SHRI SAI

Dr. A.R. Govind Rao, MBBS, M.S. (Yale), was posted as Medical officer of civil/military centre at Ananthapur, A.P., during World War II in 1942. His search for a house for himself and his family led him to the house of one Ramaswamy, an advocate and an ardent devotee of Baba. The time was 7 p.m. on that eventful day, when Sri Ramaswamy’s wife and other members of the family were crying loudly. On enquiry the doctor was informed that Ramaswamy’s daughter Pramila, 6 year old had sustained severe burns all over the body upto the neck. Her pavadae (clothes) had caught fire while she was doing pradakshina to Tulsi Brindavan, where oil lamps were lit. It was Dwadashi festival (festival of Sri Krishna at Brindavan). The girl’s body had received burns 10 days back. Her body was full of foul smelling pus, having lots of maggots (young worms of flies). She was being treated at the local government hospital. She was unconscious for the last six days with high temperature and could not take a drop of water. As her condition deteriorated, the doctors in the hospital advised her parents to take the patient home as nothing more could be done from their side. The girl was brought to her home and that was the condition that prevailed when the doctor entered the house, accompanied by his brother-in-law. His brother-in-law, who was also a lawyer, introduced the doctor as having come from Madras and that he is in search of a house. Sri Ramaswamy who immediately came out of the pooja room, exclaimed that Sai Baba has sent the medical aid at the critical time. The doctor was requested to examine the patient and treat her suitably. The doctor was dumbfounded as he had not heard of Sai Baba before and it appeared to him that the condition of the patient was beyond human help. However being a doctor, he had to face the emergency. He went back to the traveller’s bungalow where he was camping with his family to bring his medical kit, and informed his wife the predicament in which he was, and told her not to worry if he returns late in the night. The patient had 104 degrees temperature; the pulse was rapid and feeble. She was not responding to any kind of stimuli. The pus smelt badly. After protecting his nose with a cloth, he cleaned the whole body, removed manually with foreceps a number of maggots (about 180) and applied gauze soaked in codliver oil over the wound. The girl did not show any sign of life during the whole process which took nearly three hours. As only Sulpha drugs wee available then, the doctor gave Mand B 693 tablets powdered them and asked the mother to give it with honey in case the girl woke up in the night. Ramaswamy, the girl’s father, applied Baba’s udhi on the girl’s forehead. The doctor went home with no hope whatsoever. Next morning the doctor returned to see the patient, with great trepidation in his heart whether the girl would be alive. There he saw the miracle of Sai Baba for the first time in his life. (The second miracle would be mentioned later). The girl was awake. She asked for water in the night, and had asked for milk, which were given. Her condition was very much improved. The temperature had touched normal and the pulse was full. She answered the doctor’s question clearly and fluently. Everyday the doctor would visit their house and dress the wounds. At the end of six months the burnt area had fully healed up, covered with healthy skin, with no trace of scar. Baba used the doctor as an instrument for saving the girl from the jaws of death. Soon after the doctor was transferred from Ananthapur to Madras. Sri Ramaswamy while giving farewell dinner to the doctor gave him a photo of Sri Sai Baba and a packet of udhi, and asked him to worship Baba. But the doctor’s mind was not receptive to such things at that time. He forgot about Baba entirely for nearly a decade, when Baba reminded him again. Pramila had grown up, she was of marriageable age. When her marriage was fixed, she personally came to invite the doctor for her marriage. The young wife and husband are now settled at Hyderabad.