Jai Sai Ram

I wanted to share an experience with you all. This is the only way for me to express my gratefulness towards my Shri Guru, my Baba.. I am very happy today. It is Thursday today and Shri Ganesh festival last day for visarjan/nimarjan.

(I apologies if this is a bit lengthy but I couldn’t express it any other way) So, after I did my Certification for Financial Planning (here in Sydney), I was unable to get any job for a long time due to the Financial Crisis; I had strange things happen to me and somehow a few of my Sai devotee friends started to share some miracles of Shri Tirupati Balaji. I don’t know why I felt that maybe I should vow something to Balaji Maharaj so that I can get a good job. That night I opened a random chapter of Shri Sai Satcharitra (as usual) and got Ch 26 which was about 2 Goa Gentlemen where one of them had vowed to God Datta that he would pay his first month salary if he got a job; and he got the job and consequent promotions as well but he forgot to fulfill his vow and Baba asked that first salary amount from him as dakshina. I vowed that I would also give my first* weeks pay to Balaji Maharaj by keeping that money aside and then donating it in the temple when I go to India. Within a short time I got a job in one of the biggest banks in Australia and I was ecstatic.

I was in dire need of money and I spent the first weeks pay thinking that I will withdraw the first week salary €™s amount from my account for when I go to India and then donate it (but I had vowed to keep it aside as soon as I get it).

For the second weeks pay, I faxed the timesheet to payroll dept but they didn’t receive it for some reason so when they called me I tried to fax it again, but they still did not receive it; at last I scanned it and emailed it to them and they received it then but they told me that the cut-off time to pay for that week has passed and my second weeks pay will be given to me along with the third weeks pay. That night I realized that maybe this incident happened because I did not keep my vow of keeping first week pay aside for Shri Balaji and had spent it. My aunty here told me that Shri Balaji Maharaj is very powerful and he will be behind me until I do what I promised. So the following week when I received my 2nd and 3rd weeks pay together I took out the exact amount that I had received for my 1st week salary and kept it aside asking Shri Balaji to forgive me. 5 weeks later they ceased my employment giving me some positive & negative feedback. I was so depressed I cannot explain. I was shocked at why Baba did this. I always told him that it was as if he gave a crying kid some lollipop candy and as soon as the kid licked it Baba snatched it away from the kid.

After a few days I spoke with a friend that I had studied with and was surprised to know that he has already become a Financial Planner with this medium sized company. I wanted to be where he was. He arranged for an interview for me with his recruitment manager. I went for an interview on the 24th of August and it went well but still I was very nervous. On the 28 th of August I went to ISCKON temple to celebrate Radha sapthami. I prayed to Shri Krishna and Radha Maa to (fix) my career and thanked them for their love. I wished for a fruit that was being thrown by the priest in the crowd the 2nd apple that was thrown hit someone on my right hand side (when I thought, this apple is also gone) and it hit someone then bounced back and landed straight on my left handv(Goodness! I felt immensely blessed!) On the 30th of August I went to the Shri Venkateshwara temple (Shri Balaji) at Helens berg with my 1st weeks pay in the envelope and my uncle asked the priest to touch the envelope and return it back then I wished for a flower the priest touched the envelope to Shri Balaji Maharajas hands, legs and gave it back to me with some flowers that were near the legs J I asked for forgiveness and blessings of Shri Balaji that day and vowed to donate the first week salary (but not keep it aside) to the Tirupati Balaji temple for when I go to India.

Company had told me that they would call me before the close of business on the 4th of September; today is the 3rd of September , Thursday and I was waiting for their call all day long. At around 5.30 pm I told my housemate, Kya yaar, kitni hope liye aaj soch rahatha ke aaj job ka call aajayega pur nahi aya (With immense hope I was expecting a call for that job today but it has then exactly when I finished saying that sentence my phone rang and they told me that I got the job. I went to the Sai temple at evening and my heart could not express the gratefulness. My dad called me later to tell me that he prayed to Baba today that he is coming to Shirdi on the 7th of September to ask Baba to give me a good job then I told him that I got it already and he was ecstatic.

I later realized that what happened was for my good, I just needed to have some patience. BABA KNEW EVERYTHING> Working for that big bank would have probably made me a Financial Planner in 3-4 years time because of the way the career progression is rigidly structured there I think I mainly liked more the idea of working for such a huge bank than the actual role itself; also I found that one learns a lot by working with small and mid-sized companies because of type nature of some big companies which gives limited exposure to learn. With this company I can become a Financial Planner in 1-1.5 years time, Baba willing. BABA knows exactly what is best for us.

I’ve realized that Shraddha (Faith) and Saburi (Patience) maybe difficult to follow sometimes, mainly Saburi, but when followed, God (Baba) will happily fulfill his side of the promise.

May Baba bless all.