Baba Demonstrates He’s Always Listening

 I can remember only two times in my life when I received an immediate, incontrovertible response to a prayer. I am sharing the second incident with Baba. The significance for me lies not in the aid itself, but in the affirmation that even simple prayers are heard and may be immediately answered.

A couple years ago, a section of my privacy fence blew over during a storm. As an inexpensive repair, my friend Johnny drove a metal fence post into the ground a few feet from the broken post, and we bound the two together using a section of rope.

As I prepared to put my house on the market, I decided the repairs looked a little too MacGyver, so we decided to move the metal post right up against the broken post so that the section of fence could be strapped directly to it using less visible ties.

I tried pulling up the metal fence post, but it wouldn’t budge. I tried moving it from side to side, and from front to back with no success. Johnny, who is much stronger, also tried to lift the metal post from the ground, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried removing enough dirt to wedge the shovel underneath a corner, but he couldn’t pry it loose. Johnny surmised that a root must have grown through the base of the post, pinning it to the ground. He walked around the house to get a bigger tool.

While I was waiting, I tried squatting down low to grab the metal post near the ground and used my legs to lift as I pulled the post with all my might. Again, nothing.

I remembered from a recorded satsang earlier in the day to ask the guru parampara, the lineage, for assistance in matters large and small. Without thinking, I asked Baba for help. Then I squatted down again, grasped the metal post near the ground, closed my eyes for a couple seconds, and then simply stood up using no force or strength. With my eyes closed, I could feel the metal post slide through loose soil that felt like sand as the earth released her grip, and the metal post was freed.

What was most amazing to me was that I didn’t fumble to structure a formal prayer; I didn’t wonder whether the prayer would work or not; I didn’t consider whether brute force would still be necessary. I just found myself standing up with no expectation, no doubt or even any thought at all. And the response was immediate.

I can’t remember how I explained this when Johnny rounded the corner. I know I was standing there holding the metal post and smiling, not gleeful or surprised, but rather serenely amazed by the wonder of it all.