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The experience of Mr. Arjan
Chugani
Here is the personal experience of
Mr. Arjan Chugani.
I ate meat for
fifty-two years of my life, until, step by step, Bhagvan Sri Sathya
Sai Baba changed me into a vegetarian. It started in 1992. In a dream,
Baba said to me "From today, whatever food you eat, you must offer to
me."
Begining that day, I offered Him vegetarian food breakfast, lunch and
dinner. On the days when I was vegetarian - Mondays, Tuesdays and
Thursdays - I offered Baba the food I was having my self. When I ate
meat on the other days of the week, I offered Him a vegetarian dish or
some dried fruits.
This went on for two years until one Sunday in December, 1994. The day
at lunch I offered some vegetarian food to Baba, setting meat dishes
aside for myself. As I sat down to eat the vegetarian prasadam- along
with the meat dishes- I heard a Divine voice: "What you eat, I wish to
eat." Starled, I wondered if I had imagined it. But the voice said
again, "Whatever food you eat, that food I want to eat". The voice
said no more and I wondered whether the words had come from Baba or
from my own mind.
Even after the experience, I did not give up meat. I continued my
usual practice of being vegetarian on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays,
and eating meat on other days. But something else started to happen.
On the days I ate meat, I sneezed and got nose bleeds - mildly at
first, but increasinglyprofuse.
In January 1951, I awoke as usual at five in the morning to do my
prayers. I sneezed and blood flowed from my nose. My wife and I became
worried. I held my nose and prayed to Baba: "Please stop this, I can't
take this anymore!"
Suddenly, the Divine voice said: "Are you afraid of blood? "Yes, Baba"
I replied. "I am afraid of blood". Baba answered: "When you go to the
market, choose a chicken and give it to the slaughterer to kill, and
when the blood flows, why are you not afraid? Do you think your blood
and the chicken's blood are different? When the man at the market cuts
off the chicken's head and it runs about in agony, you stand like a
rakshasa (demon) looking on, indifferent to the pain of the living
being. Isn't that so?" The voice went on. "So, when you see your
blood, you are scared. But when you see the chicken's blood, you are
not scared. I am in your heart. I am also in all living beings."
When I heard that, I sad, "O.K., Baba. Beginning today, I want to be a
vegetarian. I will not eat meat again. But help me. Baba. Let me not
be tempted to eat meat anymore". A month later, at Thursday satsang,
the Divine discourse of Baba's sixty -ninth birthday was read. Bhagvan
asked His devotees to stop eating meat, drinking alcohol and smoking
if they really loved Him. I listened and said in my heart, "I have
already given up eating meat. From this day forward, I promise not to
smoke or drink alcohol".
Source:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saisruthi/message/103 |
