spiritual experience can give an exhaustive answer to all questions.
24. Blessings and trials, the story of Vasudevan
People asked Sathya Sai Baba for blessings and help in solving all sorts of life problems, but sometimes exactly the opposite result turned out when, temporarily, the situation worsened or became more aggravated. How to relate to this – why did this sometimes happen?
The true blessing of the Avatar does not mean the instant fulfillment of your momentary whims. The task of the Avatar is to guide you on the path of spiritual growth. It is the quality of spiritual evolution that is the most important criterion, even if one has to go through some difficulties, trials, and crises.
Sometimes, it may seem to people the Avatar, allegedly, did not help in some situations. When you come to a healer or psychic, you expect mandatory help in solving your problems, especially since most often you pay the healer for his services. People often try to shift their problems onto a healer or psychologist, expecting them to solve all their problems for them.
Any healer or psychologist, any yogi or psychic is within certain limitations. The forces, knowledge and energy capabilities of each person are limited, but the wisdom and energy of the Avatar are unlimited. It may seem to you that the Avatar has helped someone but not someone else; this is only your limited understanding. The Avatar helps everyone, only in different ways.
Let's remember another story that Mr. Subba Rao told me. In the city of Chennai, in southern India, there lived a man named Vasudevan. He worked as a manager in a large company. When he was in his early 20s, his health began to deteriorate rapidly. The main problem was the deterioration of kidney function.
Vasudevan went to the doctors, but the medicines did not help. Vasudevan's mother-in-law was a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba. She advised the young man to pray to Sathya Sai Baba and ask him for healing.
Vasudevan came to the house of his mother-in-law, who had a large home altar, in the center of which hung a large and beautiful portrait of Sathya Sai Baba. At the same time, several relatives were going on a trip to the ashram. The young man took advantage of this opportunity and gave a letter to Sathya Sai Baba asking for healing.
Despite all the requests to Sathya Sai Baba, the young man's condition worsened. Friends and business partners began to laugh at Vasudevan and advise the young man to stop being involved in such nonsense and try to find real doctors who could help him recover from the disease.
The young man was in a difficult situation. Some of his relatives advised him to pray more intensely to Sathya Sai Baba, while his friends ridiculed him for his naive belief in the strange miracle worker.
Finally, Vasudevan's mother-in-law was able to persuade him to pray again in front of the photograph of Sathya Sai Baba that hung in her house. After that, the young man's health deteriorated even more.
25. Living presence in the photo, continuation of Vasudevan's story
After a sharp deterioration and instead of healing, Vasudevan became very offended by Sathya Sai Baba. The more he prayed, the more his health deteriorated. He concluded that Sathya Sai Baba was most likely a swindler, and perhaps even a practitioner of magic. The inner world of the young man was filled with doubts and fears.
The complexity of this situation was compounded by the fact that he learned about two cases which occurred about the same time. Two other people also prayed in front of the photo of Sathya Sai Baba and received a fairly quick recovery from their illnesses. Vasudevan could not understand why he was being pursued by serious setbacks.
Finally, getting very angry with Sathya Sai Baba, he literally ran into his mother-in-law's house and went into the room where the large photograph of Sathya Sai Baba hung. Vasudevan started talking to the photo as if Sathya Sai Baba was present right in front of him.
He directly stated, looking into the eyes of Sathya Sai Baba, who was depicted in the photograph, that he was a swindler and engaged in magic. After that, Vasudevan stated that if Sathya Sai Baba is indeed a divine teacher, then he must immediately prove it.
At that moment, several relatives were present in the house, all of them devotees of Sathya Sai Baba, and upon hearing such words from the lips of Vasudevan, they froze in horror. Before the young man had time to angrily utter his words, he suddenly felt a strong flow of energy pass through him like an electric discharge.
Vasudevan understood that it was a mystical experience because there was no source of electricity nearby. At that moment he felt, with horror, as if he was losing control of his arms and legs. After that, he fell to the floor. The relatives immediately called the doctors, who made the terrifying diagnosis of partial paralysis. Almost at the same moment, when the doctors left the house, sacred ash began to materialize on the large portrait of Sathya Sai Baba.
Relatives understood that everything happening had a deep meaning. It was obvious that Sathya Sai Baba, who is the embodiment of divine love and compassion, could not "punish" the foolish young man. These strange events were intended to give Vasudevan a deep lesson and lead to spiritual realizations.
The relatives felt that all of this was actually the blessing of Sathya Sai Baba. The feeling of the invisible blessing presence of God was also confirmed by the fact that the sacred ash began to appear from his photograph.
Vasudevan did not know what to do next. His state of health was extremely tenuous. Thankfully, the paralysis was only partial and with difficulty he could still move around in a wheelchair.
The fact the paralysis occurred instantly after the young man stood in front of the portrait of Sathya Sai Baba and challenged him speaks of Sathya Sai Baba's colossal superpowers. At that time, Vasudevan could hardly understand
