Who Was That Divine Man?

September 1967 (Second Week)

Day - Thursday

This is about Chhipri. Kripa Ram Sharma and his wife were sleeping in their house. Suddenly, Smt. Ramsakhi Sharma feels as if some aircraft is coming from the distant sky. When it comes closer, she is astonished. It was like the विमान (vimana - flying chariot) described in mythological stories, in which there was neither any sound nor were horses yoked, nor any machine.

Coming a little closer, she saw a साधु पुरुष (sadhu - ascetic) with a white beard and a divine smile sitting in that white vehicle, looking at them in a blessing posture. Ramsakhi gets scared, but the divine smile and the blessing hand seem to handle her nervousness. Suddenly, Ramsakhiji's eyes open, and she finds herself drenched in sweat. Then she realizes that it was a dream.

After this incident, she started having the same dream almost every day, and she mentioned it to her mother and her husband. Her husband scolded her because he considered getting involved in all these things as superstition, but her mother understood it as a sign of someone's death again, and she took Ramsakhiji to a nearby temple and made a vow and recited stories etc., for that dream.

Ramsakhiji herself was also considering the dreams as a sign of someone's death. Around these days, Ramsakhiji felt that she was going to become a mother again, but she did not connect the dream with this fact. However, whatever the reason for the vow, after about a month, the continuous appearance of dreams stopped, and the same dream started occurring not continuously but with a frequency of 4-5 times a month instead of once. One thing was noteworthy here, and she understood this well in the month of December: the dream always came to her on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, that is, around 4 o'clock in the Brahmamuhurta (auspicious time before dawn). Then it started happening that as soon as Wednesday night approached, sleep would disappear from her eyes. She was afraid that if she slept, the same dream might appear again.

And by January 1968, she stopped seeing the dream. She thought that the trouble that had befallen a family member had now passed. Hearing that 'the dreams have stopped appearing,' her mother also breathed a sigh of relief. And as January passed and February arrived, the thought of the dream faded from her heart.

Year 1968-1973

February 1968 (Second Week), Day - Thursday

It was evening, the sun had almost set, Kripa Ramji was not at home, his father, Thakur Dasji, was having chest pain and was lying down in the बैठक (baithak - sitting room), and Ramsakhiji's mother was also sitting near him. After cleaning the household utensils, Ramsakhiji had placed them in a large basket. She was thinking of putting the utensils inside the चौका (chauka - kitchen) and then doing further cleaning. At this time, she was resting in the courtyard.

She was about five months pregnant.

After resting, she picked up the basket and had just straightened her back when she saw 'the same विमान' (vimana - flying chariot) in the sky again, which she had seen many times in her dreams. But this time, 25-30 people were playing cymbals and other instruments in front of that विमान. Ramsakhiji was stunned and kept staring at the विमान in amazement. The विमान slowly moved and came over the roof of their house.

All the cymbal and conch players were smiling at her. Five or six साधु (sadhu - ascetics) were seated in the विमान when suddenly, an elderly साधु पुरुष descended from that विमान and moved towards her as if floating. The sounds of the cymbals were clearly reaching her ears.

As soon as she saw that divine साधु पुरुष coming closer, she screamed loudly and fell unconscious right there.

Her mother and father heard the noise and rushed to her. The room where they were (in the बैठक) was adjacent to the courtyard. Her mother and father also clearly saw a glimpse of that विमान, and then the विमान vanished. Initially, her mother and father thought it was a visual illusion, but when their daughter regained consciousness and also described the same thing, they too fell into thought about what all this was!

When Kripa Ramji returned home and was told about this, even after three people narrated it, he dismissed it as a visual illusion, superstition, madness, etc.

After this, Ramsakhiji would occasionally see only the sound of cymbals and a group of twenty-five to thirty people carrying cymbals in her dreams, and this dream could occur on any day. However, she never felt fear from this dream, and after a month or two, these things were forgotten.

June had arrived, with the pregnancy at its full nine-month stage, but the pre-labor symptoms that women experience were not visible in her. This was not an unusual thing, but still, a natural worry was troubling everyone in the house. At this time, the members present in the house were Thakurdasji and his wife, besides Kripa Ram Sharma and his two younger brothers, their approximately 3-year-old daughter Shashi, and his wife Ramsakhi Sharma.

It was necessary to keep a separate room for the woman for childbirth, and since the number of members in the house was large, the room where cows and buffaloes were tied was thoroughly cleaned, and Ramsakhiji's bed was placed in it, and arrangements for the cows and buffaloes were made elsewhere.

Labor pains could start anytime, but while waiting, the month of June passed, and the first week of July arrived. Kripa Ramji's restlessness increased, and more than restlessness, there was worry about what the matter was. Thakurdasji was also worried that it was getting too late; the tenth month was approaching completion. Talks began about going to the city to consult a doctor, and it was decided that on the coming Sunday, after arranging a vehicle, Ramsakhiji would be taken to Tikamgarh to get examined by a competent female doctor. Three days of the first week of July had passed.

The beginning of Wednesday, July 4, 1968, in this house of Chhipri was just like any other ordinary day. After eating at ten in the morning, Kripa Ramji left for the office, thinking that today he would talk to an acquaintance about arranging a jeep and also find out which female doctor would be suitable for the 'check-up.' Ramsakhiji had been freed from the daily household chores by her mother, so she spent the whole day in bed.

At eight o'clock at night, Kripa Ramji bought fruits etc., from the weekly market held every Wednesday in Lidhaura and came home walking briskly. In the past month, whenever he returned home from anywhere, he would try to look for a change in the atmosphere from afar because it was unpredictable when he might become a father. He felt that perhaps as soon as he entered the village, someone would come running and hug him to congratulate him. Before reaching the house, he would think that perhaps many people would be standing there waiting for him, but that night when he returned home around nine o'clock, everything was the same as usual. He offered fruits to his wife. Seeing the worry reflected in her husband's anxious eyes, Ramsakhi Devi was also troubled, but she was unable to do anything even if she wanted to.

Around 3 o'clock at night, Ramsakhiji started feeling mild pain, so she did not think it appropriate to wake up her mother, who was sleeping beside her. She thought that perhaps it would get better after some time, but instead of decreasing, the pain gradually started increasing, and around 4 o'clock, as soon as the first groan escaped her lips, her mother's eyes opened. Her experienced eyes immediately realized that labor pains had begun. She immediately woke up the male members present in the house and asked them to call the women from the neighborhood. The skilled women of the village immediately surrounded Ramsakhiji, but the pain was not so severe that her tolerance would give way, so 'Nine Purabhai' estimated, "Perhaps there are still an hour or two left."

It was quarter past four. The male members were sitting outside, waiting for someone to come and give them information about how much time was left.

Kripa Ramji narrates that while sitting in this dilemma, I kept peeking inside and then looking at my wristwatch. There was no sound of groaning, and my father-in-law (Thakur Dasji), sitting on the cot in front, was mentally sensing my anxiety when suddenly the sound of groaning reached my ears. And before we could even guess that perhaps it was time for delivery, the sound of a baby crying was heard amidst the women's conversation, and along with this, my mother-in-law, Smt. Kesar Bai, came running almost and said to her husband in a joyful voice…

"The Lord has blessed us with a grandson!"