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"The Power of Prayer" is the 33rd Leela in the series. In this clip, Vinny Ma talks about the power of collective prayer. This Leela shows how collective prayers saved the life of a member of a Bhajan group.
Nagraj and his friend Tej used to attend a Bhajan group regularly. Once Tej met with a major accident and was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition. His very survival was doubtful. The Bhajan group collectively prayed for his recovery and pledged to fulfil different vows. Tej required a few bottles of B (-) ve blood, a blood group that was rare. Miraculously the hospital found a donor in a man who had arrived at the hospital to donate his blood, which was B (-)ve. It was only by Baba's grace that Tej's life was thus saved.
This Leela illustrates that a selfless prayer and vow taken for the well-being of others is always fulfilled by Baba.
Transcript
The idea that power is inherent in prayer is an accepted one. The power of prayer is quite simply the power of God who hears and answers the prayer. Numerous devotees undertake vows and pledges to give up eating rice or drinking their favourite beverage until their wish is fulfilled. If prayers and vows are undertaken for villages and towns struck by disasters like floods or cyclones, Baba will definitely fulfil these vows. These vows are of an unselfish nature and are born out of goodwill towards the unfortunate.
This Leela shows how collective prayers and vows saved the life of a member of a Bhajan group. My friend, Nagraj, narrated this Leela to me.
Years ago, Mr. Kamath and his wife Vandana had started a Bhajan group in Bangalore. Every Sunday, they would perform Bhajans and soon a large group was formed. Nagraj and his friend, Tej Kumar, used to attend the Bhajans regularly. It so happened that once Tej met with a major accident and was rushed to a hospital in a critical condition. He had a severe head injury; however, the neuro-surgeon was doubtful about his survival. The entire Bhajan group was anxiously waiting outside to help in any way they could. They decided to seek refuge in Baba. They went to Vandana’s home and collectively prayed for his recovery.
Nagraj says, “It was rather late at that time, and as Vandana had already performed Sej Arati, we removed the mosquito net and literally awoke Baba. Then all of us prayed for Tej’s recovery. Finally, all the group members took some vow for him. Each member took a different vow, like walking barefoot from Kopergaon to Shirdi, doing 108 Pradikshinas of the Samadhi Mandir, or Parayan of the Charita, and so forth.”
“The Doctor took Tej to the operation theatre, and started the surgery. As there was profuse internal bleeding, the surgeon required 4–5 bottles of blood. It was rather difficult to arrange for the blood as Tej’s blood group was B Negative, which is a rare blood group. Then Baba’s miracle started unfolding. A Muslim gentleman who was standing in front of the hospital came on his own accord and donated his blood, which was B Negative. The surgery was successful and Tej was out of danger. We were hopeful that he would recover without any brain damage. However, we were told that Tej would be hospitalised for a long period of time.”
“One day, Tej dreamt of Baba. In his dream, Tej had gone to the Samadhi Mandir which looked very different from the present Samadhi Mandir. There was just a Samadhi and it looked like the photograph of the Samadhi that is in the Museum. That is, there was a Samadhi without Baba’s idol above it, and Baba Himself was sitting inside his Samadhi. Tej approached the Samadhi and seeing a Jholi slung on Baba’s shoulder, asked, ‘Baba, what do you have in your Jholi?’ Baba smiled and said, ‘Just as you devotees read my Charita, I keep the Charita of each and every devotee of mine in my Jholi. I take it out time and again and look at it.’ And there, ended the dream.”
Tej recovered fully without any neurological deficit, and is leading a happy life. From this Leela, it is evident that the vows taken and collective prayers for Tej brought him back from death’s door.
This Leela was narrated by Nagraj, Bangalore, in 2004.
A special podcast series by Dr. Vinny Chitluri which is on Baba's leelas and life history.