Swami The Supreme Saviour
Sunday, March 11th, 2012
An ardent devotee of Bhagawan, Dr. Narottam Maharaj Alreja has worked in the well known J.J.Hospital, Mumbai as its Superintendent. He joined the Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital, Prasanthi Nilayam as its Superintendent in the year 1975 and served almost his entire life. Dr. Alreja merged at Bhagawan’s Lotus Feet on 18th Feb 2012 in Mumbai. Read on Dr. Alreja’s reflections as published in 80th Birthday Special, Trubute.
I had a preceptor. He revealed to me in the year 1963 that he was casting off his body, as it had become old. I requested him for a Mantra. He said if he gave a Mantra to me, I would be his shishya and son and that he would have to take birth again to see my salvation. He further revealed that he was not my guru and that my real guru was someone else to whom he would himself take me in due course of time.
In 1965, I went to Swami’s ashram at Brindavan. There was one Dixit at the gate. He told me that Sai Baba had gone to Ooty and that He would come back in 2 or 3 days’ time. It was Thursday, about 9.30 a.m. Three cars arrived one after the other. In the second car was seated Sai Baba. At that time, there were about six persons only, who stood in line with folded hands. When He passed me, He enquired, “Doctor, when did you come from Bombay? And what do you want?” I replied that I came the previous day and wanted an interview with Swami. He said, “I will call you.” Then He went inside the bungalow. After 45 minutes, He came out in a car and went to the city.
He returned at 4 p.m. By that time about 100 people had gathered. He parked the car by my side, but did not call me. At about 5.15 p.m., Dixit started to close the main gates. I told him that Sai Baba had told me He would give me an interview, and that he should kindly find out. He said, “Come tomorrow.” While this talk was going on, a watchman from the bungalow came running and asked, “Any Bombay doctor is there? Swami has called him.” I rushed to the verandah of the bungalow and went inside leaving my wife outside sitting in a chair in the verandah. Swami looked at me and enquired, “Why you want an interview?” I replied, “I seek your Sparshan, Sambashan and blessings.” Swami again asked, “What do you want?” I replied that by His grace I did not need anything. He said, “Still, you may want something.” This prompted me to ask, “What can You give?” He said, “You ask anything, I will give.” I enquired, “Can I ask anything?” He got up from His chair and with His raised hands, He said, “You ask anything that you want, I will give.” My head started reeling and then I realised my buddhi was cautioning me not to ask for any material thing. Swami said, “Yes, I know your buddhi is paripakuva (ripe) enough. What do you want?
I said, “I want shraddha and bhakti.” Then He embraced me. My hair stood on its end and the tiresomeness in me disappeared. When I touched His feet, I felt that I was touching the feet of my earlier preceptor. Thus, I was totally subdued and I surrendered at His Lotus Feet.
Later on, at Dharmakshetra (Mumbai), He gave me a Mantra “Sai Krishna” along with a Lingam to do abhishekam and drink the water every morning. I joined the Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital in 1975 during Bhagawan’s 50th Birthday celebrations.
My sister Shanti had a tumour in her left breast. A doctor colleague of mine in the hospital wanted a needle biopsy done for her. Accordingly, the biopsy was done. The report showed malignant cancer. She was shown to Dr. Ramdas, a surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital. He fixed a date for operation. Meanwhile, I went to see Swami and explained to Him thus: “My younger sister has cancer on her left breast and she is to be operated upon.” Swami gave me seven packets of vibhuti and enquired if she had any faith in Him. I said, “I don’t know that.” Then I gave her one vibhuti packet to be applied on the malignant part everyday for seven days. The operation was fixed for the fourth day, but Dr. Ramdas got a call from Madras for an urgent operation. He went to Madras and my sister’s operation was postponed to the 16th day. By that time, my sister had completed applying the seven packets of vibhuti on the affected portion as prescribed by Swami. Further reports of investigations done showed there was only inflammation of tissues, but no malignancy. The original slide showing malignancy and the recent one with non-malignant tissues were shown to an expert, Dr. Purandare, oncologist, for opinion. He opined that the first slide showed severe malignancy whereas the other showed no trace of cancer.
Once I was called upon to do a postmortem on the body of one Joseph about 45 years of age which was found in a well in the second week of June 1970. After the postmortem, I gave the cause of death as asphyxia due to drowning. In the middle of August, a Police Inspector came and told me that he and me were in trouble as the body had to be exhumed and a second postmortem done. I told him, “You look after yourself and when time comes, I know what to do.” As informed by the Police Inspector, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. John Croft and the Police Surgeon Dr. Majumdar came to the hospital and told me that the body had to be exhumed and re-postmortemed. We went to the cemetery of the church where the body was buried. The priest showed the chart and the coffin was taken out and kept in the open. I told Mr. John Croft that as per rules a fresh panchanama had to be done. He called upon the brother of the deceased and his relatives to show us the injuries and fractures as complained by them. They turned the body upside down, but no injuries or fractures were found. The Commissioner of Police rebuked the relatives for making false allegation. The police surgeon Dr. Majumdar took a copy of my previous postmortem report and wrote ditto, i.e., “cause of death: asphyxia due to drowning.” After the postmortem was over, it started raining. I ran to my car and got inside. I suddenly realised that the body was as fresh as when I first conducted the postmortem. Was it saponification or mummification? I told them to take off the lid over the coffin and to my surprise found a conglomeration of decomposed flesh instead of the body. Subsequently, when I met Swami next time, I asked Him about this miracle. He said, “I kept the body fresh for two months as one piece to preserve your integrity and good name.”
Once I was sitting in the verandah of the mandir and evening bhajan was going on. In the middle of the bhajan, Swami came out in the verandah and told me that He had received a telegram that Kumar’s (an alumnus of Bhagawan’s institute) mother, Smt. Seethalakshmi was seriously ill and that I should go and see her.
I went to her room and found her unconscious. There was an Insulin needle and insulin vial lying on the table nearby. I knew that she was a diabetic. She was in hypoglycaemia. I put some glucose in her mouth along with water. I repeated the process till she recovered.
I went back to the verandah and told Swami, “She had taken insulin without having food.” I further told Him, “I did not see any postman with telegram”. Swami said that her son had prayed before Swami’s photograph to look after his mother and that was the telegram. This is enough to prove Swami’s omnipresence.
Once Swami called me to His residence at 1.30 p.m. and said that He was feeling uneasy and asked me to take count of His blood pressure. He always allowed me to take BP on His right side. When I took BP, it was 80/56 and pulse rate 48 per minute. He looked at me and enquired whether there was anything serious. I said, there cannot be anything serious with Swami. He said, “The expression on your face changed.” Then I said, “I want to take BP on the left side.” When I took BP, it was 120/80 and pulse rate was 72 per minute. “Now come out with your diagnosis”, He said. I replied: “You got a heart attack with a blockage of the artery. You say that You are Siva Shakti Swarupa. Siva on the right side had taken over the heart attack of a Siva bhakta. On the left side, Shakti aspect was unaffected. This proves medically that You are Siva Shakti.” Swami said, “See on the right chest and arm, there is hair. On the left side of My chest and arm, there is no hair.”
“I have got a mole on the left cheek. When you look at My back, I look like a lady and from the front side, My face is that of Siva”. I pleaded with Him to take some rest. Swami asked me, “How can I take rest and not come out for darshan when so many devotees are waiting?” I further requested, “For today evening at least, You just come to Mandir for Bhajan, take Arati and go back.”
II Samasta Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II
Posted in Reflections |
