That Shri Sai Nath of Shirdi comes to the succour of his devotees in times of their utmost sufferings and cures even incurable diseases is illustrated in the following two incidents in our family.
My husband, an officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India was afflicted with a serious type of cancerous tumour in the bone in his left shoulder joint (Oesteo Clastoma) in the year 1956. He was admitted in the Stanley Hospital and a Biopsy (a preliminarysurgery for taking out a small part from the afflicted bone for Pathological tests to diagnose the disease) was performed on him in December 1955 and the Pathologist precisely determined the disease as "Oesteo Clastoma", as already stated.
Our Doctor, a noted Orthopedic Surgeon in Madras had his hopes of treating my husband radiographically and so sent him on to the Barnard Institute of Radiology attached to the Madras General Hospital for radiological treatment. The Director of the Institute, also an eminent Radiologist, on seeing the x-ray pictures of my husband's shoulder, opined that the tumor was in such an advanced stage that Radiological Therapy will have no effect on it.
On my husband's return to the Orthopedic Surgeon and giving him the reply from the Director of the Barnard Institute he was very much disappointed and told my husband reluctantly that in the circumstances the only remedy available was amputation of the leftarm well above the shoulder joint, which, in medical terminology is called "Four-quarter Amputation". Our Doctor added that we need not get horrified over this, since saving the life of my husband only is more important and that the patient could somehow manage with prosthesis (false limbs) after amputation. Being told that there was no other way out, my husband had to give his consent for amputation, which was immediately posted for the next Tuesday, being the Orthopedic Surgeon's operation day.
On Monday, the day previous to the operation the Hospital Staff prepared the patient for the amputation by shaving and spirit-washing the area where the Surgeon's saw to work. After this, my husband felt very gloomy and a struggle started in his mind at that stage whether or not to subject himself to the amputation the next morning. This went on for two hours and , ultimately, at 6.00 p.m. he picked up some courage and felt determined not to undergo the amputation, but to face death with his arm intact. Accordingly, he asked my parent-in-law and me, who were standing by his side grief-stricken, to bring avehicle and take him home at once, since he had decided not to subject himself to the amputation fixed for the next morning. Bewildered, we gazed at him to know what had suddenly happened to him, but we could not insist in his staying in the hospital andsubjecting himself to the gruesome treatment, for obvious reasons. We could only pray Lord Sai Nath and put our entire hope on Him and bring my husband home against medical advice.
Days passed without any event and my husband used to go to the Mylapore Sai Mandir every morning in the early hours, pray to Him and cry for His Mercy. H.H. Pujyasri Narasimha Swamiji who was then living, greatly sympathised with my husband's plight and advised him to put his entire faith in Shri Sai. Day-by-day his pain in the shoulder was diminishing and he got more and more relief. His brother-in-law, a Doctor, coming to know of the favourable conditions, wanted to find out the exact condition of the tumour after a fortnight and took my husband to a x-ray Clinic for taking a picture. Lo! he jumped with joy on seeing the wet X-Ray film of my husband's left shoulder, there was no abnormality at all in it!! The joy of my people knew no bounds. All of us prayed to Shri Sai and praised His Leela. After a fortnight my husband resumed his duty as if nothing had happened.
A year after this incident i.e., in February 1957 my husband was supervising some shipping operations in the West Quay of the Madras Harbour one morning. when suddenly a crane load of cargo (Burma rice) bags being unloaded from a vessel came swinging over him and landed on him due to defective operation of crane attached to the vessel. My husband fell unconscious and was removed to the General Hospital in an ambulance. in the Hospital, before anyone came to attend on him, he gained consciousness and insisted on his friends, who had accompanied him to the Hospital, to take him home, saying that he would not take any treatment in the Hospital. Accordingly, he was brought home without any treatment and within a couple of days he was quite normal and fit to resume his avocations.
My husband had a number of other such experiences also of Sai's Grace in later years, but for want of space I am not mentioning them.
Shri Sai the most Merciful is our Family Deva.
Mrs. R. Saraswathy,
"Sri Sai Kripa"
Collectrate Colony,
Chennai-600 029.
(Courtesy: Sai Sudha, All India Sai Samaj (Regd), Chennai)
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