sat on the floor next to Sathya Sai Baba, as usual. Suddenly, I felt like I wanted to touch his feet. Sathya Sai Baba allowed me to do this, after which he continued to communicate with people.
A minute later, I again felt I wanted to touch his feet. I translated what he said and every two or three minutes I touched his divine feet. Afterwards, people who were present told me I touched his feet more than thirty times. I left the room in a state of bliss and joy. Great Divine Grace descended upon me. For several days after this meeting I experienced vivid mystical experiences. I saw the whole world around me as a bright, golden, divine light. All buildings and people were flooded with pure light.
With my eyes open, I saw that the entire space around me was shining with golden light and the presence of the Holy Spirit was felt everywhere, in everything, and in everyone. When I went to bed, the mystical light was so bright it was almost impossible to sleep. I immersed myself in subtle realms of lucid dreaming, which looked like dreams, but were more like journeys into subtle worlds of pure light.
I know several people who have experienced similar states after touching Sathya Sai Baba's feet. After people touched the divine feet of the Avatar, they were sometimes in a state of cosmic consciousness for several months, such was the power of the energy of Sathya Sai Baba.
61. Golden chain
One of my acquaintances from the Ural (Russia), Alexander, received a beautiful gold chain as a gift from Sathya Sai Baba. Sathya Sai Baba materialized the chain during a personal meeting, and joyfully put it around the neck of my friend, saying this chain would protect him from all dangers. A week later Alexander went home happy.
A few months later, my friend went on a business trip to Kazan city. It was a hot summer and he decided to swim in the cool and rapid river Volga. After diving several times, he came ashore and relaxed on the sand. After a couple of minutes, he noticed the chain around his neck was gone.
Alexander was shocked as he was quite sure that when he entered the water the chain was around his neck. He distinctly remembered correcting it before diving in. Terrified, he didn't know what to do. After standing for a few moments in a daze, he took to the stormy river again but this time to find his lost chain under the water.
It was clear it was simply not possible to find the chain in the fast waters of the huge river. Sad, he went back to the hotel and a few days later returned to his hometown.
The mysterious loss of the chain shocked my friend so much he went into despondency for a long time and almost did not communicate with anyone. Relatives and friends understood that something strange was happening, but he sparingly answered all questions with a request to be left alone.
In fact, it is the most common story: man dives into a river and his chain, perhaps, unfastens or simply flies off under the pressure of a strong current. Stories like this happen quite often. However, in this case, the loss of the chain meant much more because it was not an ordinary gold chain, but a gift from Sathya Sai Baba.
When Alexander later told me about his experiences of that time, he admitted that for a long time he could not tell his friends and relatives about it, because he blamed himself for his carelessness.
However, these events were only the beginning of the story. The miracles of Sathya Sai Baba are the subtlest, multi-step, divine game. This story has an amazing sequel.
62. The golden chain that saved a life – continuation of the story
After a couple of years, Alexander again came to the ashram and Sathya Sai Baba invited him to a personal meeting. My acquaintance was overjoyed at the opportunity of another personal contact with Sathya Sai Baba, but he was very ashamed he did not still have his precious gift, the chain.
As usual, Sathya Sai Baba was sitting in his chair looking at my friend when all of a sudden, he began to laugh. We looked at each other not understanding what was going on. By that time, Alexander had already told me the secret of how he lost the precious chain in the river.
When Sathya Sai Baba looked at my friend and laughed, I intuitively thought that perhaps the reason for his amusement was the loss of the chain. Of course, Sathya Sai Baba knew perfectly well the chain had disappeared in the turbulent waters of the great Volga. Subsequent events confirmed my feeling.
Suddenly, Sathya Sai Baba extended his arm forward with his palm clenched into a fist. Looking at us with a sly look, he opened his fist and we saw the exact same chain in his hand! How could this be? Was it a fantasy?!
Everything that happened was beyond the comprehension of the human mind. We were dumbfounded. Further, when he presented the chain to Alexander, Sathya Sai Baba had said the chain would protect him from dangers.
At the time, we did not pay much attention to those words, but now Sathya Sai Baba repeated his own words spoken two years ago. He further added that my friend was supposed to die that day and the disappearance of the chain saved his life.
Sathya Sai Baba said the chain was not washed away by the turbulent waters of the great river. It was dematerialized by him under water. The proof of this was the fact that at the moment of our conversation Sathya Sai Baba was holding the very chain in his hands.
My friend, in a trembling voice, asked how exactly he was supposed to die, perhaps drown? If the chain disappeared into the river, then it was logical to assume there was a danger of him disappearing into the turbulent waters of the