Swami. If it is a thought that doubts Him, that reaches Him too.  

 

The next day seemed routine. I went to work, came back and as was usual, dialled home. In the midst of mother talking to me; my father, very unlike his usual self, snatched the phone from her and without any context asked me – “What did you tell Swami last night?” I was blank for a second and then the previous evening’s sequence of events hit me like a 1000-volt thunder bolt from Heaven above.

 

As it turned out, my father had heard sounds of Swami’s robe swooshing on the floor in our house in Mumbai, India at around 11:30 pm or 11:45 pm. In response he tried to rise up and rush towards the sounds, when Swami spoke to him within and said – “Stay. Do not look for me and disturb my work. Your daughter has asked Me to cure her brother’s pain. The poor boy is asleep now and he is sleeping on his stomach. I will heal his back pain and leave. Do not disturb me.”

 

As astounding as it may seem, this was the exact moment that I was 8,000 kilometres away praying and also questioning my own ability to pray. Not only that, I had also envisioned my brother sleeping on his stomach so that Swami would cure his back. Like always, Swami had responded to both my request and my doubt in the way only Swami can. My brother had woken up in the morning clueless about who the special guest in his room was the night before. It was amusing to not only watch the pain, but also the memory of pain disappear when he had responded with “Pain? What Pain?” He will know what really happened if he reads this article now!

 

Dear readers, we are indeed beyond fortunate to have the Lord of the Universe waiting to become our best friend. All we need to do is to find His “contact number” hidden on the scratch-card of our Heart. If we consistently use the three coins of purity in thought, word and action to scratch away the impurities of mind and ego in our Heart, the number will reveal itself and God will always promise to be on our speed dial list!

 

Even though the Universe revolves around Him, He is never too busy to answer our call. So what is our excuse to not try? As in my experience, even the smallest amount of sincerity in effort evokes a response, in all certainty. Most importantly, if praying sincerely for your own kin has such a stunning response, imagine what it REALLY means to pray for All beings in All worlds to be Happy!