In my life so far, I have met a few people with unusual, I may even say, super natural powers.
It was in Mumbai that I first met Shri Sahadev Raju. Dressed in ocher coloured dress with a head dress of the same colour, wearing many strings of beads around his neck and a big round vermilion mark on his forehead, he was every inch of a popular concept of a Godman.
He introduced himself as a devotee of Goddess Durga, from interior Andhra Pradesh and claimed to have divine powers of face reading. Indeed, he surprised me by saying a few things about me which he could not have possibly known. He made some predictions also, some of which did come true.
He had with him a thick portfolio of photographs of himself with many political leaders of the past and the present and also with Chairmen and senior executives of various banks.
While he was with me, my friend Adil Kapadia, a Share Broker, walked in to my office. Seeing him, Shri Raju said,” You will be settling abroad soon”. Adil simply laughed it away since he had a good business and his wife was working in a good company. Strange as it may sound, after about 3 months, Adil’s business was badly affected in one of the periodical market upheavals and he and his family emigrated to New Zealand.
Shri Raju expressed a desire to meet my family and I invited him home. He came on a Sunday morning and had breakfast of idli and sambar Jayshree had prepared. He made some predictions, some of which happened exactly as he had said.
Seeing my son with a camera, he asked him to take a photo. I sat in the middle of a sofa with Jayshree on my right and Shri Raju on the left and Rahul clicked a couple of photos. When the film was developed and printed, my left side of the sofa, where Shri Raju had sat, was empty!! It is a mystery I am not able to unravel.
It was in early January in 2002, that my sepoy Sohan Lal came and said there is a Swami come to meet me. I was then posted in the Patna office of our Bank’s Bihar Audit Department. Curious to see who it was, I asked Sohan to bring him in. A tall Sadhu walked in, accompanied by a young boy. The Sadhu had long matted hair and a beard. He was bare to the waist and was wearing a white dhoti that reached to his knees.
He declined to sit in the chair I offered him. Fixing me with his piercing eyes, he said I should help him and his disciple reach Kolkata. I said, “Nothing doing”.
By now, Sanjay, one of my clerks had come in and he sat in front of me. The Sadhu said they have to reach Ganga Sagar, where the river Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal, before January 14th, when the Sun transits from the Southern hemisphere to the Northern hemisphere. It is believed to be very auspicious to have a bath in the Ganges on that day. He wanted money for their train tickets and for two blankets. I was in no mood to oblige.
He then went on to say that I should have been sitting in a much higher position (he said “chair”) than I was then and how I will move to a better place of posting soon. I had heard these things earlier also and showed my indifference.
Finally, he opened the cloth bag that was slung on his shoulder and took out a plastic photo holder. He showed me the photo of his Guru kept inside. He then took a piece of paper with the symbol “OM” drawn on it. He asked me to tear the paper into 3 pieces and then roll each into a separate ball and hold them in my hand. He touched my closed fist containing the 3 paper balls with the plastic holder containing the photo of his Guru. He then asked me to open my fist. When I did, there was only one paper ball and he asked me to unfold it. When I did, the ball opened out into the original piece of paper, crumpled of course, but not torn at all. Sanjay, who was sitting in front and looking on, had a stunned look on his face.
Just then, the sepoy came to me with a letter signed by my boss. He wanted me to have a look at it before it was sent to our Head Office. The sadhu with great confidence said,”Tear it up; I will make it whole again!”. I said,”Swamiji, you will get me into a lot of difficulties with my boss. You have done enough; how much do you need?”
He said 600 rupees and I gave him the money. Only then did he sit down in the chair. He said his name was Premdas and came from Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Before leaving, he gave me a red stone (coral) and asked me to wear it on my right ring finger on a silver ring, which I do to this day.